“That was before or after you released the woman and little girl?”
“Before. We covered this already.”
“Humor me. And he was the one who brought the subject up, correct?”
Josh looked at him curiously. “What are you getting at, Logan?”
“Just answer the question.”
Josh looked over at Cavanaugh, who nodded. “He was the one who brought it up,” Josh said.
And after you let the two hostages go, what happened next?”
“We went into the living room and sat down. We talked about a couple of personal matters, and then Paul said it was time.”
“And by that you understood him to mean that it was time to die.” Josh nodded cautiously. “And that was when you left the room, to search the garage for a means to help him with his suicide.” It was a statement, not a question.
Josh looked again at Cavanaugh, whose face was a blank. “I don’t know where you’re going with all this, Logan, but I was with my brother when he died. He needed me to…”
Logan reached over and quickly turned off the tape recorder. Then he stood up. “I’m going for coffee. Who wants some?” Without waiting for a response, he said, “I’ll bring back four.” He left the room, closing the door firmly behind him.
As the door clicked, Josh leaned forward and knuckled his eyes. “What am I missing here, Wayne?”
“Look, Josh. It’s three in the morning and you just got back from the morgue. Maybe you’re in shock or just incredibly tired.” He nodded at the tape recorder. “But you were just about to go on public record saying that you killed your brother.”
“You know what happened, Wayne. I already told both you and Logan.”
“Not on the record, you didn’t. And we deliberately hadn’t read you your rights.”
Josh started to respond, then stopped. He looked at Alexis, then back at Cavanaugh. “I can’t change what happened in there.”
Cavanaugh put his hands in a V and placed them in front of his mouth. He stared at Josh over the peaked fingers until he had his full attention. “I know what happened in there. So does Logan. And put in your place, both of us would probably have done the same thing you did.” He pointed the V at Josh. “But here’s how a different cop—or tabloid reporter—could play it. Your brother is on the run, panics and shoots a cop. He holes up in the house and summons the only person he can trust, his brother. He wants to give himself up and wants his brother to negotiate his surrender.” He looks at Josh. “You with me so far?”
Josh nodded. “So far.”
“But Paul, in his panic, is forgetting one critical element. He raped his brother’s girlfriend and left her for dead. So that brother, the one he loves and trusts, enters the house, releases the only two witnesses, and ten minutes later, walks out with his body.” Cavanaugh leaned back. “Same events, but from different perspectives.”
Alexis started to speak, but Josh raised his hand slightly from the table to stop her. “I wasn’t looking at it that way. You’re right. In the wrong hands…” He looked over at the closed door. “Am I in the wrong hands, Wayne?”
“No. That’s why Logan left the room, so that we—meaning you—could get the story straight. And that story is that your brother told you he wanted to kill himself but didn’t have the means. You argued against it, but he told you that he’d decided, and that if he didn’t find the means to kill himself, he was going to run out of the house, as if he had a gun and commit suicide by cop. So he said he’d look upstairs for a gun and sent you out to the garage to look for a rope. What you didn’t know is that he’d already found a rope and set up a noose from the second-floor landing. And while you were out in the garage he hung himself.”
“But the scene doesn’t support that.”
“Actually, it does. When you two left in the ambulance, Logan and I went into the house alone and secured it. It was pretty clear to each of us what had happened and what you might be facing. So we searched the garage and actually found some rope. We went back in, tied a noose and secured it to the bannister. I even held on to it and stretched the noose so that it looked like it had been…put to use.”
He nodded at the tape recorder. “All the evidence—the rope, the contusions, your brother’s neck—are consistent with that story. So the only question is: Is that your story?”
Josh stared down at the table, his hands opening and closing. He started to speak, but his lip trembled and he stopped. Alexis put a hand over his, quieting the motion. “Can you give us a few minutes alone, detective?”
As the door closed behind Cavanaugh, Alexis moved her chair a little closer. “What are you thinking?”
“Paul didn’t die a coward. At the end, he was brave.” He looked around the room, his eyes straining. “I owe it to him to…”
“Paul knows how he died. And you know. And you were there with him. Not just with him but for him. That’s what’s important, that the two of you know. The hell with everyone else.”
Josh closed his eyes and leaned forward. His elbows on the table, he placed his face in his hands and went stone-still. After a minute he lifted his head. His eyes were clear, alert. “Okay. Let’s get this over with.”
Alexis walked over to the door and tapped on the heavy glass window.