Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Jamie

I took a seat on the opposite side of the bed from Carlotta. The seat was uncomfortable, made from hard plastic, and I shuffled a little, trying to find a slightly more comfortable way to sit. It didn’t work. William opened his eyes again and looked at me.

“Is this really necessary right now, Detective?” he asked. “In case you didn’t get the memo, I’ve been in a car accident.”

“I got the memo,” I responded coolly. “And I’ve spoken to your doctors. They have confirmed that you’re perfectly fine to answer some questions. In fact, you really lucked out. You have a broken bone in your wrist, but other than that, you escaped with a few minor cuts and bruises. Although I imagine you’ll be in a bit of pain for some time.”

“Yeah, that’s what I call lucky,” he muttered under his breath in a sarcastic tone.

I ignored him. He wasn’t going to get under my skin and cause me to bite. William looked ready to argue with me, to tell me to get out of his room, but instead he sighed and pushed himself up into a sitting position, wincing as he did so.

“Be careful, honey,” Carlotta said, jumping to her feet. “Maybe you’d be best off staying laid down.”

“And maybe I’d be best off if you stopped fussing over me,” William snapped.

Carlotta looked hurt, but she tried to hide it. She gave the slightest nod of her head and fluffed one of William’s pillows behind him.

“Just stop, would you?” William snapped at her again.

She sat back down heavily in the chair, not meeting his eye. She looked down into her lap for a moment and then she looked back up, her game face back on.

“So William, what happened today?” I asked.

I had already heard from multiple witnesses what had happened, but I was asking him this for two reasons. Firstly, to lull him into a false sense of security and get him talking. And secondly, because the doctor had confirmed that the level of alcohol in his blood was almost as high as it was the night Candy was killed. I wanted to see exactly how much he remembered. That might at least give me a hint as to whether he was telling the truth about his memories of that night being gone.

“I ... I’m not sure, Detective,” he answered after thinking for a moment. “I remember being in a bar, and then the next thing I remember, I was waking up in here.”

“You were drunk, William. You staggered into the road and a car hit you. He tried to stop but it was too late,” Carlotta said.

She put her hand over William’s, and he pushed it away. She looked hurt again, but again, she tried to hide it, pulling at the blanket over him instead as though her intention had always been to pick off a piece of imaginary lint from his bedding.

“Have you called the office and let them know I won’t be in for a few days?” William asked Carlotta.

“Not yet,” she said.

She looked like she wanted to say more, but he snapped at her, cutting her off before she could.

“Wonderful. It would have been nice if you had done the one thing that might have actually been useful,” he said.

“I ... I wasn’t thinking straight. I got a call to say you’d been in an accident and you were at the hospital. I just rushed straight here,” she said.

“Oh, so that’s why you look such a state,” he said.

She blinked quickly, looking up at the ceiling, no doubt trying to stop the tears from falling.

“I’ll call them once the detective is finished,” Carlotta said quietly, her voice shaking.

Her words seemed to remind William I was still here, and he turned back to me.

“Do you want to pursue pressing charges against the driver?” I asked. “Eyewitnesses have confirmed the driver wasn’t speeding, and I don’t think you stand much chance of winning a case against him, but I have to ask.”

William shook his head. At least one thing was going to be simple.

“It sounds like it was a genuine accident,” he replied.

I wouldn’t exactly call it that. It sounded to me more like William had caused the whole thing, but the responding officers had already confirmed that the driver didn’t want to take this any further either, so I just nodded.

William reached across to the small cabinet that sat beside his bed and picked up a glass of water that was standing there. Carlotta got to her feet and tried to help William guide the glass to his mouth.

“Carlotta, stop it, jeez. I can hold a damned glass myself,” he said.

“I thought maybe your arm would be hurting,” she said, sitting back down quickly.

It was painful to watch this scene. Carlotta was doing her best to be loving, to reason with William and help him, and he was making it apparent that he held her in no regard whatsoever. Even without what Carlotta had told me this morning about William’s affairs, it was clear to see that this was a marriage that was well and truly on the rocks.

I just wanted to get away now. William didn’t seem to be able to remember anything of the events leading up to the accident, which wasn’t what I had wanted to hear. I had wanted him to remember everything so that it would at least indicate that he was lying about not being able to remember what had happened the night Candy was killed.

“Is there anything else we can do for you, Detective?” Carlotta asked me. “Just if that’s everything, William really needs to get some rest.”

I waited for William to bite her head off again, but this time, he nodded his head in agreement with her. Interesting. He definitely had to want me gone pretty badly to let Carlotta speak for him like that.

“That’s about it, but just while I’m here, have either of you remembered anything at all from the night Candy died? Anything? Even something so small it might seem insignificant?” I asked.

I wasn’t expecting either of them to admit anything even if they had remembered it at this point, but I had to ask. It would have been complacent of me to not even bother, and besides, they might have started to wonder why the precinct had sent a homicide detective to talk to them about a car accident, and the last thing I wanted was for them to work out that I was testing them, because I didn’t know when I might have to use that trick on them again.

Carlotta shook her head.

“No, Detective,” William said. “And if we do, don’t worry, you will be the first to know.”

His voice sounded quieter than it had since he woke up, and there was the tiniest tremor to it. One that would have been almost impossible to detect if you weren’t used to listening for the smallest thing. His right eye twitched when he said it too, and my senses were tingling again.

I knew he had remembered something. I also knew he wasn’t going to tell me what it was yet, but something had definitely come back to him. I knew it with every fiber of my being, but I knew if I pushed him now, he was only going to clam up further. I knew I would get it out of him at some point, though. If I had to arrest him to do it, I was willing to do that. Just not yet. First, I wanted to give him a chance to think it through. Maybe he had only remembered a tiny snippet and he didn’t want to say anything until more came back.

I stood up and took my leave. I wanted to go and talk to a few of William’s co-workers to get a handle on what he was like as a person outside of his marriage. I checked my watch. I knew if I went there now, I wouldn’t have enough time to really talk to people before I would have to leave to get to the autopsy, and I didn’t want to half-ass this.

I debated calling Officer Stanford and asking her and Officer Dumont to pop out to William’s workplace and talk to his colleagues, but I knew that would never work. I needed to do it myself so I could gauge their reactions in much the same way as I had wanted to interview William and Carlotta myself. I trusted Officer Stanford, but I was still worried she would miss something that I would pick up on.

And if any of them raised any red flags, it would be strange if I went to follow up the questioning. It was one thing interviewing a potential suspect multiple times, but the chief wouldn’t be too happy if he thought we were harassing members of the public who were trying to help us with our investigation.

Going to question William’s co-workers would have to wait until tomorrow now, because there was no way I was palming off the autopsy onto someone else. Dr. Karloff was friendly enough with me that he would present any theories he had off the record, but I didn’t think he would do that with just anyone, and his theories often proved to be somewhat useful.