Hey Amazing Readers!
My sincere apologies for not updating faster, I have been pushing myself to write this story faster than I normally would. That is only because I have been diagnosed with a severe disease...its called laziness. There is no cure yet but I promise I am still fighting to beat it ;) I should have a new chapter up also either later today or tomorrow morning. I haven't decided which but one of the days will be a double update day!
Thank you for reading and thanks for the reviews! Emerald1198 , you are an amazing reviewer, and I am so glad you are liking the story so far! And if anyone has any suggestions, I would love to consider them! EliLover28 , I can't say whether or not Eli is going to be the murderer or not, but I will tell you that I am hoping when you find out who it is, it will shock your socks off! And besides Eli and Clare will come into some sort of drama on their own...Anyways! I am so far planning for this story to be around 10 or 11 chapters, not including the prologue.
Onwards to the story!
Description: After a long-term friend of Clare Edwards turns up dead, she seeks the truth. She thinks it's the only way to bring justice to her death. But It's not as easy when your in this deep, and every new piece of information slashes a deeper wound within you.
Chapter 2: You 'Ain't Got No Alibi
I sighed when I opened my eyes to see light streaming in through the black and white curtains billowing in the air. Today is the day I have to go down to meet with Detective Walker. I don't think I have ever been this nervous before, well maybe once, on my wedding day, but that was only because my sister Darcy and Alli were running around like mad women in preparation.
I pondered what the best way to quietly slip out of bed without Eli noticing was. He has been so tired lately, juggling my distraught state, keeping the house running, and meeting the deadline for his newest book In college Eli was an English major, while I went into the business of Law. After college Eli published his first book called Ocean Eyes. I found it very ironic that he decided that his book was about a High School romance, one that was very similar to ours, but every time I would ask about it, he would simply smirk and say, 'Now Clare, is that your ego I hear growing?' I am also very proud to say that from that one book he became the #1 Best-Selling Author in North America. Since then he has published 2 other books that were equally successful.
Eli's light snores brought me back to reality. His arms were wrapped protectively around my waist and his face was buried in between my curls and my neck, his breathing slow and calming. I tried to slowly unlock his hands from my waist but to my avail they only tightened and he unconsciously pulled me closer to him. It was my giggles that woke him seconds later. I looked up at him and he smirked, "What are you laughing at Edwa-I mean Goldsworthy?"
I giggled again, "It has been almost a year, for the last time, it is not Edwards anymore! Have you forgotten that I am your amazing, funny, awesome wife?"
"Of course not! How could I possibly forget my 'amazing, funny, awesome', beautiful, sexy wife?" He asked with an incredulous look on his face, as if he had been offended.
I laughed and hugged his waist, "I know you didn't forget me, I wanted to hear you say those nice things about me." I said with an innocent look on my face.
He gasped, his eyes widening playfully, "You little devil!" He exclaimed before capturing my lips with his. He reached up to cradle my face as he deepened the kiss. I moaned before I pulled away. His face immediately slipped into a pout.
"As much as I wish I could stay with you in bed all day, I need to get up and get dressed." I threw a stern look his way. He softly kissed my forehead before releasing me from his grip.
"Where exactly are you going that you have to get up at-" he glanced over at the clock and the red digits read 7:54, "-almost 8 in the morning?" He slowly sat up with extreme bed head-which was adorable-and watched me as I walked into our walk-in closet to grab some clothes for the day.
"I am going to meet with the Detective remember?" I grabbed a red, white, and black polka dotted tank top that also had floral patterns on the top half, dark blue skinny jeans, and a black cardigan.
As I walked out of the closet I ran into Eli who was walking in, he caught my waist before I toppled to the ground. He held onto me and look at me with a tender, cautious expression, "Do you need me to come with? You know, in case you get some information that is hard to process?"
"I think I will be okay. Besides I am hopping that the Detective will let me help him investigate this case." I sighed. Although I am only a lawyer, I am known world wide, with a great reputation for not losing any cases. Since I know some of the people down at the Police Department from past...conflicts, I know they owe me a few favors, and I am hoping that letting me on this investigation can be one way for me to cash one in.
Eli looked at me concerned, "Are you sure that This is a good idea? Since this is so personal, I would think it would be hard to hear all of the gruesome details..." he trailed off when I started to shake my head. I rubbed small circles on his chest with my thumb as I spoke.
"I don't care how hard it is. I just feel that this is the last thing I will ever be able to give Alli-satisfaction of making her predator get what he deserves." I looked at my feet in concentration, knowing what Eli was going to say next, because he always seems to know when I have an ulterior motive.
"Clare," he said softly, "You know that no matter what happens to her murderer...it won't bring Alli back. I understand how much you wish that, that was possible, but I just don't want you to get hurt in the process of this investigation. I need you to stay safe, because I don't know what I would ever do if something happened to you." He stroked my back in comfort.
I squeezed my eyes shut understanding at once. "I know Eli, I promise that safety will come first." I opened my eyes and looked up at him. His emerald eyes staring down with worry. I stretched up on my tippy toes and gave him a reassuring kiss. When I pulled away Eli released me and I made my way to the bathroom to get ready. After a shower and getting dressed, I headed down stairs. Eli was sitting at the table with his laptop in front of him, rapidly typing away. A cup of coffee next to him. He glance up at me and smirked.
"I'm heading out. I will be back in time for lunch, maybe we can go to the dot? Meet up with Fiona, because I know Adam left yesterday after the funeral for his convention for work in New York." I suggested.
Eli shrugged his shoulders, "Sure sounds good." and he returned to typing. I slipped on my black ballet flats and grabbed my bag. As I opened the door Eli yelled from the kitchen, "I love you!", I smiled before I shouted, "Love you too!" then I closed the door.
After a short 15 minute drive to the Police Department I hopped out of my car and walked up the few steps into the building. I approached the man at the desk. "I am looking for Detective Walker, I have an appointment, my name is Clare Goldsworthy."
He looked at his computer screen, clicking a few times before he said, "Yes, he his down the right hall in third office on the left." He glanced at me before returning to his work.
"Thank you", I started walking down the hall. I gave a few knocks to the door before it swung open and a tall man with black neatly combed hair and a uniform on answered. He smiled and stuck his hand out.
"You must be Mrs. Goldsworthy." I shook his hand and smiled back.
"Yes, but please call me Clare."
"Well please come in, take a seat." He opened the door wider for me to enter and once I sat down, he closed the door and walked to the seat across from me, behind the desk in the room and sat down.
"So you are here for the case about Alli Bhandari" he announced as he shuffled through the file he had on his desk before peering up at me in confirmation. I simply nodded and he did the same in response. "Okay first thing on the agenda, I apologize that I have to do this, but it is policy. I need to know where you were on the night of December 15th, 2020, the night Alliah was murdered?"
I cleared my throat, well this was going to be embarrassing no matter what. "Um first of all, you can call her Alli, she never liked Alliah. The night she was murdered, I was with my husband..."I trailed off looking everywhere except in his eyes.
"You were with your husband. Doing what exactly? I'm sorry it's not like your a suspect, I know you said that you hadn't talked to Alli for over a month when I contacted you but I just need to be able to clear your name for future records Mrs. Goldsworthy." he informed me.
I nodded, "Ah, yea...I was with my husband, a-and y-you know...we were um-" I coughed a lot cutting off my words Detective Walker was looking at me trying to understand where I was going with this, "-well you see we are trying to have a baby, so we were... you know...trying." I felt the bright red blush crawl up my cheeks and I bowed my head so embarrassed. When I looked up he was nodding his head, his eyes widening slightly in realization. He cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"Ah, yes I see. So you confirm that you were with your husband that night?" he persisted.
"Yes" I mumbled
He let out a sigh, "Okay then next piece of business, I first want to know if you have any immediate questions that you specifically would prefer to know about your friend's case?"
"Actually I do, yea, I know you may have heard of my work, I have even done business with some of your co-workers. A few of them said that they were very thankful after winning their case that they would return the favor anytime, and I was sort of wondering if I could use a favor?" I trailed off.
"What kind of favor exactly?" he asked warily.
"I want to be on this case. I am not talking a lawyer because for right now that is unnecessary until we find the murderer, but I think in order for me to be able this support this case well in the future I want to know all the details as we find them out. Also...Alli has been my best friend for years, and I strongly feel that she would want me-if anyone-to be the one who gets to look her killer in his eye and give him what he deserves." I explained gently.
"Ah, normally I wouldn't do this, but, since you said that you have connections within this department, I will grant you this wish. I need to warn you now that as this case ensues, you can't go releasing the information to the media, and some of the things we find, you might not want to know, because so far the details aren't making this look like a simple open-and-shut case. Who ever this sick bastard is, he has quite the creativity and made this a complicated as he can for us." Detective walker warned me but I knew that no matter what happens, I need to do this. It was a gut-instinct for me. It just felt right.
"I understand Detective." I confirmed.
He smiled, showing off all of his pearly white teeth, "Please call me Jason" he replied.
I just simply smiled in return. "Okay then, Jason, what have we found out so far?" He snapped out of the dazed moment he was stuck in for a minute.
"Ah, yes." He pulled the file the he was looking at earlier and placed it in front of me. "It seems that sometime the night of Alli's death she was placed back in her home around 9:00-11:00 pm. There was marks all over her body. Several bruises on her arms-they appear to be from someone gripping her too tightly. She had a few broken ribs and many cuts across her stomach. One thing that caught my eye was that either she-or someone else-had pulled her hair." I winced and remember some of the fights Alli had gotten into back in High School, like the one with Bianca DeSousa. They pulled each others hair hard, and yet that hadn't pulled out a lot of her hair. I can't imagine the force that did this. "There were clumps of it all around her house, but it appeared that there were not missing spots on her head. I did a DNA test and it was here hair, but it just didn't make sense to me, that is until I discovered something strange. In one of the trash cans in her house there were several receipts for hair salons that said she got extensions various times over the past couple months. Now the question is, if someone did this to her, then why didn't she tell someone?" he pondered, lost in thought for a moment. He snapped back, "That is all we have for the time being, he house is still being searched for fingerprints and whatnot."
I started taking deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. I want to punch something so bad, and that scares me because I never am the violent one. "Okay what is next? Do you have any suspects?" I asked.
"Well," He flipped the pages in the file until he stopped on one full of names. "I had her family give me the names of any of her closer friends and/or enemies that Alli might have had in the past couple years. I just wrote yours and your husbands name down at the bottom, but these are the people who had an alibi the night of her murder." he told me.
I looked at the list. "Do you mind if I take this and the list of the people who don't have an alibi yet? I am going to try to contact them tonight and I will do some further research." I asked a little timidly.
Jason smiled, "Sure, how about I meet up with you later this week or this weekend? We can have coffee and go over more details?" he asked.
"Sounds great." I nodded in agreement. I stood up and put the file in my bag. I walked to the door and turned and said. "I was nice meeting you." he replied with "You too Clare".
When I returned home I found that Eli was still pecking at the computer as he was when I left him 2 hours ago. He glance up and smiled. "How did it go? You doing okay?" he asked worried.
"Yeah, I am fine. I am meeting with the detective again later this week and I convinced him to let me on the case. He gave me this file of the people with and without an alibi that were once either close with Alli or a rival to her" I set the file on the table across from Eli. He leaned over and pressed his lips over mine in a sweet kiss. When I pulled away I sat down.
"Ehm, so I had to, um, give a-you know alibi for you and I..." I trailed off knowing that he would understand. He looked up to meet my eyes with a glint of mischief in them and he smirked.
"It is not my fault that you practically jumped me when I was trying to get ready for bed!" He said in defense. I just giggled.
I opened the file and it was split into two columns, on the right it said 'Cleared' and the left 'Call'.
The writing on the right said:
Jenna Middleton
K.C Guthrie
Drew Torres
Adam Torres
Fiona Coyne-Torres
Dave Turner
Wesley Betenkamp
Anya McPhearson
Clare Goldsworthy
Elijah Goldsworthy
The left column was next and some of the names I didn't even know, but I guess Alli did.
Holly J. Coyne
Declan Coyne
Zane Park
Riley Park
Mark Fitzgerald
Owen Milligan
Bianca DeSousa
Some of the names are not surprising like Fitz, and Owen. But it was the name at the very bottom of the list that made me a little shocked. I didn't know Alli had kept in touch with him, or why she wanted to. Was there more to this case than I was thinking? This is going to dig up a lot from the past. Maybe even some things that I was hoping to forget...
The name at the bottom read:
Johnny DiMarco
Thank you to everyone who read this, I hope you are liking things so far! Review for an update!
