Knife Edge (A Dead Cold Mystery Book 27) by Blake Banner (most inspirational books of all time .TXT) 📗

Dehan reached across the table and placed her hand over Sonia’s. I leaned forward.

“Sonia, we are going to need you to sign a statement. Technically, you suppressed evidence to protect your nephew. I am going to recommend to the DA that there should be no prosecution. I can’t guarantee that she won’t, but it is unlikely. Frankly, I think it would be a waste of public money, and an unpopular case.”

“Thank you, Detective Stone. Honestly, this has been weighing on my conscience since it happened. I…” She shrugged. “I just did it without thinking, like I was in a trance. I took the knife from him, made him sit down, wiped the prints from the handle and squeezed it into Earl’s hand. When I heard the sirens, I just ran. I have never told anybody what happened that day. But I have dreamed about it so many times, had so many nightmares.”

I nodded, and after a moment said, “But I’m afraid we’re not done.”

“Not,” she averted her gaze, “no, I guess not.”

“There is the blackmail.” She didn’t say anything. Dehan said, “The photograph, Sonia, it was laughable. Why didn’t you laugh? Why didn’t you go straight to the Mitchells and discuss it with them?”

She shook her head but didn’t say anything. I pressed her.

“I need to know, Sonia. I need to know exactly what happened with the blackmail. Because I have to tell you that right now, it doesn’t make any sense at all.”

A couple of times she seemed about to stand, but hesitated. She pulled her cell from her bag and looked at it, like she might be about to call somebody, then put it away. Eventually she said, “I was very confused. Unless you have been in a situation like that, you cannot begin to understand what it is like.” She looked me in the eye. “I watched him murder my sister, but he was a child. He was my nephew. I wanted, God knows I wanted to forgive him. I wanted to wash away the past and see him become a happy, healthy young man.” She looked down at her hands on the table. “Instead I saw his father’s criminality, and weakness, creeping into his behavior, the lies, the deceit, the complete lack of any kind of moral compass.” A look of disgust twisted her face. “The willingness to steal from the people who had willingly given him a home, safety, security…”

Dehan said, “You saw Earl in him.”

“Yes, I saw more of Earl than of my sister. He had killed my sister in more ways than one. He had killed that part of her which he should have carried inside.” She took a deep breath and let it out slow. “But even so, he was my nephew, my sister’s little boy, and I had to do what I could to help him. So when he sent me the photograph,” she turned bitter eyes on Dehan, “I didn’t really feel much like laughing. I was gutted, horrified. My first thought was to go and talk to Brad and Emma, but it’s different for us. A white boy admits to blackmail when he is a child and everybody laughs. A black boy admits such a thing and he has the natural criminal propensity of his race. That wasn’t something I was willing to burden Leroy with, so I tried to deal with it myself.”

I sighed and rubbed my face. “Sonia, when you came to me it was because you had seen in the paper that Dr. Wagner had been made director of Brad Mitchell’s clinic. Now, stay with me here: The photograph Leroy sent you by WhatsApp was not, in any way, incriminating. It simply showed Brad Mitchell talking to a colleague. So there would be nothing odd at all about that colleague becoming director of the clinic.” I sat back, watching her. She looked sick. “If that news article sparked a suspicion in you, it is because there was more to Leroy’s allegations than you have told me.”

“No.” She shook her head. “Just that he was always saying that Brad was having an affair.”

“Based on what?”

“I told you, he overheard things.”

“And the best he could do was a photograph of two colleagues talking? What made him think it was Dr. Wagner? He must have spoken to dozens of women each day. Surely one of his pupils would have been a better candidate.”

She was beginning to look harassed. “I don’t know! I don’t know what you want me to say! Those were the…” She stopped. Then, “Those were the things he told me.”

I leaned forward and looked hard into her face. She avoided my eyes. “I need to see those other photographs, Sonia.”

“There are no other photographs. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I drew breath to answer, but she glanced out of the window and said, suddenly, “Am I under arrest for anything, Detective?”

“No, Sonia, you’re not under arrest, but we do need you to sign a statement.”

“Then I am going to leave now. I have a job to get back to. A job I might well lose if you keep harassing me at work.”

The door opened and I glanced over and saw Garrido coming into the restaurant. Sonia stood. “I’ll pass by the station after work and sign the statement.”

She didn’t say goodbye. She crossed the floor with quick steps and met Garrido halfway. She took his arm in a way the looked more matrimonial than professional and they left the restaurant together. When they’d gone, Dehan turned to me and scowled.

“Where the hell did that come from?”

I shrugged. “I saw an inconsistency and I picked at it. Something came out.”

“Are you kidding me? An inconsistency? Seriously? She just confessed that she was present and saw Leroy kill his father!”

“I know. But it actually doesn’t get us very far. The blackmail is still a problem.”

I looked at my watch and raised a hand. She scowled harder. “Now what are you doing?”

“We’re done for today. Now we