Page 39 of What Happened Last Night

“No. After I ended the affair, Candy became a bit of a nuisance, calling endlessly and hanging around the property. She seemed to think I was going to leave Carlotta and we could run off into the sunset together or something, but she never mentioned a baby to me.”

“I find that strange, don’t you? If Candy was so determined for you two to be together, then telling you she was pregnant would have been a good way to make you feel guilty for ending the affair, wouldn’t it?”

“I guess it is a little strange. But if you’re asking me why she didn’t tell me, I can’t help you, Detective. I have no idea what was going through her head. In my opinion, she was mentally unbalanced. Plus, there’s a chance she didn’t know about the pregnancy herself, right?”

I ignored William’s question, although I knew he was right to ask it. Officer Stanford had called me earlier that morning to tell me there was nothing in Candy’s medical records to suggest that she had known she was pregnant. Officer Stanford had correctly pointed out that it didn’t actually mean she didn’t know. She could have done a home pregnancy test. But it did mean we had no evidence to say she knew.

“So, do you make it a habit to have flings with your interns, Mr. Alden?” I asked, changing the subject.

“No, I most certainly do not, Detective,” William snapped. “And I fail to see how that is relevant to this. It’s not illegal for two consenting adults to have sex.”

“You’re right, it isn’t,” I said. “But when one of those adults is—how did you put it again? Mentally unbalanced? Yes, that was it, wasn’t it? Then you have to wonder whether there was true informed consent.”

“She wasn’t mentally unbalanced then,” William said quickly.

“So you drove her to mental illness when you ended the relationship?” I said.

I knew I was antagonizing him, pushing him a little harder than I maybe should have without his lawyer present, but he was answering me of his own free will and he hadn’t asked for his lawyer to be here. The man just pushed my buttons. He continued to lie to me, and it pissed me off. It was like he thought this was some sort of game, that he failed to see Candy’s death as important enough for him to be concerned with it.

“It was hardly a relationship, Detective. It was just sex. Candy knew that going in, and it was only once the fling was over that she showed her true colors.”

I could see that William was starting to get agitated, aware that he was digging himself into a hole. If I could just push him a little bit harder, then maybe he would blurt out something really incriminating.

“By which point you just wanted to wash your hands of her?” I said. “Because she was becoming a nuisance.”

“Exactly,” William said. “I didn’t sign up for anything that made me responsible for her mental health issues, Detective.”

“No, of course not,” I said. “But I have to wonder how much of a nuisance she was to you and just how far you would go to make sure she was no longer causing problems for you.”

“I was willing to go as far as getting a restraining order against her. In fact, I planned on doing that the day she was found dead. Now unless there’s anything else, Detective, I really must go,” William said hurriedly.

He knew exactly what I was implying, and his reaction instantly raised my suspicions, but he wasn’t under arrest and he had every right to ask me to leave his home at this point. I could arrest him and force him to talk, but I knew I had nothing that would stick at this point, so I stood up and nodded to him.

“Of course, Mr. Alden. Thank you for your time,” I said. “Don’t worry, I’ll see myself out.”

I headed back out of the house and to my car. I took my cellphone out of my pocket. I had three missed calls from Morrie Xavier and a missed call from the chief. I also had a voicemail. I listened to the voicemail first, thinking it would be from the chief. It wasn’t. It was from Morrie and it was more ranting and raving about why I didn’t just arrest William already. I thought for a moment and then called Officer Stanford.

“Are you busy?” I asked when she answered the call.

“No, I’m sitting with my feet up, painting my nails,” she said.

I gave a soft laugh.

“Okay, bad choice of words. Are you too busy to fit in an extra hour’s job?”

“I can make it work,” she said.

I explained the situation about Morrie Xavier. She already knew about the newspaper article and instantly put two and two together about why he suddenly thought we should just arrest someone. At this point, pretty much anyone, whether they were guilty or not.

“Basically, the man is a nuisance. He’s wasting time that could be dedicated to finding out who killed Candy. But at the same time, he’s grieving, and I think he just wants to feel heard. Can you grab a junior officer and go over there and just listen to his ranting for a while? Make him feel like you’re taking him seriously.”

“Sure,” she replied. “But I can’t guarantee I won’t end up giving him some tough love.”

“If you think it’ll work, go for it,” I said.

I debated calling the chief back. I already knew what he wanted. He wanted to cuss me out for the leak to the media and find out what I was doing about it. And of course, he wanted to put pressure on me to find out which of the Aldens killed Candy. I decided against calling him back and put my cellphone away and started the car.

I was heading back to the precinct anyway, and when I got there, that would be soon enough for the lecture.

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