One Last Breath by Sarah Sutton (speld decodable readers txt) 📗

Warren butted in. “Do you have any cameras outside to show you were there?”

He perked up at the thought, realizing it might save him, but then he sat back farther in his chair in disappointment. “I have one looking out onto the boat dock, but I don’t think you’d see my car from it. The other broke a couple weeks ago. I haven’t had the funds to get it fixed yet.”

Tara sensed he was telling the truth. It was the slight hope at the realization of the cameras, and then the way hope flew away from his eyes when he knew they wouldn’t see him in them. If he was lying, then his reaction would be the total opposite of what he just showed. Anyone who was guilty would not hope that cameras caught him in the act.

“Do you remember where you were the day Alyssa went missing?” She reiterated the date.

He stared hard in the distance, his lip curling in deep thought. It was over a year ago, but Tara knew he had to have remembered. It was all over on every news station. Even Tara knew about it, and she was certain that anyone who knew the victim would remember exactly where they were when they heard the news. A sudden thought seemed to strike him. “I was away,” he replied excitedly, knowing it could be his saving grace. “In Florida, visiting my mom.”

They would have to check his alibi, but if it was true, it could be solid. However, he still didn’t have an alibi for Reese.

Tara slid the image of the third unknown girl across the table. “Who is she?”

He stared down at the picture. “That’s Lucy. She worked for me a while ago. Around the same time of Alyssa.”

“Did they work together?”

He thought a second, looking off into the distance. “Yeah, they did, actually. Not long, I think, only a few weeks. Alyssa stopped working there soon after Lucy started.”

His words only confirmed further in Tara’s mind that he was just a creep who took photos of young girls that worked in his shop. She now didn’t think that Lucy was going to be the third victim. It didn’t work in the timeline. Why would he target her now, all of a sudden, two years later? It was unlikely.

However, Tara hoped that maybe Lucy held some information. She knew Alyssa, and she worked with her, even if it was a short time.

“How can we find her?” Tara asked.

“I think I still have her number,” he replied.

Tara gave him his cell phone, and he scrolled through it before bringing up Lucy’s number. Tara wrote it down. She hoped that Lucy might be able to tell them something, and once it was in her phone, she turned to the door, ready to make the call.

***

Tara and Warren stood outside the interrogation room. A police officer had just removed Timothy Morris from the room they were just in and was now escorting him down the hall to a holding cell. Tara and Warren moved into an office nearby.

“What do you think?” Warren asked.

She could already hear the skepticism in Warren’s voice. She knew him well enough now to understand that when Warren asked that question, he had his own doubts too. Tara was doubtful Timothy was who they were looking for. He was certainly a creep, but the way he reacted at the mention of cameras did not coincide with someone who was guilty. There was also one thing in Tara’s mind that she continued to question: his motive. There was no sign of sexual assault on Reese’s body, and she couldn’t see any reason why Timothy would kill if it weren’t sexual.

“I have my doubts,” she finally admitted.

Warren nodded as he pulled a chair from a round table in the corner of the office and took a seat. Tara sat down as well.

“Me too,” he said. “The cameras, right? He seemed hopeful when he thought they might’ve caught him.”

“Exactly, and I’m not sure what his motive would’ve been.”

Warren nodded again. “Let’s call that girl, see if she knows anything.”

Tara placed her phone on the table. Her name and phone number were still showing across the screen. She pressed the call button and put the phone on speaker, centering it in the middle of the table.

The girl picked up almost immediately. It sounded as if she was just laughing at something. Her laugh trailed off as she said hello. There was a lot of background noise, as if she were at a party.

“Is this Lucy?” Tara asked.

The girl was quiet a moment as the background noise became less apparent. It was clear she was stepping out of the room. Eventually, nothing could be heard at all except her voice.

“Who’s asking?”

Tara realized it was probably a rare occurrence for a teenage girl to have an unknown adult call her cell phone. She introduced herself and Warren.

“Is this about those bodies on the beach?” she responded quickly. “You found Alyssa, right?”

“We did. Did you know her well?” Tara already partially knew the answer, but she wanted to see if their familiarity extended beyond the kayak shop.

“I worked with her one summer, at Ocean Paddle. Only a couple of weeks, though. She was cool. We got along pretty well, but I didn’t know her too well—only those few weeks.”

“Did she tell you why she stopped working?”

The girl was quiet a moment, thinking, and then chuckled slightly. “Yeah, I remember. I think the owner made her feel a bit uncomfortable. He was a little creepy. He’d always tell her how pretty she looked, things like that. He did the same shit to me.” She grew quiet again, realizing she just let a curse slip out. “Sorry,” she added awkwardly.

Tara brushed it off. Only a teenager would apologize for saying that. “Did he ever do anything to either of you? Did he ever act on his impulses?”

“No, absolutely not,” she interjected.