“I will. You’re being safe, right? Staying away from the others? I’ve been following the case on the news, and it seems like theyare moving forward with a person of interest, so someone from the retreat definitely murdered Delaney.”
My heart stops in my chest. “The case is on the news?”
“Just on the local Charlotte channel, but yeah. The James family is prominent in the area, I guess, so it’s been picked up by a few news outlets. I’ve been watching on YouTube.”
“I had no idea.” I pause. “Have you been asked back for more questioning?”
“No. Officer Pettit told me on that first night that I could go home and do any future interviews with the New Jersey State Police if needed, but I haven’t heard from them since. Have you?”
“Yes, actually. I have to go back in an hour.”
“Well, don’t worry about being called back,” she backtracks. “I’m sure it’s just some corroborating questions since they think they found the murderer. Plus, I vouched for you in my statement, like, fifty times, because they kept asking over and over about that small frame of time between when Cameron was upstairs with you and then went downstairs.”
My palms become slicker with every new piece of information she gives me.
“I mean, in hindsight, it’s pretty obvious who did it. I’m surprised it’s taken this long for them to make an arrest.”
“Really?” I ask, wondering what the news has reported that would fill in some of the gaps to make her feel this confident, because I have been trying to figure out who could have done this and have come up short every time.
“Yeah, it has to be Cameron, right?”
“What has to be Cameron?”
She laughs. “Cameron has to be the killer. At least that’s what I think based on everything that I’ve seen.”
I practically trip as I jump off the bed to peek through the open adjoining door to make sure that Cameron didn’t overhear Leahjust accuse him of murder. Thankfully, he is still on the patio talking to Reggie, but from the deep furrow of his brow, he is not happy with whatever they are discussing.
“What makes you think it was Cameron?”
“Well, he was fighting with Delaney all night, for starters. And they keep giving details on the news about how his parents died six months ago. Grief can make people do crazy things, so maybe he just lost it after she mouthed off to him again and took a swing at her.”
I scoff at the absurdity of her last statement. “There is no way that Cameron would ever raise his hand to a woman. And I saw him right after he found her, and he was nearly catatonic. Trust me, it wasn’t him. It was someone else.”
The only sound on her end of the phone is the jingle of a commercial that I vaguely recognize. “You aren’t with him right now, are you?”
“No,” I lie, and flinch at how easily it came out of my mouth.
“Good. Because I know you had a little thing with him back at the house, but I have a bad feeling about him, Drew. Especially since he found Delaney’s body but didn’t call 9-1-1. That doesn’t sit right with me.”
“He was in shock, Leah,” I say, failing to conceal my defensiveness. “And there were security cameras all around the house. I bet they will get that footage soon, and we will be able to see who did it without having to blame innocent people.”
She laughs without humor. “Come on, Drew, don’t be so naïve. Do you know how easy it is to edit video surveillance? With a techy person and the right offer of money, footage can easily be manipulated.”
I roll my eyes because Leah’s conspiracy theories sound eerily similar to the crazy ideas that Monika throws around when she finds a new case to obsess about.
“Well, let’s leave this to the police to sort out, and I promise that I will be safe in the meantime.”
“Good, and I really hope that you are telling me the truth about not being with him. Regardless, I would never forgive myself if I didn’t at least warn you.”
The sliding glass door opens back in Cameron’s room. “I have to go, Leah, but please let your hubby take good care of you while this all gets sorted out so that you can keep your stress levels low. Please send me a picture if you end up getting the ultrasound too.”
“I will,” she promises.
I end the call and head back into Cameron’s room, determined to get answers to a few questions that I should have asked him earlier, before Jalen shows up and tries to separate us again.
Chapter forty
VESTED INTEREST
