Hell's torturer: The Demon in Disguise

Part 8

"What's the verdict?" I ask as I walk down the busy street, my voice filled with anticipation.

"The teacher is innocent. We called his workplace and even checked the security footage. He was at the hospital all night, just as he said. There is no way he could have done it." The person on the other side tells me.

As I assumed. It was unlikely, but within the people gathered at my uncle's house, he was potentially the only one with a motive. I had to send him for interrogation to be sure. During my 6 years as a detective, nothing surprises me anymore.

"What about Lucas?"

"He was still in Iowa when it happened. He showed us the date of his plane tickets and everything."

Yet again, highly unlikely, but that only leaves us with one more option.

"What about Damian Messer and Stephanie Willson?"

"According to him, he drove her to the place of her interview and never heard from her again. We called the interviewer to confirm it. They haven't exchanged contacts either. He seemed rather confused when we told him that he was suspected of a murder."

"Where was he the night Jamie passed?"

"Since he doesn't have anything to do with Miss. Willson's disappearance I doubt he would..."

"Where was he?" I grit my teeth loud enough for him to hear me through the phone.

"He was taking care of his stepmother in her house. She confirmed it."

"She could be lying."

"He doesn't have a motive, Lia. What would a millionaire have to gain from killing a medical student he doesn't know?" Although his words ring true, his tone of voice annoys me. He's speaking as if I'm making stuff up on the go. "I know it's hard to believe, especially when it's a person you know and love, but all the evidence points that it was with utmost certainty, a suicide."

"Then why the hell was her pinky chopped off Decker?!" I snap, gripping my phone case with such force, that I hear the protector starting to crack. "It's an important detail everyone conveniently seems to ignore!"

"It could have been gnawed off by a rat for all we know," now he raises his tone to match my energy. "The place was swarming with them when forensics came. And can you please stop calling me with my last name as if we weren't married for the past 7 years?!"

"Don't change the subject."

"I'm already giving you more information than I should have. They suspended you from the case for a reason. Stop using your time off to solve things on your own and let us handle it. Go home and get some rest like a normal person. Tammy is waiting for you."

"First off: Don't use our daughter to guilt trip me into giving up. And second: what do you mean let you handle it? How? By ignoring clear evidence and letting prime suspects walk away just like that?!"

"There is no reason for you to raise your tone, Lia..."

"It's Detective Harper for you now." I could practically hear the chill go down his spine when he sensed the coldness in my voice. "Either call me when you have more insight or don't call me at all." I end the call before he starts spewing out that nonsense of how much he misses me. I don't want to waste any more of my valuable time dealing with this drama. Every minute I spend with my hands in my pockets is a minute where the true culprit is walking around freely, potentially searching for other victims.

Willson's disappearance and Jaimie's murder are linked somehow, there is no doubt about it. The only reason I don't suspect her friend to be the killer is the time interval between her confession and the time of death. If it was the case that Stephanie killed her to keep her mouth shut, then why didn't she delete the recording and instead delete everything else? What could've possibly transpired in 30 minutes that hadn't in the past 4 years of their forged lie? Perhaps it was an act of revenge from one of Sylvan's relatives, but his parents disowned him after his sentence, so there is no way they would have any doubts he was falsely accused or seek to avenge him.