Chapter Thirteen
The woman sat in the interrogation room, staring at Jake and Calleigh.
"Why did you drag me down here?" The woman asked.
"Your stepdaughter was killed, Mrs. Carsona." Jake said.
"So." She replied. "What's that got to do with me?"
"Did you have something to do with that?"
"Of course not!"
Eric walked in with something in his hand. "Mrs. Carsona, I have here some evidence that proves that you were embezzling money from your husband's company."
She laughed. "What evidence?"
"Video tapes, audio tapes, you name it, it's here."
"Where did you get that?"
"A safety deposit box that your stepdaughter kept at the bank in her mother's name."
She shook her head. "That little witch! I knew she was spying on me!"
"Is that why you killed her?" Calleigh inquired.
"I didn't kill anyone!" She said adamantly.
Elaine knocked on the door and ushered Calleigh and Eric outside. They both walked out of the interrogation room. "What is it, Elaine?" Calleigh asked.
"I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but something told me to run an SAE kit on Danielle. Came back positive. I sent the kit to DNA. It came back with a match to a Julian Matthews."
"I'll grab Frank and go pick Matthews up." Eric said.
"Thanks, Eric. Thank you, Elaine." Elaine nodded and walked off and Eric did the same. Calleigh went back into the room. "Mrs. Carsona, do you know a man by the name of Julian Matthews?"
"Yes, he's a co-worker."
"We found his DNA on your stepdaughter. Apparently, he raped her."
She frowned. "I never would have expected that."
"We know that she and her boyfriend were not having sex because they wanted to wait until she was of legal age. So, I'm guessing that she was a virgin."
"Yes, she was as far as I know. But then again, I wasn't exactly friends with her. We didn't get along. She hated the fact that her father moved on from her mother's death. She resented me for that."
~~~
Eric and Frank were in another interrogation room with Julian Matthews. "Is this really necessary?" Julian asked.
"Considering that we found your DNA on the rape kit of a murdered teenage girl, yes." Eric answered.
"What are you talking about?" He asked. "Oh wait... Are you talking about Danielle?"
"Yes, Danielle Carsona." Frank confirmed.
"I didn't rape her, it was consensual."
"You're lying!" Eric said, his nostrils flaring. "Danielle's boyfriend was eighteen and she wasn't sleeping with him for that very reason... because she didn't want him to get in trouble since she was underaged. Besides, the M.E. tells us that it could not have been consensual based on the placing of the brusing."
"Danielle liked it rough."
"Stop lying! We've got you for rape. Now you better start talking or we'll have you for murder as well."
"Joanne asked me to do it."
"Joanne Carsona? Danielle's stepmother?"
"Yes, she said that Danielle was snooping around too much and would uncover our embezzling scheme and that she wanted me to get rid of the problem."
"How do I know you're not lying?"
"I recorded the conversations. I never trusted Joanne. I knew I'd need the taped conversations in case she tried to say I acted alone."
"So, you killed Danielle for Joanne."
"No, I..." He paused, looking terrified. "I didn't mean to kill her. I wasn't planning on killing her. I was just going to scare her enough to make her keep her mouth shut and stop snooping around. But, I... it was an accident." He explained how it happened.
"Okay, tell me where to find the tapes."
A few minutes later, Eric walked out of the room and walked over to the room Calleigh and Jake were in. He opened the door. "Calleigh, could I speak with for a moment please?"
"Sure." She walked out of the room, closing the door. "What's up?"
"Julian Matthews claims that Joanne Carsona put him up to killing Danielle, though he says he never meant to actually kill her. He claims to have the conversations on tape. I'm going to go find them, see if I can corroborate his story."
"Okay. Thanks, Eric." She walked back into the interrogation room. "Mrs. Carsona, you ordered your co-worker, Julian Matthews to kill your stepdaughter, didn't you?"
"No, I did not."
"Well, he says you did and claims to have evidence. Once that evidence is found, you'll be eligible for the death penalty. If you confess now, you may spare yourself that fate."
"I don't care what that idiot says he has. He's lying!"
"Okay, have it your way."
~ ~ ~
"Did you find the tapes, Eric?" Calleigh asked.
"Yes, I did. Matthews was telling the truth." They both walked back into the interrogation room, with the tapes and a tape player.
"Mrs. Matthews, I think there's something that you should hear." Calleigh said as Eric pressed play on the tape recorder.
"I don't care, Julian. The little witch has been nosing around here trying to find evidence of our scheme. She's going to ruin all of our plans. If Oliver finds out what we're up to, we're going to jail. I don't want to go to jail. Do you?" Joanne's voice said through the tape recorder's speaker.
"No, of course I don't, but..." Julian replied.
"Then you had better take care of the problem!"
"What do you mean, Joanne?"
"I want that little witch dead!"
Eric pressed stop on the player. Jake pulled out his cuffs. "Joanne Carsona, you are under arrest for the murder of Danielle Carsona." He slapped the cuffs on her as he continued to read her the Miranda rights.
~~~
Calleigh stepped out of the room and pulled out her cell phone, dialing Ryan.
"Hello?" Ryan answered.
"Ryan, it's Calleigh. I just wanted to let you know so that you can let Lia know that we got them."
"What?"
"Danielle's stepmother Joanne and a co-worker by the name of Julian Matthews. Joanne and Julian were both stealing money from Oliver Carsona's company. Joanne knew that Danielle was snooping around trying to catch her, so she ordered Julian to kill her. Julian raped her, but didn't intend to kill her, or so he claims. Something went wrong and she died accidentally according to him."
"Thanks for calling, Calleigh. I knew we could count on you to get justice for Lia's friend. I just didn't think it was a good idea for me to work the case. Conflict of interest and all."
"Yeah, I understand."
"Thanks again, Calleigh. I'll see you later at work."
"How's Lia doing?"
"She's okay."
"Okay, talk to you later. Bye."
"Bye." They both hung up their phones.
Ryan walked back into the dining room where Lia was sitting at the table, doing homework. "Lia?"
"Yes?" She asked, looking up.
"Calleigh just called."
"Oh."
"She wanted to let us know that they caught Danielle's stepmother and her accomplice. There's plenty of evidence against the both of them and they'll be going to jail for a long time."
"Now Danielle can rest in peace." Lia said quietly.
"Yes, she can." Ryan said, noticing a tear slipping down her cheek. "Come here, sweetheart." He wiped her tear away gently with his thumb before pulling her into his arms and kissing her crown.
(end of chapter)
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Okay, I'm going to try to put some Eden stuff in the next chapter. Still working out the kinks of that plot line. :lol: