Page 70 of Hunting the Truth
“Let me start at the beginning,” Eric said.
“No, I’m running this interrogation. Not you. Is Blake the head of the crime ring?”
“No, those reports must have been changed, although his cousin, the dirty bastard, was the responding officer at the scene of the murders.”
“The reports were changed?”
“Yes,” Eric said. “I think Blake is also being framed—at least for this case. Maybe his own cousin did it, but I’m guessing it’s the ringleader who’s behind this.”
“And who’s that?” Maya asked.
“Abigail Harper.”
Maya stared at Eric, stunned. In some ways it felt like she’d been sucker punched. The evidence had pointed toward Blake and Harold, but nothing had been linked to Abigail. She had trusted Abigail, but maybe everyone involved in this case was manipulative. Maya had to hunt down the truth no matter the consequences. She needed to know more and get justice for her mother and Nana.
She decided to see what Eric told her. Hopefully evidence would either back his story or not, but either way, she needed more information. “Abigail? Seriously? What are you talking about?”
“Think about it, Maya,” Eric said. “Abigail was really friendly with you. Knowing her, she asked you questions that seemed empathetic, but in reality, she was trying to see what you knew. She needs information from you and then she’ll kill you too. She was the one shooting at you and burning down your cabin. She needed to scare you into action, and you took her bait. She knew you would try to find me.”
“I can see your point, but I don’t know how Abigail asking me questions would mean she’s out to kill me. And evidence is pointing toward Blake burning down my cabin, so how do you explain that?” Maya asked.
“Because despite Abigail being an awful person, she reads people better than anyone I know. She knows you’re proud of Juniper and that you work well with the dog and that you wouldn’t be able to resist using her to find me. She left my clothing there not only to frame me, but to give you what you needed to track me. We may not be K-9 handlers, but we’ve worked with enough teams in our careers to have some idea of how dogs work. Blake was with her when your cabin was attacked. She probably made him start the fire and handle the evidence so nothing would lead back to her. I was at your cabin too, trying to figure out how to stop her. I was definitely outgunned. I think she saw me. I took off once I knew you were safe and realized she wasn’t going to kill you then. She could have shot you when you came out of the cabin, but she didn’t.”
“How did she get all this evidence to plant? Like your clothes and your cigarettes?”
“Some clothing went missing out of my personal locker at the department, right before your grandmother died. Along with that, I’ll admit that I’m not careful with my cigarettes and leave them in ashtrays in public areas. She could have collected them from any of those areas. After your grandmother’s death, I knew I was being framed and went on the run.”
“And what about the evidence linking back to Blake? You didn’t answer that.”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see him there, but Abigail could have set him up or I may just not have seen him.”
Maya absorbed the information. What Eric was saying made sense. But Abigail had said similar things—that Eric was cunning and manipulative. One of them was lying, but Maya didn’t know who. All she did know was that she wasn’t safe, and neither were Josh or Pops.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Maya stared down Eric, debating everything he’d told her. Some of it seemed true, and it was convenient to find his clothing and cigarettes at the crime scenes. No officer would ever leave behind such obvious evidence. Maya had to be careful he didn’t lull her into a false sense of security. He could be telling the truth or he could be setting her up. Maya was relieved to have Juniper on alert next to her to help keep her safe.
“You know, you look just like your mom,” Eric said softly.
Maya had so many questions, but she wanted to know more about her mom. “How did you know her? I mean, I know you arrested her—I figured that much out—but it seems like you knew her better than just an arresting officer.”
Eric shrugged. “I did arrest her, several times, for prostitution and possession of narcotics. She was heading down a bad road. I just wanted to help her, but then Abigail got to her first.”
“What do you mean?” Maya asked. Juniper leaned into her leg, and she reached down and petted her, trying to help calm her nerves.
“I don’t know how else to put this...she was a regular.”
Maya nodded. They had a few of those in town. They were the people you arrested over and over to the point you knew them on a first-name basis.
“I was trying to help her by convincing her to go back home and finish school. Get herself straightened out and do something with her life. She was so smart, and she was throwing everything away.”
“Why did you care so much about her?” Maya asked.
“There’s just some people you feel like are meant to be in the system and will live their lives in and out of trouble, but she wasn’t like that. Then Abigail arrested her and threatened to pin a murder charge on Zoey. It would have been easy to do as it was a guy who was a regular with the girls. I don’t know who actually killed him. Zoey begged and pleaded. She knew she was in serious trouble. Abigail finally agreed to pin it on someone else, but only if Zoey started to help with doing favors. Zoey agreed, and from there on out I was in frequent contact with her since I was blackmailed into helping Abigail at that point.”
“Funny,” Maya said, “Abigail said you were the one taking all the bribes and doing all this stuff.”
“Oh, I was involved. I won’t ever say I was a good person—I have a lot of sins to pay for—but I drew the line at things like murder. Bribes were one thing. They helped pay for extra clothes for my kids or a night out with my wife. Murder, that was another thing.”
