Tuesday, August 25 at 5:15 pm
They needed to wait for Matt’s lawyer to show up. Matt was cooperative about riding back with them and sitting in the interview room. Jo looked at Matt through the mirrored glass. This man clearly had a motive to kill Laura. She hated to admit it, but she understood what would have driven Matt to kill.
She looked up at the clock on the wall and shoved her hands in her pocket. She hated to do it, but she had to call home. Jo walked back to her desk and dialed her home phone. She cringed as Bryan answered. “I’m just touching base to say I will be late.”
Bryan responded back slowly as if he was thinking as he spoke. “We’re good here. I guess we’ll see you later then.”
Jo didn’t like Bryan’s tone. It was as if he was numb to her calling about being late. She looked at the phone before hanging up. Really, she had kept a pretty good schedule for most of the year. It was just this recent case that had thrown her off.
The thought of her and Bryan heading towards divorce didn’t sit well in her spirit. They both loved B.J. fiercely and all Jo could picture was a bitter custody battle. More than she wanted to admit, especially now and in the last year, Jo was often the absent parent. It was crucial to check out every lead when it came to solving a case and that took time.
Jo leaned back in her seat, closed her eyes and rubbed her pounding temples as her mother’s words rang in her ears. Pray! Trust God to guide you, Josephine.
Pete tapped on her desk, “Jo, Mr. Vaynor’s lawyer is here. This guy has got to be guilty. He has one of the best defense lawyers in Charlotte.”
“What?”
Jo snatched her notebook off of her desk and marched towards the interview room. She noticed a familiar face indeed. Adam Locklear was the kind of lawyer you called when you were in real trouble. Not many lawyers were cheap, but not just anyone could afford Adam Locklear. Jo couldn’t wait to mention to Asia about this one. Adam had dated Asia several years ago and he seemed like the one who would finally reel Asia into marriage. That didn’t happen mainly because her older sister was just as stubborn and strong willed as Adam Locklear.
One thing for sure, Jo doubted they would get a confession from Matt Vaynor. She walked in the room and faced the two men. Matt wouldn’t look up. Jo thought if this man was trying to appear innocent, he wasn’t doing a very good job.
Adam grinned as if he hit the jackpot. “Detective Reed, how good to see you again. It’s been awhile.”
This wasn’t a social call. “Yes, it has Mr. Locklear. It’s Detective Reed-Powell. Thanks.” Jo usually didn’t correct most people about her name, but Adam was a special case and she didn’t want him to think he had the upper hand at all.
Jo sat. “Matt, we sure would love to get to the bottom of what happened to Laura. Don’t you think we owe Laura’s parents the truth?”
Silence.
Jo tapped her pen on the table. They were past being nice to the grieving fiancé. “Mr. Vaynor, can you please tell us where you were on Tuesday night after midnight?”
She watched as Matt looked at his lawyer. Adam nodded as if to give Matt permission to speak.
“I went driving around.”
Jo leaned forward. “I assume by yourself or wait, maybe Laura was with you.”
Matt said fast, “No, she wasn’t with me. I was driving around because I was upset. I had been trying to call her. Sarah told me they were not together and I wanted to know where she was. She wouldn’t answer my calls.”
Jo questioned, “But she did finally answer.” She looked at her notes for reference, “Around 10:08 p.m. Would you say that’s about the time you and Laura had your argument?”
Matt looked at Jo, but didn’t say anything.
Jo continued. “You talked a full ten minutes. I assume that conversation really set you off because at some point you realized Laura was out with another man.”
Matt flinched as if Jo hit him. He looked at his lawyer.
Adam shook his head. “Come on, Detective Reed. That wasn’t necessary. If you’re going to treat my client this way, I’ll need to stop this questioning.”
Jo glared at Adam. “Finding out the person you love is cheating on you can drive a person to do things they wouldn’t normally think to do. Isn’t that right, Matt?”
Matt shook his head. “She’d been more interested in planning the wedding than me for a while now.”
Jo eyed Matt. “So, Laura had been stringing you along for a few months. That had to make you really angry. Angry enough to hurt her. Did you hurt her?”
“No—”
Adam interrupted. “Don’t answer that question. Detective, are you accusing Mr. Vaynor of something? Do you have any evidence that would place Laura anywhere near Mr. Vaynor the night of her tragic death?”
Pete snapped, “You tell us. We were having a sympathetic conversation with Mr. Vaynor and he called a lawyer. It’s obvious he was upset and apparently he lost track of time, because it’s clear he has no alibi.”
Jo pulled out the photo of Laura from a folder in front of her.
“We still need to know what you were doing during this time.” She pushed the photo closer. “Did you find Laura? Did you do this to her?”
Matt pushed his chair back, staring at the photo of Laura’s dead body in horror. He wailed, “Oh God! No! I broke off the engagement. It was over. I was hurt, but…”
Adam turned towards Matt. “Don’t say any more.” He looked back at Jo and Pete. “My client has lost a woman that meant the world to him. Let’s stop this. If you don’t have anything, there is no need for you to question him.”
Pete leaned in and stated, “He needs to establish where he was around the time of Laura’s death.”
Jo pushed ahead. “Laura found someone else. That had to make you angry, Matt.”
Matt grabbed his head. “I felt like she was out with someone else, but she wouldn’t say who. I was angry.”
Adam spoke up, “That’s enough, Matt.”
Matt continued. “I knew she was out with someone else. I didn’t want to believe it. She’d been hounding me about getting married for years. I proposed last Christmas, and it’s been nothing but talk about the wedding and how there was so much to do by next summer.”
Adam tapped the table. “We don’t have to continue this discussion. My client just lost his fiancée, his high school sweetheart. Let him grieve.”
Jo wasn’t finished and recognized Matt wanted to get something off his chest. “Where did you go, Matt?”
Matt blubbered. “I went…drinking. I haven’t had a drink in three years. I just went to some bar. I don’t remember where. I don’t remember how I even got back home. I’d been sober for three years. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Matt stared at Jo. The intensity in his eyes practically sucked the breath out of her. She felt his pain at being betrayed, but then Jo remembered something that had been bothering her.
Why did Laura suddenly cancel on her friends? Why take the engagement ring off after being so excited about planning a wedding?
Jo looked at Matt. “You didn’t break off the engagement with Laura the night she died. Did you? Something happened before. She went out with this guy out of anger with you.”
He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Finally he said, “I messed up. We argued the night before. I was trying to get back with her because I didn’t want to lose her. I wasn’t faithful either, but I still felt like we should have been together.”
Jo felt a deep sense of anger well up in her. “So she broke off the engagement because you were cheating. She decides to go out with some guy she’d been flirting with probably to get you out of her mind. You didn’t like it and you wanted her back. If you couldn’t get her back, then nobody would have her.”
“That’s not what happened,” Matt shouted.
Jo pointed her finger at Matt. “You better make sure you didn’t do this, Mr. Vaynor because you will pay for killing Laura Finney. Let me advise you, you better find out exactly where you were that night.”
She got up and left the interview room. If she stayed in there any longer, she might have hit Matt. Why was it so simple for people to betray the people they supposedly loved?