Sincerely, Red

Chapter Thirteen

"Tim?" David practically growled, the earlier anger returning to his face. "So he took half of what his dead brother owned?"

"David-"

"And if that isn't bad enough, he did it on the day that his niece was murdered. Isn't that just peachy?"

"David now is not the time to get angry," Claire said, annoyed by his one track mind. "We've got to figure this thing out."

"Like detectives," he added.

"No, not like detectives," she said. "This isn't a movie. We're not magically going to find a piece of evidence and trap the actual murderer in their own web of lies. This is real life and we're going to need logic and professional help. That's the only way we'll find a way out of this."

"Way to ruin the mood, Claire," he muttered. "I was going to get a costume and everything."

"You mean make a costume in the back of the rust bucket?"

"It's a van," he stressed. "Not a rust bucket."

"Anyway," she continued, ignoring him as usual. "I think we need to write everything we think down and -"

"We're not in preschool-"

"And," she said, shooting David a dirty look. "That'll mean that we can keep a track of suspicions, possible evidence and everything along those lines. When we do get professional help with this, we'll have a lot more to offer than last minute stories and half told facts."

"But what if someone gets hold of it?" I asked, clearly meaning Tim. "I mean, certain people have access to our house on a constant basis."

"Yeah, let's get rid of Tim," David agreed. "All we need is a microwave, some marshmallows, a dose of poison-"

"Shut up, David," Claire said. "You're not capable of killing someone. You literally get scared of cats if they get within a metre's distance of you."

He sniffed. "I think we should get on with the writing stuff down thing, because you're just wasting time here."

"Of course I am," she muttered. Then, turning to me, she added, "Don't worry about Tim getting a hold of anything. I'll be here the entire time and I'm sure we can find decent places to hide everything. If David's brain is working, we could even get him to go and make copies, so that we have everything together. The important thing here is that we have something to present, so we're taken seriously."

"Is it going to be enough?" I asked.

"It'll have to be," she said fiercely. "We'll also have to find a solicitor for you as well, since the police are probably going to come back and question you now that you've had time to get used to life again."

"Why do I have to find a different solicitor? Why can't it just be you?" I questioned. "I don't want to talk to someone all over again. It's hard."

"I know, darling," she said. "But if the police dig up any type of baseless evidence that is anyway linked to you, you'll become a suspect. Hopefully it won't come to that, but if it does and you become a defendant instead of a witness, I won't be able to represent you in court. They could twist everything I'd say and take it to be a biased opinion. We wouldn't be able to win."

My hands shook. "Do you think it'll come to me being a defendant?"

"I don't-"

"Claire," David warned. "That's enough."

"David, you're the one who's always said that we should get the truth out in the open," she muttered. "When something actually useful is being given to her, why the hell are you stopping me?"