Race With a Heart
Chapter 130: Only Suspect in the Murder of a Stripper

Chapter 130: Only Suspect in the Murder of a Stripper

But if Martin said he wasn’t crying, then he wasn’t crying. There was nothing easier to understand.

"Sid" Martin suddenly looked up. He actually had no tears in his eyes and his face looked quite calm. "Thank you for approaching me with this, but I don’t think I’m competent enough."

"You found a solution to my problem ..." Sid noted.

"Not me," he replied. "I have discussed it with a wise man I know. Actually, he said that if you would like some help with your father, he would be happy to help you. I was gonna tell you this before, but so much happened ..."

"As it is now, it is fine," said Sid. "I came home when my father was away, cleaned up, did the laundry, cooked so that he would have enough to eat. That’s enough for now. "

Martin smiled faintly. He wanted to be warm and helpful, but he looked a bit like he needed help himself. Sid understood that he must be having a hard time for a variety of reasons. He had recently discovered that he was ready to date a man and this man was now in the hospital after a terrible experience. Sid remembered Martin’s unease when Paxton had an accident on the track, so how shocked his colleague must have been after someone tried to murder his lover? Sid didn’t know the details of these events, but if anyone wanted to hurt Dave ...

No, someone had already hurt Dave and Sid was in pain, anger and frustration that there was nothing he could do to turn back time and stop this horrible event. Probably Martin felt the same, so he must have been full of emotions that he really can’t vent.

"If something bad starts to happen, don’t keep it to yourself, okay?" Martin asked. "Wounds need to be treated immediately, otherwise they may get infected."

"You think something like that happened to Dave?" Sid asked. "I think yes."

"I think so too. I think my friend can help Dave. "

"Really?" Sid was pleased. "How?"

"I don’t know yet, but he’ll definitely come up with something. He’s really smart and I trust him a lot. I know he’s a man who doesn’t judge anyone hastily and is very considerate. I’m sure he will definitely find a solution for us. "

***

Kevin Moore rubbed his nose. For a good few minutes, he had the feeling that someone was talking about him. Probably Lieutenant Sullivan was talking aout him behind his back again. This tall man used to do it quite often, from the first day they met, or even earlier, after hearing that Moore would be their consultant. He believed that all people who graduated from university were useless bookworms. Kevin quickly proved to him that this was a wrong assumption, but the habit of complaining remained with Sullivan, which did not bother the young professor at all. They had been working together for a long time and so far there had been no major disagreements between them.

Kevin was about to push the doorknob and enter the room where Sullivan and Denning had offices, but the door swung open by itself and the tall policeman rushed out with such vigor that he almost rammed the young professor.

"Oh here you are!" cried the lieutenant. He looked pleased and excited. "We have the name of the person to whom this text message was sent. We’re just going to interview the dodger! "

Moore turned to follow him. He had a very bad feeling.

Paul Denning told him a hasty "good morning" and followed Sullivan with a brisk step, who, thanks to his long legs and energy inconsistent with his age, had already advanced.

The lieutenant looked really excited but also disturbed. Was it because they eventually had a suspect in a brutal murder case, or was it because of the person who was that suspect?

Bad feelings.

"Who is this?" Moore asked Denning because Sullivan was already too far away.

"Steve Paxton, that driver."

Kevin stopped. He wasn’t at all glad that his guesses turned out to be correct. He would really prefer to be wrong a hundred times more.

But wait a minute, just because Rita had texted Paxton didn’t mean he had killed her. The driver could pay the blackmailer, but he could also completely ignore her demands and not even show up at the meeting. A thousand different things could have happened.

"Lieutenant! Lieutenant, please wait! " cried Moore, accelerating.

"What is it?" Sullivan asked, just slowing his pace a little and turning over his shoulder.

"Let me interview Paxton!"

At that point the lieutenant stopped suddenly and turned to face Kevin.

"And why would I do that, professor?" he asked sharply. "Here we are dealing with the prime murder suspect."

"With the only suspect," Moore said. He knew Sullivan’s gaze and knew it would not be easy for him to convince him of his request. "Lieutenant, we are dealing with a very public person who is also the victim of another crime. If he’s guilty you’ll definitely put him behind bars, but if he’s innocent, and the media will know that before forty-eight hours have passed since he was almost murdered ... "

"Do you think I’ll be scared of the hype in the media?" Sullivan’s voice turned sharp.

Kevin knew the lieutenant was afraid of the media. Every policeman hated and feared them because, in the name of "freedom of speech," people who called themselves journalists were distorting the facts by presenting things in an unfavorable light to the police, or simply obstructing the investigation. Yes, there were good and honest journalists, but they and their craft were dying in the crowd of internet mobs.

"Of course not. But if I ask questions, the police will be clean. And nobody can touch me. "

"It’s good to be Moore, huh?" the lieutenant mocked, and Kevin felt his chest tighten.

"Yes," he admitted, softly bringing his mouth close to the lieutenant’s ear. "Especially since I know about the mechanic from Rita’s news. Paxton will cheat and lie to protect him from media hype, and I can assure him that this person will not get involved in anything in public. "

"Do you ... know him personally?"

"Yes. Lieutenant, this is not about lenient treatment of the privileged classes. If Paxton is guilty he should get life in prison, but in this situation we have a big ’if’ burden, so let’s be reasonable. "

"Okay," Sullivan agreed, "you can ask questions, but we’ll be there for the hearing. It’s about murder. "

Kevin looked back at Denning, who stopped a few steps away, realizing that the low-key conversation was not meant for his ears.

"I don’t think I have a choice," Moore agreed.

"You do not have. All right, I’ll trust you. Hope you know what you are doing. "

Kevin hoped so too. In fact, he wasn’t sure he was doing the right thing for him to ask to question Paxton instead of leaving the matter to the police. He was, after all, involved in the case privately to some extent, and that might have clouded his objective judgment, but Moore might have bet that Paxton would be lying to them to protect Martin.

At this point, Kevin had great hopes that Steve had nothing to do with the death of Margarita Evans, otherwise Martin would have broken his heart. Jack, probably too.

Moore took a deep breath. From what he had heard about Paxton, he was not the man to go as far as to murder. Kevin, however, spent too long studying crime to not know that in certain situations everyone is capable of killing. Even the mildest, most gentle man in a fit of rage, terror or despair, can go to the point of crime. It was common knowledge that Steve Paxton was not one of the mildest. The police have known him for years, and the media have known him as a man who does not think, but throws himself into the fire, and accidents happen during the fight.

Rita, however, was brutally beaten and strangled, and her body stuffed into a garbage can, as if she not only wasn’t a woman for the perpetrator, but also not a human being.

Something like this could either be done by someone very cruel, or someone with a deep grudge against the victim.

Blackmail was something that could trigger similar feelings. The victim of blackmail feels cornered, threatened and terrified, and this set of emotions very often takes people’s mind away. If someone has a tendency to be violent and protects something or someone who is really important to them - and Paxton fits all the points - it’s not hard for a tragedy. It wasn’t even a question of whether someone was capable of murder, but how desperate that person was at the moment.

Standing outside Paxton’s hospital and seeing the journalists assembled, Kevin Moore knew that if the media found out that Steve was being questioned as a suspect, all hell would break loose.

But Kevin wasn’t afraid of the media. The thought of Jack’s reaction when he found out that Moore had something to do with interrogating Paxton terrified him.

At this point, Kevin regretted that he had asked to conduct an interview of the suspect named Steve Paxton.

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