Chapter Fifty-One

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

JOE PRIOR PACES his cell nervously. He doesn't like being caged. It reminds him of when his father would lock him in the closet for days at a time, so it triggers all sorts of unpleasant things for him. The thought of a long stretch in prison makes him break out in a cold sweat. He's afraid he's done for this time.

He thought he'd gotten away with Katie Cantor. He was questioned about her, but they'd had to let him go because there was no evidence. When he buried her, so far out in the middle of nowhere, he thought she'd never be found, but even so, he moved out of state, this time to Vermont. It's just sheer shitty luck that her body was found now , when they're looking at him for Diana Brewer, a girl he didn't kill.

But these fucking detectives had found out that he'd been questioned about Katie because he'd flirted with her at her cash register. Fuck, fuck, fuck. And now another girl he chatted to in a store is dead, and they've probably communicated with the police in New York State, and they're going to come and arrest him and have him taken back to New York, and they'll get a fucking warrant to get his fucking DNA because they'll probably have DNA from Katie Cantor's body. Fuck. His entire body is clammy inside his clothes.

He had nothing to do with the girl at Home Depot. He chatted her up, but she was never going to be a target. He'd learned his lesson after he'd been questioned because they saw him chatting to Katie on the surveillance footage. He never talks to his targets any more, is careful never to be captured on camera. It's just his shitty luck that someone murdered the Brewer girl. And if they get his DNA they'll have him cold for Katie Cantor. He can't squirm out of this one.

He hears someone coming and stops pacing.

‘You're wanted upstairs.'

‘I want my lawyer.'

‘He's already here.'

Upstairs, he takes his place in the interview room. It's Wednesday, early evening. The detectives took their time, but apparently they were at the girl's funeral. His lawyer barely looks at him. Joe stares back at Stone and Godfrey, hating them with his whole heart. What happened? His luck ran out, that's all. And he made that stupid mistake with Roddy. If he hadn't done that, would he be sitting here now? Maybe. Maybe not. He wouldn't have had to make that stupid mistake in the first place if someone else hadn't murdered the girl from Home Depot.

Detective Stone informs him that he's under arrest for the murder of Katie Cantor and that New York State Police are on their way to collect him and take him back to New York to answer charges. Then he says, ‘I understand they do have crime-scene DNA. So they won't have much difficulty getting a warrant for yours, to see if it matches.'

Joe turns to his lawyer. ‘Can they do this?'

‘Yes,' the attorney says.

‘Do you have anything to say?' Stone asks.

Joe says, beginning to sweat, ‘No comment.'

‘Is there anything you want to tell us about Diana Brewer?'

‘I didn't kill her.'

‘Maybe not,' Stone concedes. ‘Diana wasn't bound with wire. Katie was.'

‘I didn't do it,' Joe protests wildly. ‘I didn't fucking kill her! I didn't kill anybody!'

Joe lunges up out of his chair but is quickly restrained.

Wednesday evening, Graham Kelly sits in front of the two detectives as if he is in front of a tribunal sitting in judgement on him. He's not a religious man, but after the funeral in the church today – that wretched hour – he couldn't live with himself any longer. And he didn't want that bastard Brad Turner to do any more harm, to possibly get away with murder. He found he wouldn't be able to live with himself after all.

First he told his wife about his stupid, short-lived affair – she didn't take it well – and then he went to the police station. He has told them everything Diana told him, unburdened his soul, he has even wept; all that remains is to see what the fallout will be. For Brad. For him. For his family. He knows he is finished as an educator. Perhaps he can sell life insurance. Or cars. He likes cars.

Now Stone says, ‘I wish you had told us this earlier.'

He lowers his eyes in shame. ‘I do too.'

Turner has been called down to the police station. It's rather late. They didn't say why, just told him on the phone that they had a few more questions. The news had broken earlier that evening that Joe Prior had been arrested in the two-year-old murder of a girl in New York State. Turner had been pleased when he'd heard that about Prior. An arrest for the murder of Diana Brewer will surely follow, he told himself.

But he is worried about Graham Kelly.

He'd called his attorney and asked him to meet him there. Ellen doesn't know; she'd gone back home after the funeral earlier that day.

‘We know a lot more about what happened between you and Diana Brewer than we did last time we spoke,' Stone begins.

Brad feels the blood drain from his face, but he tries to brazen it out. He shrugs. ‘I don't see how. Nothing happened between me and Diana, other than what I've told you already.'

‘That's not true though, is it?' Stone says, becoming aggressive. ‘Graham Kelly has just been in here, and he told us a very different story.'

Brad tries not to show his alarm. Fucking Kelly. What has he said? Has he told them everything? He shrugs again, with feigned nonchalance, but says nothing.

‘We know that you entered Diana's house uninvited – through the unlocked back door – the night before she died. We know that you wore gloves. We know that you frightened her, that you made her take off her clothes and looked at her. We know you warned her not to tell, because if she did, you would say that she invited you over – that she'd initiated it, just like in the locker room. Oh yes, we know about the locker room. You told her no one would ever believe her. We know that she went to Graham Kelly the next morning, for a second meeting, that she told him all this in front of you. She threatened to go to the police if you ever came near her again. But, rather conveniently, she was murdered that very night.'

Brad tries to show no emotion. He can't speak. He can feel his lawyer beside him looking at him in dismay.

‘You had motive for killing her – to stop her going to the police. You didn't think Kelly would tell the truth because he'd covered up for you already about the locker-room incident, and it would make him look bad, end his career. And you knew you could blackmail him with your knowledge of his extramarital affair. But you know what you didn't factor in?' Stone leans forward across the table. ‘Unlike you, Kelly apparently has a conscience. And he couldn't live with it any longer. He believed you after the first meeting, but he wasn't so sure after the second. Then he learned you had no alibi, and then you tried to blackmail him.' He adds, ‘He's afraid you killed her.'

‘That's ridiculous,' Brad says. ‘He's lying. You only have his word for it. None of that ever happened. Diana was lying! He's trying to set me up!'

‘Now why would he do that when he has so much to lose? His job. His wife. His family. His standing in the community.' Stone adds, ‘Oh, and by the way, guess who else has come forward. Taylor Acosta. Remember her?'