Adrian--
Adrian sat back in his chair with a sigh. He had worked hard to earn the respect of this department, and had solved many cases without much help from anyone else. And yet, he couldn’t seem to make sense of what Carrie had meant by her mention of San Francisco.
He didn’t know why he was even giving it so much thought, though. She struck him as the type of woman who was used to getting her way.
He could imagine her walking up to any other head detective in a respected police department and getting the poor man to listen and actually believe the fairytale she had to tell.
A fairytale was all it would be, though.
What else could it be? Did she honestly expect Adrian to believe she was just trying to help her sister out of the goodness of her heart?
There had to be something more than that.
She was just trying to cover her tracks. She must know it’s only a matter of time before Adrian cracks the case, and puts them both behind bars where they so clearly belonged.
Katelyn had done her best to keep her family out of the spotlight, but he would do better uncovering the truth.
He had to admit he was surprised Carrie had shown up, though. It would have been smarter to stay hidden, pretend she and her sister were estranged, claim ignorance.
However, it makes sense she would think she could try to mislead him, and derail the investigation with false information.
He had done his research, though. He’d been prepared, and he could tell it surprised her.
Was it wrong he had read Carrie's file to get a reaction out of her?
Was it even worse that he had felt rather disappointed when he hadn’t gotten the overreaction he was hoping for?
A quick Google search of her diagnosed conditioned mentioned the tendency to get lost in the past when triggered with a memory. He’d been hoping to distract her, like she was trying to distract him.
It hadn't worked.
“Figures,” Adrian muttered.
He should have known better than to believe the diagnosis was real. Another ruse, probably. She hadn’t so much as flinched at his words, and she definitely hadn’t been triggered.
He had been counting on snapping her out of some memory daze and having her forget all about her pathetic attempt to mislead him. He’d wanted to trap her in the mixed up details of her false story.
Instead, he'd only managed to piss her off, and not in a helpful way.
“Any new leads?” Captain Mack asked, tapping a chubby finger on Adrian’s desk.
“Nothing worth mentioning,” Adrian answered.
“Really? I heard the secret twin came in to volunteer some information today.”
“Nothing we didn’t already know.”
“I’m going to assume that means you didn’t give her a chance to speak.”
“This is murder, Mack. And her sister is the biggest suspect right now. She’s a suspect herself for crying out loud! Do you really think we should trust anything she has to say?”
“I think you’d have to hear what she has to say first before you can decide whether or not to trust it. We’re on borrowed time, Parker. We should have had this case closed yesterday. I’m not paying you to sit on your ass with your feet propped up on my desk. I don’t care how many cases you’ve solved or how much I need you, especially on a case like this. I can fire you just as easily as I hired you. Remember that next time you’re feeling cocky.”
Mack gave Adrian his signature “stern father” look before retreating into his office.
Adrian had to admit that Mack had a point. He probably should have let Carrie volunteer the information she claimed to have, even if it was useless. He would have been smart enough to know whether she was lying or not, and at this point in the investigation, any information would help.
Solving the Taylor Tomas case quickly was a priority (Mack had made that very clear) and it wouldn’t hurt to use any resources available to his advantage. He may have blown his chance at hearing what the twin had to say, but at least he had a question to answer: What happened in San Francisco, if anything?
And there were rarely questions Adrian couldn’t find the answer to.
