Nick nervously bounced his knee against the edge of the long table that he was sitting at inside the interrogation room of the police station. He still couldn’t understand why they’d dragged him in here for questioning. He obviously wasn’t the culprit. He’d been the one who reported the goddamn accident in the first place! Why would he be considered a suspect? They’re wasting all this time on me while meanwhile Colleen’s murderer is roaming free! The thought filled him with an unbelievable amount of frustration. He hated being in situations in which he felt completely powerless.
The whole entire morning had flown by so quickly that Nick actually wondered if he had dreamt the whole nightmare. It had only taken minutes for the first batch of cops to arrive on the scene. After speaking with him for only a few moments, they had seemed to spring into action, and Nick was pushed off to the side like he was nothing but a nuisance to them. Unsure of whether he should stick around or if he should leave, he stood frozen, watching the drama unfold around him. He could recall hearing the officers whispering amongst themselves that they had located “a body,” and something about a “gun shot wound” but when Nick had begged them to let him see her, they had refused, warning him that “it wasn’t a very pretty sight” and that “he was better off remembering her how he’d last seen her.”
Next thing he knew two detectives had approached him and pretty much demanded that he come down to the station to answer a few questions. At first, Nick had resisted, insisting that it wasn’t necessary and that he really was too upset at the moment to be grilled about a crime that he definitely didn’t commit. The two men didn’t seem discouraged though. In the nicest terms possible, they kindly told him that by him refusing to cooperate with them, he could be letting his girlfriend’s killer get away, and if he continued they would have no choice but to place him under arrest. With two other prior arrests already under his belt, Nick felt that it was probably in his best interest to just go through the routine, although he did request that his lawyer be present throughout the interrogation process. Although the detectives insisted that this was unnecessary, since he wasn’t officially being charged with anything, Nick had held on stubbornly, so in the end they had relented. Past experiences with the law, had taught Nick that he should never say anything without the guidance of his lawyer, because otherwise his words would be sure to come around and bite him in the ass somehow. You never could be too careful when you were in the limelight.
Besides him, his lawyer, David Howard was seated impatiently waiting for an explanation of exactly what kind of trouble he’d gotten himself into this time. He’d arrived only a few moments prior and was just getting himself settled.
He decided to break the ice with a lame joke. “We just got to stop meeting like this, you know. Seems like I only see you when I get myself into some sort of mess.”
The older man did not look amused. “Well, I must say Mr. Carter; you definitely keep me on my toes. But this time I think you really outdid yourself.”
“But I didn’t do anything!” he insisted. “I swear! You know I have a past of making really stupid decisions, but I’d never intentionally hurt somebody, especially my girlfriend!”
“I know that Nick, and you know that. But the question is, will everyone else buy it?” David rubbed his forehead and sighed. “First I want to apologize for your loss. I never really got to know Colleen, but I heard that she was a very promising young woman, and it’s quite tragic that somebody felt the need to end her life so early. Now, I only have a few minutes alone with you before the detectives come in and start questioning, so I need you to tell me exactly what happened last night. I can’t help you unless you tell me everything.”
Nick bit his lip as he realized that this was the first of many times that someone would be lending their sympathy to him, and he found it very hard to accept, especially since he himself had barely had the time to comprehend the fact that Colleen had been killed and that he’d never see her face again. Now was not the time to grieve though. He’d have time for that later. Now he had to worry about saving his own ass.
Taking a deep breath, he spilled out the entire story to David, beginning with her hasty departure from his house in the early hours of that morning and ending at the point where he had called 911 from his cell phone after discovering her car on the side of the road. When he was finished, he sat back against his chair, anxiously staring at his lawyer for some sort of response.
After what felt like a lifetime, David finally began to speak. “So, basically she was on her way home from your house when she was killed. You got a phone call from her assistant a few hours later that she hadn’t showed up at her photo shoot and wasn’t answering her calls, so you set out to go over to her place to make sure that she was okay, and along the way you spotted her car. Then you called for help?”
Nick nodded. “Yea... That’s pretty much it.”
“Well, if that’s all that happened then they should have no reason to suspect you, Nick. You obviously were very concerned once you heard that she was missing, and you went right to bed after she left. Most likely the police only want to question you to gain more insight on the events before the shooting, and to try to find any possible leads. I seriously doubt that you’re under investigation. In fact, it probably looks even more suspicious on you now that you insisted that I be here. You do realize that its not standard practice for a lawyer to be present at a simple questioning?” he pointed out.
“I know that. It’s just that I know how the media is, especially when it comes to me.” He paused to fiddle with his fingers. “They’re going to try to twist this however they can in order to make me look bad. You know how much I’ve learned not to trust people. I just would feel more comfortable if you were here, making sure that I don’t get tripped up by their questions. Those guys really seemed as if they were looking to charge me, just so that they could get this over with.”
David just shook his head. “Nick, you have nothing to hide, right? So, then you should have nothing to worry about. Trust me, these guys are not out to get you. They want to find who did this to Colleen as much as you did, so they can find them and make sure that they pay. Yes, they may purposely try to confuse you, but just to make sure that your story is consistent. If you stick to what you told me you’ll be fine. And I’ll be here to jump in if you need me.”
Nick just nodded his head and swallowed hard. He didn’t have another moment to respond because just then the interrogation room’s door creaked open and in walked two men who appeared only a few years older than himself. His assumptions that they were police detectives were proven correct as they introduced themselves.
“Hello, Mr. Carter. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Detective James.” The taller of the two men extended his hand to Nick in a hand shake before gesturing to the other man beside him. “This here is my partner, Detective Davis. We’d like to ask you a few questions about the events of the past few hours.”
“Okay,” Nick agreed, gripping the edge of the table tightly. His eyes briefly met with that of his attorney who gave him a reassuring look.
Detective James got right to work as he sat down at the table and began to spread out some papers in front of him. “Why don’t you start off explaining to us when and where the last time you saw Miss Campbell was?”
Nick sucked in a deep breath before beginning. “It was around two am last night. She’d come over for a while and we were just hanging out at my house watching movies and stuff. She left around that time to return to her own place for the night.”
“It’s my understanding that you and Miss Campbell were romantically involved. Is that correct?”
“Yes, we are,” he admitted, but then immediately realized his blunder. He hadn’t even had the time to rationalize that she would no longer be spoken about in the present tense. “I mean were. We were involved.” His voice caught on the word were.
“So, you were okay with her leaving your house at that hour of night? Weren’t you a little apprehensive about her being on the road so late?”
What kind of question is that? Nick wondered. Of course I was worried! “I tried to convince her to just spend the night at my house, but she had an early photo shoot the next morning and insisted on getting back to her place.”
“I see.” James leaned back in his chair and stroked his chin. “How would her spending the night at her place get her to sleep any earlier for a photo shoot? Wouldn’t it be more convenient to stay with you?”
“That’s exactly what I tried to explain to her, but she claimed that the studio was closer to her house.” What was wrong with these people? Did they have to question every move he made?
James appeared satisfied enough to move on with the interrogation. “So, did you walk her outside to her car?”
“No, I did not. She refused to let me.” There was a silent pause which made Nick slightly paranoid as if he was being judged. “What? Do you think I’m a bad boyfriend because I didn’t walk her out? Colleen was a pretty independent woman. She didn’t like to depend on others to look out for her.”
The detective appeared stone faced. “We didn’t say anything to the fact Mr. Carter. I just asked because maybe there might have been someone outside in your driveway for all we know. Or another car parked across the street. We were just asking to see if you may have noticed anything unusual.”
“Oh,” Nick replied, his face already turning red. This whole entire interrogation process was making him just a bit jumpy.
“So, that was the last you saw of Miss Campbell, correct?” James continued on.
Nick nodded and the detective continued on. “So, what happened this morning? How did you wind up discovering Miss Campbell’s car on the side of the road? How did you know where to look?”
He gritted his teeth in frustration. “I didn’t know where to look. Her personal assistant called me this morning asking if I knew where she was because she never showed up to her photo shoot. Neither of us could get in touch with her, so I jumped into my car and started to head over to her house to see if she was there. Along the way I spotted her car smashed against the guardrail.”
“Then what did you do?”
“I jumped out my car and headed over. There was no sign of her, but I saw her purse and her belongings scattered about. I panicked for a moment, looked over the ledge, and realized that was where she must be…” He paused for a moment, the conversation beginning to become too rough for him.
“So you immediately assumed that she was ejected from the vehicle?”
“What else was I supposed to assume? There was no way she could’ve survived that!” he cried, losing his patience with the detectives and their ridiculous questions.
Detective Davis, who had remained quiet throughout the interrogation spoke up. “Is it possible for you to provide an alibi that you were in fact at home from the hours of roughly two through five am this morning?”
It was with that question that Nick finally reached his breaking point. All of his frustrations and emotions that he’d kept bottled in all day came pouring out. “You want me to give you a fucking alibi? I was at home! I live by myself! So, no I can’t give you a fucking alibi!” His hand slammed hard onto the table. “Why do I need one? Colleen was my girlfriend. I loved her. I didn’t fucking kill her!”
He felt David’s hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay Nick. Calm down. No one is accusing you of anything.”
Davis smirked. “For someone who’s innocent you certainly seem quite paranoid.”
Nick was just about to spring across the table when David’s hand shot out to restrain him. “Perhaps in the interest of my client’s mental and emotional state we should continue another day,” he suggested.
“I have no further questions as of right now,” James agreed. “What about you Adam?”
His partner glanced down at his notes in front of him. “I’ve done a little background search on you Mr. Carter. It appears that you’ve had your fair share of run ins with law in the past, haven’t you?”
“I don’t see what this has to do with Colleen,” Nick expertly dodged the question.
Davis ignored him. “I see you had an arrest in 2001 for disorderly conduct and resisting the orders of a police officer.”
“That was years ago! I was young and stupid and made a mistake,” he pointed out.
“Then there’s a DUI charge in early 2005,” Davis remarked.
“Which I served my sentence for –“
Davis cut him off his lips lifting up in his grin. “And then it’s to my understanding that there was an allegation that you sexually assaulted a young woman down in the Keys last year…”
This made David spring up from the table. “That piece of information is completely irrelevant! My client claimed that he was innocent and the allegations were dropped before an investigation could even be launched. He was never charged with any crime in association with this so called event. More than likely it was just some sick woman who tried to use my client’s fame to her advantage. I do not see any reason why my clients past record should have an impact on this investigation at all! None of this proves that he’s a potential murderer!”
“Calm down please Mr. Howard,” Detective James interrupted. “I think its best that we end this interrogation right now. If I have any further questions I’ll be in touch Mr. Carter. In the meantime, I’d advise you to speak with your publicist and release some sort of statement to the public. As of right now everyone’s a suspect.”
With that said the two detectives gathered up their papers and left the room. Nick looked down at his feet already feeling the beginning of tears starting to well up behind his eyes. How did he get into this mess? Who could have done something like this to Colleen and what was their reason? And how could people honestly think that he was responsible for her death? And this is only the beginning, he realized. Just wait until the media gets involved in this.
He again felt the presence of David’s reassuring arm on his shoulder. “Try not to let them upset you Nick. They’re just trying to see if you’ll crack under pressure. And face it, right now you’re their only lead. Once the forensic evidence comes back I’m sure that something will come up to shift any suspicion away from you. In the meantime, Detective James is right. You should probably arrange a meeting with your publicist as soon as possible to release some sort of statement. Once the public finds out about this, they’re going to be like animals. You do realize that this is going to be the focus of every tabloid headline, every entertainment news show, and every talk show program for at least the next few months, right?”
Nick’s face paled at the thought. He knew for certain that this would cause a bit of a media frenzy, but he hadn’t completely thought out all of the ramifications. His lawyer was right. All of the trouble he’d ever gotten into throughout his whole career; every scandal he’d been involved with, (and he had more than his fair share) would not even begin to amount to this. His life was about to take a very dramatic turn and all of America’s eyes would be on him with morbid curiosity. “I think I’m going to be sick,” he muttered.
The older man looked at him with sympathetic eyes, but was unsure of what more to say to comfort him. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Well, if you need anything or if you’re called in for further questioning just give me a call.”
Nick grimly nodded in response which David took as a sign to leave. His footsteps echoed across the small room until he reached the door which slammed behind him. There he left Nick with his head in his hands. Alone.
Across town, Heather was sitting in the booth of a small, rundown, diner tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for Derek to arrive. He’d asked to meet her here for a late lunch versus one of the more populated upscale restaurants in Beverly Hills so that they’d have more privacy and have less of a chance of anyone else overhearing their conversation. She glanced at her watch for what felt like the fiftieth time since she’d arrived. As usual he was late.
A few minutes later a disheveled looking Derek rushed in and quickly spotted her. Ambling over to her table, he paused to drop a light kiss on her mouth before sliding into the booth across from her. “Sorry I’m late,” he apologized. “The interrogation took a little longer than I anticipated.”
“That’s okay,” Heather told him. “But please back up and tell me the whole story because I’m dying to know the details. Colleen Campbell is dead and you suspect that she was murdered?”
“We don’t suspect. We know. She was found with a bullet wound in her neck. They don’t just don’t pop up accidentally.”
Heather gasped. “Okay, start from the beginning. Where did you find her? At her house?”
“No,” Derek answered as he superstitiously looked around him to make sure no one else was lingering about and then leaned forward, lowering his voice slightly. “We got a call from the boyfriend at around eight-thirty this morning. Supposedly Colleen had been on her way home from his house earlier that morning at around two. She was supposed to show up at a photo shoot at five, but never did. Her assistant called Nick frantic about her whereabouts, so he jumped into his car to head over to her house. Along the way he found her car smashed against a guardrail.”
“Ooh…” Heather made a face. “So he found her body?”
“Not exactly. Her body was nowhere to be found, but we assumed that she was driving at a high speed without a seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle onto the beach below.”
Heather winced thinking about the drop. “So, how did you determine it was a murder? I assume that you eventually found the body?”
Derek nodded. “After searching the beach for a little while we came across it. Not a pretty sight. We were just about to label the case an accident when Adam discovered the bullet wound on her neck. After examining the scene of the accident more carefully we found a second set of tire tracks. Right now, we believe that someone tried to run her off the road and then shot her causing her to lose control of her vehicle and send her careening over the ledge, so that it appeared an accident. We’ll know more information once we get the test results back.”
“Wow… That’s some crazy shit.” Heather sat back against her seat looking stunned. “Do you have any leads yet?”
Derek shook his head. “Unfortunately we’re just as stupefied as you are. We just questioned Carter since he was the last one to see her alive, but he wasn’t very helpful. He kind of flew off the handle a bit, but then again what can you expect from a guy who just found out his girlfriend is not only dead, but was murdered too.”
“Do you think that he might have had something to do it?”
He shrugged. “At this point, I don’t know. He seemed sincere, but the guy is an entertainer. He makes his living by putting on a show. He did seem genuinely upset and everything, but at this point it’s hard to tell. We’ll call him back for more questioning once we’re able to get back more information and when he’s a little calmer.”
“So, you’re not ruling him out as suspect then?” Heather pressed.
“Right now, everyone’s a suspect. I can’t rule him out. Adam thinks he’s guilty, but we have no basis to charge him with anything.” Derek looked at her seriously. “Just do me one favor. Don’t print anything in your magazine labeling him as a suspect, okay? In my opinion I think he might be telling the truth, but it’s too soon yet to tell.”
“Absolutely.” Heather nodded her head. She knew that Derek was taking a big enough risk already in breaking confidentiality to her about the case in the first place. She didn’t want to compromise his job even further by publishing details that could be harmful to his investigation. “So outside of Nick, you don’t even have anyone else to question or suspect yet?”
“Well, our next step is to go door to door around the neighborhood where Colleen was killed and ask if any of the homeowners heard or noticed anything unusual. Unfortunately, at that time of night most residents were probably sleeping. Still, it’s worth a shot. If we can get at least get a make on the other vehicle there’s another lead to follow as well. But as far as any other people I’m at a loss. I thought maybe you could help me out with that,” he confessed. “You make a living out of writing about celebrity feuds. Do you know if Colleen had any known enemies in the entertainment circle?”
Heather just laughed. “She was a supermodel Derek! All those girls are bitchy to each other. She’d just signed that contract with Victoria’s Secret too. Many a girl would kill for that job.”
“Maybe one of them did,” he muttered under his breath. “So, you can’t think of anyone specific?”
“Not really,” she admitted. “I’m sure she had her fair share of enemies, but I can’t think of anyone that would take it that far. Maybe you should ask Nick though? He might have a better idea.”
“Hmm… Not a bad suggestion. Thanks,” he told her, pulling out a notepad to jot the idea down.
“If there’s anything I can do to help you with this case I’d be glad to,” Heather offered. “I mean I can come up with things from both Colleen and Nick’s pasts that might be helpful to you in some way. Or any other celebrity for that matter. It’s what I do best.”
Derek looked thoughtful. “That might be useful to us and it would save me the time of doing it myself. No offense, but googling celebrities is not my cup of tea.”
“Oh, I do more than google. Leave it to me and I can find you something juicy enough to actually pursue. I’m going to have to do a little research anyway on them for my next issue of my magazine, which is going to be amazing by the way thanks to you. What’s a little extra?”
“All right,” he finally agreed. “It would be great of you could just come up with a list for me of anyone who might have made some kind of comment about Colleen that could be considered threatening or that could indicate a strong dislike for her. Then we can start narrowing it down from there.”
“It might be a long list,” Heather warned.
“At least it’s something. That would be a huge help to me.”
“No problem,” she replied with a grin. Here she was getting to do something that she loved doing and she got to help out her boyfriend too? The prospect couldn’t be more exciting to Heather. She found herself just itching to get back to her home and onto her computer.
Little did Heather realize just how immersing this project would get for her. And how it would slowly begin to consume her life to the point of obsession. This was exactly the breath of fresh life that Dirt needed and she intended to tackle the project full force.
