Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

 

Detective Scheffield woke up with one thought in mind; getting that last DNA swab collected and seeing Paul Federici off on his drive to Raleigh to deliver the samples in person. That was the only way the testing could get done in time for the trial of Chris Devereaux; which was about to begin. This particular evidence was really the only piece that could possibly sway the jury enough to get a conviction. Without it, there was absolutely no hope. This last test had to tell them something or they were sunk.

The only person left on the detective’s list was Jesse Durant. He had been unsuccessful in tracking him down the day before; upset because this threw the testing off by one day; one very important day; as there were not many left before the trial started. He wasn’t sure if Jesse had been avoiding him intentionally or had simply been busy the previous day, but he intended to find him this morning. It was the first – and most pressing – task he needed to complete for the day. The entire case hinged on this evidence and he was not going to screw it up. This was also his chance to prove himself as a capable detective and he didn’t want to make any mistakes. He knew he was a good detective and he was going to prove it by somehow pulling the needle of truth out of the proverbial haystack.

He drank his coffee early, picked up Paul Federici, and headed directly over to Devereaux Downs; knowing this was almost definitely the place he would find the man for whom he was searching. Having done his homework, the detective knew Jesse’s basic work schedule. The man certainly was a creature of habit; he had discovered in his search. He left for work the same time every day, he ate lunch the same time every day, and he headed home to Grace the same time every day. He was dependable and consistent; not really bad qualities to find in a man, but everything is subjective and that consistency is not always a good character trait if used for the wrong purpose. It is all to what one decides to apply one’s particular gift and sometimes good qualities are used for bad purposes, thought the detective as he drove.

Pulling into the long, gravel driveway leading up to the tattered old farmhouse, he saw instantly that his decision to catch Jesse Durant before he left for work had been a good one; seeing his car parked beside Grace’s beat up, old Lincoln; a car that she was not willing to part with any time soon; it having been through mile after mile of her crazy life with her. For the most part, she was still having a bit of difficulty letting go of the past; having only recently begun receiving some of the answers to questions she had been asking most of her life. The aged vehicle, The Dream Machine, was simply a link to the past; a bridge she wasn’t quite sure if she should burn yet. It was not just a car. Not to Grace.

Detective Scheffield and Paul Federici, who had joined him to do the swab on Jesse and get directly on the road to Raleigh, pulled in quietly; the detective parking his unmarked police car directly behind Jesse’s; not in an attempt to block him from leaving, but, if he were watching, just to send the message that they weren’t leaving until they got that for which they had come. The detective walked up the steps to the front porch, Paul Federici right behind him, and knocked on the red door with its peeling paint unassumingly; both men waiting impatiently for someone to answer. Jesse himself was the one who came to see who was knocking on the door so early in the morning; smiling at the detective when he recognized who his guests were; yet the detective couldn’t help but notice the look his eyes possessed for only a micro-second before he feigned a smile – or so the detective believed – and the look was not one of pleasure. It was more a look of annoyance; the detective seeing an arrogant air about the man that he hadn’t noticed before. Still, Jesse invited the two men in without hesitation; even calling for Grace to come and say hello; to be polite and accommodating to their early morning visitors. He was more of the mind that he wanted her ring shown off a bit; making sure the detective knew that she was no longer on the market and he should steer clear of her. At least that is the feeling he got; the vibe that existed in the living room, where they had all collected – including Adrienne; who was still asleep on the sofa with Casey when the detective had knocked on the door; this of course waking the sleek, black dog from her slumber; the sweet dog simply wagging her nub of tail as fast as she could; excited to receive any visitors at all.

Jesse submitted to the test without argument; without question also, though the visit was an early one and not what he had expected on a weekday morning. After all, he was a planner; wanting to leave as little to chance as he possibly could; especially where Grace was concerned. To her his behavior seemed normal for the most part and any doubts she may have had about him subsided when she saw how readily he agreed to the DNA test. She had missed the initial exchange between the men, though; having not seen the look in her fiance’s eyes when he found Detective Scheffield knocking on the door before breakfast. It was possible he was simply a little insecure when it came to Grace and their new relationship. Perhaps he was just a man in love who wanted his feelings to finally be reciprocated, thought the detective; a man who didn’t want to lose in the game of love – again. One couldn’t blame him for that really, he mused; thinking that he would probably be acting the same way if he had been the one to propose to such a beautiful and decent woman. He would not want to lose Grace, either. He still wanted her desperately; unable to put his feelings aside as he should do in this instance. He still hoped for a chance. He couldn’t help it. He believed in the feelings he experienced when he almost kissed her; knowing it was more than lust for her that he possessed.

Detective Sheffield and Paul Federici kept the visit brief due to the early hour and their time crunch; Paul swabbing the inside of Jesse’s cheek and the two then politely excusing themselves; apologizing again for the unannounced visit. Both men had the same thing on their minds and that was to get those swabs to Raleigh as quickly as they could; both pondering what the results would tell them – if anything. It would be a huge disappointment to the detective for the results to come back the same as the results of the hair samples that had been tested earlier; which had told them nothing at all except that their suspect was not anyone whose hair was tested and that he or she definitely was not a career criminal because his – or her – DNA was nowhere to be found in the database. Then there was still the question of who he had missed the first time around as a suspect. He had thought about it until his head ached, but he had again come up empty; not being able to think of anyone else who had a reason to commit this crime. Genevieve and Adrienne had no real enemies as far as he could tell and nobody would have benefitted from their deaths but family. The fact that he had to resort to simply asking everyone anywhere close to Devereaux Downs for a sample of their DNA still bothered him immensely. He wasn’t a big fan of loose ends; preferring his ends tied tightly into knots so nothing and no one could escape.

Jesse and the two women in his life had a light breakfast of cereal and fruit; him heading off to work as soon as he was finished eating; giving Grace but a peck on the lips before he left. This kiss was nothing like the others she had received from her new fiancé and she took notice of this right away, but again quickly brushed to the side the idea that something was amiss in their budding relationship. Maybe the early morning visit from the detective and his cohort for this project had put him in a bad mood, though she couldn’t imagine why that would matter to him one way or the other. In fact, she mused, he should be glad to help in any way pertaining to the case against her uncle. Perhaps he was simply a bit nervous around her now; things having changed so drastically between them with her acceptance of the glittering diamond that now encircled her slender finger. She felt different somehow than she had twenty four hours ago when the relationship between her and her best friend was just blossoming into something different, something deeper than mere friendship. Marriage was another subject; one that she had no intentions of ever committing to two weeks ago when she left her other fiancé, Michael Stranahan. The fact that he was now deceased because he had been so obsessed with her still rattled her, as it would anyone, but she didn’t let anyone know; not even her cousin. She discerned that Adrienne had enough to worry about under the current circumstances; considering that her father now sat in the county jail accused of trying to execute her while she slept.

Grace wasn’t really sure how her cousin felt about this, either, because she wasn’t talking about it. As a matter of fact, she hadn’t mentioned it once. That bothered her a bit, but she let it go for the moment; not wanting to push her cousin too hard as she recovered from her wounds – physically and emotionally. Though Adrienne was acting strangely this morning, she thought; her simply staring with an odd expression on her face as the DNA sample was collected from Jesse; seeming to be anywhere but in that living room with the rest of them. To Grace, she almost looked as if she were trying to make sense of something in her mind; sort out all the thoughts she had been having about how she arrived at this juncture; lying on a sofa recuperating from a gunshot wound to the head. She wasn’t confiding anything in her cousin, either. Whatever thoughts she was having, she was keeping them to herself for the time being…and that simply wasn’t the behavior Grace was accustomed to seeing in her. Normally she was impossible to shut up and now – she only half-smiled at her cousin and pretended to follow a conversation, though she could tell there was something brewing in Adrienne’s mind and she desperately wanted to find out what that was.

The entire day was an odd one for Grace. She felt that she should be excited and wishing to show off the impressive diamond ring she had newly acquired, but she felt like doing anything but that. She had imagined her wedding day her whole life and wondered what man would be standing beside her as they exchanged vows at the altar of a beautiful church. Now she knew who she would marry and could plan whatever sort of wedding she wanted, but she wasn’t as enthusiastic as she had imagined she would be when the time finally came. If she were honest with herself, she would have to admit that she never truly loved Michael Stranahan; even before she was aware of his dark side. She was only trying to fit into the mold she thought should be her life; to settle down and make an honest woman of herself like she felt she was supposed to do to please her family, despite the fact that she had precious little family left to please. Jesse’s proposal had thrown her a little off balance; her not expecting it at all really; much less so soon after her new relationship with him had begun. None of it had had time to sink in yet, but when it did, she would find herself feeling different about the whole situation than she had imagined when he proposed. Vastly different.

Paul Federici was well on his way to Raleigh to deliver the DNA swabs in person. In fact, he should probably be arriving any time now, thought the detective as he looked at his watch; it being but a few hour’s drive by car. Detective Scheffield found himself pacing back and forth and circling his desk; his nerves a bit frazzled because he was almost out of time before the trial began and the results from the samples riding with Paul to Raleigh were needed as soon as possible. He practically considered taking off to the capital city with his best forensic technician so he could do whatever he could to speed up the process, but changed his mind at the last minute; wishing to take another look at the case file; just to make sure he hadn’t overlooked someone or something.

Part of his anxiety stemmed from the fact that he was positive this was not the trial that was going to put Chris Devereaux away for a long time, though he had been wrong before. He wondered what the holdup was with his superior, Brady Peterson, in charging the man with the murder of his sister, Vivienne Devereaux that took place ten years ago. The best thing that could happen, honestly, was for him to plead guilty to the crime instead of putting his poor daughter through the stress of having to come to court as a witness – an eye-witness – and sit across the room from him as she had to spill all of the horrid and difficult, to say and to hear, details of the crime. The detective wondered if they could get away with charging him with pre-meditated first degree murder or if they were going to have to take their chances with second degree murder as the official charge. The sentence he would receive for that was enough to put him away for most of his natural life, though a charge of second degree murder would leave him eligible for parole at some point. Honestly, with the overcrowding problem in the prison system, he would most likely do about one quarter of his sentence – if that. Oh well, thought the detective, if that was the best that could be done they would simply have to learn to live with whatever the end result would be for the extremely guilty man. His head finally came out of the clouds as he heard the telephone on his desk beep; letting him know that someone in the bullpen wished to speak with him. He picked up and, to his happy surprise, the voice on the other end of the line was that of Brady Peterson. He pressed the button to talk back; hoping he was calling about charging Chris Devereaux with his sister’s early demise.

“Brady, how are you? What’s up?” he said into the ancient intercom; a feature that should have been updated years ago, but one that the department had no funding to improve; this problem or any others, either.

“Hey, Matt. I’m good. How about you?” he asked in return.

“Frustrated with the current case a little, boss.” Detective Scheffield answered honestly. “Paul Federici is well on his way to Raleigh with the new DNA samples. I think that may be the only way to convince the jury that Devereaux is guilty. Hell, maybe he did do it. It feels like we’re missing someone or something on this one though, Brady. I just can’t put my finger on it, but it’s there.”

“The bastard killed his sister, though. That much we do know for sure – unless his daughter is lying, which I doubt.” replied Brady. “I did some research on Chris Devereaux and he hasn’t exactly been a boy scout. There have been numerous complaints about his behavior over the years; him engaging in some bar fights and property battles - things of that nature. Oddly, nothing ever came of any charges he acquired, though. Each time he was arrested, he was bailed out the next morning – if not released the same night on his own recognizance – and no court date was ever set for him. The only way things could have occurred the way they apparently did was for him to have friends in higher places than he was – which unfortunately we’ll never know unless he spills it…and I don’t see that kind of cooperation coming from that man.” he explained to his top homicide detective.

“Well, what do you want me to do about the murder charge for his sister?” he inquired of Brady.

“Go ahead and charge him. I thought maybe we should wait until he walked out of the courthouse a free man - exonerated of killing his mother and attempting to kill his daughter - and nab him as he started to walk away with a smile; thinking he got us. I can see the look on his face now. That’s the picture that keeps popping into my head.” he told the detective. “But I don’t want to wait that long. I know he’s unable to bail himself out this time and frankly, I don’t want to give that wicked man a chance to hurt anyone else, especially his daughter if he had some kind of plan to finish what he started. I don’t want him to get out of jail at all. Not for anything but his trial. I want him to rot in his cell through the end of this trial, thinking he may get out, and then burst the shit out of his bubble. Though I have to say that unjustified high opinion he seemed to have of himself appears to be waning fast.” Brady rattled off; barely taking a breath between sentences, but chuckling a bit as he spoke the last one.

“You got it, Boss.” replied Detective Scheffield; trying to contain his pleasure about his assignment, though he wasn’t sure why he felt the need to do so. “I’m on it. Going over to the jail right now.”

“Okay. Let me know how it goes.” his boss requested of him.

“Will do.” he responded.

Having finally received the order for which he had been waiting, he wasted no time in walking over to the jail and having one of the guards escort Chris Devereaux to an interrogation room. The detective thought the man would have to realize that the visit for which he was being dragged into another tiny, windowless, and stark room could not possibly be a pleasant one. Chris was fairly certain he was not receiving a visit from a family member and he had no friends of whom to speak. The detective decided to have him handcuffed to the bar along the edge of the metal table and let him stew in the room alone for several minutes before he entered to inform him that he had no hopes of ever walking out of there a free man. Perhaps his ferocity about sealing Chris’s fate had more to do with the fact that the detective was falling in love with his niece, Grace, and wanted retribution – all within legal limits – for what the cruel and heartless man had taken from her. Now he was about to exact that revenge and it made him feel much satisfaction.

After letting Chris sit for fifteen minutes, wondering who he was going to see walk through that door, Detective Scheffield opened the door and strolled in casually; a knowing smile spreading across his handsome face. He wanted to start off by making his suspect feel at ease so it would hit him that much harder when he delivered the news and read him his rights once more. This was certainly out of character for him; having always been a fair and decent person – one who never enjoyed watching someone else suffer. This time it was different, however. This time it was personal and he had to concentrate intently not to allow his emotions to cloud his typically rational judgement, though it took every ounce of restraint he could muster to continue this tradition where Chris Devereaux was concerned.

He walked calmly over to the table and plopped down on the metal stool across from the prisoner and asked with a satisfied smirk on his face, “Do you know why you’re here, Mr. Devereaux?”

“How the hell would I know?” he muttered sarcastically.

“Well, I’ll get right down to it then.” began Detective Scheffield calmly; ignoring the nasty answer he had just received altogether, “Christopher Devereaux, you’re under arrest for the homicide of your sister, Vivienne Devereaux. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?” he rattled off as he had a hundred times before, though this time it brought him great satisfaction.

“Oh God.” Chris said quietly as he bowed his head and covered his face with his hands; realizing now that his niece, Grace, had been telling the truth during the last and only visit that he would receive from her. Her threats had not been empty ones.This quelled any hope he may have had that she had only been trying to scare him. At this point, there was nothing more he could do about the situation. He was not getting out of jail – except to go to his funeral, he mused. His fate had been decided. He was well aware that his daughter had seen the entire, deplorable crime that he had committed against her aunt and had probably been convinced that he was the one who had tried to kill her, too. And there was not a thing he could do about trying to convince her that wasn’t true.

“Anything you’d like to say before being returned to your luxurious accommodations?” inquired the detective; unable to control the delight he felt about putting this particular man away for plausibly longer than his natural life. Even if the man managed to live long enough to see the outside world again, he would be too old to do any more harm to anyone; except perhaps himself.

“Yeah. Fuck you.” he hissed through clenched teeth; his hopelessness momentarily replaced with anger toward Detective Scheffield for displaying pleasure during his curt speech.

“Okay then. Back to your cage, animal.” retorted the detective; doing his very best not to crack a smile right then.

The guard waiting outside the interrogation room was not unhappy about escorting him back to his cell, either, though he didn’t say a word, but merely smiled the entire time; a knowing smile. The corrections officer was one of the people in Aurora who detested Chris Devereaux as much as every single member of the jury for his trial did…and he wasn’t afraid to let him know. He had told him to thank God that he wasn’t a juror because he would do whatever he had to do to ensure the man never saw the free world again. And he meant it. This guard was one of many who had been making his stay as uncomfortable as possible; going so far as to wait twenty four hours to bring him a roll of toilet paper. They were small inconveniences to a free person, but for Chris they were all things beyond his control; making them not so small to him. His entire life had been about control…and now he had none.

Grace had been at home with Adrienne the whole day and the two had barely spoken. Her cousin appeared to be healing physically at a rapid pace, but emotionally she didn’t seem like herself. If she were understandably upset about the fact that her own father was probably the person who tried to snuff out her short life, Grace was certain she would have been confiding in her regarding this. No, it was something other than that which was bothering her and she could feel it. She was only unsure what to do about it. This was one of the many times since her death that she wished desperately that she could speak with her grandmother; the one woman who had always seemed to have all the answers – no matter what the questions. Grace knew she could never in a million years compete with Genevieve and her endless knowledge about every subject imaginable. She was the one asking for advice – the same as Adrienne – and she hadn’t the slightest idea how to fill her Gram’s shoes and help her cousin. It simply wasn’t possible.

She left her cousin alone with her thoughts as she did her best to sort out their meanings; heading to the kitchen to see what she could scare up for dinner. Also on her mind was the fact that she had not received one phone call from her fiancé all day…and this was extremely out of character for Jesse, who normally checked in every two hours on the average. Grace was temporarily blinded by love, so she didn’t give one thought to analyzing this new dilemma. It was impossible for her to see the constant phone calls as a mechanism of control being exercised by him. Her normal attitude about such things was that the things one finds endearing in the beginning are the things that feel oppressive to one in the end. If she thought about it, she would have to admit that there were definite signs that their relationship was headed toward one in which there would be a controlling, insecure husband and a submissive, obedient wife; a relationship she had been through several times over already, minus the marriage, and had no desire of living through even once more. But she didn’t see it yet. Right now she was but a bliss filled woman in love…with the entirely wrong man for her.

Jesse arrived home late that night; the two women sitting in front of the television eating their dinner; having waited as long as their stomachs could bear. He hadn’t even called to say he would be late – and his fiancée was rightfully perturbed about that. He was displaying characteristics she had never known him to display in his entire life; treating her so very differently than he had before he proposed to her – differently than he ever had since she had known him; their meeting occurring before either was old enough to remember its happening. Perhaps these were some of the thoughts plaguing Adrienne and she didn’t want to be the one to break her cousin’s heart by telling her what she saw unfolding. That certainly made sense; more sense than the nothing Grace had been able to decipher.

One thing that she did notice after Jesse got his plate from the oven, where Grace had left it to keep it warm, and joined them in the living room, was that Adrienne stared at him as much as she could get away with and have the attention still go unnoticed – or so she thought; simply staring with a quizzical expression on her face. Her cousin did not yet know Adrienne’s feelings about Jesse’s recent treatment of her, so Grace imagined that could be the reason for her cousin’s blank stares at the only other person in the room with the two women. Her cousin had always been one to speak her mind, no matter who was displeased about it, so she couldn’t understand why Adrienne was holding back her opinions about Jesse or her advice to Grace…if that is what was swirling around in her mind.

Grace was also stumped as to why things between Jesse and her seemed to be changing so rapidly. Even she knew that he was the kind of person who stuck to a strict schedule whenever possible and his not adhering to his normal one tonight was a change she considered significant enough to bring up in conversation; of course doing this later, when they were alone in bed that night. She didn’t want any secrets between them and because of this she decided that she also had to tell him about the moment that had almost happened between Detective Scheffield and her. It wasn’t fair to ask him to open up to her and be honest if she weren’t willing to do the same herself, she reasoned. She wasn’t totally certain why she felt it was so important to let him know that another man had tried to kiss her; even though she had resisted his advance. It was simply something she felt she must do to start their relationship off on the right foot.

Needless to say, Jesse did not take the news of the kiss that almost happened very well; Grace feeling immediately the coldness that came with his stare as he listened to her relay the entire story; one that she desperately wished was a short story that wouldn’t go beyond the four walls in which it was expressed. After noticing even further change in her fiancé as she spoke, she wasn’t sure the whole thing was going to end there. In retrospect, perhaps telling him about the incident was not a good idea, she mused. The admission had not brought the two closer as she had hoped it would, but driven them even farther apart; adding brick after brick to the wall he had created around himself; not building it big enough for two, but sealing only himself off from the world around him.

It was the first night they had not made love before falling asleep and she didn’t like the implications of that, though it seemed there was little she could do about it. The harder she tried to accept her new role as his life partner, the more his demeanor changed – and she was not fond of the new behaviors Jesse was displaying. She had never considered him an insecure man and by all rights he should not have been one; the attention he received from women everywhere he went being enough to swell anyone’s head, however, appearing to have the reverse effect on him; turning him instead into a man who lacked the confidence to have a true and honest relationship with any woman because along with insecurity comes distrust, even though the dubiety was generally unwarranted.

Grace did the only thing she could do after Jesse turned his back to her in the bed and that was to push the thoughts out of her mind for the time being and go to sleep. It was not easy, but eventually she drifted off to dreamland; this night again receiving a visit from her grandmother, though she was too distracted even in her sleep to begin to understand what it was Genevieve was trying to tell her this time. She had no way of knowing that, at the same time she was dreaming of her Gram, Adrienne was fast asleep downstairs having a dream that was nearly identical to the one Grace was having upstairs; only her cousin was paying much more attention to the message contained in the dream than she was. In fact, it would end up being the warning that finally changed both of their lives…to the lives that they were meant to be living and the happiness that Genevieve knew they both deserved…not to mention closure where her death was concerned. And it would be the last time she would reveal herself to her granddaughters before crossing over to the other side for good.

The next morning, Jesse left for work before Grace even opened her eyes; this sending a small wave of panic through her when she finally did awaken; wondering if her honesty the night before had altered her relationship with her fiancé too much to return to the bliss that both had truly felt only days ago. She felt as if she were on auto-pilot the entire day; going about her daily routine with practically no thoughts at all; her brain’s way of protecting her from having to feel any more emotional pain, as she had already had more than her fair share of this. Adrienne was even more distant this day than she had been; again looking to her cousin like she was also making an attempt to sort out all of the thoughts plaguing her – and not appearing to be having any more luck than she had been having. Though she desperately wished Adrienne would confide in her about her thoughts and feelings, she didn’t want to push her too far too fast. What Grace had been through in the past two weeks paled in comparison to dealing with being shot in the head; having to know that someone out there wanted her dead…and that someone could have possibly been her own father.

It was an extremely quiet day at Devereaux Downs; as quiet a day as Detective Scheffield was having; biting his fingernails waiting for the results of the DNA tests. There was nothing more he could do at this point but wait. Grace and Adrienne barely spoke the entire day and the conversation didn’t improve much when Jesse finally made his appearance at dinner; again arriving late and again without making a phone call to say so. Nobody spoke that night at dinner at all really; just odd stares at Jesse from Adrienne just like the previous night’s meal. She didn’t even seem to care who noticed her gaze, either. Grace could see the wheels turning in her cousin’s mind, but was left to guess as to what the meaning was behind this odd behavior. Whatever it was she was debating about with herself, her cousin wished she would simply tell her; allow her to help if she could.

This didn’t happen, though, and everyone called it an early night; turning in before the clock struck 9:00pm. Jesse barely acknowledged that Grace was in the same bed as he; again turning his back to her so she couldn’t see that he, too, was wide awake and contemplating how to tear down the wall that he himself had built around him; his thoughts not much different from the thoughts his fiancé was having at the same time, though his resolution to the issue was markedly different than the ideas of his fiancée. Neither of them were aware of it, but Adrienne laid on the living room sofa as awake and alert as her cousin and Jesse were upstairs, though her ideations were somewhat different than Grace’s. The ruminations of Adrienne were not, however, so different from those of Jesse. She had a decision to make and it was one that had the potential to crush Grace if brought to light. Sadly, though, it seemed as if her mind was already made up about this. There was simply no way she could allow this information to fall through the cracks. The subject was too important to go left undisclosed.

The next morning, Detective Scheffield received the call he had been anxiously awaiting; Paul Federici letting him know that he was currently on his way back from Raleigh with the DNA results; the piece of evidence that would make or break the case against Chris Devereaux for the shooting of Genevieve and Adrienne Devereaux. The words he heard come out of Paul’s mouth were certainly not the ones he was expecting to hear. The killer was one of the suspects they had looked at carefully, though clearly not carefully enough or his actions would not have gone unnoticed for as long as they had. In fact, this particular suspect really made no attempt to hide anything he did before or after the shootings, though Detective Scheffield didn’t catch onto any of that. The information he received, however, was the last piece in an extremely tricky puzzle that finally made sense to him now. Knowing what he now knew, he understood how this criminal could have slipped through his fingers; how his judgement could have been so clouded. He now understood why he had been wrong about this one.  

Detective Scheffield’s description alone of the situation and the test results were enough to get a search warrant for the suspect’s home; a house he knew for certain was empty at this time. He expected to find some evidence of how or why the crime was committed, but what he and the other officers found was beyond anything he could have imagined. This crime was no spur of the moment idea, either. Apparently, this plan had been in the works for years and no one had ever been the wiser. After this new discovery – a treasure trove of damning evidence – the detective was finally able to make sense of it…all of it.