Page 47 of What Happened Last Night

I paused for a second. This was it. It was time to tell Detective Del Rey how William had pushed Candy out the window to stop her from getting me with the knife. I opened my mouth to tell him, but the words wouldn’t come. William had his faults—a million of them, to be precise—but he had still risked his life in that moment to save mine. I had no doubt in my mind that Candy would have killed me given the chance. And William had stopped her. How could I throw him under the bus when he had done that for me?

“William dove over the bed and pushed her away from me,” I went on. “And then Candy got really upset. She threw herself out the window.”

It sounded lame, even to my mind, but what else could I do? Detective Del Rey shook his head, looking at me with barely disguised disgust.

“You know, I almost believed you, Carlotta. Until the very last part of your story, of course,” he said.

I felt myself blush, but I didn’t say anything else. Detective Del Rey watched me for a moment.

“Here’s the deal, Carlotta. William has told us that you lured Candy to the house with the intention of killing her. He is saying that you went for her with a knife, driving her out the window,” he said.

“But none of that is true,” I shrieked.

“I know. You were right about the window, Carlotta. We know Candy broke into your house. And we found the knife, and your fingerprints aren’t on it,” he continued.

I felt relief in the pit of my stomach, but it didn’t last long as Detective Del Rey went on.

“The problem I’m having here is that your story isn’t true, either. For what it’s worth, I believe your version of events is true up to the point where you claim that Candy threw herself out the window. Her injuries aren’t consistent with that. We know Candy was pushed out that window. What we still don’t know is which of you pushed her. So here’s the deal. You’re free to leave. Go home and think seriously about the ending to your little story and come back when you’re ready to tell me the truth about who really pushed Candy.”

“But ...” I started.

“No buts, Carlotta. Either you killed Candy, or you didn’t. If you did, then you deserve to rot in prison. But if you didn’t, then you don’t. Whatever happened that night, you’ve lied to us, Carlotta. You claimed you didn’t remember any of this, yet now, you conveniently do.”

“I went to see a priest, Detective. I was wrestling with my conscience, you see. I know lying is a sin, but so is breaking your wedding vows, and telling you all of this surely counts as breaking those vows. The priest made me see that I had to be honest. I was planning on coming here and telling you everything. I just didn’t expect William to get in first with a lie.”

“Whatever.” Detective Del Rey shrugged. “If you tell us the whole truth and it leads to Candy’s murderer going to prison, I’m willing to overlook your lies. I get why you wanted to cover for your husband. But I will need the full story. And I will need all of it to be true. Do you understand me?”

I nodded my head slowly. I did understand him. And he was giving me a way out. I could tell him the full truth and not go to prison for lying. I could end this whole thing right here and right now. But I didn’t think I could do it. I didn’t think I could say the words he needed to hear, not when William had only killed Candy to save my life.

The detective stood up.

“Think about what I’ve said, Carlotta. And when you’re ready to tell me the full truth, come back to me. In the meantime, you’re free to leave.”

He made for the door. He pulled it open and then turned back as I got to my feet.

“Oh, and one more thing. We’re getting pretty close to finding out the truth for ourselves. And if that happens, then make no mistake that I will have the courts throw the book at you for perverting the course of justice. Just something for you to consider.”

He disappeared from sight. My mind was spinning. I felt sick and dizzy, and my mouth was so dry it hurt to swallow. Not that there was anything to swallow, anyway. I knew I had to do it. I had to tell him everything. Regardless of the fact that William had saved my life, I couldn’t do a life sentence for him, and it was starting to look like it was going to come down to a choice between those two options. I guess I always knew it would end up coming to this. Him or me. My life ruined or his.

Maybe if I just told the truth, it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe they’d be a little bit more lenient with William when they found out that he was protecting me from Candy. I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do as I stepped out of the precinct and into the street. I didn’t have my cellphone or any money on me, so I began walking toward home.

As I walked, I started to formulate a plan. My next move depended solely on William and how he treated me when I returned home. If he was apologetic for leaving me to rot in jail, then I would seriously rethink confessing everything. But if he continued to taunt me and undermine me, if he was smug about my night in jail, then I was going to write down exactly what had happened that night. The full truth. And I was going to give the account to Detective Del Rey.

Chapter Twenty-Four

William

When the officer first took Carlotta away, I was deliriously happy. So happy that I didn’t even feel the need to drink. She was in jail and I was free. It was going to be okay. I wasn’t going to take the blame for any of this. I mean, Carlotta’s words rang true to some extent, but even if I had pushed Candy, it was all Carlotta’s fault, anyway.

If she hadn’t driven me into Candy’s arms in the first place, none of this would have happened. If she didn’t go out of her way to emasculate me and make me crave affection, then none of this would have happened. If she’d even just quietly accepted the affair and pretended not to know about it like she had every other time she had driven me into the arms of another woman, then none of this would have happened.

I decided against bailing her out. It wouldn’t look good for my story. I had told the detective that Carlotta was guilty. If that were true, I would hardly have been rushing down to the precinct to free her, would I?

I went to bed happy, but I woke up in a slightly melancholier frame of mind. What I was doing to Carlotta was wrong. She had known all along that I was the guilty one, and she had risked everything to cover for me. But all the same, the police weren’t going to just let this go until they had found someone to blame for Candy’s murder, and I wasn’t about to take the fall for it. So it had to be Carlotta. I had no other choice. I wasn’t the bad guy here. The damned detective who just wouldn’t give up was the real villain, turning Carlotta and me against each other like this.

I was also a little nervous about what Carlotta might tell the police once she found out she was in the line of fire. Would she tell them what had really happened? The more I thought about it, the less worried I was about that part. Even if she did tell them the full story, they wouldn’t believe her. They would assume she was backtracking and trying to save her own skin now that she knew I had come forward. In this scenario, it definitely paid to get in first. I just wished I had thought to do it sooner.

The same thoughts echoed in a constant loop around my mind, haunting me, and I did the only thing I could think of to silence the voices. I went to the liquor cabinet and poured myself a large drink. I didn’t even bother lying to myself and telling myself I was only having one. I took the bottle with me to the couch and proceeded to get stinking drunk.

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