September 1, Friday Morning
Stone tapped a few keys as she looked at his computer monitor. “It seems our boy, Tyler Harris, was a bright lad. He completed his bachelor's in science. Then it seems he hit hard times. His employment history is scattered to odd jobs.”
“Well, murder would be a new low for him.” Roberts peered over his shoulder. “Tyler Harris is now available for an interview. Let’s bring him from the holding cell and have a conversation with him. We better make sure his court-appointed lawyer is here as well.”
Stone walked to the coffee room, getting another cup for himself. By the time he arrived at the interview room, Roberts was sitting across from Tyler Harris. Harris looked tired as he slouched in his chair, a bottle of water was opened in front of him. His face, with a scruffy beard, was without expression. Standing next to Harris was a nervous looking young man.
“You must be his attorney.” Stone looked up at the standing man.
“Yes, Nigel Oliver.” He pushed a business card across the table.
“Good to meet you. Why don’t you have a seat?” Stone waited until the lawyer sat and opened a folder. “Mr. Harris, we have a situation of a murdered man and the contents of his safe stolen. We found the stolen money hidden in your apartment, and the victim’s blood on your shirt. Anything you’d to say about that?”
Harris stirred and attempted to sit up straight.
“How do you know it was the victim’s blood, and the money was stolen?” Oliver asked.
“The money and the shirt were found in his apartment. Our lab confirmed the blood on the shirt to match Ryan Morgan. The money matched the description of what was placed in the safe earlier. Unless Mr. Harris has an invisible roommate, I would say he is guilty of murder and robbery.”
“Did you have a search warrant?”
“We did. Does your client have anything to say in his defence?” Stone flipped open a page inside the folder in front of him. “Does this photo ring any bells?” He slid across a photo of Ryan Morgan lying dead in a pool of blood around his head.
Harris jerked in his chair and wiped a hand across his head. “Shit.”
“I advise you not to say anything right now,” Oliver quickly spoke.
“Look, man, I didn’t go there to kill him. She said we could just take money out of the safe, that she knew the combination.”
“What happened when you arrived there? Who is she?”
“Don’t speak.”
Harris looked around and licked his lips. “I was high, you know, spaced out. I went with that bitch, Melisa. She said it was easy money. I didn’t know he would be there.”
“Did you kill Ryan Morgan?”
“She screamed at me to finish him off. Just kept yelling at me.”
“Look, my client obviously was on drugs at the time of the murder. He lacked capacity for what was happening.”
“I want to confess. I’m having nightmares.” Harris pushed the photo away.
“Can I have a few minutes alone with my client?”
Stone stood. “Sure. Just so you know, we also have Melisa Regan in custody. She may claim it was all Tyler’s idea, and she was forced to go along. Don’t wait too long to tell his side of the story.”
Roberts and Stone left the interview room.
“Do you think he’ll confess?” Roberts asked as they stood by the closed door of the interview room.
“I do, unless that brand new lawyer talks him out of it.” Stone took a drink of his coffee. “I don’t want to screw this up. I don’t want either Harris or Regan to escape on a technicality or missing evidence. So far, it looks like Joseph McCarthy has gotten away with his attack on Morgan.”
Oliver opened the door. “Mr. Harris would like to make a statement.” He didn’t look pleased.
Stone and Roberts sat again at the table, facing Harris.
“How about we start when you received a letter from Melisa Regan,” Stone initiated the interview.
“Yeah, sure. I got this envelope couriered to me. It said if I wanted to make some quick money to call her. I did. She told me there was money in a safe where she worked and she knew the combination number. She wanted someone to help her carry out the cash.
“Then on the day we were to get together, she told me to bring a gun or knife, just in case someone came along. I carry a knife with me a lot. You know, I buy and sell drugs. It’s good to have a weapon.”
“Okay, after she told you to bring a weapon, you still went ahead with the robbery.”
“Yeah, well, I was pretty high then. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“Where did you meet her?”
“The coffee shop across from his office.” Harris shifted in his seat, taking a drink from his bottle of water.
“So you went up to his office together?” Stone stared at his empty cup and sighed.
Harris nodded. “We got to his office and went inside this second office. That’s when I saw this guy trying to crawl on the floor. He looked up and asked for help.”
“But you didn’t help him,” Roberts interjected.
“She kept yelling at me to kill him. I don’t why I did, but I used my knife to slice his throat.” He covered his face with his hands. “Fuck me.” He shook his head. “I just kept hearing her scream, kill him, kill him. So I did.”
“Then what?” Roberts asked.
“We split the money from the safe. I went home, changed, and went to work at the bar.”
“You went to work after that?” Stone asked.
“I was still strung out. It didn’t occur to me not to go to work. After my shift, I went home, hid the money inside the dryer. I fell asleep. When I woke up, I went out and bought more drugs. Then I passed out.”
Roberts looked at her notes. “What happened, Tyler? You went to university, got your bachelor of science. Now this?”
“It started during my final year. I broke a leg during a soccer game. I got hooked on painkillers. I really screwed up my life. I’m sorry for what I did. But that bitch, she ain’t sorry.”
“Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Harris.” Stone stood. “I’ll make sure the court knows of your willingness to confess.”
Stone walked with Roberts to the coffee room. “Now we have a confession from Harris, let’s see what Ms. Regan has to say.”
“I suspect her story may differ.” Roberts added milk to her own coffee.
“Let’s take a break and have her called up to the interview room. Let’s contact her lawyer. No point in trying to get her to say anything without her council present.”