Page 35 of Tell Me Your Lies

“You’d better add DNA samples to that warrant.” Brunel makes more notes on his legal pad. “It seems to me that you’re narrowing this murder down to my clients and forgetting about the other people aboard the yacht. Do you honestly believe that one of the people in this room murdered someone on a yacht where no one can get on or off over a period of fourteen or so hours? Every single suspect would have been on the vessel. It’s up to you to decide who is guilty. Should you return to question my clients again, if I’m not here to represent them, nothing they say can be used in evidence against them. Have I made myself clear?”

“Perfectly.” The male detective nods slowly. “In cases like these the perpetrator is usually someone close to the victim, someone they know.”

I push my knees together to stop them trembling. What if they find something? What if my DNA is under Allison’s nails? I need to check myself all over to make sure there’re no scratches. What if they find blood traces on the deck, or on my clothes that were in the hot tub? Sweat trickles in rivulets down my back. I feel guilty and from the expression the female cop is giving me, I look guilty as well.

“I’m taking Alani up to her room. You can see she’s not well.” Lucas stands and looks down at me. “Maybe we should call your dad. You might have food poisoning?”

I nod. “Yeah, that’s a good idea.” I take his hand and he pulls me from the chair.

“Her father is a medical doctor.” Isabelle stares at the cops with distaste. “If you’re done here, I’d like to get some fresh air.”

“Okay.” The male detective closes his notepad and stands. “We can see ourselves out.” They both leave.

“We’ll need to fumigate this room.” Isabelle goes straight to the house phone and calls her staff. “I’m going out on the deck. I can’t breathe the stink of them any longer.”

“Just a minute, Isabelle.” Brunel looks at her. “Is there anything I should know?” He scans the room. “From any of you? What you told the detectives, was that the truth?”

“We’ve got no reason to lie.” Linc runs a hand down his face and stares at the floor. “We were surrounded by people every second. How could any of us slip away and murder Allison without someone noticing?”

“Well, someone murdered her.” Brunel looks at me and then moves his attention to Oliver. “There are three people here who will become potential suspects. Isabelle because she left the party at midnight, Oliver for the same reason, and Alani—because she would blend in just like another fan.”

“She was with me.” Lucas shakes his head. “I honestly don’t recall if anyone watched us in the hot tub or the exact time. It was windy and cold and everyone had moved upstairs. I could hear the music playing, Dad singing and everyone going nuts.” He sighs. “What I didn’t mention to the cops is that someone slipped something into her drink. I went down to the party deck to get my guitar. I heard a splash and went to check the hot tub and pulled her out of the water. I could see she was out of it so I stayed with her. We were awake all night in my cabin.”

I swallow hard. Lucas lies so easily and makes up stories on the fly. He is so convincing and says he is protecting me—but is he using me for his alibi? Is he capable of murder? I’m so confused. He seems so nice but psychopaths have charm in spades. Did he spike my drink and make me look guilty to cover his own crime? Is his friendship a lie? I bite my lip so hard I can taste blood but the lawyer nods slowly as if digesting his story. I wait, holding my breath for him to speak again.

“Okay, but I need you to think back. Can anyone verify you were in your cabins?” Brunel swings his attention back to Oliver. “Anyone at all?”

“I ordered a burger, must have been between eleven and twelve, I guess.” Oliver shrugs. “Security escorted the waiter to my cabin. No one gets onto our private deck. It has a keypad and only our bodyguards and the head of security have the code.”

“That’s good.” Brunel makes notes. “Isabelle?”

“I’m sure someone saw me leaving the deck.” She plants her hands on her hips and huffs. “You’ll just need to ask everyone. I didn’t see or speak to anyone until Lucas woke me at six-thirty. I’d had plenty to drink and I slept like the dead.”

“If any of you can remember anything else or recall anyone who you saw before you went to your cabins, write it down.” Brunel stands. “Call me if the cops return. I’ll get back to my golf game.” He shakes Linc’s hand and heads for the door.

I heave a sigh of relief and stand on wobbly legs. I look at Lucas. “They’re going to be back.”

“Yeah, it looks that way but we’ve got nothing to worry about.” He smiles at me. “Go and get some sleep. Unless you want me to call Sam?”

I shake my head. “No, don’t call him. He’ll make a big deal out of it and I don’t need that right now. I’m so tired. I’ll see how I feel later.” I need to get away from Lucas. If he is a real friend, why didn’t he tell me my room was bugged from the get-go? He’s been lying to me since the moment we met. “Thanks, Lucas. You don’t need to come with me. I’ll be fine.” I head for the stairs. Right now, I need answers. The first thing I’ll do is check my body for injuries. I need to know what happened to me last night.

FORTY-FOUR

I hadn’t been able to sleep after finding a small scratch on my arm but I must have dozed off for a while because hammering on my door wakes me. I stagger out of bed and open the door to Mia. She has a wild expression in her eyes; or is that fear? “What’s wrong?”

“The house is filled with cops and they are searching everywhere. I managed to slip up here to warn you that they’re on their way. You’d better get dressed.” Mia steps inside my room and closes the door quietly behind her. “They have gotten the search warrants and a huge team of people dressed in PPE are crawling all over the yacht. They have already searched Allison’s room and want everybody who attended the party to go downstairs—not the staff, they are assembling in the gazebo. We’re all getting DNA tested and remember, don’t answer any questions the cops ask you. Dad says they’ll likely ask you if you have a scratch anywhere but maybe not. He said David—the lawyer—told him everyone was to remain silent.”

I grab some clothes and dress quickly. “So, they really believe one of us did it?”

“I’m not so sure.” Mia leans against the door, combing her hair with her fingers. “Apparently, they have teams of people visiting everyone who was on board last night. They will be taking samples from everyone. Allison must have been able to scratch her assailant. Once they get a DNA match they’ll have the killer—well, maybe they will. I overheard one of the techs saying that the sample they have is degraded, so they might only get a partial match.” She gives me a long considering stare. “I don’t think anyone in the family would have done something like that. Allison has lived here forever. It seems a bit strange that one of us would suddenly fly off the handle and murder her for no reason at all. It’s got to be someone else. You two got along okay, didn’t you?”

I slide my feet into my shoes and nod. “Yes, she was always very nice to me. I’m horrified this happened to her. Are they sure it’s her?”

“Apparently so. Dad says he recognized her from the photograph they took of the body. It shook him up though and he refused to allow anyone else to look at it.” Mia opens the door a crack and peers into the hallway. “All clear. When we get down to the bottom of the stairs act natural. You don’t want to call attention to yourself.”

The rest has done me good, and my head is clearer than before but my hands still shake. What if they ask me about the scratch on my arm? What will I say? Is this proof positive that I murdered Allison and will the DNA prove it? All afternoon I’ve been forcing my mind to try and remember what happened but it’s like there’s nothing there. I don’t recall anything after spilling my drink and then Lucas standing over me. I think about what we told the cops earlier, that I’d fallen into the hot tub. If they ask me, I’ll say I grazed my arm. My footsteps echo on the marble floors as we walk toward the family room. Cops are everywhere and my stomach flip flops as the female detective turns slowly and pierces me with her gaze. I raise my chin trying to look as innocent as possible and follow Mia into the family room.

The lawyer is back again and is supervising every one of the samples taken by the cops. Linc is pacing up and down, his eyes flicking from one place to the other. Everything about his demeanor tells me that he hates having his privacy invaded by the police.