Ties That Bind

Chapter 51

IT ALMOST COULDN'T HAVE BEEN BETTER TIMING. Madison hadn't thought everything through to a conclusion before pushing ahead to prove her point. She hadn't considered how she would get his DNA but had hoped for a miraculous confession to three murders. How it played out was almost better.

They anonymously called in a disturbance at the Younge residence. If he was there and other officers actually arrested him, they would have their guy but not have to face the wrath from the sergeant and the chief for getting involved.

Brooke Younge decided to press charges against Evan. She felt her life was in danger, and if they hadn't arrived when they did he would have killed her. So, as opposed to a simple assault charge, they had upped the count to attempted murder. And given the fact that they found another G & C necktie in Evan's pocket, there was a good chance she was right.

They obtained a warrant for his DNA, and it came back at a higher percentage match than it had to Ethan's. Concreting the evidence was the fact that Evan's fingerprints were a perfect match to the ones on the cuffs, the photo, the wine glass and the locket.

"And I see that you own a '95 Honda Accord." Madison watched him from across the table of the interrogation room.

Evan Frost had refused his right to an attorney. He had claimed something about needing to cleanse his soul. "Yeah."

"So why did you do it?" The one question that needed a solid answer.

Silence.

"I can tell you what I think," Madison began.

He gestured with his hands as if to say, go ahead. He tried to appear more laid back than Madison believed he was. Maybe he didn't think she noticed how his leg was bouncing up and down underneath the table.

"You felt abandoned, unwanted. You were shuffled from foster home to foster home. Never adopted." Madison made a wincing face. "That must have hurt." He unraveled in front of her, rocking back and forth. "Rejected by your own mother and repeatedly by strangers. No one accepted you. You were an outcast." Her voice rose in volume as she kept talking.

He stopped rocking, hunched forward, and shook his head. "I'm not. I'm not." It came out like a chant.

"Is that what you're telling me, or what you're trying to convince yourself of? Because what I see is an outcast. Never held a job longer than two months. I can understand how all this would move you to make the one woman accountable for all your suffering. Your mother."

"No...she didn't..."

"She didn't...what Mr. Frost?" She was taunting him, waiting for him to break.

Rage flared in his eyes. She was getting to him. But then instead of yelling and demanding a lawyer, he lowered his head and fanned fingers through his hair.

"You killed your own mother." She kept pushing.

His eyes were facing the table, but he continued shaking his head, his hands still in his hair.

"Your own mother."

She heard the sobs and gasps for breath. He lifted his head and nodded.

"She didn't know your full potential, or she would never have given you up and chosen Ethan over you."

Tears were rolling down his cheeks, and he chewed on his bottom lip trying to suppress further emotion.

"You saw the life Ethan had and wanted it for yourself. So you seized the opportunity." Madison paused for a moment. "But what I don't get is, why those women? What did they do to you?"

The tears stopped. The spark in his eyes smacked of homicidal intensity. "Those women deserved what they got. They left their babies in the hands of strangers! They walked away without any care about them. They left them to rot!"

"So they were left at the same orphanage as you, but how did you find out about them?"

He let out a puff of air, looked up at the ceiling and then to Madison. She didn't know whether he spoke to God in that brief time or was trying to decide whether to continue.

"Guess it doesn't matter now, does it?" He laughed.

"What doesn't?" His inclination to laugh chilled her.

"How I knew about them. I mean, I assume I'm about to be charged with murder."

"Three counts, in addition to the attempted murder of Mrs. Brooke Younge."

He clenched his jaw and licked his chapped lips. "I wanted to know who my mother was so I broke into the orphanage office. Their files were on top of the cabinets, unfiled. Those babies were abandoned within the last day or so. I remember hearing their wailing cries. They echoed off the walls like a daunting reminder we weren't loved." He listed off the details stoically but then started crying. He continued speaking through a quivering voice. "It was the same day I found the picture. The one of two boys. I was circled with my name handwritten above my head, Ethan above the other. That's how I found out I had a twin."

"Must have been rough on you."

He dragged a hand under his nose and sniffled. "How was it fair he would be out there living a normal life with a family that loved him?"

"How did you know he wasn't dead?"

"I just knew."

Madison nodded. "Sort of a twin telepathy?"

"Yeah, sure." He didn't sound convinced. "It was then I decided to seek revenge, but it took me years to muster up the courage. And I was also curious about Ethan."

"So you hunted him down and when you realized the life he had—"

"I wanted to steal it from him."

"So that's why the photo?" His lips parted a small amount. "You wanted us to find your brother after you killed your mother..." Her words trailed off as she matched eyes with him. "You made your mother call Ethan at work."

Evan smiled as an artist whose work is admired at a showing. "Yes. He'd be there when I arrived. I had done a pretty good job of things before you got involved." His eyes glanced to the table and back up. "I thought what would be more fitting than using the face and DNA God gave me to carry out my directive."

"Don't pull God into any of this." A small smirk lifted the corner of his lips, but when he caught Madison's eyes he let it die. "And the real ironic part is where you did screw up. It was the photo." A twitch swelled in his left cheek. "You wanted to frame Ethan with the face God gave him, but then you used your face. That's why you're here." She motioned to the nearby officer. "Book him."

As they left the room, her cell rang. "Knight."

"Hey." It was Cynthia. "You know the phrase 'better late than never?'"

"Yes." Another clichéd saying...

Cynthia laughed. "I have the results on the bloody towel."

"You're kidding me."

"Guess I don't need to tell you."

"Well, seeing as you called, let me hear the words." She paused. "Actually, hold on a second. Tell Terry." She handed the phone over to him even though he wouldn't take it at first. He must have feared it was either the sergeant or the chief.

"Hello..."

She watched his facial reaction as a smile encased his face.

"Bye." He handed the phone back to Madison. His smile was replaced by seriousness. He started to get up.

It was killing her. "Terry?"

He laughed.

"Come on. Just say it once. You were right, Maddy."

"Nope." He shook his head, a smirk in place, and walked toward the door.

"Terry." Her begging for a verbal commendation made her laugh. She didn't need to hear him admit it. She had been right, and he knew it.