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“Not everyone thinks that highly of their family,” he said. “But in this case, Colin was a janitor and down on his luck. He had a lot of debt and he saw his brother as being successful. Cole claims Colin kept asking him for money.”
“How did Colin end up at Cole’s house?”
“Colin got hurt on the job. Seems he did that a lot from what we could find. He was out of work for about six weeks and used that time to just show up at his brother’s. Said he didn’t want anything other than to get to know him. They started to fight when Cole found Colin going through his things. That he’d noticed his brother wearing his clothes more than once on top of it.”
“From the way he was in his house, I’m sure Cole was possessive of what was his.”
“He was,” he said. “They started to fight. They were shoving each other and Colin took a swing at Cole. He said he had a black eye, but at this point there was no evidence of it.”
“So he’s saying it was self-defense?” she asked.
“That’s his claim,” he said.
“Then why not say that to begin with? It sounds to me like he ran and decided to let everyone believe Cole was dead and he was going to live as Colin.”
“That is exactly what he thought he’d do. But it’s not the life he thought it’d be.”
“Too much manual labor for him?” she asked, laughing.
“I believe so. He cracked and said it was self-defense. That is going to be for his lawyers to argue. On my end the case is closed.”
“Do you think he’ll get off?” she asked.
“Again, that is for the lawyers. He killed his twin brother, whether they were strangers or not, and he has to live with that. He’s not denying it. It’s not like he’s a serial killer on the loose. What happens to him is out of my hands at this point.”
“You can live with that?” she asked. She wasn’t sure why she cared so much, but maybe it had more to do with the fact that she felt like she had a part in this.
“There are a lot of killers that go free, Faith. Evil ones that are going to go back out there and do it again. I don’t believe this is the case. For all I know, he might get off if they can get him to flip and give information on the people that were after him.”
“Just like on TV?” she asked.
He laughed at her. “Yeah. Something like that. Again, out of my hands. That is up to the DA.”
“So how did it come about that James was told about me? Because you were going to pick up Cole yesterday?”
“It started with him saying I was either a lucky bastard, had a magic wand I wasn’t sharing or was smarter than he gave me credit for.”
“Let me guess your response,” she said. Fred barked as if he understood the conversation going on over the speakerphone. “Fred says, you’d say you’re not lucky, though he thinks you are because he met you by chance that day and you two have a good time. Luck there.”
“Sure,” he said. “I’ll take that from Fred.”
She reached out and pet her dog on the head. “Fred says there is no magic wand, but I think you’ve got one in your pants.”
There was silence with that and she wondered if she pushed it with him. Then he said, “I think I’m blushing, but thanks.”
“I wish I could see it,” she said. “And the third comment you would have said was that you are smart and no one gives you enough credit for it.”
“Something to that effect. Crazy how you figured that all out so well.”
“I think I know you pretty well,” she said. “Or if my aunt were here she’d say she knew all along and we have to figure out how to get ahead of this now.”
“We’ll have our date,” he said. “This weekend.”
“Then what are you going to tell your grandmother?” she asked.
“What are you going to tell your aunt? Maybe she will call and ask how it went too.”
“Oh, she is going to call and ask. No doubt there. I guess I’ll have to see how it goes before I tell her,” she said.
