Page 29 of What Happened Last Night

“No, I fucking wouldn’t. I would like some answers,” he snarled.

I raised an eyebrow, a little surprised by his aggressive manner. I tried not to show my surprise. I moved around to my side of my desk.

“Let me just bring up Candy’s file,” I said.

I opened a file on my computer, subtly looking up the information Officer Dumont had found on Candy’s family. It was short and somewhat unsettling. No sign of the mother. Father is an alcoholic ex-army ranger and a PTSD sufferer with priors for assault. Great. Just the sort of guy I wanted to be in a confined space with. I turned my attention back to Morrie.

“Before we begin, I’d like to offer you my deepest condolences, sir,” I said.

“Yeah, well, your condolences aren’t going to bring Candy back, are they? Now what exactly are you doing about any of this?” he replied. “Because from where I’m sitting, it looks like you’re not doing shit.”

“I can assure you that we’re doing the best we can, Mr. Xavier,” I said. “We—”

He cut me off before I could get any further. “Bullshit. If you were doing the best you could do, that fucking prick would be behind bars by now,” he snarled.

“We have—” I started.

Again, I was cut off, this time by Morrie slamming his large fist down on my desk hard enough to knock over my pen cup and send pens and pencils scattering across the floor. I resisted the urge to chastise him. It seemed counterproductive to anger him further.

“I want that fucker behind bars, Detective,” he shouted.

He said the word Detective like it was an insult. Coming from him, I somehow felt that it was.

“You think you know who killed your daughter?” I asked.

I didn’t expect any major insight. I just hoped that talking about this would calm Morrie down a little. I knew he was grieving and had every right to be angry, but the sheer level of anger coming off him was enough to set off alarm bells in my head. It was clear from his rolling eyes and his overall demeanor that he was as mentally unstable as it was beginning to seem that Candy was.

“I don’t know who was the one to physically push her out that window, if that’s what you mean,” he said. “But that guy she was supposedly seeing. He’s a predator, Detective. A dirty old man who uses young girls and then tosses them aside like dish rags when he’s done with them. My Candy, she was a sensitive girl. Shit like that could break her. She never would have been at that damned house if it wasn’t for him. So I don’t much care what you think. He was responsible for my daughter’s death, and I want something done about it. And I don’t mean you running around with your little notebook, asking questions. I mean I want something real done about it. Fast. I’m not a very patient man, Detective, and this has dragged on long enough now.”

This was going to be harder than I had thought. Morrie wasn’t really after answers. He was after an instant solution, regardless of whether we had the right person.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way, Mr. Xavier. I understand your frustration, but it’s not illegal to end a relationship, and I can’t arrest anyone for that alone,” I said.

“So you’re saying you’re not going to do anything about this?” Morrie shouted.

He got to his feet and headed for the door.

“Mr. Xavier, please calm down and wait a moment. I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying we’re doing everything we can to get to the bottom of this, and you have my word that I won’t rest until I find out what happened to your daughter and see her killer brought to justice.”

“You know what I hear when you say that? I hear someone who isn’t taking this seriously. That monster’s actions led to my daughter’s death. And one way or the other, he’s going to be brought to justice.”

“What are you saying, Mr. Xavier?” I said calmly, hoping he would think through his words and retract what I could only take as a threat on William’s life.

“I’m saying, Detective, that if you won’t bring that monster to justice, then I will find out who he is and I will take care of him myself,” he said.

He stormed out of my office, slamming the door hard on his way out. I went to the door and stepped out into the corridor and saw him making his way through the security door and then out of the precinct. I stepped back into my office and closed my door quietly. I sighed again, then I began picking up the pens and pencils from the floor.

I didn’t want to go after Morrie. It was clear to me that anything I said to him at this point would only make things worse. I just had to hope he had gotten some of his anger and frustration out of his system and that he could start thinking a little more clearly now.

He didn’t know who William Alden was, and I didn’t want to make this any harder for him by detaining him for the threat he had made. It was just words. And I hoped we would have some progress soon. Once we had Candy’s killer behind bars, even if it turned out not to be William, I was sure Morrie would be a whole lot calmer.

Chapter Fifteen

William

Iswallowed hard, trying to swallow down the fear that had gripped my stomach. I had nothing to fear. On a rational level, I knew that. It was on the cops, or the lawyers, or someone somewhere to prove I had killed Candy before I could be thrown into prison for it, and they couldn’t prove it because it hadn’t happened.

That didn’t stop the fear gnawing at me, though. It had begun when the nurse had come into the room with a warrant. She had handed it to me, and a quick scan of it told me she was here to take a cheek swab for a court-ordered DNA test. In theory, being that I had done nothing wrong, the DNA test should prove my innocence.

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