My Fire Captain Husband Locked Me In To Attend Her Birthday Chapter 08

My Fire Captain Husband Locked Me In To Attend Her Birthday Chapter 08

Three days later, I was discharged.

The first thing I did was go with Lenore to Millbrook PD to give my official statement.

From outside the interrogation room, I could hear a woman’s voice, shrill and wrecked. “I

didn’t mean it, I swear I didn’t mean it!”

A detective pushed the door open for me. Tessa sat in the chair, hair a mess, makeup streaked, a completely different creature from the polished, soft-voiced act she’d worn before.

The second she saw me, she was on her feet. “Willa, what do you want from me? It’s just a bracelet, I told you I’d give it back!”

I set my bag on the table and laid out three photographs, one by one.

The first: Tessa’s Instagram Story from her birthday that night. On her wrist, my mother’s

vintage sapphire tennis bracelet.

The second: my mother, years ago, wearing the same bracelet.

The third: pawn shop CCTV footage of Tessa getting it appraised the day after the fire.

The color drained from her face. “I was just… just trying it on…

The detective didn’t look up. “You tried it on at a pawn shop?”

I slid another document across the table.

The detective picked it up and read it aloud. “Forensic voiceprint analysis confirms the female background voice on the 911 callback matches Tessa Fairchild. Verbatim transcript reads…”

He lifted his eyes to her. “…’She’s a pro at this. Don’t send anyone. Ignore her for one night and

she’ll learn.’”

The room went tomb-silent.

Tessa’s lips were shaking. “I, I just said it offhand, I didn’t think anything would actually

happen…”

I finally spoke. “You didn’t want me dead? You just wanted me trapped. Wanted me to suffer. Wanted me to watch Dominic choose you. Wanted to win, completely. Right?”

She stared at me, eyes wet, and then something snapped. “So what! I knew him first! You had no right to marry him! He always cared about me more, you were just in the way!”

“How was I supposed to know you were actually pregnant? How was I supposed to know the fire would spread like that?”

The detective’s head came up fast on that last sentence.

I held her gaze. “So you admit you knew I was calling for help.”

She froze. “No! I didn’t mean it like that…”

The detective closed his notebook with a snap. “It’s in the record.”

Tessa came apart. She bolted upright. “I didn’t say anything! I didn’t…”

“Sit down.” The detective’s voice cracked like a whip. “Ms. Fairchild, you’re under investigation for possession of stolen property, making false statements, and joint liability. You will cooperate.”

Her legs gave out. She collapsed back into the chair.

I picked up my bag and walked toward the door.

Her scream chased me down the hallway. “Willa! You can’t destroy me!”

I didn’t slow down.

“I didn’t destroy you. You did that yourself.”