"I need you to stop down by the station so we can ask you a few questions. How does tomorrow sound? Does that work for you?"
"My family and I are supposed to be leaving town early tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is no good."
"Mr. Graham...you are a person of interest in this case. Do you know what that means?"
"It means that you believe I may be a suspect."
"I don't personally believe that you are the one behind this, but it means that we have to consider the fact that you could have something to do with the case. All of the victims are related to you in some way, shape, or form. That is an element that we can't ignore or overlook. But what it also means is that you shouldn't be leaving town at all."
Aubrey ran a damp, warm cloth over his face, then looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror.
"You...you don't understand. My family and I have to get out of town."
"You do? You have to get out of town? Why do you have to get out of town, Mr. Graham?"
"Because..."
Aubrey flipped up the water faucet and held the pale blue washcloth beneath it, as he remembered his earlier conversation with Detective Larrieux.
"Because?"
"My family. My friends. And...other people...if I stay around, they're in danger."
"If you take your family out of town but you stay with them, aren't you also putting them in danger that way, with that line of thinking?"
"I'm afraid for them. I need to be around them. I can at least try to protect them."
"Mr. Graham...I'm going to have to strongly advise that you do not leave town."
"I have to."
"All right, look...tomorrow you can come by the station. You and I can have a conversation. If that conversation lines up the way it should, then you can leave town - as long as you promise to keep in contact with me, and make sure I have a current number for you in case I need to reach you."
I'm a person of interest, Aubrey thought now, wiping his face again with the washcloth. The police were so interested in him, they hadn't wanted him to leave town. He was being framed for murder. My company is scrutinized and called into question for illegal activity, and the one person who would have been privy to that information, Steve McClintock, accounting executive, was killed. A clean shot to the head. In his own home. A home address I would have had access to since he is one of my employees. He hung the washcloth on a towel rack and padded out of the master bathroom in bare feet. Another person dead because of a few names that I listed in a college newspaper article last year.
Dylan, the surveillance equipment installation representative, was in his bedroom squatting down to the floor messing around with audio/video cables.
"Everything going all right?" Aubrey asked him.
Dylan looked up at him and nodded. "Yeah, yeah everything's working out just fine, Mr. Graham."
Even though Aubrey was leaving town, he still wanted the equipment installed. The fact that he was leaving town may be all the more reason for the surveillance equipment to be installed. His condo had an alarm system, but that alarm system in no way made him feel safe - not with a brutal killer walking around, a brutal killer who seemed to have influence over people who were around him.
His phone buzzed in his pants pocket as he walked out of the bedroom and down the hallway. He withdrew his cell phone and checked the screen. Brian. His blood pressure spiked, and he answered the phone as quickly as humanly possible. "What is it? Did something happen?"
"No," Brian responded, drawing out the word. "Calm down, man."
Entering the living room, Aubrey released a sigh of relief. "It's kind of hard to calm down with everything that is happening. What's going on? Why are you calling me?"
"Because after your call, I had Elyse do some digging."
Elyse Ramos. Accounting department. "You called her on a Sunday?"
"Yeah. With people getting killed and shit, I figured we might as well make use of the fact that we're all salaried employees."
Aubrey ran a hand over his head. "Was she able to figure anything out?"
"Yeah. Steve is the one who altered the accounting records."
Aubrey's steps slowed to a stop. He stood in the middle of the living room, frowning. "Wait, but that doesn't make sense."
"Doesn't it?" Brian countered. "He brings up a possible discrepancy to you in an elevator, of all places. Destiny said that he seemed...worked up. Like the matter was urgent. Maybe he was trying to come clean, or at least trying to alert you to the fact that the numbers were off so that you could do something about it. Steve is...I mean, Steve was a nice guy. Something like that would eat at his conscience."
"So that would make another good person that Palmer managed to turn against me," Aubrey muttered. "Who doesn't he have the power to turn against me?"
"I don't think it's necessarily him turning people against you," Brian said. "From the sounds of it, he's threatening people. Making them fear for their fucking lives. If the tables were turned, wouldn't you do the same thing to protect someone you loved?"
The question hung in the air for several minutes, because Aubrey knew what Brian was getting at. In no certain terms, Brian was asking if Aubrey would do the same thing for Destiny and adding an undertone stating that he would. "Of course I would," Aubrey replied softly.
"So what's our next move?"
"I don't even know. I can't even think."
"I've been thinking lately about your suggestion to leak the rumor that Palmer killed his wife to the press," Brian said.
I don't even feel comfortable having this conversation over the phone. That's how scared I am. That's how frightened Palmer has made me. He seems to have eyes and ears...everywhere. "You mean the suggestion you talked me out of?"
"Yeah, that." Brian paused, then said, "It's possible that I was wrong to talk you out of it. Maybe... maybe that's exactly what we should do."
"I feel like if we did that, he would just retaliate. Kill someone else. He's framing me for murder."
"But if we leak out the fact that he's the murderer, then that should help your case while pressuring the D.C. authorities to conduct a real investigation."
Aubrey sighed.
"I mean...what else can we do, short of killing the son of a bitch?" Brian demanded. "Which...is an avenue I've been strongly considering."
"Same," Aubrey admitted. "But we aren't like him. We keep our hands clean on this. On everything." He proceeded walking over to the living room couch and sat down on it. He leaned back, drumming the fingers of one hand on his upper thigh while thoughts tumbled around in his head. Ultimately, Brian was right. There weren't many options, not while Aubrey was being framed. They could either continue to sit around like bumps on a log or strengthen their defensive front by taking a more offensive stance. "Okay."
There was silence on the other line. Then Brian asked, "Okay?"
"Do it. Tomorrow morning. Leak it."
"Wow. I didn't think you would...I mean, yeah. Yeah, okay."
"Discreetly," Aubrey told him emphatically. "I don't want it traced back to Graham Enterprises."
"Of course. Right, I'm on top of it."
Aubrey sighed and asked the question that had been on his mind since the moment he'd seen Brian's name pop up onto his cell phone screen. "How is...how are things going?"
"Things are just fine. Coping. Maintaining. A little sad, but...you know."
Aubrey smiled at Brian's attempt at not bringing up Destiny's name. He's a smart one. "Make assurances that everything will be fine. This is only a temporary setback. I intend to make everything right as quickly as possible. But...the detective did tell me I'm a person of interest in the case. For all I know, things might get worse before they get any better. So just...hold things down for me, while I'm gone. If I'm not arrested when I go down to the police station tomorrow, I'll have a new number for you."
"Understood, got it."
"Thank you for calling, and take care."
"You too, man. You too."
Aubrey ended the call and dropped his phone onto the couch beside him. He'd kept the fear and worry out of his voice, but he was more frightened than he could ever remember being.