Last Seen Alive

Chapter Twenty-Six

It's been a while so here's a brief recap of the previous chapter. With Pam's help, Michael and Kelsey had accessed one of the folders in Amanda's digital vault and discovered Lydia (the missing medical examiner) used to help criminals fake their deaths. She'd also faked hers before joining the Pinehive Police Department. Michael had also just realized someone had hacked his phone and he suspected his cousin, Pam.

Discovering that Lydia had a criminal past was jarring but with time, Michael believed he could come to terms with that.

Entertaining a hint of suspicion that Pam wasn't who he thought she was on the other hand, was impossible.

His heart rebelled against the idea that someone he'd known and trusted all his life could betray him. But his mind was already cataloging all the reasons it made sense.

As a tech genius, she had the means to hack his phone and listen in on his calls. After all, he'd asked her to do exactly that on Daniel's.

Earlier she'd pointed out how flimsy his phone and email password were, so she clearly had the opportunity to hack them.

Means? Check.

Opportunity? Check.

But what about a motive?

It was all that was missing from the golden tri-factor of a perfect criminal.

Before today, he would have said with absolute certainty that Pam didn't have a single conniving bone in her body. But now? He had no idea what to think.

His head pounded harder and he started pacing. What was he supposed to do next?

Confronting and arresting Pam on the sole basis of a throwaway comment as his evidence was a one-way ticket to hell. If he was wrong, she'd never forgive him and even worse, he'd never forgive himself.

If he was right, he'd have to live with that betrayal and the fact that he'd put his cousin behind bars.

Damned if he did and damned if he didn't. If only he could ask someone what he should do. Perhaps the decision would feel less heavy if it was someone else making it for him.

Kelsey's face swam before his eyes right then and an idea hit him. She had a way of working around difficult conversations and she was good at reading people. If she talked to Pam, she'd be able to tell if she lied.

He checked his watch. It was almost 6pm so she was due at the station soon. But before he confronted Pam with Kelsey as his human lie detector, he had to rule out another possibility.

After a quick trip to the armory for a radiofrequency detector, he speeded to his apartment. There, he went around the entire space with the detector, checking for listening devices that might have been planted and would offer an alternative culprit to Pam.

But there was nothing. The whole apartment was clean.

***

Kelsey arrived at the station just as Michael's car was peeling out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell. Without stopping to second guess her decision, she hopped back into her cab and asked the driver to follow him.

His car came to a stop outside an apartment building and he jumped out and headed inside just before Kelsey's cab got there.

After paying, she dropped off and went to wait by his car, hoping he'd be out before long. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to ward off the chill from the fast darkening night. It would have been spooky if it wasn't for the street lights lighting up the area. By the time Michael came back down, she was huddled against the car, covering her cheeks with her hands.