Monday, December 17, 2018

Kara was furious.

For the longest, we'd been assuring her that nothing happened back then. So to find out that everybody had been lying, made her job ten times harder than it had to be.

"On the count of ten, I am going to let Montgomery in, and you are not going to tell him anything that you told me."

"Kara..."

"Ten."

"I thought I was supposed to be telling the truth."

"Seven."

"So, you want me to lie."

"No one is asking you to lie, Aleigha. I'm asking you not to perjure yourself." Kara responded as she placed her hand on the doorknob. "You say one wrong word, and I promise you I will let you go into the hands of the public defender."

I was in no position to argue, so I nodded my head as Kara let Officer Montgomery back in. He looked between the two of us before sitting down. Minutes felt like hours as we sat in silence. As much as I wanted to open my mouth, I didn't want to end up in the public defenders' hands.

"You need to tell us everything," Officer Montgomery finally spoke. "The only way we can protect you is if you are completely honest—"

"You don't think I have been?" I tilted my head to the side, interrupting his sentence. "You think I enjoy wasting my time? Your officer mentioned Bailey's name. That's why I'm here."

"Ms. Emerson..."

"You can call me Aleigha." I folded my arms across my chest.

"And you can call me Levi," he shot back, matching the aggression in my voice. I was surprised. I didn't think he had it in him.

"Aleigha..." Kara frowned.

I was one wrong move from her giving up on me. I could hear it in the way she said my name. That was my warning.

"No. No. She's fine." He held up a hand. "If Aleigha doesn't want to cooperate, we can always change detectives. However, I can't be sure they won't put her behind bars the moment they see her."

"And why should I trust that you won't do the same? What makes you any different?"

"Given the evidence that we have against you, Miss Emerson, I could've arrested you the moment that you walked in the precinct. However, there are two sides to every story and yours is the only side that has been told yet." Levi shrugged. "Call it a fair opportunity."

I leaned back in the chair. He had a point. Despite the cameras, the notepads, and eight hours of straight bullshit, I had a better chance of getting my side of the story told truthfully if it was my sister that was doing the digging.

I looked at Kara and she nodded. This wasn't the first time that Kara represented me in something. That nod meant from that moment forward, she was no longer my sister but on the side of the law. She had a job to do.

"I am going to ask you a series of questions." Levi looked at me with a hint of curiosity in his eyes. He wanted to know, after all these years, if I was the key to the lock they couldn't open. "I will begin with easy ones and then we will progress into the harder questions."

"Bring it on." I winked, as I slowly leaned across the table. "I want something in return for my cooperation."

"Of course, name your price." Levi smiled. If I didn't know any better, I'd think it was genuine. "Information is currency after all."

"I want to ask questions of my own. This is off record according to you, correct."

Levi raised an eyebrow as Kara folded her arms across her chest. She knew what card I was about to play.

"That's correct."

"My stepfather wants this case closed. It's the one thing standing in between him and another term. You give me answers, I tell you the things I'm sure my dear friends didn't."

"And if I don't?"

"Well, I don't think you'd like to piss him off. Your job is now on the line. It's truly your call."

Levi laughed as he shook his head. "She's manipulative. I see it runs in the family. All you Emerson's are the same."

"Deal?"

"You asked for it," Levi chuckled as he grabbed a pen and a notepad. "What was the last thing you remember from that night?"

"Waking up in the hospital," Kara's eyes widened as I continued speaking. "When was the last time anyone physically saw Bailey?"

"Hospital?" Kara whispered in my ear as Levi took his notes. "Strike one."

"Two weekends ago. Leaving his job. Never made it home," Levi replied, never once looking up from his notes. "Were you and Bailey ever together romantically?"

"No." I spat quickly. "Who was his last call was to?"

"The call came from Liberty's phone." Levi returned the answer. "Of course, now we know your sister is dead."

My heart sank into my stomach as the words Levi said sunk in. I looked over at Kara who looked like she was about to fall out. Her emotions quickly faded as she remembered where we were. Levi was right, information was the currency and at that moment the police had more of it than we did.

"The Halloween Party is what we're calling it," Levi looked up from his notepad. "All of this goes back to that night. Were you aware that Bailey and Liberty were romantically linked?"

"You mean Poker Night," I hesitated. This was not how I expected things to go. "Liberty had been missing three weeks at that point."

"That's not the question, Aleigha." He pressed. "Did you know Liberty and Bailey were together."

I opened my mouth to speak but before I did, Levi looked over at Kara. "The minute Aleigha stops answering questions is the minute I stop telling you what I know as well. Will your client be yielding her right to the information?"

Without looking at me, Kara shook her head. "My client will answer the question."

"No." I looked away from them as I tried to suppress the feelings that were being brought up again. If he saw me crying, Levi would know everything.

"Were you jealous of your sister and Mr. Ramirez?"

"No."

Yes.

"Did you and your sister fight when you found out about her and Mr. Ramirez?"

"No."

Yes.

"Are you lying to me, Aleigha?"

"No."

Yes.

Before I could muster up the chance to ask a question of my own, Levi reached into his briefcase and pulled out a new stack of folders. Four numbers rested on the tabs in permanent marker. He pushed them towards Kara and me before raising an eyebrow.

"Are you sure you'd like to keep going?" he asked.

"What is this?"

I trailed my fingers across the names on the front of the folder.

Stella, Luna, Johnathan, Liberty.

Notes had been scribbled on every visible area as if someone had been playing connect the dots. "What do they have to do with anything?"

"Luna was picked up by Johnathan the night of the party. Stella was last seen with Bailey's sister that night. And then Liberty, well her name is in the pile because she was missing as you may recall."

"How could I forget?" I grunted.

"I will ask you one last thing Aleigha. But only if you're up for it."

I looked over at Kara who hesitated. She knew were beaten. All we had, was my side of the story and that wasn't doing us well.

"Will Aleigha be answering the question, Ms. Emerson?"

Kara exhaled. "My client will answer."

"What was the last thing you and Liberty talked about before she went missing?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary." I shrugged. "School. I was working on a project."

We'd talked about Bailey.

"Are you sure you didn't upset her?"

"I would have remembered if I did." I made a straight face. "She was heading out that night."

Because of what I'd told her.

Levi reached down and placed a black folder on the table. Kara grabbed the folder and stood up. The look in eyes said it all, we had no more leverage in this situation.

They knew.

"Aleigha, who is Navia Emerson?"

Kara grabbed my hand and yanked me from my seat. "My client will no longer be answering questions."

Officer Montgomery nodded his head as he gathered the folders. "We'll be in touch. Someone will be more than willing to tell us of this new discovery."

He slid out of the door after handing his card to Kara and nodding to me. I closed my eyes and exhaled as my sister turned to face me. Anger radiated from my expression as Kara fought to explain. I shook my head as we stood toe to toe.

"How does he know about my daughter, Kara?"