Authors: Jack Parker
"No, not
that
!
That
!"
She furiously pointed to Collin, who seemed to take offense at that remark.
"He's just a trainee…is everything all right?"
"Why's he in here?!"
"Sorry, Lees, but as long as you're in here, you're technically not my boss."
"Aw, give Attorney Mode a rest, Mr. Bansen," Teneire coldly shunned, causing Collin to shut his mouth in an instant. "I'm sorry. You've probably realized by now he can get a little excited."
Lisa rolled her eyes. "I know. Tell me about it."
Hey! Since when did this turn into a "Diss Collin" contest?!
"Well, as much as I'd love to continue and chit-chat, we got some questions we need to ask you."
"…you're kidding."
"What is it?"
"Collin's
really
gonna be helping you out?"
"You got it, boss. I am," Collin proudly remarked as he pressed his thumb into his chest.
"He'll try to, anyway."
"Hey!"
Teneire closed his eyes. "I'm trying to be professional about this, Collin. Don't go making my job any tougher than it already is, got it?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Now…Ms. McNorr, I know it might be hard at times, but I want you to take this questioning session seriously, all right? This is a murder we're talking about."
"Yes, sir."
"All right. Just to remind you, you're being recorded and we reserve the right to use this tape for court should this matter end up there."
"I understand."
"Good."
She's hiding something,
Collin thought to himself as he remembered how awkward Lisa was acting in her office.
And I'm going to find out what it is.
"I wasn't working the night Scott died," Lisa started. "I just want to get that out of the way."
"Yes, we're aware of that."
"Good."
"And did you and Scott have any sort of negative feelings about each other, or did you have an argument or something along those lines?"
"No, we were good friends. I mean, sure, we had our arguments, but…yeah, we were really good friends."
"
Really
good friends?" Collin asked in a taunting way.
"Collin!" snapped Teneire.
"Sorry, but I was only trying to lighten the mood
a
little."
Teneire looked like he wanted to unleash a flurry of criticisms on Collin, but he tried to stay professional and remain devoted to trying to ask questions.
"Yes, really good friends," Lisa confirmed.
"So you wouldn't have had any reason to kill him?"
"Not that I can think of."
Grrr…forty seconds in and already Teneire is sounding like he's convinced she's just going to be a waste of time. I've gotta find SOMETHING to ask her about. Uh…wait!
"Wait!" Collin yelled abruptly, making the entire room go silent.
"What is it?" Teneire groaned.
"Sir, you remember Randy, right?"
"Randy? You mean the guy Lisa took over for?"
"Yeah. Him. Lisa, would you mind telling us if Randy would've wanted Scott dead?"
"Collin, this is supposed to be about
Lisa
, not Randy. If we wanted to question Randy, we would've brought
him
in."
"Could you please just answer?" Collin asked as if he was completely ignoring what Teneire just told him. "Would Teneire have wanted Scott dead for any reason?"
"Uh…I really don't think Randy would've had much to gain from killing Scott, either."
"Why's that?"
"What do you mean, 'why's that'? I mean exactly what I said! There probably wouldn't have been anything Randy would want to kill Scott over."
" 'Probably'? Lisa, what's
that
supposed to mean?"
"Never mind. He wouldn't have wanted to kill Scott. I was just thinking about something, but it's not worth talking about."
"…
I
want to hear about it."
"Collin, it's…"
"Does it have anything to do with that picture I saw when you were interviewing me for the job?"
"What?"
Collin started thinking back to the moment he just mentioned.
-
Next to Lisa's computer was a framed picture that showed Lisa smiling at the camera and having her arm around the shoulder of a man who looked about her age and had heavy blonde hair. His was a face Collin knew all too well, but he wasn't expecting to see a picture of him right there.-
"That picture I saw next to your computer when we first started talking…unless I'm wrong,
that was a picture of Scott
."
"…yeah, so?"
"Well, that's just kind of funny," Collin began. Now he was talking off the top of his head instead of planning what he was going to say to ensure he wouldn't make any mistakes. "I mean, Scott's been dead for over a year now."
"So? I keep pictures of my mother in my house all the time, and she's been dead for almost a decade."
"That's not the point," Collin quickly insisted. "The point is that there was a picture of Scott…
with her
…sitting right at her computer."
"Ever think maybe I just wanted to keep reminding myself of Scott? I just put a picture of him on my desk because I thought he should stay in our thoughts, even if he's six feet under right now."
"Yeah, I have to agree with her," Teneire said. "It's just a picture."
"That's what
you
think, sir. But that's an odd place for a picture, isn't it?"
"What do you mean?"
Collin's blood was beginning to rush now and he suddenly felt as if the amount of energy he had just doubled. Now he would be unstoppable as he let his thoughts poor out.
"If Lisa wanted everyone to remember Scott, she probably would have just put a picture of him on the wall or something like that. But she didn't! She's keeping one of Scott and
herself
on her computer desk
!"
"Uh…" Teneire stammered.
"Seriously, I don't see the logic in that. When one of your fellow officers dies, don't you put up a picture of him all by himself on the wall or someplace like that?"
"I get what you're saying, Collin. Yeah, it may be a little different from what normal people would do, but just because she wanted a picture of them both on her computer desk doesn't mean…"
"And
I
get what
you're
saying, sir. Which is actually why I asked something a little while ago."
Lisa looked confused, as did Teneire.
"What are you talking about?" Teneire asked.
"Remember how I asked Lisa if she was REALLY good friends with Scott?...and you got mad at me 'cause you thought I was acting like a little kid?"
"Yeah. And you're still not making any sense."
"Just watch. Lisa, I'm pretty sure I've heard this from some of my co-workers, and I just want to make sure: were you
really
'just friends' with Scott?"
Lisa looked like she was suddenly getting a little nervous and that Collin was digging into territory she wasn't all that comfortable with talking about. She stammered as she continued getting stared down.
"Collin, I don't see where you're going with thi…" Teneire started.
"Just you wait, sir. You will. Well, Lisa? Were you just friends, or not?"
"Uh…well…fine. Okay, so Scott and I were dating when he died."
"You were in a
relationship
?" Teneire asked, obviously surprised. "You didn't
tell
us that during the investigation we conducted last summer!" he furiously yelled as he banged his hand on the table.
"Yeah, we were seeing each other. Big deal," Lisa aggressively stated. "Fine! That's why I had a picture of me and Scott at my computer. Big deal."
Collin started smirking very menacingly and began glaring at Lisa like he was a tiger about to launch on prey. "Actually, Lisa, it IS a big deal. How long have you been in that relationship?"
"Uh…I guess probably about…fiiiive or six months, before Scott died?"
"And that picture was taken during that five or six month period?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Collin, where are you going with this? I
still
don't see it!"
"You still don't?!" Collin yelled, now sounding surprised in Teneire. "How can you NOT see where I'm headed with this?"
Lisa was still looking very uneasy in her chair. She couldn't seem to be able to believe how Collin was coming up with all this.
"Lisa, I'm not gonna pretend I didn't know," Collin said in a fashion where he was almost hissing. "
You were previously in a relationship with Randy, weren't you
?!"
Not expecting this at all, Lisa was reduced to simply gasping; Teneire looked equally astonished.
"Collin, how did you?..." he started.
"Lisa, you were going out with Randy
before
you went out with Scott, right?"
"Y…yes…look, I know what it sounds like, but…"
"And
you
were the one who broke up with Randy and then got tight with Scott, right?!"
"Collin, did you get ALL of this from your co-workers at Arbur Winslow?!" Teneire yelled.
"Yeah. More or less. Anyway…I'm right, aren't I, Lisa?!"
Lisa looked more like a time bomb preparing itself to detonate in an especially violent manner.
"From what I've heard, Randy wasn't too happy about this, was he! He was probably furious with you and even madder at Scott for
hooking up
with you."
"Urg…urgh…well…"
"So, am I right or am I wrong?! Because if I'm wrong, now would be the smart time to say so!"
"…you're right," she heavily sighed, instantly giving in.
"What?!" Teneire yelled, unable to believe what Collin had just revealed.
"Ya hear that, Mr. Teneire?! Randy's in love with Lisa. They break up. Lisa hooks up with Scott. Scott dies a few months later. Randy leaves a few weeks after that. I don't know about you, but I think that'd be enough to make Randy a person of interest now!"
"It wasn't!..."
"Ms. McNorr, please hold on a moment!" Teneire ordered as he held his palm in her face and stopped her mid-sentence. "Collin, are you sure about all this?"