One of the detectives mentions he’ll be back.
The detective who led us to the back crosses his arms and stands at the head of the table. “None of this is to leave this room. Danny has yet to request a lawyer, and he’s been singing like a canary.”
My first thought is why, but the detective reads me.
“He’s jittery. Seems to believe if he’s a source, we’ll let him walk. He’s going into withdrawal. Shakes and sweats. To be honest, an addict’s not the best witness. But he’s told us enough, we’ll get all the evidence we need.”
“And what has he told you?”
I look to Alicia—I can tell from her calm demeanor she already knows.
“The murder, the framing of Alicia, it was all planned by Jessica. She pulled in Danny to help where he could. The PI. The tracker. She also used a threat—sent to Ms. Morgan’s office.”
“The fortune cookie,” Alicia explains.
“Right,” the detective says. “Danny says she’d been watching Morgan for a while. Knew enough about her and a prior case she’d been working on to make it look like it came from somewhere else. Danny confessed to breaking into Alicia’s car to plant evidence—but says he was interrupted before he finished. He claims he didn’t know the substance Jessica gave him to slip into Delacroix’s drink would kill him. He claims he thought it would make him sick—and after the death, she used it against him to help her cover everything up.”
“Do you believe him?” I ask, looking between the lawyers and the two detectives in the room.
“Based on the current evidence? No. I think he’s playing that card to aim for second-degree murder charges. But, there’s still a lot here to be investigated. Prosecution will need to determine what they can prove in court.”
Gabriel speaks up. “If he’s an addict, all she had to do was hold drugs over his head to get him to do what she wanted.”
“That’s our prevailing theory. Jessica might also be addicted to a substance—we’re unsure. She’s refused a blood test,” the detective says.
“Richard hired a defense lawyer for her,” Alicia says at my side.
“Do you think he’s?—”
Alicia’s quick to interrupt me. “No. I think it’s a gut reaction. He feels responsible for her—for what’s happened. But, he didn’t have a part in this.”
“At the moment, that’s our assessment too,” the detective says, and the way he looks at Alicia, I sense they’ve already had this discussion, and his comment is for my benefit.
“And Delacroix’s wife?”
“She and Jessica play in the same tennis league. There’s a connection there, but no phone records connect them.”
I understand what the detective is saying—it’s reasonable to believe Jessica crossed paths with someone who had heard rumors about Alicia and Matthew Delacroix, and that’s Jessica’s source of information.
Regardless, charges against Alicia are dropped.
“Any mentions of third parties? Anyone influencing outcomes?”
The detective opens his mouth, then closes it.
Alicia squeezes my hand.
The detective says with firm confidence, “At this point in the investigation, we have no evidence others are involved.”
The detective looks down at his notes again. When he speaks, his tone softens—just a fraction.
“Ms. Morgan, you are free to go. Unless…do you have any more questions?”
Alicia exhales, not sharply, but with a slow, trembling release that tells me what she hasn’t said aloud: she never fully believed this moment would come.
I tighten my grip on her hand.
Her lawyer nods, satisfied. “We’ll finalize the paperwork and communicate with the prosecutors.” He says to Alicia, “You won’t need to appear in court on Monday.”