Chase // Van McCann

5. I'll Be There

It turns out what Justin said was true. Matt is innocent. He found out about his dad's stroke a week before Erica's death. He boarded the aeroplane for Sydney two days before, and on the day Erica supposedly died, there is proof he checked into St Vincent's Hospital.

Matt kept asking us why we wanted to know his whereabouts and we tried our best to deflect the question but he cornered us. There was no way out. Eventually we told him about Erica's death and he remained silent on the other end for so long I was afraid he hung up. But then he spoke.

"I can't believe it. She's really gone? Who would do such a thing? The world is so unfair sometimes..." he trailed off. His mind was going in overdrive. He had a lot on his shoulders with his dad's stroke and this news only added more stress. I could hear him breaking down on the other end, sobbing. "Sometimes life is too much."

His statement resonated with me because I felt the same sometimes. This job isn't for the faint of heart. I'm no stranger to dealing with sick people. Very sick people. In order to catch them, I had to think like them which became too much for me. I've had to turn to drugs and alcohol to forget. Bondy glanced at me, hesitant. I mean how do you even reply to that?

"I know how you feel," Bondy started. He paused, at a loss for words. "I know it feels as if you've hit rock bottom and things aren't gonna get any better but it gets better, I promise."

"Thank you," we heard him sigh. "I bet it's all his fault." I was suddenly on high alert.

"Whose fault?" I asked.

"If I...if we didn't go our separate ways, maybe she wouldn't have—" Matt started, cutting himself off. I was getting impatient but I kept my mouth shut, waiting for him to tell us more. "The guy she dated after me, she made it out like nothing was wrong but I knew who he was and the crowd he runs with. I bet it was him who did it."

"D'you have a name? We can question him," Bondy offered.

"Peter McLeod."

Bondy wrote down his name. "Thank you so much for your time, Matt. Take care. I hope all is well with your dad. Hang in there," Bondy replied. We said our goodbyes and hung up. I looked at Bondy expectantly as he sighed. Once his eyes met mine, he spoke. "What?" he asked.

"Nowt. I gotta go call Lily. In the meantime, give Joe the name," I answered, patting him on the shoulder and getting up to leave.

I made my way towards my office and closed the door behind me. I was glad that conversation didn't end in a dead end. We've been lucky to get little snippets here and there to continue our investigation. I pulled out the piece of paper with Lily's number on it and dialed her number. She picked up on the first ring.

"Hello?" she answered. I could hear banging on her end and suddenly became apprehensive about having called her at a bad time. I glanced up at the clock and realized I had called during lunch and it seemed as if she was in the middle of cooking. I mentally facepalmed myself for letting the excitement get to my head.

"Is this a bad time to talk?" I asked.

"Who is this?"

I realized I was calling from my mobile phone so she had no idea who was calling. "This is Van McCann from SPD. I said I'd follow up in regards to Justin's story."

"Oh...right. I can talk," she replied. I later heard something fall and I heard her say shit! and I smiled.

"Sounds like a bad time. I can call back later," I proposed.

"No! I mean—no. I want to hear it now. Okay, I'm done. No more multitasking for me," I heard her say, flustered.

"If you say so. I'll make this quick. Matt Weiss is innocent. What Justin said is true. We have proof he was in Australia at the time Erica died."