If We Dare to Dream (6 page)

“Tell me,” Hayden ordered.

“There’s nothing really to tell. I saw the girl while I was out with Marissa and Rae. She almost puked all over me, but this guy pulled me out of the way.”

“Why haven’t you ever said anything?”

“Clay and I left the next day, and I didn’t hear about the murder until after he was arrested. I didn’t follow the trial or anything; I was too spooked.” She did not add that she was embarrassed and frightened that she had allowed the man to follow her home that night.

Hayden’s eyes were still wide. “Damn, Jamie. That’s just crazy.”

“Quiet! It’s coming back on.”

Jamie’s head swung in the direction of the screen. Ford had installed a complete home theater room, complete with viewing chairs and projection screen. The surround sound system filled the room with the introduction, and the narrator’s voice had replaced those of cheerful women selling mop heads. Jamie and Hayden turned to watch, and when
his
face appeared it took almost the entire back wall of the room. Jamie’s breathing ceased at the sight of the man who had intrigued and then terrified her for the last three years. There were the deceptively friendly honey eyes and the small, straight nose that led to his strong jaw. It truly was a shame, for he was good looking even in a mug shot. She remembered how those eyes had danced that night, but they were not dancing in the picture at all.

“Andrew,” Jamie whispered.

Without warning the name suddenly popped into her head. Despite the passage of time, she remembered their brief interaction as though it was yesterday. He had been so charming, friendly and gentlemanly to her. That he had turned off that night to go murder another woman seemed so implausible and surrealistic. Things like that just did not happen to everyday people… or so she thought. To her surprise, she decided she wanted to hear more, to learn about the man who had fooled her.

“Andrew? Andrew Sheehan. That’s the guy’s name that did it,” Hayden said.

“I just can’t believe it.”

Both boys sent an irritated hush their way this time, so Hayden reached out and patted her knee. “Let’s talk about it after.”

She sat back and watched, sipping first but then gulping her wine when Hayden left the room during an ad and returned moments later with a new bottle and a second glass. Together the four of them learned about the wild party-girl, who was actually the daughter and sister of a nice family that had settled in Scottsdale back in the early 70s. Kit had grown up in the city and attended NAU, returning home again after graduation. Her blonde friend Molly was interviewed. Jamie remembered her and the man she had hooked up with that night. They had disappeared before Kit had been escorted out. Who had been the man? She had never seen his face full on, but she remembered how intently he had been focused on Molly.

The answer was not quite forthcoming. They segued into the events of the night, all supposition and put together through what evidence they could find since the man convicted of the crime maintained his innocence from the start. Investigators presumed that after Kit was escorted out, she made her way home and apparently had gone to bed. Bouncers at the bar testified that she was seen to have left with the man accused of murdering her. They had found him three days later via the card he had used to pay his bill, and then those very same bouncers picked him out of a lineup and confirmed his appearance on their closed-circuit cameras.

Jamie stiffened. That was not right. Sure they had seen him, but he had left with her.

To her surprise and dismay, the inconsistencies grew throughout the story. Despite the welcoming comfort of the plush leather recliner, Jamie sat forward and watched the program intently, occasionally shaking her head with disbelief. This was just not right. Kit was reported to have been murdered between two and three in the morning. If Kit resided in Gilbert, how could Andrew have stopped following her at two and then driven over twenty miles to Kit’s, broken into her home, and attacked and killed her in less than an hour? The killer had removed all the bedding following the attack, which was never found, so there was no DNA evidence at the scene. However, they had found traces of DNA on Andrew’s shoes from that night. Of course, he had shielded her when Kit threw up. Jamie specifically remembered him staring down at his clothing that night with a mixture of disgust and resignation. It was feasible that the DNA they had found was remaining splatter.

Everything was all wrong. How could she have missed this for so long?

The next segment focused on Andrew’s side of the story – his defense. Suddenly, his lawyer appeared on screen. Feeling a growing sense of panic, Jamie watched in horror as she heard about the missing witness who could verify Andrew’s alibi. They had reported her appearance, advised the investigators of her presence, and told of Andrew following her car home. They even had a general description of her car. Apparently since she had settled her bill with cash, they were unable to confirm her identity, and she was chalked up as a figment of desperation.

 However, Andrew still had more evidence on his behalf. He turned in a time stamped receipt from Denny’s restaurant for three in the morning. With her calculations, she concluded that it would have been timed perfectly for his right turn when he left her. The far East Mesa restaurant would have taken him less than 10 minutes to reach, and then with time to be served and eat 3am would have matched up perfectly.

This dramatic piece of evidence had not been presented due to the eyewitness testimony that placed him leaving with a dark-haired girl with a black jacket right around the time Kit was escorted out. Jamie had worn a black jacket out that night and had put it on right before they left. The closed circuit cameras could not distinguish between her blue top and Kit’s red one when both of them had worn black out the door. She began to feel sick to her stomach, and she placed her glass of wine down in the cup holder on the recliner with a trembling hand.

His trial had lasted eight days. The guilty verdict was returned in just an hour and a half, sending a man who could very well have been innocent off to life in prison. Aware that she was breathing irregularly and on the verge of hyperventilating, she ignored her queasy stomach, lifted her wine glass to her lips and downed it in a single gulp. Hayden watched her in surprise. When she lowered the glass, her eyes were wide.

“This is all wrong,” she whispered. “I don’t think he did this.”

“What? He was convicted. He’s in jail.”

“He couldn’t have done this, don’t you see?”

Hayden shook his head.

She was shaking and felt cold down to her bones. Hayden watched her with concern and curiosity, obviously wondering what on earth could have upset her so.

She shook her head emphatically. “He just couldn’t have done it. I know this…”

“How?” Hayden asked impatiently. “What are you saying?

“I know this because he left with me.”

***

A fire smoldered in the outdoor fireplace. The soft red glow radiated heat against Jamie’s legs as she sat slowly rocking in the cushioned patio rocker. Hayden sat beside her, nursing a beer and sending an occasional worried glance her way. He had disappeared several minutes prior and returned with a blanket, which he draped over her shoulders. But she barely noticed. Her mind was still spinning with the story she had viewed. A mixture of emotions tormented her: guilt, panic, fear, regret and most of all, sorrow. If she was right, this man had been convicted of a heinous crime that he did not commit. Either that or she had been spared from being the victim of a seriously sick individual.

She just needed to figure out which was right.

“Grady and Torie just left with their boys, Ian took off to meet Kat, and Ford and Isabel are watching a movie with Ana and David. That leaves just us. So start from the beginning.”

“First promise me you’re not going to run and tell the others about what I tell you tonight… at least not until I have time to think about all this.”

Hayden did not look very pleased but nodded his assent reluctantly. In fact, he looked very worried and seemed as tormented as she felt, which explained his hesitation to not involve the others. Whenever the family had run into problems, they always worked together to find a solution. With the balance of differing personalities and points of view, they always managed to come up with reasonable and effective ideas. That was, when they worked together. But Jamie was not ready for that yet. She needed to sort things out on her own before unnecessarily drawing everyone else into her current problem.

She wiggled her toes where they were growing warm from the heat of the fireplace and silently pondered for a bit longer while Hayden patiently waited for her to speak. Taking a deep breath, she decided that she needed to just start from the beginning and tell everything, giving Hayden the opportunity to decide if she was right or not.

“The night before Clay and I left for Vegas, Marissa and Rae took me out. We had dinner and then went dancing. We ended up at the bar because it was across the street from their condo. Do you remember where I lived before I moved in with Clay?”

“Of course,” Hayden said.

“We had a couple of drinks. I didn’t even finish one beer because I was driving home to Clay’s that night instead of staying with them. I was just getting ready to leave when I noticed the girl, Kit. She was pretty drunk and getting loud, so I told Marissa I was going.”

Hayden nodded encouragingly.

“Our waiter had pretty much disappeared, so I went up to the bar. Kit bumped into me then. She was so drunk that she took a spill at my feet.”

Hayden’s brows rose in surprise. “They didn’t kick her out?”

Jamie shook her head. “Not then… the bartender kid did shut her off, though. He knew her name, so I assumed she was a regular there. That’s pretty weird since she lived all the way in Gilbert. It’s a long drive for a heavy drinker.”

“Her Gilbert address was actually just down the road. She was on the Mesa line in some complex off Val Vista Road.”

“How do you know that?”

He waved a hand in dismissal. “I remembered the case.”

“Well, it still would have been a twenty-five minute or so ride from Clay’s.”

“And that matters?”

“It could, yes.”

Her cryptic answer seemed to catch Hayden off guard again. She continued her story before he interrupted. “While I was waiting to pay my bill, a man came up and we began to talk. I’m pretty sure it was the same Andrew that’s now in jail.”

“Scary.”

“It gets creepier, trust me.”

She took another sip of wine and laid her head back against the soft cushion of the rocker. “He was nice. Polite. He tried to hit on me, but I told him about Clay. He was okay with it. While we were talking, Kit was arguing with the waiter about another round. That’s when she puked.”

“Gross.”

Jamie smiled thinly. “It was. The guy, Andrew, grabbed me and pulled me out of the way. I thanked him, and Kit was escorted out. That’s the last time I saw her.”

“Wow. That’s just crazy.”

The patio fell silent as Jamie paused. All she could hear was the sound of the pool equipment making its cycle. Over and over again she replayed the events of the night in her head. While these thoughts had come upon her many times in the past, fear had always forced her to deny them. Tonight, she struggled with the idea that he had not committed the crime. How could he have?

After another minute, Hayden spoke. “So how are you involved in all this?”

Shaking her head, Jamie glanced at her brother. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s nothing. It was a long time ago.”

“Tell me the rest.”

“Rae and Marissa had found our waiter, so he and I went back to the table and paid there. The girls left since they were just walking across the street. The guy walked me out. Hayden, it was me in the black jacket. I still have it - it’s hanging in the closet in my room.”

“Wait. You said he walked
you
out?”

“Yes. He walked me to my car.” She bit her lip. “And he followed me almost all the way to Clay’s.”

“You let him follow you home?”

The disbelief in his voice was enough to cause Jamie’s cheeks to flush with color. “He wanted to make sure I made it safely.”

“You allowed a murderer to follow you home?”

The question was spoken with so much disbelief and anger that Jamie fell silent as she considered her answer. Hayden was staring at her, his eyes round with shock.

“He didn’t follow me all the way home. He turned off before Clay’s development. Besides, Clay was there if I ran into trouble.”

“Oh… your ex-husband would’ve been so helpful.”

“Perhaps he would’ve at that point in our relationship,” she snapped. Hayden snorted in disgust, so Jamie sent him a fierce frown. “This has nothing to do with Clay, so don’t change the subject.”

“But you could’ve been hurt by a man that’s really sick in the head.”

“That’s just it,” she protested. “If he was with me, how did he kill that woman?”

Silence fell as Hayden realized the extent of her words. His voice was low when he responded. “I can’t believe this.”

Hayden placed his hands over his face and sat forward in his chair. The firelight danced in his hair, making some strands appear red. It almost matched the angry color that suffused his face. “This is bad, Jamie. This is just unbelievable.”