Jason Carter was wrong. Investigators didn’t release him. Night fell and he was still behind bars. The plan was to charge him with first-degree murder the next morning.
Parker was gloating about the murder charge. He swung by the photo department to brag to Tommy about it on his way out the door. “I told you. The husband always did it.”
“Huh,” Tommy said, surprised. “He thought he’d be out of there before nightfall.”
“What?” Parker turned back toward her. “You talked to him?”
“Yeah, didn’t you?” She knew his interview request had been denied.
“No, the meathead wouldn’t talk. But he talked to you, huh? What’d he have to say? Anything we can use in my story?”
Tommy knew she should have fed Parker quotes for his story from Belinda’s husband, but this was too close to home. She wasn’t thinking like a journalist. She was thinking like a woman whose high school friend had been murdered. She knew her long silence was making Parker suspicious. He narrowed his eyes.
“No, sorry. Just lost in thought there for a second. He just backed up what you already have about their marital strife and so on. But he said what I thought from the beginning: he wasn’t stupid enough to murder someone he had threatened.”
Parker got out his notepad and began scribbling. “Can I use that?”
“Of course.”
“So, you still think he didn’t do it? I heard he’s quite a charmer. Quite a lady’s man in fact.” Was that jealousy in Parker’s tone?
“I just think he’s telling the truth, that’s all,” Tommy said, thinking about her conversation with Jason Carter. What if he really was innocent? What if Rafael’s “Big Boss” killed Belinda for kidnapping Rafael? But she didn’t even know who that was. Would police release Jason Carter because she told them some unknown man, some mysterious stranger killed Belinda, but she didn’t know the guy’s name? Nope. She decided to keep that theory to herself. For now.
“He’s a sociopathic liar, T.J.,” Parker said. “He has stepped on every single person who stood in his way on his path to the top. I have interviewed at least three people who will testify in court that he destroyed their lives in his thirst for power. How can you defend a creep like that?”
“I’m not defending him Parker. But just because you are an asshole, doesn’t make you a murderer.”