LIVING ON THE EDGE

CHAPTER: 3

"I will need more information before I decide if I can help. What angles did the police share with you?" Sharon asked.

"The police think it was me, only they have no proof; because it was not me. She was murdered on the West of Maury County, Tennessee, and I have no idea why she would be there, in the first place. Without GPS, I personally don't even know how to get to the spot where her body was found," Chase Reed said to Sharon.

"Any other suspects?" she asked him.

"None that I know of... although there was speculation that she was having an affair with someone," he said.

Sharon remembered the story well. Chase Reed, a Nashville Township doctor, had lost his wife Adriana Reed to murder. She had been shot in Maury County, about one and a half-hour away from Nashville, in an incredibly poor section of the County.

Sharon had worked in the area patrolled by Maury County police station; where the murder had taken place; before becoming a private detective. Most of Sharon's old colleagues thought that Adriana had been having an affair with a drug dealer.

"I remember the story from the news. She was shot, right?" Sharon asked Chase Reed.

"Yes," he replied.

"Do you think she was having an affair?"

"No," he replied.

"Do you have a photo of her?" Sharon asked him. 

"Of course." He dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small stack of pictures. He gazed lovingly at the photograph on top before handing it to Sharon. 

Adriana Reed had been almost perfect. Five feet six inches, about thirty-two yrs old, with blonde hair, and soft aqua blue eyes that stared into the camera, and a well-practiced smile featuring her straight, white teeth. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail that cascaded down her back. She was posing next to a petite woman with beautiful sable colored skin. They stood arm in arm, wide smiles on their faces. Both women were striking, but there was a hardness in Adriana's otherwise pretty smile; something that Detective Sharon could not quite put her finger on.

"Adriana is the blonde, correct?" Sharon asked Chase.

"Yes," he replied.

"Who is the other woman?" Sharon asked him.

"Melanie Jackson. I thought it would be good for you to know what she looks like as well," Chase told Sharon.

"Why is that?" she asked.

"Melanie was the last person to talk to Adriana before she... They were supposed to meet for a coffee date, but Adriana never showed up. Melanie waited for a while, but eventually left and called to let me know that Adriana had stood her up," Chase shared this with Detective Sharon.

"Do you suspect that Melanie Jackson had something to do with the murder?" Sharon asked.

"Oh, no. It is just... I just thought you might want to talk to her. She and Adriana were best friends," he replied.

"Yes. I will definitely need to talk to her. I am very sorry you lost your wife," Sharon said, handing the photo back to Mr. Reed. He did not reach out to take it.

"Can you help me?" Chase Reed questioned Detective Sharon.

Good question, Sharon thought to herself. Murder is hard to solve even when one has an organized police force on their side. Whereas Sharon was a one-woman agency with a law school drop out assistant. The case was too big for her, and she had promised herself that homicide was off the list for her agency. 

"Mr. Reed, I want to help, but I have a small operation here and I do not really take homicide cases. I have..." Sharon was interrupted midway by Chase.

"You have lost a spouse and it changed your life. You know what it is like to lose your better half," he said.

Sharon pushed the laptop aside and stared at Chase Reed. He had investigated her. Well, that was common, but people usually wanted to know about her credentials, not her personal life.

"Don't be alarmed. You have been highly recommended. An officer in Nashville police headquarters greatly admires you. He told me your story and why you left the police force. Said you could not take not knowing. That you fought and fought until you solved cases. Made you unpopular amongst the other officers, though. He also told me you have a master's degree in criminology, and you were at the top of your class and were a gold medallist," Chase told Detective Sharon.

Sharon did not know whether to be impressed or if she needed to contemplate filing a 'Personal Protection Order.' She said to Chase, "Well, I guess you have done your homework. I assume that means you also know that all those pretentious, fancy tricks that those counterfeit police inspectors use will land me in jail. Once I turned in the badge, I have turned back into a normal citizen. Private investigation is not as glamorous or as fun as it looks. Intuition, feelings, and what people say guide the way. Sometimes the police are helpful, but at other times they are offended by the intrusion of an outside entity." 

"That is the thing; whatever happened to Adriana will not be discovered through a traditional police investigation. I need someone who can feel and perceive the small details. You have to be able to see things that are not seen by the typical police officer's eye."

Sharon had lost a spouse under mysterious circumstances. The truth had been hard to find, but she had not stopped searching until she knew exactly what had happened. She had worked tenaciously to uncover the truth. It was an ugly truth, but it was always better to know what happened. Even when it is a dirty secret you never speak of to anyone else, you feel better knowing the truth. But... this case was too much for her. The reminder that spouses are sometimes unjustly taken away, the idea that there was a selfish killer out there that needed to be caught...It would be too much for even Sharon, as she would get caught up in the case, and lose herself.

But... Sharon had a yearning for justice, and Chase Reed deserved that. The case had fallen away from the active record at the Nashville Police headquarters. Adriana Reed had been written off as a cheater who had got what she deserved. But she deserved better; her husband deserved better.

"Okay, Mr. Reed. I will do my best," Sharon said.

"Please find the person who did this to her, Chase Reed said. They left my children motherless, and me..." 

"I am sorry for your loss," Sharon said again, before giving him a few moments to regain his composure. Once the lines in his brow eased, Sharon began a battery of questions.