GUILTY 29

CONTINUED FROM LAST NIGHT…. ‘Liam. What are you doing here?’ I pause. ‘Please, come in.’ I stand back and hold the door open as they all enter the house. ‘What do you mean, what am I doing here? My niece is missing. I came to be here for you.’ ‘Did someone call you? Did mom and dad tell you to come?’ ‘Can’t you just be happy that I’m here and accept that?’ He leans in and wraps his arm around my neck. Just like old times. My parents must have heard his voice because before our new arrivals can even get their shoes off, my parents are hurrying down the hallway, coming right at us. ‘Liam, honey!’ My mother grins as she walks over and embraces her son. She then makes her rounds, giving Lianna a kiss on the cheek, picking up Sophie and Clayton for a hug and kiss. We walk together from the doorway into the living room where I was just sitting, alone. Clayton chases Sophie around the coffee table and the adults stand around awkwardly before I motion for everyone to sit. ‘I’m so sorry, Danny,’ Lianna says. ‘I can’t imagine what you’re going through.’ ‘Thank you. It’s been really hard these past couple of days.’ ‘And months, I bet.’ She says. I eye her, wondering what she’s implying. ‘Yes, the last couple of months have been difficult. But I’m much better now. Well, until Thursday, that is.’ She shakes her head, ‘I’m at a loss of words. I can’t even begin to fathom how I’d feel if one of them were taken from me.’ She pauses, holding a hand to her mouth. ‘I don’t even want to think about that.’ Liam reaches out and places his hand on top of her, but doesn’t say anything. Then he looks up at me. ‘Is Collin here?’ ‘No, he went back to Delmas. Did you want to see him?’ ‘No, I …’ he stops. ‘I mean, if he was here, then, yeah, I wouldn’t …sure.’ We all stare at him. ‘Alright,’ I say, then clear my throat. ‘Can I get anyone coffee or tea? Water maybe?’ ‘No you sit, Danny,’ Lianna says, prepared to stand. ‘You’ve been through enough. I’ll get the drinks.’ ‘No, really, it’s fine.’ I insist. ‘Let her do it,’ Liam says to his wife. ‘Really.’ I turn from Liam and stare at her, waiting for an answer. ‘I’ll have some water,’ Lianna says. ‘And maybe some juice for the kids.’ ‘Of course. Liam?’ ‘Sure. Coffee’s fine.’ I head back over to the kitchen to get the drinks. I pass Detective Robbins again and she’s staring at me. It’s only now, in this dusk morning light, that I notice how her eyes are. She could almost be pretty if she wasn’t so rude. ‘What?’ I say to her. She looks back down at the laptop. ‘Nothing.’ I glance back at my family who sit there awkwardly attempting to make small talk. ‘Do you have a problem?’ I ask. ‘Am I not allowed to have family over?’ She laughs slightly then shakes her head. But she doesn’t answer me. I sigh and head over to the coffee machine. Perhaps I should call Collin. ------- Detective Gerald Sullivan Sunday May 21, 2016 I came to the station early this morning, couldn’t sleep at all last night. So many questions racking my brain, all of them without answers. Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps Rosie Miller had nothing to do with Emerald’s disappearance and this is just one big coincidence that she turns up dead. And what about this so - called daughter of hers? Where is she? We put out an APB for Clementine Miller last night, but we don’t have much to go on. Did someone kill Rosie and take her daughter? I grab another coffee and head over to Yong’s office. Perhaps she can be of some assistance in finding out who exactly Rosie Miller was. Then maybe I can try to piece together her death. ‘Hey,’ I say as I tap on her door. ‘Hey Gerald,’ she spins around in her chair. ‘Heard you had a hectic night,’ ‘That’s an understatement.’ ‘What can I do for ya?’ ‘I need you to find out as much as you can about the deceased woman - Rosie Miller. Get me anything and everything on her.’ ‘I’m on it,’ she smiles at me, then spins back around to her computer. I return to my office and pull out my notepad, flipping through the notes from the beginning. As of this moment, nothing is adding up or making sense and we still don’t have any idea as to where the child is. I had a notion that Winston could have been in on it with Rosie, kidnapped the child and planned to run away together. Then something goes wrong and he kills her. But that doesn’t make sense either, especially with his genuine need to find his daughter. I’ve seen men fake things before, and his desperation to find Emerald is not artificial. He doesn’t know where she is. Which means that the kid is still out there somewhere. Doesn’t necessarily mean that Winston is innocent, though. If he did kill his mistress, then I will prove it. But that still leaves the baby. Where on Earth is Emerald? I return to the original theory that Danny had a psychotic break and killed her daughter. Does that scenario still make sense? Perhaps. I must admit that I let my suspicion with Rosie Miller take me on a detour from our Original theory. Should I return to that? Try to focus on the mother? There are so many possible scenarios going on in my brain, so many questions and suspicions regarding everyone in this case. I worry that we won’t find her. I worry that Danny killed her and we’re too late. I worry that Rosie took her and got rid of her before she was murdered. I worry that Winston is a much bigger part of this than he is leading on. The worst part is not knowing. The uncertainty is what keeps me up at night. And because I don’t have many clues or leads to go on, its difficult to try and pin - point what the real story is. Who is lying? Whose story do I believe? It makes it a lot more difficult to solve a case when you can’t trust anybody you speak to. I lift the cup of coffee to my lips and take a long gulp. I need to stay awake. I need to figure this out. Today. Because if Monday rolls around and the child still isn’t found, well, I don’t know what I’ll do. I can’t let it get to that. I decide to clear my head and start from scratch. Forget everything I know or any biases I may have towards certain people. Let’s start from the beginning, the minute we got the call. We went over to the Waters’ home. Winston is pacing back and forth, frantically talking to Holden and Ashby. Honest or suspicious behaviour? He seemed genuine. I’ve seen people fake concern before, and I do admit, people have been good at it. But his reaction was real, I can tell that, if anything. Could he have known something more at the time? Well, yes, I know that now. He knew of his wife’s meltdown earlier that morning and chose not to say anything. Perhaps he thought her psychosis was enough evidence to go on that she was to blame? He told us what happened, he got home from work, went to check on his daughter, found the empty crib. Moving to Danny. She was sitting on the couch, looking stunned as she stared off into the nothingness. I brought her coffee and asked her questions. She seemed hazy, out of it. Possible behaviour for someone who recently had a psychotic break and murdered their child? Perhaps. She did seem to be in shock. But then again, that’s a mother’s typical reaction when her child goes missing. They’re either crying hysterically or frozen still. It was almost as though she didn’t believe it was true. Winston was in a panic. Danny was numb. I wish I could gauge a better a reaction based on her past experience. But unfortunately, I didn’t know her at the time of her psychosis, and can only go off of what Doctor Kelvin has explained to me. The days that followed don’t help me much. All I can gather from Friday morning until now is that everybody lies. And I’m at the point where I’m not even sure who to believe anymore. -------- I’m sitting in my office staring at the blank computer screen when Holden rushes into my office. ‘Cassidy’s here to see you. Says it’s urgent.’ Cassidy is the medical examiner in charge of performing the autopsy on Rosie Miller. I stand and hurry down the hallway, Holden at my heels. ‘Cassidy,’ I say upon reaching her. ‘What are we dealing with here?’ ‘Well,’ she takes in a small breath. ‘Cause of death was blunt force trauma to the frontal lobe. Looks to me like she smashed it off the counter, perhaps. And I estimate time of death to be approximately thirty hours from the time she was found. That gives us an estimate of around Friday afternoon.’ ‘Okay, so definitely after the child went missing.’ ‘Right, But that’s not why I’m here, Gerald. There’s something else.’ ‘What is it?’ She stares at me for a moment, trying to form her next words. ‘Rosie Miller was six weeks pregnant.’ ------ Winston Waters May 10, 2016 I drive down First Avenue until I reach the plaza containing Coffee Culture. Danny and I came here a couple of times when we first moved to town. I remember how much she loved their mocha lattes. Rosie emailed last night asking to meet at Finniken’s, but I suggested we meet here instead. This isn’t the kind of chat you have in a bar. I pull into the parking lot and spot Rosie’s car right away, parked a few spots down from mine. As I walk towards the entrance, I try to peer through the window to see where she’s sitting. When I walk inside, it takes only seconds before I spot her long legs and jet - black hair seated in the far corner. She looks anxious, sitting up straight, legs crossed, staring out the window opposite to where I parked. I approach slowly, unsure if I’m ready to hear the news she is about to present. ‘Hey,’ I say softly. Her head turns and she stares up at me, her eyes looking more worried than ever. This can’t be good. ‘Winston,’ she forces a small smile. ‘Please, sit.’ I pull out the chair and sit so I’m facing her. I take in a deep breath. ‘Okay, I’m ready to hear it.’ She flattens her mouth. ‘Are you, Winston? Really…’ I nod. She straightens up even further, taking in a deep breath. Here we go. ‘The doctor confirmed it. I’m pregnant.’ Even though I knew those words would leave her mouth, I can’t help but feel as though I’ve been shot, a gaping hole directly through my stomach, blood and organs spilling out. I feel sick, Nauseous. I close my eyes and bring my hand to my forehead. She reaches out, her soft hand grabbing mine, I open my eyes and stare at her. Tears are forming in her eyes. ‘What do we do?’ she cries softly. Fuck, I can’t do this. I can’t. ‘Rose,’ I start. ‘I know this is so hard for you. God, I can’t even imagine.’ I take another breath, as though I can’t quite get enough air. ‘We’ll have to abort it, I’ll take you to the clinic this afternoon if you want.’ Her eyes widen and she recoils her hand away from me. ‘What did you just say?’ I know she heard me. I don’t have to repeat myself. ‘Rose, this is the best possible option. We can’t do this. We can’t raise a baby together.’ ‘Fuck you!’ She spits. ‘Are you fucking kidding me right now?’ I’m taken back. I thought she would have mutual feelings. ‘You were actually planning on keeping it?’ ‘Are you crazy, Winston!? Are you honestly that inconsiderate? This is my child! Our Child!’ she says the word child slow and steady, as if I don’t know what a child is. ‘I’m aware, Rose, But it’s not even a fetus yet, It’s an embryo. It’s not our anything.’ I watch as her face turns from sadness to rage. ‘Is that what Emerald was to you? Just a fucking embryo? Well guess what, Winston. She turned into a baby. Your baby. And this one will too.’ ‘What are you saying?’ I snap, leaning in closer as I notice heads begin to turn our way. ‘You’re going to keep it?’ ‘What else did you think I was going to do? I can’t believe you honestly think I would abort this baby.’ ‘We can’t do this, Rose. It’s wrong. You know it’s wrong. Bringing a baby into this world, unwanted. Conceived from adultery and dishonesty. We can’t do that.’ ‘You mean you can’t do that. This was a choice, Winston. You chose to have an affair. You knew this could happen. This is what we did, together. We created this life. And I’m sure as hell not going to end it.’ ‘I never planned for this!’ I motion between us. ‘It was supposed to be temporary. An escape from home. You knew it. You knew we were never serious. We weren’t going to ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after. I have a wife and daughter.’ I pause, closing my eyes and shaking my head. ‘I can’t do this.’ When I open my eyes, she’s staring at me, disgust evident on her face. ‘You’ve already made your decision then, clearly.’ she takes in a quick breath and wipes the drip of mascara that’s running down her face. ‘Fine You can do whatever you want, Winston. Go live your fucking life with your psychotic wife and unwanted baby that she doesn’t even want!’ She raises her voice. ‘You go do that, okay! And tell me how that goes in ten years when Emerald is all by herself because you’ve left again and moved on!’ She stops to collect herself. ‘You’ve made your decision. You can live with that for the rest of your life. But just remember, I will too. And so will this baby.’ TO BE CONTINUED…