“But I—” Farah got to her feet.
“You are not answering any more questions.” Her brother stood up. “They won’t tell you this, but they can’t make you. You are under no obligation to answer their questions. Unless you are under arrest, you are free to leave at any time. You came here voluntarily in a good-faith effort to help with their investigation.” He gave Bree a hard stare. “That won’t happen again.”
He guided his sister toward the door with a gentle hand under her elbow. She glanced over her shoulder as they walked out. Matt read her expression as a mix of apprehension and anger.
Bree turned off the video recording. Todd stood in the doorway.
“What did you think?” Bree rose.
“She asked her buddy to lie for her. Definitely.” Todd grimaced. “And she seemed really surprised that he didn’t.”
“That’s the impression I got too.” Matt stood.
Bree stretched her arms to the ceiling. “I wonder how she would have answered if she hadn’t brought a lawyer.”
“A question we will never know the answer to.” Matt pushed his chair in. “But I think the fake alibi she gave us was an impulse. She didn’t think it through, and she knows it was a mistake.”
Bree lowered her hands and headed for the hallway. “She won’t make the same mistake again. Her brother won’t let her say a word.”
They walked to the break room together.
Matt refilled his cup with water. “If I was her lawyer, I’d tell her to choose silence as well. She already dug herself into an unnecessary hole. She could have just said she was home alone. We hadn’t accused her of anything.”
“Her brother was right,” Todd said. “She didn’t need an alibi.”
“So why would she invent one?” Bree asked. She contemplated the coffee machine, as if considering yet another cup.
Matt filled another cup with water and handed it to her. She needed actual sleep tonight, not coffee. She took the water but gazed longingly at the coffee as she drank.
“I can only think of one reason,” Matt said.
Todd nodded. “Because she’s guilty.”
Bree drained the cup and refilled it at the tap. “Let’s regroup in the conference room. Our impressions of her behavior don’t mean squat. We need actual evidence. We all know high-profile trials are theatrical. Her lawyer is smooth, confident, and good-looking. Juries love those types. He’ll convince everyone that we’re taking advantage of an honest mistake and that we’re trying to railroad her. She’s pretty. No one will believe she committed a horrific crime without solid evidence.”
“Juries want forensic shit like they see on TV,” Todd said.
“That’s pathetic but true.” Bree set her mug in the sink.
Matt gestured toward the doorway. “Let’s go check our reports on forensic shit.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Matt stared at a bag of nuts inside the vending machine. He was really sick of nuts. Why couldn’t the vending machine dispense cheeseburgers? Grabbing a bottle of water, he retrieved the conference room key from Marge and unlocked the door. Bree brought her laptop and notepad. She held a mug in her hand. Matt smelled coffee.
He peered into her cup. “You’re not going to sleep at all tonight. Your blood is ten percent caffeine at this point.”
She nodded and sipped. “What can I say? I’m weak, but I’m also so tired that I doubt caffeine will be an issue.”
“You’ll be wired.” Matt checked the time on his phone. “It’s five thirty. Let’s work for an hour, then quit for the day. You need a couple of hours to unwind, see your family, and get some sleep. You can’t run flat-out for the entire investigation.”
“I know.” But she continued to drink the coffee.
Todd came in holding a manila file and a laptop. He took a chair and opened the computer. “I have a couple of updates. First, you should know that Jasper made bail.”
Bree sighed. “Not a surprise. He didn’t have any priors, he’s lived in the area a long time, and his lawyer is street smart.”
Todd nodded. “Next, a preliminary report from forensics on the crime scene is in. I emailed copies to both of you.”
Matt opened the email on his phone and skimmed it. “They found a few long dark hairs in Spencer’s bedroom.”
“They could belong to Farah Rock or Monica Linfield,” Todd suggested.
“Since it seems women with long dark hair were Spencer’s type, the hairs could have come from other women as well,” Matt said. “Spencer was a busy man.”
“Unfortunately, both women already said they’d slept with him, so I’m not sure how that helps us solve the case.” Bree massaged her temple.
But Matt knew if they made an arrest, physical evidence that officially placed the suspect inside the house was always good.
“Anything else interesting?” Bree asked.
Matt closed the email. “Nothing else is jumping out at me, but time will tell about the usefulness of the trace evidence forensics collected.” If they gathered enough evidence on one of their suspects to obtain a search warrant, fibers, hair, soil, and DNA found at the scene could match those found at a suspect’s home. “I’m liking Jasper. He had a recent argument with Spencer. Money is always a motive. Plus, the murder felt like rage, and families bring high emotion.” In Matt’s experience, no one could hate quite as hard as a loved one.
“We need to set up another interview with him.” Bree made a note. “Let’s move on to Farah Rock. She lied about her alibi and tried to get her friend Rhys Blake to also lie. She has access to a white SUV, her father’s Highlander.”
Matt raised a hand. “We still don’t have any physical evidence tying her to the crime.” But the lying bugged him.
“Which is why she’s not in a jail cell.” Bree sounded as if she’d really like to amend that.
“We didn’t see a long-haired black cat at either Monica’s or Farah’s.” Matt pictured each residence. “No cat at Jasper’s place either. We didn’t go to Avery Ledger’s house. We interviewed her on scene.”
“Because she found the body.” Bree tapped a finger on the table. “Did the surveillance video from her employer confirm what time she left work?”
Todd nodded. “Juarez watched the video and verified she left at 4:56 in the afternoon.”
“So, the video confirms her alibi.” Matt envisioned the timeline of the murder. “It’s possible but unlikely she would have had time to kill Spencer by five thirty.”
“We’ll move Avery to the bottom of the list,” Bree agreed.
Todd said, “Next up, Monica Linfield. I assigned Juarez to watch the surveillance video you forwarded from the film studio. Monica Linfield was at the shoot all day, except she left at 4:44 p.m. and didn’t return until after six.”
Bree flattened her palms on the table. “And Monica drives a white Audi Q5.”
“Which is a midsize SUV,” Matt said. “Like the delivery driver spotted at the house next to Spencer’s.”