“I know how you feel, Carmen,” Roland said and reached out his hand to Carmen. “I know that this might not be my place, but if you ever feel the need to talk, I hope we can be there for one another,” Roland said, taking off his glasses, and placing his hand over his eyes. “We both suffered such a terrible loss.”
“Some days it's harder to deal with than others.”
Carmen looked at Roland as he shed tears for their loss. Her attitude softened. She had come there that day prepared for an angry confrontation with the man responsible for her sister’s death. She was going to tell him, point blank, that she knew that he killed Desireé and she would see him rot in hell for it. But look at him. Carmen thought. He's hurting. Marcus looked at Roland and then to Carmen, still holding hands, now both were crying.
“I'm sorry, Marcus,” Roland said, wiping his eyes. He put his glasses back on. “Sorry if we embarrassed you.”
“No need to apologize. Like you said, both of you have suffered a terrible loss. I should apologize for intruding.”
Roland cleared his throat and dabbed his eyes with his handkerchief. “That's no reason for me to act unprofessionally, I mean really, crying in front of my lawyer. So, tell me, what brings you two to see me? I wasn't aware that you two knew each other.”
“Actually we met only yesterday,” Carmen said. “To be honest with you Roland, I was very upset when my father told me that you were found not guilty. I was sure that you did it. I'd talked to the police and the DA and neither of them seemed to have any intention of pursuing this any further.”
“Yes I know, I spoke with Ms. Hawkins and Detective Benjamin yesterday and I got the same impression.” Roland paused. “Somebody killed Desireé and they don't care. You were right Marcus, no high profile trophy, no interest.”
“It seems that way,” Marcus said.
“I had an appointment to see Marcus and after we talked about it, he agreed to look into it on my behalf.”
“That's an excellent idea, Carmen. Since Marcus is intimately familiar with the details of the case, perhaps his investigator, what was his name?”
“Garrett Mason.”
“Yes, yes, Mason. Perhaps he can uncover something that the police haven't. Well, Marcus, I want to help in anyway that I can. And don't spare any expense; I'll gladly cover your fee. I just want some answers,” Roland said looking at Carmen. She nodded in agreement. “Tell me what I can do to help.”
Carmen started to speak, but Marcus cut her off. “I just wanted you to know what I was doing. I didn't want you to feel like my working for Carmen was a conflict of interest.”
“Nonsense. Finding Desireé's killer is my only interest.”
“Can you think of anybody who might want to kill Desireé? I know you already talked to the police about this in your first interview, but that was almost a year ago. Maybe in that time you remembered something.”
“I can't think of a soul who would want to harm her. I've racked my brain, trying to think of a reason for anybody to do such a thing.”
“How much do you know about Rasheed Damali?”
“Not much, he was a friend of Desireé's, I met him a few times, but I couldn't tell you much about him.”
“Know anybody who might?”
“Not that I can think of, I'm sorry, I'm not much help, am I?”
“That's alright, Roland, I know this must be difficult for you to talk about. I think we've taken up enough of your time,” Marcus said, as he rose to his feet and nodded at Carmen.
“Sorry I wasn't much help. If you have any more questions, Marcus, please call me at home. Were all family here,” Roland said as he got up to show them out. Since she was now the only one still sitting, Carmen got up too. “No need to be so formal.”
“There is one more thing you can help us with. Carmen was looking at the case file and she noticed that the police never talked to Desireé's friend, Suzanne Collins.” Carmen was confused by the way Marcus posed the question. He knows Suzanne is dead. “Carmen thought that was odd seeing that they were best friends.”
“You don't know. Carmen, Suzanne is dead. She died sometime before Desireé did.”
“No Roland, I didn't know that. Dez never mentioned it to me,” Carmen said, following Marcus's lead. “Which is strange, because you know we used to talk everyday. Maybe we weren't as close as I thought.”
“Desireé took Suzanne's death very badly. She practically threw the police out of the house when they told her about it. She didn't want to believe it. She was in denial about it. She wouldn't talk to me about it. I had to literally drag her to the funeral. So, please, Carmen, I can assure you that there was nobody closer to Desireé then you. She loved you so much. And she was so proud of you. So you get that thought out of your head,” Roland said as they reached the elevator. Roland put his arms around Carmen.
“Thank you, Roland. You take care of yourself,” Carmen said.
“Are you going back to Europe soon?”
“No. I'm thinking about staying here for a while,” she said and glanced at Marcus.