Hey everyone!
So, I managed to get one more chapter out before I leave on Sunday, :) this will be it for a couple of weeks as my word app is glitching on my phone :( but I also have a bit of writers block, hopefully the beautiful scenery of Tasmania will give me some inspo! For those of you that follow me on Insta be prepared for many shots of wombats, Tasmanian devils and white wallabies (hopefully) haha!
Anyway, as usual i'd love to know what you think!
xx
Promise To Love Me, Even When You Hate Me.
Chapter 20.
Upon returning to the dock, the crew were greeted by Detective Summerside and two uniformed officers. He pulled Dutchy aside as he stepped on to the dock.
"Mr Mulholland, a word?"
Dylan grit his teeth and put on a smile.
"Detective, what can I do for you?"
"I believe you were told you needed to stay on shore."
Dutchy's brow wrinkled wondering if it was a trick question.
"Ah, I am, I've been assigned to NAVCOM."
"Yes, but you've just been out at sea."
"Yeah, for a memorial service..."
Dutchy wasn't in the mood for technicalities, he walked away shaking his head but Detective Summerside followed closely behind.
"Well, you agreed to stay on shore, this could be seen as an attempt to flee..."
Dutchy stopped and turned to face him, a look of contempt covered his face.
"But I'm standing here, in front of you, I haven't fled."
Detective Summerside stepped forward not caving to Dutchy's attitude.
"We received information that you may try to do a runner, and we've also obtained a warrant to search your house."
Dutchy stopped and spun round to face him.
"What? This is ridiculous, on what grounds?"
"Ah, you failed to tell us you were in a relationship with Ms McGregor, and that you had fought about your relationship before she died. Care to explain why you didn't disclose any of this information?"
Dutchy put on a tough face, he knew it didn't look good, it made him look guilty.
"Because, I didn't think it was any of your business..."
But he knew it was their business, they were the police, everything was their business. Detective Summerside raised an eyebrow and continued to stare him down.
"Don't make this any harder than it needs to be, if you're innocent..."
Dutchy interrupted, he wasn't going to let them steam roll him.
"If? I am innocent, what happened to your robbery gone wrong theory?"
"Well, we haven't got any prints, and there was a tip off about you. We have to look into it."
He shoved the warrant against Dutchy's chest, he snatched it out of his hands and scanned the page.
"We'll meet you at your house."
Detective Summerside walked off to the car park, Dutchy glanced over to Mike and called out after him.
"I want Commander Flynn there when you search."
Detective Summerside nodded as he continued to walk away, 2Dads pulled on Mike's arm and whispered in his ear.
"Boss, this is stupid right? You'll have his back, yeah?"
"It's just routine 2Dads, it's okay."
Dutchy and Mike stood in his living room while the officers tore apart his house, Dutchy cradled Reason in his arms as she growled at the officers. Pacing the room he tried to think of anything that could prove his innocence, this whole thing was like a bad dream. Mike's gaze followed Dutchy around the room hoping he could keep his cool, he knew what Dutchy was like, he could lose it any minute and it wouldn't help his case.
Dutchy took a few deep breaths in and out, but he couldn't help it, he stormed up the stairs and into his bedroom looking for Detective Summerside. He found him in his wardrobe shuffling through his clothes, he placed Reason on the ground and she ran to her bed.
"What exactly are you looking for?"
Detective Summerside didn't bother to turn around, he continued his search.
"It's all detailed in the warrant."
He headed for the en-suite but Dutchy stepped in his way.
"You're wasting your time..."
Detective Summerside side stepped him and began to search the en-suite, he pulled out multiple drawers and checked the bottoms, they were clear. He looked around the room for a moment, standing on top of the toilet he unscrewed the exhaust vent and checked the other side of the vent. Piles of dust dropped from the cover and he sneezed multiple times, a call came over his radio.
"All clear down here.."
He swatted away the falling dust and stepped off the toilet and handed the cover to Dutchy.
"Well, I think we're done here... "
"That'd be right, come in here and mess up the place and expect someone else to clean it up."
Detective Summerside ignored his dog and left the en-suite, Dutchy stood there shaking his head. Mike poked his head in the door
"I think they're leaving..."
Dutchy stepped out of the bathroom and looked around at the state of his bedroom.
"This is bullshit!"
Mike could tell he was about to lose it, his eyes widened as he grabbed Dutchy on the upper arm.
"Just let it go, they didn't find anything…"
"Yeah, cos there's nothing to find!"
Dutchy let out a grunt and shoved the vent cover towards Mike, he stomped down the stairs looking for Detective Summerside to give him an earful.
Mike shook his head and looked up to the hole in the ceiling, stepping onto the toilet seat he reached up and wiped the dust from the lip of the exhaust vent. His hand hit something inside, he blindly patted around feeling for the object. More dust bunnies fell into his face, he sneezed and wiped his face with his other hand. Removing his hand from the vent he knocked something inside and it fell to the ground with a thud. Mike's eyes fixated on the object as he stepped back on to the floor, not believing what it was he squatted down to confirm his fear, it was a gun. His first instinct was to hide it, but an awful thought crossed his mind as he reached out to grab it, what if Dutchy was involved? Dutchy walked back into the ensuite letting out various grunts of irritation, he froze seeing Mike hunched over the gun. Mike looked up to him waiting for an explanation, but it didn't come.
"Dutchy?"
Dutchy bent down and picked up the gun with a towel not saying a word.
"Dutchy?"
They stood there in silence, they both jumped hearing Detective Summerside's voice as he stepped inside the bathroom.
"Just one more thing…"
He stopped seeing the gun, immediately, he removed his weapon from his holster and aimed it at Dutchy.
"Drop the weapon!"
Dutchy froze, he was lost for words, Mike reached over and took the towel from his hand and placed it on the ground.
"It's okay, we just found it."
Detective Summerside grabbed his radio with his free hand and called the other officers, they stormed into the bathroom. Summerside nodded towards the gun on the floor, one of the officers bent down and picked it up checking if it was loaded.
"Weapon is loaded, Sir…"
Detective Summerside replaced his weapon in his holster and raised an eyebrow in Dutchy's direction.
"Is this your firearm, Mr Mulholland?"
Dutchy blinked a few times trying to get himself to focus.
"Ah, um, no, I, I've never seen it before."
"Right, Mr Mulholland you're going to have to come down to the station."
"Why?"
"You know why…"
He snapped on a glove and picked it up by the tip of the handle, he inspected it closely. Dutchy held his breath waiting for him to say something.
"38 caliber, same as the one that killed Ms McGregor, bag it up for forensics and ballistics."
Dutchy rubbed his hands over his face, he couldn't believe what was happening.
"You've got to be kidding me…"
Mike leaned in and whispered in his ear.
"You should probably just cooperate, Dutchy."
Dutchy's head spun round confused at Mike's tone.
"Boss?"
"Just don't make things worse, Dylan…"
"You can't think I did this.."
"Of course not, but…"
They pulled Dutchy away and led him downstairs to the police car. Frankie pulled into her driveway and leapt out of her car seeing Dutchy being taken to the police car.
"Dylan! What's going on? I leave for a week and you're being arrested?"
He couldn't bear to tell her what had happened, he kept his head down.
"Can you look after Reason? Please?"
Frankie ran to his front door and picked Reason up as she watched the police car drive away, she walked up behind Mike and tapped on his arm.
"What is going on?"
Mike let out a sigh and gave Reason a pat on the head.
"We should go inside…"
Frankie nodded, they headed inside her house.
Mike sat on the couch not knowing how to break the news.
"So, you've been away?"
"Yeah, my son just moved, so I went to help him organise his new house…"
"Oh, that's nice."
There was a pause in the conversation, Frankie placed Reason on the floor and waited for Mike to explain. He looked up to her concerned face trying to find the words..
"Ah, so, I'm not really sure how to…"
"Mike, just tell me…"
Mike inhaled sharply and closed his eyes.
"Kate died…"
He didn't mean for it to come out so bluntly, but there was no way to sugarcoat it. Frankie placed her hands over her mouth, she leaned in towards Mike hoping she had misheard.
"What?"
"She, umm, well, the police think it was a robbery gone wrong…"
"Okay, so that doesn't explain why Dylan was being led away by the police."
"Well, they searched his house, apparently there was some kind of tip off or something. I don't know who would do that but, they found a gun, one that potentiality matched the one that was used to killed her…"
Frankie streamed down her cheeks, she shook her head in disbelief.
"He didn't do it, you know that right? He loved her!"
"Yeah, I know, and the truth will come out, but I've told him to cooperate in the meantime."
Frankie jumped up from the couch and paced the room trying to make sense of the awful news.
"So, she was shot? Where, what happened?"
"Ah, she apparently sent Dutchy a message saying help, he went to her house, and it had been ransacked. He noticed a trail of blood and he found her at the beach."
Frankie gasped and placed her hands over her heart.
"He found her?"
"Yeah, she was still alive."
"Oh, god, I need to see him, I need to check that he's okay."
Mike and Frankie headed to the police station, they stood at the counter trying to get someone's attention. The office was chaos, officers continued to ignore them, Frankie became impatient whistled.
"Excuse me?"
A young constable stopped and turned looking flustered.
"Sorry, Ma'am, we're dealing with a big case right now. How can I help you?"
"My friend was just brought in, Dylan Mulholland?"
"Oh, umm, I'm sorry I can't discuss…"
"Can I see him?"
"Sorry, you'll have to wait."
The officer walked away from the counter, Frankie shook her head and plonked herself on the closest chair.
Dutchy sat at a table in the interview room, his head in his hands. Detective Summerside sat opposite him and cleared his throat.
"So, where did this gun come from if it's not yours?"
Dutchy removed his hands for a moment and exhaled sharply.
"Shouldn't I wait for my lawyer?"
"Up to you, but if you're innocent..."
"It's not mine..."
A uniformed officer entered the room and whispered in Detective Summerside's ear, he nodded and glanced back at Dutchy.
"Well, how do you explain your prints being on it?"
"What?"
"Forensics have found one set of prints, they're yours, do you wanna tell us how they got on there?"
He had no idea, but he knew that there wasn't an explanation good enough for them to believe him.
"I can't..."
"So, when did you discover Kate was undercover?"
"Well, a week ago, but I since found out she was lying about what she was undercover for."
"And how did that make you feel? You girlfriend had lied to you about everything, she wasn't who she said she was. "
Dutchy knew he was trying to trap him, he tried to keep his cool.
"How do you think I felt?"
Detective Summerside leaned in close over the table and raised an eyebrow.
"That's want I want to know..."
Dutchy threw his hands in the air out of frustration, he leaned back on his chair and rubbed his hands over his face.
"Okay, I was upset, angry, like most normal people would be..."
"And did you argue about it?"
"Of course..."
"So, were you arguing at her house the day she was murdered?"
Dutchy's hands dropped from his face stunned at the accusation.
"Murder? You think I planned this?"
Detective Summerside scribbled in his notepad, his eyes darting up to Dutchy every so often.
"You're the one telling the story, Petty Officer."
At that moment Dutchy's lawyer stormed in the interview room startling everyone.
"Dylan, don't say another word..."
Dutchy stood up shaking his head.
"No, I need to defend myself, I didn't do this!"
Detective Summerside slammed his folder shut and let out a scoff.
"Evidence says otherwise..."
Dutchy slammed his fist on the table and leaned over eyeballing Detective Summerside.
"Evidence? Seriously, anyone could have planted the gun in my house..."
"Yeah, but no one else has a motive."
"Motive? For god's sake, I loved her!"
Detective Summerside rose from his chair and paced around the table.
"Yeah, that's even more of a motive. Tell me, did you find out who she was undercover for?"
Dutchy sunk back into his chair and focused on the floor.
"Yeah, the N.I.I.D..."
Detective Summerside leaned in closer.
"Excuse me, I didn't hear you."
Dutchy exhaled sharply, he knew he had heard him.
"The N.I.I.D"
"And who she was investigating?"
Dutchy's lawyer stepped in between them halting the conversation.
"Dylan, I strongly advise you to stay quiet."
Dutchy ignored the suggestion.
"I dunno, dodgy sailors, I guess?"
Detective Summerside stopped and placed both hands on the table leaning towards Dutchy.
"Yeah, you..."
Dutchy recoiled slightly, this was news to him.
"Excuse me?"
Detective Summerside sat back down with a cocky smirk plastered over his face.
"What? You didn't know she was your target?"
"Of course not?"
Detective Summerside sensed he was caving, he folded his arms across his chest.
"Seems like a pretty good reason to kill her to me, she was about to expose you..."
Dutchy stood up, he had had enough.
"I'm not going to sit here and listen to you..."
Detective Summerside slammed the folder on the table and stood up to confront him.
"You will sit here for as long as it takes. You need to have a really good think about your answers, the more you cooperate, the better this will go for you..."
Dutchy sank back into the chair, he looked over to his lawyer who had a concerned look on his face.
"Can I make a phone call?"
End of Chapter 20.
