Fortune Favors The Bold

CHAPTER TWELVE: THE BEREAVED WIDOW

Pretending had never been Alaya’s forte. But if her life depended on it, she could adapt to changing circumstances rapidly. After the fateful event in the parking lot, she was so mortified with shame that no death would be easy on her. So, she did a great job feigning that the momentary relapse between herself and Adonis had never actually happened.

With fierce determination, she ignored the steamy dreams invading her nights, throwing herself in the case details without sleeping a wink. Every time the need to feel that damned man close to her was dutifully thrust aside to find a crack in that very complicated investigation.

Eventually, she was forced to admit to herself that she had hit another wall with no new trail to explore. It was time for her to do justice to her duties. She hadn’t heard of Adonis for the past two days and she hadn’t contacted him either.

However, the waiting period was over, and she was going to call Nora Fortune to the precinct to interrogate her. She had no idea what Adonis had been up to mitigate the damages, but today would be the day that the affair between Nora and Elijah was exposed to the world.

It had been very unprofessional of her not to signal the affair to the Captain, but she was planning on conducting the interrogation in a way which would reveal the new information. It was better that way – like killing two birds with a stone.

Nobody would suspect that she had prior knowledge of the affair, and it would be revealed to the world without incriminating her. On the other side, she would get accolades for grilling the bereaved widow and take credit for uncovering the scandalous affair during a steamy interrogation.  

Her resolution faltered when a white-faced Nora arrived at the precinct, her frail face wrinkled with worry. Thin lines formed around her delicate lips indicating the pressure she’d been experiencing since the last month.

Alaya could not help feeling that constriction of her throat when her eyes fell on the aggrieved woman. Pity. An unfamiliar emotion she didn’t recognize simply because her strict upbringing hadn’t made allocations for any. Being raised with five brothers and no mother had quickly taught that she had to be tough for her own survival.

Any momentary weakness would be grossly taken advantage of, and therefore there had been no place for sober or softer feelings. Her childhood had been an adapt-or-perish scenario.

For example, she’d learned quickly to take her share of food even if she was not hungry. At five years old, she’d had to often sleep on an empty stomach simply because her greedy brothers had left nothing for her. Her brothers hadn’t intentionally been nasty, but they did have the tendency to be totally selfish with no regards to anyone else around them.

Such a background had toughened her up faster than she’d cared to admit, leaving no place for pity or love in her life. Now, with hindsight, she’d come to realize that some of those benevolent feelings had burgeoned much later, after she had claimed her independence. But they weren’t so easily evoked in her as any other normal female.

Nora Fortune was one of the rare persons to awaken her sweet feminine side, and Alaya had to fight against the urge to let it overwhelm her. She had to do her job, she mentally convinced herself, bracing herself when the familiar breath of lime filled the air. Adonis Fortune had entered her space.

Of course, he would accompany his mother to the station. With a heavily inhaled breath, she avoided looking in his direction and led Nora to the interrogation room. She could hear her co-workers were already explaining to Adonis that he wouldn’t be allowed inside. Refusing eye contact, Alaya allowed their lawyer to walk right beside them inside the room.

The first time Nora had been summoned to the headquarters, she’d been alone and unaccompanied. Having lawyered up and with Adonis accompanying her meant that they were on their guards. Alaya wasn’t sure whether this was a good thing, all she knew was that she would never cover up for the affair at the expense of the case. She’d never been unprofessional in her life.

“Mrs. Fortune,” Alaya addressed her formally for the sake of the recoding going on. “I’m really sorry to have called you back to the bureaus.”

“I’m sure it must be something important,” the woman responded cooperatively, and Alaya pushed back the uncomfortable feeling of guilt suffocating her. Unlike the other Fortunes, Nora had nothing of their superlative arrogance and high-handed attitudes which the other family members wore like a second cloak. Even Adonis was vaguely aware of the power his money had sometimes.

“Last time we spoke, you told me that you were in your room the whole time during the murder. Is there anyone who can confirm this? Anyone seeing you entering or leaving your room between one and three in the morning?”

Nora glanced at her lawyer who responded with a shake of his head to give her the permission to answer the question.

“I was so tired after the dinner. It had been a very turbulent dinner after my husband announced that my son was going to take up the reign. I suffer from chronical headaches and asked my maid servant Rokia for some painkillers.”

“Rokia? What a nice and unique name?” Alaya prompted immediately. That was the first time the name was evoked, and she jotted down the detail in her notebook.

“My maid servant is from Morocco – she came to live here with us along with her only daughter many years ago. We’ve had them for so long now - they’re almost part of our family. You can call her in for questioning. She’s the one who takes care of my medicines and personal stuff.”

“We will,” Alaya nodded briskly. She had in fact interviewed most of the servants, but they had given statements about being on their respective duties or already in the servants’ headquarters at the time of murder. However, Alaya couldn’t recall having interrogated that Moroccan servant. She would have to check the details in the file afterwards.

“She will confirm what time you went to bed on that night?”

“I’m sure she will at least confirm my story. She regularly checks on me especially when I have my headaches. Makes sure that I am sleeping properly. So, I’m pretty sure she can provide more details.”

Alaya’s heart sank. Nora seemed pretty confident that her maid servant would cover for her, and Alaya wasn’t sure whether it was a cover-up or the reality. Either way, she was going to lose her suspect fast. She had to look for a way to expose the affair.

An illicit affair with her brother-in-law would give the widow motive for murder.

“So…,” she drawled, leaning towards the chair in a deceptively leisurely manner. “…you were asleep the whole time? What time did you wake up again?”

Alaya already knew the answer to that request but asking the same questions over and over tended to make way for errors, especially if the one giving statement was lying. It was a well-known tactic amongst police officers to break the suspect.

“I already told you. I woke up at six in the morning. The first thing I did was to look for Adonis – I could feel that he was troubled after the last night’s drama. He was fast asleep in his room. So I went to my husband’s room.”

That was exactly what Alaya had been waiting for. To question the fact the husband and wife didn’t share the same room. Nora was so engrossed in sticking to her initial statement that the latter walked right in the trap.

“Your husband’s room? I take it you don’t share the same room? Is that normal?” she pestered hotly.

“You don’t have to answer that,” the attorney intervened quickly. “That’s a personal question that we would like to avoid. It has nothing to do with the case.”

“It might have,” Alaya contradicted assertively, and she stared back at the forlorn woman on the other side of the table. “I am not prying in the personal life of Mrs. Fortune, but it does seem weird that the couple do not share the same room.”

Her thin lips pursed, Nora brushed an imaginary tendril away from her face. “It’s okay. I’ll take the question,” she said.

“You don’t have to say anything,” the lawyer insisted. “As long as they don’t have any proof, they cant force you to speak.”

“No, I got this. I wouldn’t say it’s normal. But we do have a huge house and sometimes, I like to use another room for my privacy. Besides, I have so many belongings that they do not fit in Mason’s room. He was the one who suggested that I have a spare room which I use from time to time.”

Alaya nodded understandingly. “What about your relationship with your husband?”

“What are you insinuating?” the woman asked in a high-pitched voice, but it lacked the proper reaction to the provocation. The lady wasn’t angry, instead she just looked resorted to her fate. Like he was waiting for the bomb to explode over her head anytime now.

Alaya gulped as another bout of maudlin pity caught up with her – she couldn’t do this. She wasn’t a heartless b***h who could destroy people over an interrogation like this. What good would it bring her?

“Nothing,” Alaya replied calmly, fighting to ignore the pleading look in the blue eyes which stared back at her. Don’t do this, they seemed to beg her. “I’m just asking generally. Can I assume that there was no trouble in your marital life, Mrs. Fortune?”

Alaya was giving her a second chance. Surprise seemed to light in the woman’s eyes before she nodded promptly.

“I wouldn’t say everything was perfect,” she hastened to reply. “There were ups and downs like with every normal couple. We used to fight a lot, but with old age everything seems to have taken a backseat. We were at a better place where we lived peacefully and more accommodating of each other’s needs.”

As subterfuge went, it was perfectly stated. Alaya got the connotation that Nora was implying. The couple lived their separate lives, entertaining s****l relationships with other partners, but kept them discrete and private.

She nodded to the statement, ruffling the papers in front of her in a final manner. She was done here – she was going to confirm the alibi with the Moroccan and clear Nora from the list of suspects. It wasn’t in her temperament to destroy a poor woman’s reputation.

“Oh, and by the way,” Nora added as an afterthought. “We do have security cameras inside the house. You can probably check the video footage of my room. Maybe you can have the concrete proof that I was actually in my room?”

That was clever, so clever in fact that it smelled like Adonis’s conspiracy.

Alaya had checked the videos actually, and although the streams were not that clear, she had spotted the woman in her room as stated. Calling her to the precinct had been futile, she was going to get grounded by the Captain. She’d already asked about Nora Fortune’s marital relationship in her first investigation. But she’d acted purely on instincts, something she hadn’t done during an investigation.

Police work was merciless and required unbreakable mettle.

“Can I ask you not to leave the country without our knowledge? We might require your assistance in the case in the future?”

Nora’s blue eyes gleamed with gratitude, and she beamed at the detective, grasping her hand. “Of course, dear. Anything I can do to help the police. I want to find my husband’s murderer as soon as possible too.”