Dual Suspect (Spencer Clark Crime Thriller Book 1) Read online

  “Miss Melody Riggers, do you have a record? Do you have a record?” I saw that she did, which shocked me a little bit. The record said she had a misdemeanor for assault. Hello. Possible suspect? So she had an anger issue. Good to know. This was the opening I needed to help get my sister off the hook.

  My cell phone rang, taking me away from the screen. I picked it up while I scrolled through the case details.

  “Hello, I’m in the middle of something right now, what can I do for you?” I said to the caller.

  “Oh, hey. I just need some support right now. I’ve been getting these calls. Please, Spencer, I feel like I’m about to have a nervous breakdown.”

  I froze. Calls? What calls? From Ryan? They shouldn’t have been grilling her so hard at this stage. Innocent until proven guilty before a judge and jury in a court of law, at least in my book.

  “Whose been calling you? Remember I’m coming around to see you tonight so we can debrief and get you prepared for the interview. Did you call that lawyer like I said?” I spoke with authority. I hated to talk to her like that, but I had to set her straight otherwise she was going to cave under the heat.

  “I don’t know who it is. Some woman has been calling me. I-I- can’t handle this. I don’t know why I came back. I should have stayed in Spain. I just need some help.” Desperation choked my sister’s voice, but there was a little voice at the back of my head telling me she fell forward into a pile of shit, and she only had herself to blame. I rubbed the back of my neck, thinking I shouldn’t feel this way, but it was the truth.

  “What did the woman say?” I asked in a terse tone.

  “She said she was going to ruin my life. She knows Liam.”

  I felt a knife twist in my stomach thinking about who, on the list of women that I’d just run down, would be capable of such a thing. For some reason, Melody popped into my mind. She had a record and she’d been seeing Liam.

  “Alright. I’m on my way over.” I still had a bunch of case-work to do, and this was not how I wanted to spend my afternoon.

  If it was Melody giving my sister hell it was kind of a good thing in a lot of ways. This would blow the case wide open. My sister wouldn’t be the only one the light would be shining on.

  Once again I grabbed my stuff and drove over to Susan’s rental, knocking on the door several times. She came to the front door with puffy eyes and a Rudolph-red nose. More tears spilled over as soon as she looked at me and I hugged her, feeling sorry for her. She really had no idea about life. She was all over the place. Clothes were strewn everywhere and her place looked like a trash heap.

  “Susan, what the hell is going on here?”

  “Stop judging me, I’m trying to deal with all this crap and I can’t. This girl keeps calling. She rang again.”

  “Where’s your phone, give it to me. Find it and give it to me.” A firm hand was what my sister needed, otherwise she’d get completely out of hand.

  Chapter Three

  I took the phone from my sister and looked through the messages and phone numbers. I pulled out my cell phone and checked where I’d plugged in the numbers and some of the records. Melody’s number and the one on my sister’s phone didn’t match up. Yet, somehow I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was her. I took the number from my sister’s phone and punched it into my phone.

  Three rings later, and a familiar-sounding voice answered the phone.

  “Hello.” Melody’s voice was flat, but I knew it because I’d just spoken to her.

  “Did you just call a Susan Clark?” She hung up, cutting my interrogation short.

  “That was Melody, another woman that was seeing Liam. I don’t know who this guy thinks he is, but he has some serious vices.” My statement sent my sister into a further downward spiral of hysterics as she slumped to the floor.

  “Why? Why would he do that to me? Who is Melody?” I wanted to shake my sister. She was sick with heartbreak and I was sick with fear of her going to jail.

  “Hey, listen,” I said to her, bobbing down. “That’s not what we need to be concerned with. You need to think about whether you’re going to jail or not. Don’t you get it? I work for the FBI. I’ve been taken off the case because I’m too close to you. I can’t be on it, anymore. How about that?”

  I hadn’t meant to put the nail in the coffin, but she was irritating me with all of her mess. The sobbing continued. I sat down on her couch, careful to take a long hard look at it first. Satisfied that there was a clear space for me to sit down, I scrolled through the text messages from Melody to my sister.

  ‘I saw you with him. I know. I know. I know. You hurt him.’

  Son of a… this was not good. This was way worse than I thought. How could Melody know what my sister was doing?

  “Susan…” I said her name in a flat tone. “How does she know about what you did? What does she know?”

  Susan threw her hands in the air as she sniffled. “I don’t know. I think she knows that I was there with Liam that night. That’s what the message says.”

  “Does that mean she was there?” Really, I was thinking out loud because it was pointless trying to talk to my sister. She was in no condition to think with a clear head.

  “I don’t know if she was there. When I drove to see Liam I was so focused on catching him. Maybe she was the one he was going to see.”

  “You’re probably right.” I saw the quivering of my sister’s lip and rolled my eyes as I got up from the couch. I could really have used Ryan’s expertise at this stage. If ever there was a time I wanted to bounce a case off him this would have been it.

  “Susan, you’ll have to get it together. I’m going to need for you to get it together. My boss is going to grill you and I need for you to be ready. Don’t tell him about the messages. I’m going to tell him about that part.”

  “What if they ask me though. I have to tell the truth. I don’t want to go to jail. What do I say?”

  “You won’t need to say anything because I’ll relay the messages to him before you even go in for questioning.” I was hoping that, with the additional details I’d picked up, he would let me back on the case. There was no way that there was anyone better equipped than me to handle it. I knew Susan at a core level. I knew who she really was.

  “Give me your phone. I want you to get another one. Matter of fact let’s go now and you can get a new phone. I don’t want you to keep this one. I’m going to monitor it and draw this bitch out.”

  “Can you say that? Aren’t you supposed to be neutral on cases?” she asked through her foggy eyes as she got up. Her hair looked like a mess, tangled up on top of her head, but it looked like she’d showered and dressed properly at least.

  “Not when it comes to my baby sister I won’t be.” I loved her despite my surliness towards her and the hot pocket of resentment that laid underneath. I still wanted the best for her. I wanted to see her do well and I was mostly mad at her because I really wanted her to get her shit together.

  We got to the car and went to pick up a new phone. On the drive over my knuckles were gripped tightly around the steering wheel as I was thinking about how to tackle the situation. “Do you really think you hurt Liam? Or do you think there’s a possibility that this Melody chick could have done it?” I side-eyed her as we pulled in next to Harris Teeter and got out.

  Her mouth was open wide like a guppie fish as she frowned, trying to figure out what I meant about Melody. “I guess it could be her if you want it to be. Is that the story I’m going with?”

  “No. That’s not what I meant,” I told her as we entered the mall. “I just mean are you 100% certain that you were the one to put Liam in a coma? Do you really know that?” I knew she couldn’t tell me for certain, that part was confirmed when I went to see her in Spain. She didn’t know then that she’d ran Liam off the road.

  “You know it would have to be me. Who else could it be? I’m the one who rammed him.” Susan’s eyes were sad and her skin was blotchy, which made it clear that all o
f this was taking its toll.

  “Yes, that’s true, but now if this other person was at the scene, we don’t know what her role was. What did she do after you left? This isn’t adding up.”

  “I want this nightmare to be done,” she said as we walked into the phone shop. It would be damn ballsy of this Melody woman to message now, especially since the call I ‘d made earlier confirming her name.

  We picked out a basic phone for my sister and I gave her the rundown. “Don’t give anyone else this number right now. Only call me or Dad on it. You got it?”

  “Yeah, I got it.” Susan’s mouth curled up as I saw her eyes welling up again with tears.

  “Can I ask you something, Spencer.”

  “Sure, shoot.” Briskly we walked back to the car and got in.

  Now the next part was to brief her back at home. I wasn’t working, but I was. Right after that, I planned to ring Ryan and give him the lowdown.

  My sister was hesitating about asking me whatever she had to ask. “Weren’t you going to ask me a question? Go ahead,” I urged.

  “No, no, don’t worry about it. It’s not a police question or anything. It’s just a personal question.” My stomach was a little queasy because I didn’t want to answer any personal questions from my sister. A wedge was between us and, frankly, I was happy to keep it there.

  “Right. So, just ask me,” I said anyway.

  “Do you ever think about Mom?” Her faraway look did nothing to stop the resentment from bubbling up inside of me.

  “Why are you asking me about that?” I snapped as I put on my seatbelt. Her face had a blank look on it, once again, just like she was back then with all her partying and bullshit. She was so immersed in her own world.

  “No need to snap! I just wondered what you thought, since you took care of her so much.”

  “There is a need to snap. You were never there, Susan. You did nothing to help, so shame on you for asking me that.” That resentment bubbled right on over and out of my mouth. I wished I could have taken it back, but maybe it was better now the truth was out.

  “Oh! I didn’t know you felt like that.” I cranked the engine, so ready to be done with Susan for the day. “I guess I ran and tried to bury myself in other things. I didn’t know how to cope. I still don’t,” she admitted as her shoulders hunched up.

  There was no point dwelling on it, or dragging up the past, or pointing fingers because she would just pretend in her aloof way that she knew nothing. All that would do would be to further aggravate me.

  “Look, you’re not in the right frame of mind for questioning and being sharp right now, so how about we just start fresh in the morning?”

  “Sounds good, so then are you avoiding talking about Mom with me?”

  “Yes,” was my resounding answer.

  “Oh.” We remained silent for the rest of the ride home; the conversation killed by the football field of distance between us. I dropped her off and she moped out of the car.

  I backed out of the driveway thinking about the last days with my mother. How she suffered, how weak she was as she held onto her oxygen, dragging it along behind her when she shuffled along the tiled hallway of the hospital. I felt my eyes misting over as I got home and sobbed over the steering wheel.

  Mom. I miss you. I wish you were here. Our family is a mess.

  Chapter Four

  Sparrows chirping outside my window, along with my phone alarm, told me it was time to get up. I swiped the alarm clock on my phone and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. Then reality hit and I sat quickly with my heart pounding. I had a decision to make. Call Ryan and give my sister some breathing room on the case or let her flounder like one of those bass fish in the lake that my father liked to catch.

  I chose the former option. I licked my lips, finding they were chapped and dry, as I threw back my duvet cover. Slipping on my house shoes, I got up and went to the kitchen, seeking coffee to kick start my system. I flipped my cell phone back and forth in my hand, trying to decide when the best time would be for me to call Ryan. Now. I placed the boiling water in the percolator, grit my teeth, and rang through to his direct phone line.

  “Hey Ryan, it’s me, Spence.”

  “Spencer, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?” His tone was dripping with sarcasm, and I knew he was well aware why I’d called him. He obviously knew that I’d been working on the case.

  “You know why I’m calling. I’m on break from the case, but you know you need me. We both know that. My little sister is coming in today, but you have to realize that she wasn’t the only one at the scene of the hit and run with Liam Westwood? Do you want to know more?”

  I dangled the evidence carrot, waiting for him to fall for the bait. He did just that.

  Sighing heavily into the phone I gave him what I’d found. “There’s another woman involved. A woman named Melody. She was at the scene, and I found a connection with her on Liam’s cell phone.”

  “Dammit, Spencer! Why do you have Liam’s phone? You know you can’t do that. You took that out of the evidence locker, didn’t you?” Ryan was annoyed, but it was too bad, because my sister’s life was on the line.

  “I did what I had to do. You took me off the most important case of my career and forced my hand. What else was I supposed to do?”

  “What you’re supposed to do is follow orders. We would have picked that up. You should have more faith in me as your boss.”

  I paused for a minute. Ryan would have found out, but I couldn’t sit idle. Besides, Susan would have been at me regardless, asking me to help her.

  “You’re not helping this case by putting me on leave. I’ll bring the phone in and explain the whole thing to you. I know Susan’s coming in later this afternoon. It will give you some time to revise your questions.”

  “Revise our questions? You’ve got a lot of balls saying that to me.”

  “That’s why you hired me, right?”

  “Touché. Bring the phone in, Spence, I don’t want to have to write you up. You know you’re jeopardizing the case by tampering with evidence.” I looked over and saw that my coffee was ready, and I smiled into the phone.

  “Thanks for listening. I’ll bring the phone in. See you in 20.”

  I drank down the sludge I’d created, took a quick shower, and headed into the bureau. I walked straight through and into Ryan’s office with quite a few eyes on me.

  As soon as Ryan saw me he looked up from his paperwork with a grim look on his face.

  “Give me the phone, Spencer,” He gestured to me and I handed it over to him.

  After I’d handed him the phone, I dropped into the seat in front of his desk. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think my sister hit Liam. There’s this woman who’s obsessed with Liam, and she sent a death threat to my sister. She called her from a different number, telling Susan that she knew that she ran Liam off the road. She was trying to shake her up like something out of ‘Scary Movie.’ The woman is crazed.”

  “Let me be the judge of that. Show me where the messages are.” I took the phone from my boss and stood behind his desk. I pointed out the messages from M.

  “Hmm. So what did you do? You called her?”

  “Yeah, I planned to go through his list of hook-ups and call them all. I want to know more about this guy. Is he some sort of male escort? I mean what’s up with him?”

  “I don’t know, but tell me more about what you found out,” Ryan asked slowly as he scrolled through M’s messages.

  “I tricked her into giving me her name.” I pulled a stick of gum out of my side pocket and popped it in my mouth. I had to quell the anxiety somehow. “Don’t ask.” Ryan shot me a suspicious look.

  “I won’t. Go on.”

  “Her name is Melody and here’s her address. I don’t have any evidence of the call she made to my sister, but she threatened her.”

  Ryan looked up at me with his typical cop-looking creased frown. “If you don’t have evidence of that call from the private num
ber, how do I know you’re not just pulling a fast one to help your sister out?” I rolled my eyes at him as I chomped harder on the gum. “I’m serious, Spencer. I need you to go home right now and leave this with us. You’re too close to this case and you know it. I knew you’d be working on it, I’m not stupid.”

  “Look, come on, you have to understand my position. I can’t do nothing. At least give me another angle to look into that doesn’t involve my sister directly.”

  Ryan eased the tension at his temples. It seemed that I was proving to be worrisome to him. “Listen, go home and I’ll think about it.”

  “That’s good enough for me. If you need any information before she comes in, let-”

  “Spencer. Bye. There’s the door. Use it.” Ryan directed me out and I took the hint. I strode out of the door and drove over to Dad’s house in a grump. I wanted to see if my sister had slipped any information to him.

  I pulled up just as he was shuffling his way to the mailbox. He put up a brief wave as a gust of wind blew part of his wispy hair forward. What was left of it anyway.

  “Here’s my darling daughter! At least there’s one of you, anyway. What’s going on with the case? Are you and Susan okay?” My father had always been a little on the softer side, it’s what I loved about him. He was a man of principles, but he’d been worn down a little over time and with the illness of Mom taking its toll. He looked like a tired, old, man.

  “We are both okay. Susan is going in for her interview today. I have to give her a call to make sure she’s up to speed. Not much I can do. You can’t get much past my boss, Ryan, anyway.”

  “Ah well, the truth will come out. I know Susan wouldn’t do anything bad to anyone. That’s my baby girl.”

  Now, this was the part where I got mad because apparently the sun shone out of my sister’s ass, and she was the golden child while I was the one that had to work hard all the time.

  “Why do you do that?” I asked as the time-old bubble of resentment rose to the surface.