28 Days(75)

Without a pause to think, Paul answered, “I was rushed and drunk with the first girl. That memory isn’t really there. Fern though, was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I didn’t intend to kill anyone else, but she caught me sneaking around outside of Alex’s building. She threatened to scream and would have given me away. So I silenced her...It felt good to silence her.” Paul grinned and then looked sad just as quickly.

He continued, “I really didn’t want to hurt Tracy, but she followed me one night and saw me digging up the jewelry box, which I buried after I put the trinket from Fern inside. After I left she went and dug it up to see what it was.” He looked remorseful for once. “I knew someone had been around, messing with my things...and then Tracy acted weird around me, and I just knew. I went to her house that night when Alex was there and heard her tell him that she knew who had taken Saige.” Paul glanced at his lawyer, who looked exasperated with him.

“Paul, what else?” Coulter prodded.

“I had to keep her quiet, so I took her out into the woods and killed her. She fought me though. Made me angry. I didn’t want to hurt Tracy, but I couldn’t stop...I’m sorry.”

Coulter rubbed his brow and couldn’t find any hesitation in Paul’s answers—nothing that raised a red flag saying that he lied.

“What about Jocelyn? You said that you loved her.”

“Detective Robinson,” the lawyer said, annoyance in his voice, “my client has been asked these questions over and over again. I know that’s the norm but he’s already been charged. You have the evidence and you have his signed confession.”

Coulter ground his teeth together to keep his mouth shut until he could talk without his own annoyance showing.

“We will continue to ask your client questions until we are satisfied with the answers.” Coulter proceeded to look at Paul. “Jocelyn?”

Paul stayed silent and stared at his hands on the table. “I thought she loved me. She didn’t.” His voice hardened. “She was going to betray me. Once Quinten had been sentenced to death, she had second thoughts and was going to tell you that Quinten was innocent and that it was me. I didn’t believe her at first, but as she started to walk away from me, I realized she would tell you. I was angry and upset so I struck out and attacked her. She begged me not to hurt her, but I did. She was like all the others...a whore.”

Over the many years that he’d been a detective, Coulter had seen and heard things that would give others nightmares, and in all that time he’d never met anyone like Paul Lewis before.

“Your truck, Detective,” Paul added, which got Coulter’s attention. “At first, I didn’t want you showing up in Port Jude, which I knew you would at some stage because the warrant had been signed by the governor. I knew you’d show up asking questions. I was stupid with the bomb, and inept as it turned out, for which I’m grateful because it was premature of me when you’re the one I expected to get Quinten out of prison. I knew he wasn’t guilty, but I figured everyone was safe as long as he was in prison. I didn’t want him to die though. That would be wrong.”

Coulter was tired of Paul and the case. He needed some fresh air, and Amber, to clear his head.

He stood and shoved his chair under the table. “Why, Paul? Why kill those women within hours after they’d been with Alex?” That was one thing that had been on his mind.

Paul looked up and held his gaze. “Because Alex is the evil brother...not Quinten. I wanted to lead you to him but you never once thought that he killed anyone. I must have done something wrong to set him up, huh? I won’t make that mistake again.”

Coulter left and sagged against the wall outside of the room. Paul Lewis wouldn’t get a next time. He was totally, utterly crazy.





Day 21





3:00pm



* * *



Quinten clutched Saige’s hand in his as they rode the elevator up to Saige’s apartment in Tampa. He’d been nervous to leave the beach house and the wide-open space of the beach and ocean for an apartment building in the much larger city—he hated it.

If it hadn’t been for the report from Dr. Erikson, then he doubted they’d have come back so soon. But here they were and he tried to keep his apprehension to himself, although with the quick glances Saige kept giving him, he didn’t think he succeeded.

She squeezed his hand, and smiled as the doors of the elevator opened and they stepped out.

“We’re right here,” Saige said, and opened the door.

He was surprised at the wide-open layout of the apartment when they stepped inside. Floor to ceiling glass walls along two sides of the apartment opened it up even more, and he could see Tampa stretching out on the horizon to the ocean. Everything was in white and pastel, but it was the brown, leather chair that held his gaze. It was so out of contrast to the rest of the apartment that he smiled to himself.

“The chair”—she smiled, and wrapped her arm around his waist—“something told me I had to bring it with me. Now that I have my memories back, I’m glad I did.”

“I am as well. We really got to know each other on that chair.” Quinten smiled, and bent his head to kiss Saige on the top of hers. Not only had they spent time talking, but he sat in that chair with Saige in his lap every night for a month in frustration—every smile, every touch, had affected him deeply.