Her Eyes

Chapter 3: PROOF

"Police." Alex banged on the door. The woman asked for a warrant, that's exactly what he was giving her. He and the other men charged in the house without approval. "Lopez and Shelby, you look around the upstairs. Everyone else, stay on this level," Alex directed.

Norma came rushing down the hall from the kitchen, clearly embarrassed. "What is going on here?" she shouted.

"Got a warrant to search your house." He pulled the piece of paper out of his jacket pocket and handed it to her, smiling on the inside at his victory.

"You can't just walk into my house." Her face flushed with anger and frustration.

"Actually we can," he stated smugly. He made his way to the kitchen with her following closely behind. He spotted the carpet installers. "Leave." He nodded in the direction of the door.

"You can't just-" she cried, his glare stopping her words. "Well I have to go," she stated. Alex simply glanced at her. "My son's in the hospital," she urged, hoping it would strike something in him.

Alex filtered through the cabinets. "I hope he feels better," he replied plainly.

She rolled her eyes and sighed in defeat, leaving the house without another word.

They had searched the entire house and still found nothing. Alex cringed, he knew his gut wasn't wrong-he knew she did it. She killed Keith and he would prove it. Alex received a phone call on the way back to the station.

"Sheriff, there's something you need to see down at the boat yard."

"All right," Alex sighed, turning his car around and heading toward the docks.

When he got there, the police had the place surrounded. "What is it?" Alex asked, already dreading the worst.

"A couple of fishermen pulled it up. It was caught in one of their nets," Officer Lopez said. He pointed to the muddy bucket at the foot of the boat.

Alex gave him a confused look before peering into the bucket. There it was-the proof he needed. Zack came down the dock and hopped on the boat. "It's Keith," Alex told him remorsefully. "It's his watch-his ugly watch." He nodded in the direction of the bucket.

Zack sighed, bending down to get a good look at the hand. "That's it."

Alex shook his head and gazed off into the distance. "Dumbass," he whispered to himself. "All right. Let's get it down to the station for analysis," Alex said stepping off the boat.

"Sheriff, the reporters are waiting," Officer Lopez shouted back, watching Romero leave.

"Don't give them any details. You know the drill," he shouted back, climbing into his SUV.

It was later on that night that the evidence came through. Carpet fibers under Keith's watch. Alex found Zack sipping coffee in the break room. "I need you to go to Mrs. Bates' house and bring her down to the station for me," Alex stated, leaning against the countertop.

"Why me?" Zack asked, clearly uncomfortable with the request.

"She likes you," Alex replied haughtily.

When Norma arrived at the station, Alex had been waiting a while for her. She took the seat in front of his desk and waited as he poured her coffee.

"I need you to tell me what happened," he said after placing the mug down in front of her. He sat down in his chair and eyed her from across the desk.

"Well I was just at home, the police came and told me you waned to talk to me." This woman had to be joking. Alex didn't know how much more of this game he could take.

"I didn't mean what happened just now. I meant what happened the night Keith Summers went missing." His voice was full of irritation.

"I told you everything I know." And hers was too.

Alex stared at her looking for a sign of some human emotion. "Okay. We found carpet fibers under the watch of the recovered hand. We're gonna match it to the carpet you were pulling up out of your motel the night Keith disappeared." He hoped he hit something.

Norma let a sigh of annoyance seep out. "Well have fun doing that." She raised her eyebrows expecting a comeback.

Alex could not believe that a woman like this existed. "I'm trying to help you here." Why was he helping her? He knew she killed Keith. "I know you did it." Anyone else would have jumped at the chance for rescue.

But not her. "How could you possibly know that...especially since I didn't do it?"

Alex laughed at her. This woman would go down swinging. "I've been doing this for twenty years. I know people...I get them. It's a gift. And I know you did it." He tried to intimidate her. He hated this woman, yet he felt a tremendous amount of sympathy for her. "Keith wasn't always a nice guy. He was involved in a lot of things, any number of which could have gotten him killed. But I also know he wasn't happy about losing his home or about you buying it. He's the kind of guy who might've tried to retaliate, maybe threaten you-scare you."

She glared at him. He'd hit a nerve. "I'm not scared. No one scared me. He doesn't scare me and you don't scare me. " Alex watched as she unraveled herself in front of him. "I told you all that I know. I told you I had nothing to do with this, can we please be done with this." She started to get up to leave.

"Where did you dump the carpeting you pulled up?" His voice halted her movements.

She stared back at him astonished. "I thought you said you had it."

"No, I said we're gonna test it." He could sense a diversion coming.

"Well how can you test it if you don't have it?" she asked, smiling to herself. This woman thought she was so clever.

"There's only three dumps it could have wound up in. I'll find it. It would be helpful to us and ultimately to you if you told us where it is." He studied her carefully, waiting for her to crack and crumble.

She took a while to form a response. "I don't remember."

Alex looked at her in disbelief. "You don't remember where you physically dumped carloads of carpet?"

"No I don't," she replied coolly. She stared at him waiting for another accusation, but he was done accusing her.

He stared back at her, which ultimately led to a showdown between them. Realizing that she wasn't giving up, he broke away. "Okay, we're done here."

She nodded, collected her things and left, leaving him alone in his office.

It took a while for them to actually find the carpet, but when they did...it was a match. Alex sighed to himself. There was nothing he could do to help this woman. She had killed Keith and the carpet was proof enough to convict her. Normally he'd be glad to put such a pain in the ass behind bars, but this was different. He felt guilty convicting her-almost as if he was betraying her. He barely knew the woman and from the encounters that they had shared, he was hardly inclined to feel any sort of sympathy for this woman.

The drive to the house was the worst. The two men sat in silence, each knowing they were doing the right thing, both somehow regretting it-one more than the other. Alex didn't like to arrest people, he didn't like to be mean to people, but he had to...it was his job.

They climbed out of the car and made their way up the stairs. Alex took a breath before ringing the doorbell. He could hear Norma rushing down the stairs screaming about something. When she opened the door, she looked surprised to see him. He noticed her tearstained cheeks, and a knot formed in his gut. "Norma Louise Bates, you're under arrest for the murder of Keith Summers."

She stared back at him in utter shock. Panic filling her eyes. She looked over at Zack, who stared blankly at her. She turned back to Alex, who wouldn't look her in the eye-he couldn't, not now.