INK: Vanishing Point (Book 2) (5 page)

His hands are so warm and reassuring on
my skin, but I feel the apprehension in his touch. He’s worried
and his eyes belie his confidence that everything is going to be
okay. “Eli, I wish you would level with me. I can’t fight
against something you keep from me.” My head hangs and I drop
his gaze. “I’m not as fragile as you all make me out to
be.”

“Shay, after this interview I’m
going to tell you everything that’s going on. Right now the
less you can say the better. Jason is going to guide your answers. Do
as he says,” he pleads.

Anger boils in me that they all treat me
like a child. At least Aiden doesn’t treat me like I’m
made of glass. As a matter of fact I’m really starting to
appreciate Aiden's attitude that I’m okay on my own when I need
to be. And what about Aiden, God damn it? “Are you going to
tell me where Aiden is?”

There’s another knock on the door,
Genie pokes her head in, “Sweetheart, Jason needs you now.”

I look at Eli with pleading eyes, “I
want to know where he is.”

“I’ll tell you what I know
when you’re done,” Eli promises.

I follow Genie down to a conference
room where Jason and Bob are waiting. They both stand until I’ve
taken my seat at the table. “Hey guys, here we are again.”

“Did Eli fill you in?” Bob
asks cautiously.

“As much as Eli ever will.”
I say fiddling absently with a pencil on the table.

“Shay, please understand that
everything Eli is doing is for you. He thinks that the less you know
the better. When the time is right he’s going to go over all of
it. But first we have to get through this interview about Taffy.”
Jason always sounds so reasonable his calm tone riles my insides. How
can someone be so calm all the time?

“That’s what everyone keeps
telling me,” I answer flattening the pencil on the pad.

“We are only here to discuss
Taffy’s murder, nothing else. Do not answer any questions until
one of us gives you a nod that’s its okay to continue,”
Bob says, cautioning me.

“Easy stuff guys; I didn’t
do this one either. I was in Tampa.” I shrug and swivel my
chair.

“Shay, we know how you felt about
Taffy. We were there. You as much as threatened her with all of us as
witnesses; that cannot be made known. You are not to discuss that.”
Jason leans forward “Or we can’t represent you.”

“I get it. I say nothing.” I
yawn realizing that all of this is making me very tired. “How
long will this take?”

“We’re not sure. We have
confirmation from your doctor that you aren’t to be stressed or
taxed in any way so we are going to keep it as brief as possible. The
main goal here is to satisfy them with enough answers to keep them
from bringing you in.”

“Okay I’m ready. Let’s
go.” I stir my hand in a circular motion to move things along.

Jason leans on the phone, pressing a
button. “Genie, we’re ready.”

A few moments later in walks detective
Glass with a cat-that-ate-the-canary grin on his face. Remaining calm
I just nod and smile then look away. Then D.A. Preston follows him in
with a court reporter in tow. Everyone shakes hands and completes the
greeting ritual. Jason gets right down to business.

“Gentlemen, we’ve made our
client available at your request. We do appreciate you coming down
here for the interview in consideration for her weakened state.”
Jason continues, “You will be allowed to ask her questions
regarding the murder of Kristen Ringgold, but that is the extent of
the scope at this time. Should you have any further need of Miss
Baynes’ help in this or any other matter, please contact my
secretary and she’ll be happy to set something up."

I can really appreciate how slick Jason
seems. If I were a lawyer, he would intimidate the hell out of me. I
mull around how Eli regards Jason. He has always been friendly with
everyone in the firm, and Oliver loved Eli. But he has a certain
respect for Jason that is different. Have they done battle in court
against one another? I’m curious who won.

“Miss Baynes?” An irritated
voice breaks through my rambling thoughts.

“Yes sorry. Could you repeat
that?” I snap to attention. I really have no idea what they
asked me. I’m having some real trouble focusing. My mind just
wants to wander off on weird tangents. I’m doing it again.

“Please state your full name for
the record.” D.A. Preston’s steely gaze pierces me. I’m
feeling closed in by his menacing glare.

Bob tries to add a touch of levity
putting his hand on my shoulder, “The questions are only going
to get harder. The sooner we finish up the sooner you can get home
and get some rest.”

“Miss Baynes, how did you know
Kristen Ringgold?” Glass asks.

“Who is Kristen Ringgold?”
I’m a little confused. I thought that’s what Jason said
earlier, but glazed over it, lost in a random thought.

“Kristen was Taffy’s real
name.” Jason leans forward with the caveat.

“Oh, okay.” Figures, her
name was fake just like her boobs. “I met her once at Eli’s
house. I really didn’t know her.”

“What is the nature of your
relationship with Elijah Walker?” Glass doesn’t look up
from his notebook. He already knows that Eli and I have been
involved. Eli told him that.

Seems harmless enough, but I look at
Jason for confirmation that it’s okay to answer. After a nod I
answer, “I’ve known him since elementary school. We're
very close.”

“Are you romantically involved
with Mr. Walker?” Glass still doesn’t look at me, which I
find really strange considering he should be trying to get a reading
on my answers. How I react when I tell the truth or when I lie.
Interrogation 101, get a baseline.

Looking to my legal team for an okay
before I answer, I’m being so good! I deserve a cookie. “I
have been, but not currently.” The memory of Aiden and I
entangled in a heated kiss until we were asked to leave the beach
floats through my mind.

“Were you aware that Mr. Walker
and Miss Ringgold were involved?” Glass chooses to look up
then. His unblinking stare is penetrating. It's as though he just
revealed some big secret, when in fact all he revealed was a fraud.
Processing all of his questions so far I see the pattern. He’s
trying to establish a motive. It doesn’t matter how true it is
that I was jealous, it doesn’t make it true that I killed her.
Besides, there’s video evidence that proves I was in Tampa.

“No, it was my understanding that
Taffy was seeing Jerry, Eli’s brother.” Thankfully Eli
bestowed that little tidbit on me before this meeting. It makes
things a lot easier not feeling betrayed by Eli dipping his wick into
Sparkles the town bike. Oh God, I have to stop speaking so ill of the
dead.

“So you weren’t aware that
she was seeing both of them?” Glass leans forward thinking he’s
just dropped the skank-bomb on me, but I don’t even flinch, I
know it isn’t true.

I look him hard in the eye leaning
forward across the table to meet his challenge. Jason’s tension
reaches my awareness like a wave. I glance in his direction to see
him shaking his head slightly with his lids half closed. He’s
warning me. I'm trying to heed the warning. “Detective Glass, I
wasn’t aware that she was seeing both of them. Quite frankly,
it’s none of my business. Jerry and Eli can swap sloppy seconds
all they want.”

Jason exhales a little, but not all the
way, “Gentlemen, can we get to the part of this that is
relevant to my client?”

“Mr. Eddins, I can assure you this
is all very relevant.” Preston interjects and nods for Glass to
continue.

“So you did have a problem with
Mr. Walker seeing Miss Ringgold?” His tone is betraying his
impatience. I’m not reacting like he would like.

I shake my head “I wasn’t
even aware of it until now.”

“You weren’t jealous in the
least when he bailed her out of jail when she totaled his car while
driving drunk?” Glass is such an asshole. I didn’t even
know it was Taffy that totaled his car.

Wait, Taffy totaled Eli’s car?
Don’t think about it Shay, just answer the questions. “No,
I didn’t even know she had until you just told me.”

“So you were fine with their
relationship?” His eyes harden on me, desperately trying to
break my demeanor. Since I didn’t kill her there’s really
nothing to break. This guy is as absurd as a pair of mismatched clown
shoes.

“If they had one yes, honestly up
until…” I have to really think about it, was it two or
three weeks ago that Gary and Alice were murdered. “I'm not
sure exactly when because of the holes in my memory from the –”

Jason cuts me off. “Shay, it’s
been three weeks.” His tone is cautious. I’m not sure why
I’m not allowed to talk about it. Whatever.

I continue, “Up until four weeks
ago I hadn’t seen Eli for a couple of months. I wasn’t
privy to his comings and goings.”

“So is it a coincidence that you
hadn’t talked to Eli for months, but when you were brought in
for questioning for the murder of the Messners that you chose to call
him?” He pulls his mouth to the side in a half smile.

“I didn’t call Eli when that
happened,” I say thinking about it. I hadn’t called him.
He just showed up at the police station.

Bob chimes in, “We are here to
discuss the Ringgold case and that’s it.”

Preston nods at Bob then looks to me,
“Where were you on March first?”

I have to pause and really think about
it, my days are so mixed up and I’m not sure how much time I’ve
lost. My head is starting to throb. “Um, that was the day
before the signing?” I turned to Jason and Bob, “The day
we met to discuss the other case?”

“Yes it is.” Jason turns to
Preston.

I chronicled my day for them step by
step remembering most of the big stuff. I’m sure I couldn’t
have talked about every nuance, but I could at least give them the
big picture. Meeting at Eli’s, Blood-Borne, drive to Tampa,
check in to the hotel. I left out the fight with Aiden where he asked
me to marry him. Aiden. Even when I say it in my head it sounds
exasperated. My heart starts to ache a little bringing up the
frustration of no one being willing to talk about him.

“So you were with Aiden Roth for
most of the day?” Glass asks.

“Yes, with the exception of when I
was on the dock by the hotel and dinner with McNab,” I state
simply.

“You’re going to need to
tell us how to contact Mr. Roth to corroborate your story.”
Preston raises an eyebrow as though challenging me to do the
impossible.

My first thought is that “Mr.
Roth” is dead, but I realize he’s talking about Aiden,
not Oliver. He is right, I don’t even know if I can contact
Aiden. When I sneaked a call to his cell a couple of times when Eli
was out of the room, it always went straight to voicemail, until
finally his voicemail was full. No one will talk about him, except
for Preston and Glass. “I don’t –”

Bob cuts me off, “Our office will
provide you with the necessary contact information. Is that
everything?”

“I have one more question.”
Glass raises an eyebrow “What did Eli mean by ‘I’ve
taken care of the problem; Taffy’s no longer an issue.’”

“Eli never said that.” I
looked at Jason and Bob truly perplexed.

“You don’t have a note from
Eli with those very words written on it?” he glares at me
unblinking.

“I have a lot of notes from Eli,
but none that say that.” Then I remember the note he left me.
“There was a note I hadn’t read; perhaps that’s
what you are referring to.” That means that… “Why
would you have that note?”

“Once again, Miss Baynes your
house was a crime scene.” Glass smirks in the triumph of having
free rein to rummage through my panty drawer. I really hate this guy.
Oh, my head is pounding. I resist the urge to press on my eye to
relieve the pain. I don’t want to do anything to display an
ounce of distress or weakness.

“You’re crossing a line,
Detective.” Jason warns.

“Why hadn’t you read the
note from Eli?” Preston piped up, genuinely curious.

“Because I was pissed at him.”
I hate all of the damn questions. I want to get up and walk out. This
is ridiculous.

“Why were you angry with him?”
Preston perks up even more, like I’m about to reveal something
really juicy. That’s when it dawns on me that he’s
gunning for Eli. Shit.

Jason shakes his head warning me to not
say anything, “D.A. Preston, Miss Baynes respectfully declines
to answer.”

“I don’t mind telling them
why I was pissed,” I say to Jason, but I’m stifled
quickly by the daggers he and Bob are shooting in my direction.

“Miss Baynes has no desire to
damage or disturb AD.A. Walker’s career. She fears that if she
were to answer the question she would be putting him in jeopardy.”
Bob looks directly at Preston.

“She can’t decline to answer
based on that.” Glass’ hands ball into tight fists; he
slides them under the table when he sees that I notice. Hmm,
interesting, he’s the one that is shaken this time. I feel a
rush of power come over me realizing that he’s more incensed
that I’m using Jason and Bob as a filter so he can’t trip
me up.

“She can decline to answer any and
all of your questions at this point.” Jason says simply. “This
meeting was done as a courtesy to your office. It's apparent that
since my client was out of town during the time of death, as the
traffic camera footage indicates, she could not possibly have
anything to do with the murder.” Bob says, standing and
motioning for me to do the same.

“That concludes the questioning.”
Jason says it as a fact.

“I have more questions for her.”
Glass’ voice is firm, and has dropped an octave as a result of
him trying to control his tone. He slides the glasses off his nose.
"We aren’t done.”

“You are. If you need to speak
with Miss Baynes again, please contact our office.” Bob puts
his hand on my back ushering me out of the room.