A Twisted Love Story(78)

Once she is done mentally shredding the way Karen looks, Ivy settles down to read the interview. That’s one good thing: The interview isn’t on video. At least she doesn’t have to watch Karen.

The article starts with Karen’s background, how long she has been a detective, blah, blah, blah. Ivy skips past it.

    Let’s start at the beginning. How did you come to investigate a seven-year-old case?

I was working on another case, one that was quite recent, and it led me back to Joey Fisher. Wes Harmon ended up being the link between the two. He hasn’t been charged in the second case, but we’re still looking into it.

So there may be additional charges coming for Wes Harmon?

I can’t comment on that.

When did you know he was the number one suspect?

Obviously, I can’t talk about specific evidence in this case, as it remains ongoing. But in general, detectives have to be very careful not to speculate or make assumptions about who committed a crime. Our job is to follow the evidence, which is exactly what I did.

You said you can’t talk about specific evidence, but can you tell us anything about why or how Wes Harmon became your leading suspect?

Joey Fisher died in his car, which was parked on a quiet street. There weren’t many vehicles driving in the area, which we already knew. In general, the timeline of events is crucial to police work. What happened before and after. You never know what will be important. The smallest, most inconsequential thing might end up being the missing piece of the puzzle. That’s where witnesses come in. Sometimes a person can see something and not even realize it was important.



Witnesses. There may have been someone from the club who saw their argument, but there weren’t any witnesses to the accident. If there were, Ivy would’ve been the one arrested.

Karen has to be lying. Again.





64




Wes doesn’t bother getting out of bed early in the morning anymore. No alarm set, and he doesn’t budge when Ivy gets up. Not even if he is awake, which he has been, and he feels a little guilty about it. For the past five days, Wes hasn’t seen anyone but her. All day, every day, except when she’s at work.

It’s been a lot.

When he is alone, he tries to remind himself he is lucky to have her. No one from his family lives nearby, and his friends and colleagues are nowhere. She’s the only one by his side. And right now, it’s not a bad idea to keep her extra-close.

But he still waits to get up until after she’s gone. And he still thinks about the way she threw that pen across the room.

Today, he will finally get to see someone else. His lawyer. Bryce is coming to the house right after meeting with the assistant DA. Wes prepares for it like a real business meeting, making fresh coffee and putting out snacks, like they do at Siphon. He wears slacks, a dress shirt and tie, even shines his shoes. But he hesitates when it comes to shaving. The stubble looks better now, resembling something that was on purpose instead of the sparse two-or-three-day growth he had after the weekend. By the time the doorbell rings, he still hasn’t done it. Not so much a decision to grow a beard as a decision not to shave. Which is different than doing it because Ivy said beards are sexy.

Petty, he knows. But pettiness is about all he has left.

He straightens his tie and opens the front door. Bryce stands on his porch, looking like Santa Claus in an expensive suit.

“Good to see there aren’t any reporters out there,” he says, stepping inside. “You haven’t talked to any, have you?”

“Of course not.”

As they get settled in the living room, Wes thinks about the minutes ticking away, running up the next bill from Bryce. Almost worth it to see another human being.

“The meeting went about as well as can be expected,” Bryce says. “Jocelyn Hughes is an excellent prosecutor, though it doesn’t sound like they want a drawn-out trial for this. They’re going to push for a plea deal.”

“And that would mean?”

“Prison time. The only question is how much. They don’t want to give you probation for killing someone.”

Hearing his lawyer say that makes it feel more real. “Did she tell you what kind of evidence they have?”

“She told me a few things,” Bryce says. He pauses to take a legal pad out of his briefcase. “Right before the accident, you were seen at the Fine Line gentlemen’s club.”

Wes nodded. He expected that.

“There’s some evidence that you had a fight with Ivy in the parking lot of the club,” Bryce says.

“What evidence?”

“She didn’t give me details. From what I gathered, they’re going to allege that you and Ivy were arguing in the car, and that’s when the accident happened.”

Yes. Except they had switched places.

“As for the accident itself,” Bryce says, “they have pictures of all the cars that passed close by within that time frame.”

This is a surprise. After learning about Joey’s death, Wes had checked for cameras in the area. There weren’t any traffic cams that he could see, but who knows how many businesses had them.

“In addition,” Bryce says, “they brought in an expert on car crashes to analyze the damage and assess what kind of car could have caused it.”