I turned to Drake and ran my fingers through his hair. “Don’t worry about it. If she killed him or if she had someone else kill him, the police will find out. She may be smart, but she was caught right away after the attack. If she did this, the police will know.”
Drake leaned his head into my hand, then took it and kissed my palm.
“I could have stopped all of this if only I’d quit back in September.”
He looked in my eyes, and his were so pained that his expression brought tears to my eyes.
“Oh, Drake,” I said and turned to him. “Don’t put this on your shoulders. It was her and her alone. You did everything you could to placate her. She’s crazy and that’s all there is to it.”
He closed his eyes and then moved closer, taking me and Sophie into his arms.
“I’m so sorry,” he said. “You were almost killed. Sophie was almost killed. Derek is dead…”
We kissed briefly and then he kissed Sophie’s head.
“If you had quit, there’s no certainty that Lisa wouldn’t have stalked you anyway. She could have still done harm.”
Drake shook his head. “No,” he said. “Everything I did encouraged her. You can’t encourage a crazy person. They don’t react the same way that a sane person does. We were assuming she was sane and that she’d get the message, get the picture, but she couldn’t. Derek broke up with her and said she had become a switch. That means she discovered her dominant side and enjoyed using it. I think she’s probably bi-polar and once she gets an idea into her head, she can’t let go and becomes obsessed. When she finally realizes she can’t have what she wants, she becomes violent.”
“Do you think she actually killed Derek?”
Drake shrugged. “She would have the element of surprise. Derek probably wouldn’t expect that she’d be violent.”
I sighed and turned back to the news, which was now on a different story – thank God.
“We have to let the police figure this out.”
We sat there and watched the news for a while, but a darkness descended over Drake that threw a damper on our evening together.
I hoped the police would soon discover who killed Derek, and if it was Lisa, perhaps they would finally realize that Drake was totally innocent when it came to Lisa’s lies about him.
I hoped that would be the case, but I had a bad feeling about the whole business…
Chapter 19 : Drake
The news over the next few days kept getting more and more morbid.
I tried not to watch except in private, when Kate was sleeping, but she was as interested as I was in the murder of Derek Richardson and whether Lisa was involved.
On the following Wednesday, my cell phone rang while I was sitting in my office reading news headlines while Kate and Sophia slept.
I checked the caller ID and saw that it was McDonald.
“Hello,” I said and braced myself. “Drake Morgan speaking.”
“Hello, Dr. Morgan,” Richardson said, his voice sounding calm but firm. “Detective McDonald here. I take it you’ve heard about Derek Richardson’s murder?”
I sighed. “Yes,” I said and rubbed my temple. “I’ve seen the news coverage.”
“We were wondering if you could come down to the station, give us a statement about your whereabouts the week before your wife was attacked.”
A surge of adrenaline went through me, making my heart pound.
“I already gave a statement about that week.”
“Yes, but we want to check out a few details that were a bit confusing. Can you come down this afternoon?”
“I’ll have to check to see if my lawyer is available.”