Catching Sam: Book 2 of 5: The MacDonald Brothers by Emily Matthews (best mystery novels of all time TXT) 📗

“I’m Detective Martin from Bellevue PD,” said the man sitting next to her. “My partner and I need to ask you some questions. Trooper MacDonald’s sergeant is going to listen in, but we are handling this investigation. We’d like to avoid having you come to the station. Do you have another room we could talk in?” he asked.

“Yes, but we’ll need some chairs.” She led them to the front room. It would eventually be her home office, but for now, housed only a desk and a single chair. The officers and Sam each grabbed a dining room chair and followed her. They set up the chairs so that the officers were facing her. Jake’s sergeant sat off to the side. Sam was told to wait outside the room.

She thought she might be in shock, but took a deep breath, powered through, and told them everything. They recorded the interview and took a lot of notes.

“We’re going to bring Mr. MacDonald in now to get his side of the story. Since we have your statement, we’ll allow you to stay as long as you don’t say anything. We’ll also be recording his interview.” She nodded and was moved to sit next to the state patrol sergeant on the side. They called Sam in and proceeded to question him.

He started with the story of Wayne approaching him at the office building and trying to blackmail him. It was just as she’d suspected. He’d tried to extort money from Sam.

Then he told them about the argument he and Annie had had, leaving out nothing. He confirmed they had been dating, but his voice was devoid of emotion while he gave his statement—just the facts.

Finally, he got to the stuff she hadn’t heard yet.

“I realized right away what an idiot I’d been. I didn’t mean any of the stuff I said, but Annie wouldn’t return my calls, and I had to leave for New York. I figured I’d make amends when I got back,” he said, turning to her hopefully. Soft tears began to flow down her face, but she remained silent.

The detective stopped short of rolling his eyes but made a circling motion with his hands to say, That’s great, but get on with it.

“I received a call from Annie’s intern, Beckie, earlier this evening. It was about six o’clock New York time, so around three o’clock here. I can find out the exact time if needed,” he said as he pulled out his cell phone. Once they figured out the exact time Beckie had called, he continued.

“Beckie was in a panic because Annie hadn’t shown up for a coffee date earlier today and wasn’t answering her phone or responding to texts. She knew Wayne was back in town and admitted that she’d told him what type of car Annie drove. She was worried that he had found her and that something was wrong. I immediately got a bad feeling myself and asked Jake to come back with me. We left within the hour to fly back.”

“You got a flight that quick?”

“We flew on my company jet. The biggest hassle was getting to the airport in New York. We landed in Bellevue, not too far from here.” It could have come off as condescending, but it didn’t. Annie’s heart melted a little. He’d cut his weekend short to come check on her. Wowsa.

“Okay. Once you landed, what happened?”

“My car was parked at the airport. We stopped by Jake’s to pick up a weapon, just in case, and then headed here. We were parked on the street in front of the next-door neighbor’s house when we saw a pizza delivery car pull into Annie’s driveway. We jumped out to talk to him before he delivered the pizza and gave him fifty bucks just to tell us who answered the door and what they said.”

“And he said okay to that?”

“Yes. He was more than happy to provide the information. He told us it was a man that answered the door and gave us a brief description. I paid him, and he left.”

Annie desperately wanted to burst in with questions but didn’t want to risk getting thrown out, so she kept quiet.

“Once we knew she wasn’t alone and that it was most likely Wayne in her home, we decided to get a closer look.” At that, he looked away and paused. “We broke into the house,” he clarified bluntly.

“Broke in?” The detective’s eyebrows shot up.

“Well, the door was unlocked, so maybe technically it wasn’t breaking in. We just very quietly, and without anyone knowing, entered the home.”

The officer made some notes, then motioned for him to continue.

From there, Sam told the same story she had.

“We heard Wayne admit to killing their baby, state that he had no choice but to kill Annie now that he’d told her, and then ask about a shovel,” he said, his voice laced with anger. “I could recant the entire conversation, but it would probably be easier just to transcribe the tape I made.”

The detectives’ faces lit up. “You recorded the whole thing?” Detective Martin said. “Why?”

“Well, I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to have a record of it. At first, I thought maybe he would admit to blackmailing me, or maybe we could catch him trying to extort money from Annie, or, at the very least, we would have proof that he’d left California. You know, to give to his probation officer. I doubt he’s supposed to be out of state right after being released from prison. I had no idea things would go south so quickly. No idea about the baby or that Wayne was capable of cold-blooded murder.”

Oh, God. Sam had heard everything. She knew now wasn’t the time to worry about what he thought of her, but couldn’t help it. What must he think of the fact that she’d married a psychopath? Or was it sociopath? Whichever, it didn’t look good for her judge