Winston took his lecture from Dave in silence. The bald man's finger wagged in his face. Spit hit Winston while a slew of curse words flew.
Clarence and Mackenzie could only watch in silence. At one point, Mackenzie dropped her face in her hands. A vein bulge on the side of Dave's forehead. Clarence was in such a state of shock, he couldn't make a sound.
When things became too heated, Deputy Falcon had to remove the former deputies from the premises. Winston was silently drowning in his guilt. Mullen had been ignoring the situation. He was too busy trying to get into Denise's laptop.
"I was starting to think he was going to hit you." Falcon walked back into the room.
"Not a chance, he knew he'd be arrested. Dave is all bark and no bite," Mullen commented.
Winston ignored the pair and glanced at Falcon. "Is Grant Bowers still in prison?"
Falcon shook her head. "He was let go about a half hour ago."
"Shit," Winston mumbled under his breath. He had been hoping to talk to Bowers again. It likely wouldn't have worked, but they could have tried to find where Greg Sullivan was staying.
Falcon's cell phone rang. She dug her hand into her black uniform pants and pulled it out. "Hello?" She answered the unknown number.
Winston leaned his head on his hand. He glanced over to watch Detective Mullen. His fingers flew over the keyboard. A notebook sat next to him with a compiled list of potential passwords.
"Well, thank you for letting me know. I'll pass on that information. Have a good day." Falcon ended the call and put the phone back in her pocket.
"What was that about?" Mullen asked.
"The kitten didn't make it. They tried their best and they said he lasted quite a while. The smoke inhalation was too much for his tiny lungs."
A heavy silence swept over the room. Winston felt like his soul had been sucked out of him. Denise was dead, Arnold was dead, and Dupe was dead. Everyone was dead and the killer remained free.
"God damn it!" Mullen slammed his fist down on the table.
It caused both Winston and Falcon to jump.
"Dude, calm down. I know the situation sucks, but there's no need to get violent."
"It's not that, I can't get into her laptop! I don't know the password!" Mullen rubbed the sides of his forehead. He typed a final sequence of numbers into the text bar.
The laptop screen froze for a moment before the home screen appeared. The background was a photo of Susan Houghton. One arm was wrapped around Denise, the other was slung over Jennifer's shoulders.
Mullen hooked it up to the station's Wi-Fi. He pulled up her past search history. Winston leaned closer to see better.
"Am I missing something?" Falcon moved behind Mullen to glance over his shoulder.
"Her most recent search history was from two nights ago. She was looking at web pages filled with information about sleep deprivation." Mullen clicked on one of them.
A new tab opened. An article about sleep deprivation hallucinations popped up. Mullen squinted as he scrolled through the website.
"The video that was on her camera, she mentioned she had been up for hours. She mentioned something about hallucinating. She was afraid she was going to hurt her cat."
"Does anyone know how long she stayed up for and why?" Mullen asked.
"I don't know."
"Try checking her emails," Falcon offered. "That's how I stay in contact with a lot of people."
Mullen opened a new tab and closed the past two. He held his breath and pulled up her email account. He was relieved when he realized it was still open. He didn't have to try and guess the password for it.
"I think that gives you your answer." Falcon reached out and pointed to a flagged email.
Sleep Deprivation Experiment: Update One
Mullen clicked on it. A video file was attached and there was no text. Mullen clicked on the video to play it. It immediately opened and he pressed play.
Denise appeared in the camera frame with two braids and a navy-colored sweater. She smiled at the camera. Winston blinked in shock. It was hard to believe she was dead now.
"Hey, I'm writing a new story and the main character is struggling with sleep deprivation. I'm staying up for as long as possible to experience it first-hand. It's currently Monday, October 22nd. I tried to start this challenge on Saturday, but I ended up falling asleep."
"I decided I'd start fresh yesterday. I found this video camera last night and I figured I could video document it. I think it'll help me more than writing down my experiences."
Mullen paused the video.
"Holy shit," Falcon muttered. "If she documented everything like this, you'll have everything you need. How long do you think she stayed up for?"
Mullen looked at the most recent email. "The last email was received on Sunday morning."
"The video she took on her camera, it was dark in that video. It was taken sometime at night. Plus, I arrived at her house sometime after one in the morning."
"I arrived a few minutes after two. I glanced at the clock in my car before I left," Falcon confirmed.
"Denise mentioned that she tried to go to church on Sunday. Pastor Baker wouldn't allow her to come inside."
"Pastor Baker? The pastor of the Methodist Church?" Mullen raised an eyebrow.
"Is that where he preaches?"
"It's the only one I know of around here."
"Falcon, can you call him and try to confirm that? What time is the evening service?"
"It starts at five."
"That puts Denise Houghton's death somewhere between five in the evening and two in the morning."
"If that was Greg Sullivan that shot at us in the woods, he's still in the area. He's still around here and we might be able to catch him. I'm going to take this to my office to look at these videos." Mullen picked up the laptop.
"And I'm going to go try to contact Pastor Baker to see if he met with Denise on Sunday evening. If I can't reach him by phone, I'll swing by the church." Falcon headed towards the door.
"If that was Sullivan in the woods, there were firecrackers in the hunting stand and they went off last night. He was the likely cause of the fire in Denise's cabin."
"We found that notebook," Mullen pointed out. "He spied on her and invaded her privacy. He burnt the cabin and that's an obstruction of justice."
"Plus, we have the video footage of him killing Denise," Falcon added.
"All we have to do is catch him." Hope fluttered inside Winston. They were so close to figuring out this case, he could feel it.
Before Falcon could open the door, it was knocked on. Falcon grabbed the handle and pulled it open. Shelly, the receptionist, appeared.
"Sorry to interrupt, Winston, but this woman wants to talk to you. She says it's urgent and it can't wait."
Winston looked at Mullen. He shrugged and headed towards Falcon. "She can come in here. Falcon and I were just leaving."
Shelly took a few steps back. Falcon and Mullen both left. A blonde-haired woman appeared in the door frame. Winston couldn't stop his mouth from dropping open a little.
Lindsay Bowers stood tall with teary brown eyes. Her lower lip quivered like she was going to sob. She brushed away a stray tear.
"I'll leave you two alone," Shelly shut the door.
The two stood staring at each other. Winston turned to the oak table. "You can take a seat." He gestured towards one of the chairs. "What's going on?"
"You remember me, right?" Her voice cracked. She placed a pink tote bag on the table before sinking into one of the rolling chairs.
"It's hard to forget a vampire with a dragon and two princesses."
Lindsay smiled a little. She sniffled and wiped away another tear. "Um, I'm not sure how much you know. I told you my husband is Grant Bowers. He was being held at the prison in Lexing."
"Yeah, that part I do know."
"Okay, well um...sorry, this is going to sound silly."
"Take your time," Winston reassured her.
"Well, I thought Grant was cheating on me. I couldn't shake the feeling. I guess you could call it a woman's intuition. I couldn't prove it until I found this."
She pulled out an envelope and pushed it toward Winston. Winston picked up the blank envelope. He opened the flap and took out the card. A bright-colored cake sat on the front.
"It's addressed to Susan. There's a love letter inside the card. I remembered Grant used to date Susan in high school. He talked about her a lot, but I thought he was just reminiscing. Things started to click into place."
Winston froze, one hand was still on the card.
"I went a little crazy. I tore apart our bedroom trying to find evidence of this affair. I found way more than I bargained for. I found multiple love letters. I found out my husband murdered Susan."
"What?"
She took out a spiral notebook. "I found this underneath our mattress. Apparently, he needed to vent somehow. I think my husband murdered Susan Houghton. He mentioned her daughter too."
"Greg has been staying with us. I'm not sure if he knows about it or not. I think he might, after all, Grant is his best friend."
"Lindsay, where are your kids?"
"In my car outside. I was going to take them up to my parent's house. We all need time away from Grant and Greg. I don't know what's going to happen. You'll arrest Grant, right?"
"Go get your kids. Go get your kids and bring them inside."
"But I-"
"Now!" Winston didn't like raising his voice, but the situation was urgent.
Lindsay stood up and left the room quickly. Winston grabbed the spiral notebook from where she left it.
Lindsay Bowers had handed him the key to everything.