Page 43 of Say Now
"I just wanted to talk with some people," Tommy said."My brother is gone, and nothing will change that, but I"—Tommy looked at Alison, then back to Kent—"I’m never going to be like him, and I know people don't fully change, but I want to understand who he was.I spent so much time in prison that I didn't fully know my brother.This is the best I can do."
"It’s the best you can do," Kent said sternly."Here’s the bestIcan do."
Kent reached into the folder he had brought along and took the files out one by one, starting with the crime scene photos of the historic crimes, the ones that had been found on Tommy’s walls.
"These were found in your apartment, Tommy, along with lots of information about each of the doctors who messed up and caused this.Care to explain why you were documenting these crimes along with the doctors who made the mistakes?"Some of Kent’s anger came to the surface as his voice was raised.
"I don't know those pictures," Tommy said.
"You have no idea what these pictures are?"Tommy asked.
"I know what they are of; I listened to my brother describe them, but I haven’t seen those pictures before."
"They were in your apartment, Tommy," Kent stated."Three of the doctors are dead, and there were three more to go."He pulled out more of the files."Surveillance photos, schedules, contact information, you name it.You disappeared for two weeks, planned all of this, and killed their doctors, meaning to kill six.Absolve your conscience, Tommy, and admit to what you’ve done."
"I didn't kill anyone," Tommy said.
"You want to be a better person," Kent said."You want to be like your brother.He would tell you to turn yourself in.He might have some anger at these doctors after seeing the crime scenes, but he wouldn’t have wanted you to do what you did."
"He had no anger toward them."
"Three people are dead, Tommy."Lent took out the recent crime scene photos and slammed them down on the table."Look at them, Tommy!Look at what you did!"
Tommy did look at them.He took a moment to study all three, and Alison studied him.
Tommy leaned forward and tapped his finger on one of the photos."I didn't kill these people, and I haven’t seen any of them before.I know of them, but I’ve never met them.Someone is trying to frame me.It’s just like…I didn't kill anyone."
Alison held her gaze on Tommy.She believed what he said.He was a criminal, and there was a good chance he would offend again, and he was hiding a lot, but she believed the measured tone in his voice and the look in his eyes.She believed everything he had said since they had begun the interview.
"Keep with that line," Kent said."I didn't expect you to do the right thing.It doesn’t matter what you say in here; we have enough to arrest you, and this will go to trial.We weren’t able to stop you from killing three people, but we have saved three.You think you’re smart, but you’re not.Everyone always makes mistakes, and you made many, Tommy.You’re going to prison for the rest of your life.This is justice."
It bothered Alison.They had their guy, but it still didn't feel right.Tommy didn't come across as the killer.He didn't have the intelligence, the discipline, the precision.The only thing that suggested he did was the photos in his apartment.He would have known every cop in the city and state would be looking for him, and he still decided to go into a diner and eat a meal in public.
Alison didn't buy it.Something was wrong.She looked at Tommy and saw his anger, not always hidden, and then at Captain Kent and his anger that was under control, and she finally saw it.
She was in a room with the killer, but Tommy wasn’t the killer.
Kent was
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
A shudder ran down Alison’s spine.It was the anger he had inside.He'd had the anger since he came to collect his sister’s personal belongings.She had assumed it was because his sister was dead, and it would have been, but that anger was not only directed toward that.He was the one who was angry at the system and took matters into his own hands.He had been around all the crime scenes, just like Arturo.He might not have been the lead, but he would have heard about them, perhaps visited them.She’d seen that anger in the room.He was angry at the system.
Yet, it was his lack of anger that convinced her.He’d made it clear to Alison that if he was ever in a room with his sister’s killer, there was no telling how he might behave.He was now in the room with her supposed killer, and she had never seen him more controlled.He was the one baiting Tommy to show his anger while controlling his own.
You’re not angry at Tommy because you know he’s not the killer.You know that because you were the one who killed her.You used your own sister as an example to send a message.The anger inside is directed at her killer: you.
He was too calm the entire time, too calculated in his interview.It would have been easy for him to plant the evidence in Tommy’s apartment when he heard the name, and with Alison and Claire stuck in Butte, he could have gone there himself with no interference.
Is this your endgame?Did this fall into your lap?You knew I was getting close, so you shifted the blame?You can escape scot free from this?
Everything else fell into place in her mind.The way he had been so open to reopening the investigation when everyone else was sure they had their guy in Marcus Webb.He did it because he knew another death was coming, and he wanted to get ahead of it.He wanted to gain Alison’s trust, get her on side.Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
You were tired when I came to you the morning after Gates was murdered.I remember that now.That’s because you were up through the night, wasn’t it?You were also the one who gave the tip for Marcus, knowing that it would distract us from the real killer.You took over the investigation so you could dictate it all.
It became so clear to Alison now.She knew that Kent was the killer.There was only one problem.No one would believe her without direct evidence, especially when so much evidence pointed toward Tommy.He had orchestrated it perfectly.And he was right, there was enough evidence to convict Tommy, which meant putting him back in jail, where he might be in danger if he did know something about the corruption surrounding Arturo.
Is that a part of it?Are you caught up in that, too?Can you kill two birds with one stone?Literally?Did you plan this all along?To frame Tommy for the murders?Did we play right into your hands?
