Page 11 of Drowning in Lies
11:41 pm - David:"Sorry, I got caught up in something at work today and forgot to transfer it over. I'll do it tomorrow"
11:42 pm - Scott:"Why can't you do it now?"
11:43 pm - David:"Because I'm already in bed and I don't have access to that account on my phone, only my laptop which is downstairs in the office. Lila is downstairs watching TV, and I don't exactly have a good reason to go back downstairs to my office at this time of night."
11:44 pm - Scott:"Fine, tomorrow then, but I think I need a raise. Another 10 grand a month should do it."
11:47 pm - David:"Dammit, I can't keep doing this. If I'm caught, the cash stops for both of us, asshole."
11:48 pm - Scott:"Then I suggest you don't fucking get caught. You're a smart man. I'm sure you can figure out some way to get more gravy out of that train of yours."
11:50 pm - Scott:"I told you, you need to get her pregnant again, you'd be set for life."
11:53 pm - David:"And I told you she can't have kids. It's not safe, even if we could make it happen. The last time almost killed her, remember?"
11:54 pm - Scott:"You've got life insurance on her, right?"
11:55 pm - David:"Go to hell! I'll get you your fucking money"
11:58 pm - Scott:"Take it easy, I was just kidding. Even I'm not that heartless"
END OF TRANSCRIPTION
I passed the paper to Chris with shaking hands, and waited while he read through it quickly.
"Lila, what was David referring to when he said 'the last time almost killed her'?"
"I...um, I had a miscarriage seven months ago. I was in a car accident years ago, it shouldn't have been possible to get pregnant, but I did somehow. But, I started hemorrhaging and it could have been really bad if Sherry hadn't insisted on calling an ambulance for me."
"I am truly sorry for your loss." The sympathy on Detective Horton's face seemed real, and he changed the subject back to the money transfer. "So, you don't know why David was paying Scott such a large amount of money?"
"Clearly my client knew nothing about this arrangement, or any transfer of funds to Scott," Chris answered for me, handing the paper back to the detective.
"I didn't think so, but I needed to ask since obviouslyDavidwasn't able to complete an online transaction Saturday evening. The coroner puts David's time of death between 9:00 am to 10:00 am. on Saturday. Based on his last text with Ms. Caldwell, we can narrow that down to 9:36 am to 10:00 am." Turning back to me, he asked "Lila, Scott was in your home Saturday evening while the search was being conducted. Do you know if he had access to David's laptop during that time?"
I gave a half-hearted shrug. "I never saw him with it, but David kept it in his home office. I suppose he could have gone in there at some point, but I didn't see it."
Sherry piped up at that point. "Um, Scott left the room several times. I know he went outside a couple of those times because I saw him through the windows, but I'm not sure where he went the other times."
Chris nodded. "I remember that."
Detective Horton said "So it is possible that Scott had access to the laptop during one of his absences from the room, but no one actually saw him enter the office, correct."
We all nodded, and he made more notes on his damned notepad. "I assume David had a password on that laptop?" I nodded. "Would Scott have known it?"
"I have no idea if David would have given it to him. If it was something easy like his birthday or his favorite place, then I'm sure he could have guessed it."
"Do you know David's password for the laptop?"
"No, it was his work-issued laptop, so I had no reason to have it. I have my own laptop plus a desktop computer."
I reached for another bottle of water and sipped it, rolling my head on my shoulders to relieve some of my tension.
Chris eyed me with concern. "Detective, you've thrown a lot of very disturbing information at my client, and I think she needs a break to process this. Could we pick this up in the morning? I know Lila is as anxious as you are to get to the bottom of this, but she needs a break."
Detective Horton hesitated. "Yes, I understand, and I think we can do that. I would like to ask for something which will help us keep moving forward with our investigation in the meantime though. Would you sign an authorization for us to obtain David's phone records, including any information he may have stored on iCloud? I can get a judge to sign a court order based on what we have, but your signature would make the process much quicker."
I looked at Chris, "I don't see a problem with that, do you?"
