Page 124 of Cold Hard Cash

“Fuck you, Legrand.”

“I’ll pass, but how about you tell me about Eliza Poe. Did you or did you not receive compensation to tamper with the investigation?”

“Even if I did, it wouldn’t change the facts,” Augustus raged. “David murdered his wife, I know it.”

Jimmy squirmed, Augustus’ anger pulsing through the very air in the room.

“How can you be so sure?” Cold pushed, never flinching.

“Because Eliza called me the night she was murdered.”

The oxygen drained away and left Jimmy gasping as he stared at Augustus. “She… called you?” Not once in all these years had Augustus ever mentioned his mother calling him. “She called you! She called you, and you never told me?”

“You didn’t need to know,” Augustus said firmly even as his lip began to twitch.

“Oh, but I think he does,” Cold snarled. “If you don’t tell us right now, I will take this beautiful pile of evidence to the nearest news station. I’ll even be kind enough to take it to the one your daughter works at. I’m sure she would love that.”

Augustus tilted his head skyward and blinked back tears.

“Hmm, Detective Takes Mob Moolah To Make Unlawful Arrests,” Cold suggested. “I think that’s a good headline, don’t you? Oh well. I suppose we should let daughter dearest pick it out.”

“Fine,” Augustus hissed. He was cornered, speaking slowly and defining each syllable as he called on old memories. “She called me from the house. Phone at the jewelry shop was out again. She started to complain about a customer who had been giving her a hard time.”

“I’ve seen the files. There was a robbery the same night she was murdered,” Cold cut in. “Was it—”

“No, that was after Eliza was killed, and only one item was taken,” Augustus said, miffed at being interrupted.

Cold scowled, flicking his fingers in annoyance for Augustus to continue.

“She called me. Some customer had been a jerk, and I heard Jimmy in the background.” Augustus glanced at Jimmy, his expression mournful. “I could hear Jimmy, how excited he was, calling out, Daddy’s home! Hey, Daddy’s here! And… and that’s when Eliza started screaming.” He closed his eyes, tears falling freely down his face.

Jimmy’s heart twisted into a knot as he hung on Augustus’ every word. That wasn’t right. He didn’t remember his father coming home before his mother was killed. That didn’t happen until after it was already too late.

“Eliza started screaming. It’s him, Augustus! It’s him! Jimmy was crying, he was crying so much.” Augustus took a deep breath, and his shoulders trembled as a decades-old weight was lifted. “Jimmy kept crying, crying. No, Daddy! No! Eliza was screaming for Jimmy to run. And the line went dead. That was the last time I ever heard her voice.”

Jimmy was frozen.

He couldn’t breathe.

It couldn’t be true.

That wasn’t what happened.

David wasn’t there. He wasn’t. He wasn’t there. Jimmy panted, and his fingers dug into the arms of the chair.

The night happened all over again in his head. He couldn’t take a breath in, trembling down to his bones as his memories played the horrible event on repeat in his brain.

He saw his mother being stabbed. He saw the Man in the White Coat standing over her with the knife. He knew it wasn’t David. He couldn’t see the man’s face, but he knew deep down in his soul that it wasn’t his father.

“When I saw David, he was wearing his doctor’s coat. A white coat.” Augustus’ voice was unsteady. “Jimmy was still crying about the man in a white coat when I got there… He was confused. He saw David killing his mother, and I don’t think his mind could handle it.”

“No,” Jimmy cried, shaking his head wildly.

“Jimmy,” Cold began, attempting to soothe him.

“No! That’s, that’s not what happened!” Jimmy yelled, trying to stand up, but the world jerked violently beneath his feet. All he could hear was his own shaky breathing and his pulse drumming louder and louder, drowning everything else out as his vision went dark.

He saw something… Something new. Something shiny and flickering before him. A door. He knew it was a memory from his childhood because the doorknob was the wrong height. It was so high, too high. Through the glass of the door, bleary and out of focus, he could see a flash of bright white.