Samantha

Chapter Five: the suspect

Lila caught Agent Aaron up on everything that Christina had told her in her office. Aaron let out a deep breath. "So Julie was the last one to see Samantha alive that we know of?" Lila nodded. "Looks that way," she commented.

Lila sat on the corner of her desk as she spoke, "But i remembered something from the conference room when we told  them about Samantha. Christina was upset but she didn't say much, just that 'someone obviously killed Sammy.' Julie kept saying ' why would anyone hurt Samantha?'

"She never once called her Sammy like Christina or Jeremy, even Caleb called her Sam." Aaron realized what she was saying, "So you think she had already distanced herself from Samantha because she knew about everything?" Lila nodded, running a hand through her hair.

Agent Shepard propped his head up on his hand. "Do we have enough to arrest her?" Lila shook her head. "Not yet. We have to find more. So far she was supposedly the last person to see the victim and her boyfriend was cheating with her but she didn't know."

"See if you can get the size and type of shoe she wears, might match it to the unidentified footprints next to Samantha's where her body was found," Lila suggested. Aaron nodded, "That's something! I'm on it."

~•~••~•~••~•~••~•~••~

Julie Miles wears size 7 blue Converse low tops matching the second set of footprints at the crime scene. Agent Aaron arrested her the next morning and she was in the interrogation room alone. Smith and Shepard were behind the glass. Smith agreed to direct the interview. Shepard would speak through the earpiece to assist.

Agent Smith walked into the interrogation room and sat in the chair in front of Julie. "I know my rights, I want a lawyer. I didn't do anything." Lila stared at her. "Those statements contradict each other, Julie. Which is it? You didn't do anything or you need a lawyer?"

Julie glared at her. "I didn't kill Samantha! She was my sister." Lila shrugged. "If only she would've had the same decency. She was sleeping with your boyfriend, Caleb, was carrying his child. Then again, you knew that." Julie looked down at the table, silent.

"What was it? She came to you saying she and your boyfriend were in love, that they were gonna be together so you kill her? Or was it an accident? Which was it, Julie?" Julie looked up at her. "I want my lawyer." Lila leaned back in her seat. "I would, too."

Julie's lawyer was a scrawny little man with greying brown hair and gray eyes surrounded by wire rimmed glasses. Lila sat across the table from them both and the lawyer had his hands on the table. "You either charge my client or let her go. You cannot keep her here."

Lila smiled, "Oh, we're working towards charges, don't worry." The lawyer glared at her, sitting back in his chair. Julie was staring at a picture of Samantha Agent Smith had put in front of her. "She was pregnant?" Lila looked at her. "You didn't know?" Her lawyer shook his head. "Don't say anything," he said. Julie shook her head like she hadn't heard him. "She didn't tell me..never told me anything. Always confided in Christina."

"A baby. Jeremy must be crushed, he always wanted children but Samantha never wanted to settle down." Lila rested her elbows on the steel table. "See, that's the thing. It wasn't Jeremy's baby, it was Caleb's." Julie's eyes darkened. "No," she said quietly.

Lila slid the test result from the DNA match across the table. "See for yourself. You know how to read those, you went to medical school, right?" Julie nodded, looking at the results. The lawyer pushed the results away. "You cannot bring those in here and expect her to read them."

Julie pulled the files back towards her though, ignoring him. A sad look came over her face as she realized what the results meant. She leaned back, "It was his baby, that doesn't mean anything. Anyone can make a baby, it takes something special to make a relationship. They never could've had that." Some anger seeped into her quiet voice but she remained calm.

Lila settled back in her chair. "No, they could've. Caleb loved her, she loved him. They would've been a family, but you killed her. Tell me why." Julie shook her head. "No you didn't kill her or no you won't tell me why?" Agent Smith asked. Julie's lawyer turned to her, "Don't answer that."

A tear ran down Julie's face as she slowly broke. "She came to me, told me that they had been together. Said she wanted to be with him, wanted my blessing. Imagine that, my blessing. She'd been screwing my boyfriend while she had Jeremy the whole time." Her lawyer raised his voice slightly, "Don't say anything else,  Ms. Miles!"

"I got mad, pushed her." Julie continued, "I didn't mean to hurt her, honest. She fell back and hit her head. I got scared and ran, I didn't mean to hurt her!" Lila leaned back in her chair, arms crossed. "Why were you in the woods, Julie?" she asked.

Julie wiped tears off her face. "It's where we used to play as kids, always in the woods. We were always in the woods. She said she'd want their child to play in those woods too. She said that so I pushed her. She got what she deserved!" Lila stood up and left the interrogation room, shutting the door behind her. The lawyer put his head in his hands, sighing.

~•~••~•~••~•~••~•~••~

Agent Aaron leaned against the wall outside the room. Lila sat nearby, head in her hands. "That'll be enough to put her away," Aaron said. She nodded, "Yeah but what about Christina? Julie was all she had left." Aaron sighed. "I know. How do we tell her?"

Lila looked up. "You don't have to, I'll do it." He shook her head. "You don't have to do it alone. I'll be there." She nodded, silent. Just then, Christina walked in. "Did she confess?" Worry filled her face.

Lila stood and walked over to her. "She confessed," Lila said quietly. Christina nodded, silent tears falling down her face. Lila didn't know if she was crying because she had lost one sister or if it was because she lost her to the other but she suspected both. Lila leaned against Christina, comforting her as she cried.

~•~••~•~••~•~••~•~••~

Caleb sat on the couch in front of Agent Shepard and Smith. "She confessed to killing Sammy?" Lila nodded. Caleb let out a shaky breath. "Did she say why she did it?" Agent Aaron set his hands on his knees. "She said that Samantha started talking about the baby, your baby. About how excited she was and Julie lost it."

Caleb stated straight forward at nothing. "The baby...what was it?" Lila understood what he was asking. "The baby would've been a boy." Caleb smiled a small sad smile and wiped away a tear. "Thank you." Lila nodded at him.

Her funeral would be the next day at a small cemetery thirty minutes from where she grew up.

~•~••~•~••~•~••~•~••~

Samantha's funeral was set up under a tent. Agent Smith saw Christina standing near the casket alone. She was about to walk over when she spotted Caleb walking up to the casket.

A few words were spoken between them and they hugged briefly. They pulled back and looked towards the casket. They talked, probably about Samantha. Lila smiled, they'd be OK.

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Hi, dead_author4 here! Hope you enjoyed the book, sorry if it was a little short. Let me know what you thought in the comment below💙👍⬇⬇ bye now✌