Take Your Breath Away

Sixty-Two

Isabel: Am I going to be charged with murder? Because I didn’t kill him. I admit I shot at him, I admit that. But I didn’t hit him. I didn’t get anywhere close to him. I’m a terrible shot, evidently. It was the homeless guy. He bumped into him.

Detective Hardy: You’re correct, you didn’t shoot Mr. Raymus.

Isabel: Not that I wouldn’t have been happy to do it. He did it, you know. I mean, not with his bare hands. But he did it. He had Brie killed.

Detective Hardy: We know.

Isabel: I was wrong about Andrew. I feel terrible about what I put him through. I just... I was so sure for so long.

Detective Hardy: I know. I thought so for a long time, too. But we’ve pretty much nailed down what happened and why. Your statement from our earlier interview corroborates what Mr. Carville told us. About how Mr. Raymus was sabotaging his own company. The bikers, the whole thing. And this hit man that he’d hired, we’ve connected him to some other homicides, including one as recent as last week. That all pans out.

Isabel: It’s over, isn’t it?

Detective Hardy: Pretty much. But there’s one part of what happened at TrumbullGate that I want to go over with you again.

Isabel: Okay.

Detective Hardy: Starting with the moment that you fired the gun and Mr. Raymus started to run.

Isabel: He was going at Andrew with this crazy-looking saw and Andrew tried to get the gun out but it fell and I grabbed it. I think I’d fired twice and then Mr. Raymus dropped the saw and ran. He bumped into this homeless man and reached for the railing and it gave way and he went over the edge.

Detective Hardy: And Mr. Carville went after him?

Isabel: That’s right. He ran down the escalator. It wasn’t working, you know, because the mall’s being torn apart. He got to the bottom and ran over to where Mr. Raymus fell.

Detective Hardy: You witnessed this?

Isabel: Yes. I went partway down the escalator to get a better look.

Detective Hardy: What did you see?

Isabel: Andrew was kneeling over Mr. Raymus and asking him questions.

Detective Hardy: Were you able to hear this conversation?

Isabel: Some of it.

Detective Hardy: What did you hear?

Isabel: Andrew asked about Candace DiCarlo. He said, “What about Candace? Did you kill her, too? Were you following her?”

Detective Hardy: And what did Mr. Raymus say?

Isabel: He was mumbling. He was hurt pretty bad. Andrew had to bend over to hear him.

Detective Hardy: So what did you hear?

Isabel: First I heard Andrew ask him if he’d done it. And when he heard the answer, he asked why. Like, did you spot her by chance? Did you think she was Brie when you killed her? Something like that.

Detective Hardy: And then what?

Isabel: Andrew said something like, you son of a bitch. Like that. I didn’t hear anything else because I went down the escalator to join Andrew, and by the time I got there Mr. Raymus had died.

Detective Hardy: What did Andrew say?

Isabel: He didn’t say anything. When he realized Mr. Raymus was dead, he just sat on the floor, put his head in his hands, and started to cry. He was shaking, like he was having a panic attack or something. I got down and put my arm around him and tried to calm him down. He was a wreck, you know?

Detective Hardy: He’d been through a lot. It was a hell of a day for him.

Isabel: It really was her, wasn’t it?

Detective Hardy: Sorry?

Isabel: Not talking about Candace. Brie, I mean. In that grave.

Detective Hardy: We exhumed her remains, and yes, we did a rush on the DNA test. Compared it to samples we retrieved from her home six years ago. It was a match.

Isabel: We can have a proper funeral now. Give my sister the send-off she deserves.

Detective Hardy: Do you think that will help at all?

Isabel: I doubt it.

Detective Hardy: Thanks for coming in again, Mr. Carville.

Andrew: No problem.

Detective Hardy: I spoke to Isabel earlier and thought I’d bring you in and get you up to speed on a couple of things. How’s Tyler doing?

Andrew: Glad to be home. It’s going to take him a while to get over the things that happened, but I think he’s going to be okay. He still has his job at Whistler’s, so he’s pretty happy about that.

Detective Hardy: And Jayne?

Andrew: This has been pretty hard on all of us, but she’s coming along. She’s expecting, you know.

Detective Hardy: I know. Please pass on my best wishes.

Andrew: I will.

Detective Hardy: I spoke to Isabel again about what went down in that abandoned mall.

Andrew: It wasn’t her fault, what happened to Greg.

Detective Hardy: I agree.

Andrew: That’s good.

Detective Hardy: I’d say if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s yours. You should never have confronted Mr. Raymus alone. He might still be around today to stand trial for what he did if you hadn’t done that.

Andrew: I... I’m not going to argue the point.

Detective Hardy: I wanted to get her take on the last few words you had with Mr. Raymus. I wanted to see how they matched up with what you told me in our earlier interview. That he as much as confessed to the murder of Candace DiCarlo.

Andrew: And?

Detective Hardy: They did.

Andrew: I had a lot more questions for him. But he died before I could get to them. Like how he got on to that woman. I’m guessing it was by chance, the way Tyler happened to see her when he was packing her groceries. In some ways, Milford’s not that big of a place. You’re always running into someone you know or recognize.

Detective Hardy: Albert says she thought she was being followed the night before. Maybe she was, maybe she wasn’t. But if she was, maybe that was Mr. Raymus. Although his girlfriend, Julie, says she was with him that entire evening. But back to what happened at the mall. It’s a wonder the fall didn’t kill him instantly.

Andrew: It didn’t take long. I never really found out whether he killed Candace because he thought she was Brie, or what, but...

Detective Hardy: There’s some things we’ll never know. But we know enough to close the file on this. While there weren’t any witnesses to his arrival at Ms. DiCarlo’s house — pretty much everyone who lived on that street was at work, with the exception of Ms. DiCarlo’s retired neighbor — we’ve been able to tie him to the scene.

Andrew: You have?

Detective Hardy: I can’t really get into all that right now, but we’re satisfied. Let’s leave it at that.

Andrew: Okay.

Detective Hardy: So, I wish you all the best. I hope, should our paths ever cross again, it’s under very different circumstances.

Andrew: Agreed.