Dead Drop by Jack Patterson (reading cloud ebooks txt) 📕

“So, are you suggesting you were with him at the time he murdered the three bank robbers who killed your husband? Or were you the one who pulled the trigger?”

She glared at him and shook her head in disgust. “No.” She paused and looked down. “He was with me on Friday night. I picked him up from the airport, and we went to a hotel. He was afraid there might be members of the media staked out at his home as well—and I just knew it would cast suspicion on us. Plus I didn’t want Mason to have to hear people saying ugly things about me.”

“How long were you there?”

“All night. Then early Saturday morning, I took him back to his office.”

“And then you just left the country?”

“He called me a little while later and told me to book the first flight I could to get out of here with Mason. He thought the FBI might try to put me away for my association with Dr. Lancaster. Do you know who he is?”

“I’m aware of the story.” Kittrell scribbled some notes on his pad and dropped his pen emphatically. “You know I’m going to have to tell the FBI that you were here, right?”

She nodded as a tear streaked down her face. “I know.”

“You’re a brave woman coming in here like this. I’ll talk to the chief and see if we can get Umbert released.” He pushed a pad and pen in front of her. “I need the name of the hotel and a signed statement from you.”

“What about Jonathan? Do you think he’ll be able to go home today?”

“We’ll need to check out your alibi, go through the hotel’s security footage and see if everything meshes with our medical examiner’s timeline.”

“And when it does?”

“We’ll likely release him.”

She exhaled and forced a smile. “That’s all I want. I just couldn’t bear the thought of him going to prison for something he didn’t do—even if it cost me my freedom.” She put her head down and started to write.

After a few moments of silence, Kittrell spoke, “You must really love him.”

She stopped and looked up. “I do. I never wanted things to go the way they did with Sid. He was the one who wanted to divorce me—though I wasn’t about to put up a fight. The way he was always running around on me … He didn’t deserve me, but he didn’t deserve to die like that either.”

“Do you think someone targeted him?”

She finished her statement and then signed it, pushing it back across the desk toward Kittrell. “I guess we’ll never know now, will we? With those robbers all dead, there’s not much point in pursuing it, is there?”

“Don’t you want closure—and justice?”

“I got closure when he served me with those papers. As for justice? Does justice ever really accomplish anything for the victims or the perpetrators?”

Kittrell nodded. “Absolutely. Justice is what keeps us a civilized society, a free society. Without it, vengeance rules the day and we cage ourselves up in prisons of bitterness, rage, and envy.”

“Who’s to say we aren’t already caging ourselves up with those things, Detective Kittrell?”

“At least with justice, there’s an opportunity for us to live another way.”

She stood up. “Unfortunately, our justice system isn’t always just.”

“But it tries. And that’s all we can ask.”

***

AN HOUR LATER, Rebecca sat in an FBI interrogation room. She took a sip of water from the glass in front of her and awaited her questioning. She’d done things wrong for a long time, but it was time to start doing things right.

The agent entered the room as he stared down at a stack of papers. He loosened his tie and sat down opposite of Rebecca. “Mrs. Westin, I’m Agent Perryman, and we appreciate you coming to us today. I know it took a lot of courage for you to come in here today, especially with all you’ve been through lately.”

“Thanks. I needed to help a friend, and there’s no use running from what I did any more.”

“We’re prepared to give you immunity if you tell us about your relationship with Dr. Bill Lancaster and what you did for him.” He handed her a document. “You’ll see all the specific details there, but the paragraph I highlighted is the important part.”

She nodded and signed the document before handing it back to him.

“I’m ready to talk.”

“So, tell us about your relationship with Dr. Lancaster. How did it come about?”

“About two years after I had Mason, we started trying to get pregnant, but I couldn’t. So I met with a fertility specialist in Seattle right after we moved here. He recommended I reach out to Dr. Lancaster and see if he might be able to help me with some unconventional treatments.”

“Did he tell you what you were taking?”

“I asked, but he told me it was best not to. Plausible deniability is what he said I needed. So for about a year, I took the supplements he sent me.”

“When did you learn you were taking HGH?”

“I started to do a little research and figured out what it was.”

“And you weren’t worried about taking it?”

“Not at all. Even though it wasn’t working, I felt great, stronger, more vibrant. I had more energy than I’d had in years. Who wouldn’t keep taking something that made you feel like that?”

“But you did stop?”

“Yes, but only because I changed my mind about getting pregnant. Sid and I were having problems, and I didn’t want to complicate things by having another child, especially if I was going to leave him.”

“Yet you stuck with him for another three years?”

“Sid was at the end of his career then, and we didn’t have a ton of money. I didn’t see a bright future in that regard, and I certainly didn’t see him revitalizing his career. So, I started to plan for my own future.”

“And you did that by distributing HGH to local professional players?”

“Not at first. I initially thought I’d just resell my monthly allotment on the black market,