Chapter Three

“I don’t know why anyone would do this!” Nicholas LaShay’s voice rose as he paced around the room being consoled by his friends who remained sitting. The group as a whole looked worried, sad, and angrily frustrated.

Detective Carter questioned Nicholas while Detective Castello questioned Mr. Di’Ode’s ex-wife, his daughter, and his business partner.

Detective Carter’s voice was calm and even as she spoke to Miss Bellamy’s distressed fiance. “Please take a seat or standstill. I just have a few questions for you at the moment. We’ll have a lengthier questioning at a later time.”

“WHAT ELSE COULD...you want to know? I told the officers earlier everything I saw. I told them all about all the nothing useful I saw or heard! I have nothing for you. Trust me I wish I did because I want to know who did it and why because no one hated Adeline enough to kill her.” He let out a shaking breath and stood tensely in front of the gold-framed mirror that made up a wall in the room before spinning around and walking back to the group.

“I could lie and say ‘everyone loved her’ but I want to help you find the bastard more than you can imagine.” He took a deep breath and dug his nails into his scalp.

“She had people who hated her and wanted her gone but you know when you are so angry at someone you want them gone but all you mean is that you want them out of your life? Not out of the world as a whole necessarily just out of your life? All of the people who didn’t like her were her ‘enemies’ like that.”

“Nick calm down.” She motioned for him to take a seat next to her. “Please just sit down. Let them ask their questions.” Allison Quartz, one of Adeline’s friends and co-workers pleaded for anything that resembled calmness from him.

“I can’t even breathe right now let alone sit down or calm down. Just ask what you want to know.” He briefly stopped pacing to look Detective Carter in the eyes.

“Okay well, while you may not think you heard or saw anything of importance but I would like to hear your recall of events. This will help us create a framework for how everything laid out this evening.” Detective Carter flipped to a blank page on her notebook before she asked her first question.

“So when you two were getting ready to come to the theater did you notice anything about her behavior or did she mention anything in the last few days that would better point us in the direction of the killer?”

Nick took a deep breath and spoke in a tense, shaking voice like he was just barely keeping the volume to his voice down. “She was normal. She was excited about the show because she’s been so busy these last few days at work and we haven’t had the time to do something just for the sake of doing something.” His eyes stared vacantly at the floor and Carter could tell he was getting lost in confusion over what happened tonight as his brain attempted to solve the puzzle before it.

“Sure she’s stressed...she was stressed, she’s always stressed. She has a lot on her mind; she has a very serious job that comes with a lot of pressure and weight. She didn’t tell me about anyone who made her fear for her life. Her safety? Definitely, she’s the head of the New York Branch of the FBI, of course, there are going to be people that make her fear for her safety.”

His exhale whooshed as if he had pushed it out of himself. “I can’t even breathe. It feels like I’m spinning and I can’t slow down. My mouth is so fucking dry”

Officer Heath spoke up from the space by the doorway, “You sound like you’re having a panic attack. I’ve never had one but I assume that not being able to breathe and feeling like you’re spinning would be symptoms of a panic attack.”

“I DON’T HAVE PANIC ATTACKS!” Nicholas’s voice boomed and echoed throughout the room scaring his friends out of their skin while Detective Carter stayed still, merely closing her eyes for a second longer than a blink, keeping her calm and serious aura intact.

So quiet was the room following the burst of noise that if felt like you could have heard Nick’s heart thumping in his chest.

Markus, one of Nick’s friends, took Nick’s shoulder and pulled him lightly down onto one of the red velvet benches that were numerous in the room. “You know I know how you feel right now but all you can do is help these people catch the bastard who did this to Lynn. Take a deep breath and tell them what they need to know. After you do that you should come and stay come and stay with me and Chris… there’s plenty of room in our apartment. You shouldn’t be alone right now.” He looked at all the people around him.

“I can’t even breathe right now..” Nick’s voice shook and he hung his head between his legs. “It feels like everything is just kicking me in the stomach. I can’t even think... I just keep seeing her face and thinking...” He trailed off and he laced his hands together over his head. His right hand was shaking and his knee jiggled, he was unraveling before their eyes.

He lifted his head up slightly but kept his hands laced behind his head. Exhaustion from the pure intensity of his emotions showing on his face. “She was wearing this dragonfly pin-brooch-thing tonight. It was emerald, yellow diamonds, and bronze. When she came back from intermission she wasn’t wearing it and I....didn’t get a chance to ask her about it before the show started again. She wouldn’t just lose it; it was a gift from her grandma.”

Officer Heath spoke up as he handed a bottle of water to Nick. “That’s really helpful. We didn’t find any jewelry around the theater but I’ll have the guys do another sweep of the place looking for this pin specifically. What would you say the size of this brooch is?”

“I think...it’s just over two inches.”

Detective Carter tapped her pen against her hand. “We have enough information for now so if we have any more questions we’ll contact you. Please give your contact information to Officer Heath. Do any of you have travel plans we should be aware of?” She looked at the group and waited for an answer.

Conner Fare spoke in a tense voice, “I’m planning to visit my family and stop by Adeline’s family’s place the following Tuesday to next Saturday.” Mr. Fare was one of Adeline’s friends from school who had met them at the theater and from his previous statement he had seen the silhouette of a masculine looking arm a what appeared to be a dark long-sleeved shirt.

“Thank you for telling us.” Looking around to see if anyone else had anything to say Carter wrote down the information next to the rest of the notes she took from Mr. Fare’s previous statement. “Well, if no one has anything else to add we’ll leave you to your night so you can go home and process and...I’m sorry for loss.” She closed her notebook and gave a serious and reassuring nod to the group before turning on her heels to walk out of the room and meet back up with Castello.