The Opposite of Love

Ch 29

I was in the small holding cell in the basement of the sheriff's station, sitting on the cold floor with my knees curled up to my chest. I had been in there plenty of times before, but this time felt different. And it was. For once, I was innocent.

I hadn't seen Charlie since we arrived at the station, and nobody else had explained anything about this to me yet. I could hear Mike talking a couple times while I was being processed, but I hadn't been given the opportunity to actually speak with him yet. But from what I gathered, he was stepping in as my lawyer, and I was extremely grateful. Mike was not only a great attorney, but I also considered him my friend. He would believe me, and he would help me.

I heard the jingle of keys on the other side of the door, and I eagerly stood. Deputy Bowman walked in first. "Callie, you can speak to your lawyer now," he said.

Mike walked in next, and Dad was right behind him.

Mike looked to Deputy Bowman expectantly. "Can we have the room, please?"

Deputy Bowman nodded. "I have to get back to my desk, anyway."

As soon as he was out of the room and the door was closed, Dad walked up to the bars on the cell walls and grabbed my hand through a gap. Mike took a seat in the corner.

"Tell me why I'm in here," I said.

"No," Dad said. "First, you tell me."

"Tell you what?" I asked, though I had a pretty good idea of what he meant already.

"Tell me what you've been hiding. What your connection to this case is."

So, I did. After all, it wasn't like his knowledge could make the situation any worse.

I told him everything, from finding the case on Laura's desk to the guy who broke into my apartment and asking Charlie for help, all the steps of our investigation, Mr. Harrison's ties to this, even Charlie's concussion. And finally, asking him to bring in Goodman.

He was surprisingly silent through the whole thing. When I finished, he was still silent.

"So, what do you think, Dad?"

"I think," he said slowly, "that it was Charlie."

"That what was Charlie?"

"Everything. The break-in, the murders, your missing camera... It was all Charlie."

"What? Dad, no. He's a giant jerkwad, yes, but he'd never physically hurt me. And he's not a murderer."

"Callie, he is. He's involved in this."

"Just because you don't like him doesn't mean—"

"I have proof."

"What? What proof?"

"The watch."

"What watch?" Mike asked. I had almost forgotten he was in the room.

"We saw Mr. Harrison try to give this watch to someone via dead drop last night," I explained. "He left it with a note that said, 'you dropped this, be more careful next time.' Dad sent it to our lab guy to see if we could get DNA or a fingerprint or something off it."

"And he did," Dad said. "He found both. He called me with it an hour ago. He ran it through, and the DNA and the prints were already in the system... because they have to be submitted before a person is officially deputized."

I processed his words. "The prints matched to Charlie?"

"100%."

That was where I had seen it. It was a while ago, but that watch... I had seen it on Charlie's wrist.