Page 99 of Shadow of Hope
“Yeah, but…”
“What about an alibi for yesterday between the hours of eleven a.m. and four p.m.?” Micha asked.
He sat forward, an earnest look on his face. “I’m in IT and work from home, so I was here. Alone. Working.”
“Which you can’t prove, right?” Reid asked. “I didn’t see any security cameras when we arrived, so you don’t have that to prove your whereabouts.”
He gnawed on his lower lip again. “But I didn’t do it. I tell you, I’m innocent and have to find a way to prove it.”
Micha hated to admit it, but he liked seeing the guy squirm. “Looks like you’re beginning to see how Ava feels. She’s innocent of killing your mother, too, and has to prove it. But she also has you breathing down her back to do so.”
“You mean like you’re doing with me right now?” He raised a defiant chin.
Micha wanted to fire an equally defiant glare back at him, but he took a breath to cool down so he didn’t escalate things. “Not just us. I told the detective all about you, and he’ll soon be in contact to question you, if he hasn’t already.”
“Thanks for nothing, man.” He pointed his chin at Micha.
Time to change things up. “Maybe I could help convince him of your innocence, but only if you cooperate with me.”
Layne arched an eyebrow. “In what way?”
Seemed like Micha had him on the fence and just needed to close the deal to get him to talk honestly. “Tell me about any evidence on Ava that you turned over to the police.”
“What evidence?” he asked. “I only have the video that I told her about. The one that shows her feeding poison to my mom.”
“It was cookie dough, not poison,” Micha said. “If you knew your mother well, you would know she loved cookie dough, and Ava was just trying to get her to eat when she’d stopped doing so.” Micha fought off his anger on Ava’s behalf. “You should be thanking her for making your mother’s last days better instead of blaming her for her death.”
“Thank her?” He gaped at Micha. “Hah, like I’d do that. Not when she coerced my mom into signing over half of her estate to her. It should’ve been mine.”
“Is that what this is about?” Micha asked. “The money? If you would’ve talked to Ava about it you would have learned she doesn’t even want the money and would hand it over to you.”
Layne stilled. “Yeah, probably if I take back my story about her poisoning Mom, but I want her to go to prison for that more than the money.”
“How many times do I have to say I didn’t kill your mother?” Ava stabbed her finger at the screen as if poking Layne in the chest. “I loved her.”
Micha wished Colin weren’t with them so he could take her hand. “Don’t you think having a tox screen run would be the first thing to do before you accuse someone of poisoning your mom?”
“Tox screens and all of that stuff is up to the police.”
“Then since they didn’t run one, you have to know that they didn’t believe your mother was poisoned,” Micha said.
“So what? Now that they have the video, I’m sure they do.”
“And if they don’t?” Reid stepped closer to Layne. “If you wanted to know the truth, you would make sure it happened. As the next of kin you could even have the tests run.”
“I know what happened, and it’s up to her to prove it didn’t.” Layne crossed his arms. “So why would I pay for some stupid tests?”
“Because I’m asking you to request them.” Micha eyed the guy.
“I don’t know.” He frowned and leaned back.
Micha curled his hands into fists to keep from yelling at the guy. “Do you want to cooperate here or do you want me to make sure the detective suspects you of killing Jamal?”
“Fine.” He released the chair arms and sat up. “How do I arrange it?”
Micha wanted to gloat, but it was a small victory when so much more needed to happen to prove Ava’s innocence. “Give me your phone number, and I’ll be in touch with instructions.”
He rattled it off.
