CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

• Right after breakfast, the next day, Olivia and Wayne made their way to the police station in eager anticipation. It was cooler than usual today with a light rain that tapped lightly on the roof of the cab.
• “This could be it,” Wayne said in the cab as they sat close to each other. “If Christine is really unraveling, we could be on the brink of a confession from her.”
• Olivia shivered. “If she’s unraveling how reliable is her confession?”
• Wayne smiled. “You’re sharp, Olivia. Nothing escapes you. You’re right, of course, but that’s how most confessions are made. The person doesn’t see any way out and can’t keep the truth locked up any longer.”
• “And if it’s a false confession made out of desperation?” asked Olivia.
• “Some are,” Wayne agreed, “and it’s up to us to figure it out. People’s lives are on the line.”
• “And it’s up to us to protect them,” Olivia quipped. It all seemed like a huge burden to her suddenly.
• “Don’t worry.” Wayne seemed to pick up her feeling as he put his arm around her and gave her a light hug. “You’re not alone with it. None of us are, ever.”
• When they got into the police station, Christine was there already, running her hand frantically through her hair and shifting back and forth restlessly on the bench she was sitting on. Chief of Police Dowl and a few other officers were there, including Justin.
• “I can’t take another minute of this,” Christine burst out as Olivia and Wayne entered and sat down.
• “Just repeat what you told us one more time.” Dowl was leading the interrogation.
• “Why do I have to repeat it again? Why didn’t you hear what I said the first time?” Christine stared at him bitterly.
• “We heard it.” Dowl stayed professional with her. “We need to hear every word of it again to be positive.”
• “I told you I hated the bastard and I’ll say it again now,” she suddenly burst out. “Mort and I were having a terrible time before he died.”
• “That’s not what you said before,” Dowl corrected her.
• Christine raised her eyes to the ceiling. “I said that I knew he had a second family for a while now, is that what you’re waiting to hear?”
• “Exactly,” said Dowl as the other officers in the room looked at one another.
• “I knew it, I knew it.” Christine’s voice rose as she repeated the words. “And I had a right to hate him, didn’t I?” She threw an off-glance at Olivia then. “Didn’t I? Tell them, Olivia.”
• “A person has a right to feel whatever they feel,” Olivia responded. “It’s what they do about their feelings that matters.”
• “What did I do?” Christine half rose from her seat, “I yelled at him, I told him I knew about his second family. I begged him to tell me why. Wasn’t I enough for him? Didn’t I give him my life?”
• “What did he say?” Olivia was spellbound.
• “He denied it completely, every word of it,” breathed Christine. “I told him that Andrea told me and he said she was a troubled young woman. Why would I believe her instead of him?”
• “Mort played with your head,” said Olivia.
• “I actually think he believed every word he said,” Christine muttered. “He probably never thought of them as a second family. He must have thought of her as the whore she was!”
• “What about their children?” Olivia urged her on.
• “She trapped him, I’m sure of it.” Christine looked devastated. “I warned him there would be hell to pay for getting involved with that kind of woman! There always is. What would you do, Olivia?”
• Christine’s question took Olivia aback. “I don’t know,” said Olivia truthfully, as she looked over and saw Justin gazing at her.
• “You’d want to kill the bastard, too, wouldn’t you? Anyone would.” Christine’s face was flushing.
• “I might have that feeling,” Olivia continued, “but I wouldn’t do it.”
• Christine laughed.
• “Did you kill him, Christine?” Olivia asked forthrightly.
• The question obviously took Christine by surprise. “Of course I didn’t kill him.”
• A deep silence suddenly swept through the police station.
• Olivia stood up and walked closer to Christine. “But you just said you wanted to.”
• “It wasn’t only the second family either,” Christine went on, her rage intensifying. “I begged him over and over to get Andrea out of our lives. I couldn’t stand her. And he wouldn’t! He could have, but he didn’t.”
• “How could he have gotten Andrea out of your life?” asked Olivia.
• “He could have told her to get the hell out of our home,” Christine thundered.
• “Wasn’t Andrea your daughter’s best friend?” Olivia plunged forward. “Didn’t she come over to see Penny?”
• “Andrea’s a miserable creature who was after my husband.” Christine was emphatic. “She wouldn’t leave us alone. She stalked us.”
• “You felt she wanted to take Mort from you?” Olivia wanted to be precise and clear.
• “Andrea wanted everything I had,” Christine breathed. “She’d give us the sob story that she had no father, but she didn’t want a father. She wanted my life.”
• Dowl took a few steps closer to Olivia and Christine. “Andrea should have been here half an hour ago,” he said.
• “Good.” Christine looked half wild. “When she comes in she can tell you how she blackmailed Mort and when he didn’t pay up, she came and told me what was going on. She’s a poisonous snake in the grass.”
• “Where is she?” Wayne asked Dowl then.
• “Damned if I know.” Dowl was disconcerted. “They’re looking for her right now as we talk.”
• “She’s probably out somewhere killing someone else!” Christine shouted.
• “Or maybe someone’s got her?” Justin joined in now, looking at Christine oddly.
• “Got Andrea? I’m the one they called warning, not Andrea.” Christine went on the attack. “I’m the one to be worried about, not her!”
• “And maybe you’re after her now, defending yourself?” Justin was vigorous and held nothing back.
• Christine stopped and stared at him strangely. “You’re young and you’re smart,” she hissed. “Maybe I am?”
• “Maybe it’s you who wants Andrea dead?” Justin moved closer.
• “Of course I do.” Christine flared up uncontrollably. “Why shouldn’t I? Wouldn’t you?”
• Dowl put his hand on Justin’s shoulder to pull him back. Justin shrugged him off and moved  closer.
• “There’s a lot of people you want dead, aren’t there, Christine?” Justin moved in for the kill.
• “I do, I do.” Christine started shouting. “Get the hell away from me, you little monster, or I’ll get you too!”
• Justin threw a quick look at Dowl then. Dowl nodded harshly.
• “We’re going to have to hold you here, Mrs. Townsend,” Dowl suddenly said.
• “Hold me, why?”
• “Under suspicion of murder,” Dowl replied.
• “You just try it,” she blasted.
• “We have to,” Justin responded matter-of-factly. “You’re a danger to yourself and others.”
• *
• “That’s it,” Dowl said as Christine was taken from the room. “We’ve got what we need.”
• “Definitely looks like it,” agreed Justin.
• “Not so quick.” Wayne took him on abruptly. “We can’t discount Andrea. Where is she? Why didn’t she show up? We’ve got to take her in anyway as she clearly confessed to blackmailing.”
• Justin shrugged. “Big deal,” he quipped. “Christine is obviously the killer. She hated her husband. She found out about his second family and confessed to wanting to kill him.”
• “He denied it though,” Olivia jumped in. “And Christine believed him.”
• “She believed that he wasn’t actually married to Heidi, but there’s no denying he cheated on her for a long time.”
• “We need hard evidence, though.” Wayne spoke to Justin as if he were a newcomer.
• Justin didn’t like it. “I’d say this is as hard evidence as you can get.”
• “Hold on, hold on.” Dowl got between them. “Both of you are right. Christine is loaded with motive, but we can’t discount Andrea. It’s not good that she didn’t show up, either. If we don’t  locate her in a little while we’ll put an all points alert out on her.”
• The idea of that frightened Olivia. “If Andrea’s on the run, an all points alert could push her over the edge,” she said. “I think it’s best to search for her quietly.”
• Justin smiled at Olivia warmly. “We might not have the luxury of that,” he said. “Right now time is of the essence.”
• “Olivia is right,” said Wayne, bristling and wanting to put a wedge between her and Justin. “If Andrea sees we’ve got an all points alert out, it might drive her into real hiding.”
• “Let’s calm this down for a minute.” Dowl jumped in again. “All likelihood, Andrea will show up any minute. The good part is that right now we have two definite persons of interest, Christine and Andrea. From here on in, we’ve got to focus all our attention on both of these women. For all intents and purposes, outside of them the case is closed.”
• Closed? Olivia was dismayed. “Not yet,” Olivia insisted.
• Wayne looked at her carefully. “They’re not saying it’s totally closed,” he reminded her, “just that we know where to focus now.”
• Everyone in the room was then given assignments about what to look into. All eyes would check out every aspect of both these women. There would be a definite conclusion, they felt, in no time.
• *
• Olivia and Wayne headed back to the hotel for lunch before embarking upon their individual
• assignments. Olivia was to talk to all of Andrea’s friends and acquaintances, in the effort to find out more about her life and background. Did she have a secret record that no one knew about? Wayne was teaming up with a few other officers to dig more fully into Christine’s marriage, family, and finances.
• “Justin’s an impulsive, brash kid,” Wayne commented as the cab pulled away. “And not that bright, if you ask me.”
• Olivia smiled. She knew Wayne was threatened by Justin and she liked that.
• “He’s okay,” Olivia said blandly. “I’ve seen better and I’ve seen worse.”
• “Who’s better?” asked Wayne.
• “I’ll give you three guesses, Wayne,” Olivia remarked.
• “You’re talking about me?” asked Wayne, laughing.
• “Yes I am,” Olivia reassured him. “Who else?”
• *
• When Olivia and Wayne arrived back at the hotel, Olivia felt tired. She wanted to go up to her room to freshen up a little and said she’d meet Wayne at the coffee shop in a few minutes. Naturally, Wayne agreed. Olivia also needed time alone to go over everything. She decided to take a quick shower, change, and try calling Andrea on her own. Olivia was concerned about her. Perhaps she’d get an answer and find out where she was easily.
• The shower felt warm and wonderful, washing the tiredness away. Olivia stood under the pouring water, realizing how uneasy she felt about the case. There were too many loose threads dangling to be anywhere near declaring it closed.
• When she got out of the shower, Olivia slipped into a lovely lemon silk, summer dress and brushed her hair for a long time. Her grief over Todd’s death was fading and Olivia felt the time was coming to move forward in her love life again. Her closeness to Wayne was definitely growing and it was fun that Wayne felt jealous of Justin, but what did it mean actually? Although they worked so beautifully together, Olivia realized that she didn’t know Wayne personally so well. Who was he as a man? What was important to him? So far their work as detectives had consumed both of them. It was definitely time for both to open up and learn more about each other.
• Just as Olivia was about to go down to meet Wayne in the coffee shop for lunch, her phone  suddenly rang, stopping her.