Colt Crawford - Chapter 12 (Wednesday)

In a sparsely furnished room behind a small metal table, Mathis waited alone. His hands were not cuffed and he was free to move around, but instead he chose to sit in the uncomfortable metal chair that had been tucked under one side of the table. Krissy’s plan was to let him sweat for a few minutes. The drive had been long, but a few extra minutes of uncertainty just might loosen up his tongue enough to reveal more than he intended. Krissy and Colt watched from the one way glass that overlooked the room. To Mathis, they were nothing more than his own reflection in a mirror, although, given his intelligence, he had to have suspected that they were there.

When she was satisfied that he had waited long enough, Krissy made her entrance. “Let’s get right to it, Mr. Mathis.” She sat in the chair opposite the suspect while Colt sat beside her. “We have reason to believe that you were involved in one, and perhaps two, assaults in the last three days.”

“Please tell me all about them. I might as well know what you are attempting to nail me for,” he replied with a smug grin that revealed his arrogant attitude.

Krissy knew that they really had nothing solidly linking Mathis directly to the crimes, but the circumstantial evidence had been enough to cast suspicion. She would need to get something out of him in the next few hours or she would be forced to let him go. “Tell me about Jailene Arroyo.”

“I don’t know anyone named Jailene Arroyo.”

“You have never met her?”

“I said I don’t know her.” Mathis was appearing evasive and Krissy took note of his body language. He had looked toward the ceiling when he answered the question, avoiding eye contact with the detective.

Krissy dropped the photo of Jailene in front of Mathis. “Maybe this will help. Have you ever seen this woman?”

Mathis glanced at the photo and again, his dark eyes darted around the room. They finally settled in on a target over Krissy’s shoulder. “I told you I don’t know this Jailene woman.”

“I never said this was Jailene,” Krissy retorted. Mathis cringed slightly when she said this. The next picture she pulled out of her file was a still shot taken from the video of Jailene entering The Yacherty. “Did you see her last Thursday afternoon when she walked into your office 18 minutes after you walked in?”

Mathis was momentarily stunned. He hadn’t anticipated being caught so easily. He thought for a moment before answering. Krissy silently counted the seconds in her head. It seemed like forever before he spoke, but she was just barely reaching 12 when the words came. “Okay. We’ve gone out a few times.”

“I need some truth from you, Mathis. We’ve caught you in a lie, so now your credibility is shot. Give me something to make me have a reason to believe you.”

Mathis paused again before responding. He took a deep breath, carefully weighing his options. “I told you we’ve gone out a few times.”

The room fell silent once again, this time Krissy was organizing her thoughts. After several minutes of silence, she spoke, taking another stab in the dark. “You tell us all you know about her and we drop the gambling and bookie charges.” Again, she had no proof of this activity, but her gut told her that she could find it I she needed it.

Mathis looked as if he had been hit by a ton of bricks. He sat in the chair deflated. The police seemed to know about everything, yet he remained tight lipped, so Krissy continued. “Fine. I’ll file charges on extortion for your tactics of reclaiming the gambling debt from Creighton Ford. Then we’ll tag on the assault and kidnapping of his girlfriend as a message to him. Then we have you for assault on your own assistant, Jasmine.” Krissy was about to say more, but she stopped short when a look of shock swept across Mathis’ face.

“Jasmine?” he said. “When did this happen? Is she okay?” Either he was a phenomenal liar or he really didn’t know what had happened to Jasmine Kennedy.

“Come on, Mathis!” Krissy was firm, but she wanted to make sure he was being honest. “We have evidence that your girlfriend was at the scene of the crime.”

“Jailene attacked Jasmine? She’s gone to far.” Mathis let out a tirade of profanities under his breath as he mentally tore her apart.

Up until this point, Colt had kept silent, opting instead to let the real police officer do her job. Once Mathis had calmed down, he chimed in. “Tell us about Jailene.”

“We have a deal?” Mathis questioned. “I’ll tell you what I know about her and in exchange you leave my business out of this.”

“I’ll do everything I can for you,” Krissy replied. Of course, all she could do was tell the D.A. to go easy on him, but the ultimate decision was out of her hands.

Mathis took a deep breath, then began to speak.