Chapter 345 I've Got Eyes on You
ADRIANA
The fluorescent lights of the interrogation room cast harsh shadows across Tobias's exhausted face. His uniform looked rumpled, as if he'd been wearing it for days straight.
"I think you already know what comes next, Tobias." I leaned forward, my voice barely above a whisper. "Did you kill Alisha?"
Instead of the defensive posture I'd seen before, his shoulders slumped. He seemed to deflate right before my eyes, the fight draining out of him like water through cupped hands.
"Do you have anything that proves I did?" His voice was flat, devoid of emotion.
"No, I don't." I shook my head slowly. "That's why I'm asking you to your face. Did you kill her?"
"No, I didn't." He pushed himself up from the chair, his movements heavy. "If I killed her, I wouldn't have staged that dramatic fire. I would just make sure that she's never seen again."
The cold certainty in his voice sent a shiver down my spine. He was right – as a police officer, he possessed the knowledge and means to make someone disappear without a trace.
"I didn't mean to hide my relationship with Alisha," he continued, pacing the small room, "but it wouldn't have looked good for me if you had found out that we were together." He stopped and turned to face me. "That woman is a psycho. Once she decides she likes a person, she's never going to let go. Just like she did to Alisha."
"What do you mean?" I shifted Lana, who had started to fuss, to my other knee.
For the first time in what felt like hours, Tobias really looked at me. A bitter laugh escaped his lips. "I'm guessing you don't know. The only reason she didn't want Lucy and Tim to be together wasn't because she was obsessed with Tim." He leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "Alisha was obsessed with Lucy! She idolised her! Lucy had everything she didn't – a loving husband, a beautiful home, a proper job, a name for herself." His voice grew louder with each word. "And then the baby was the cherry on top. Add that and the fact that she knew I liked Lucy, and it was only a ticking time bomb."
My jaw dropped. "But Tim told me that she had a lot of suitors. I mean, she's a beautiful woman."
"A beautiful gay woman." Tobias's eyes met mine, and I saw something like pity in them. "Alisha was lesbian! She loved Lucy! But Lucy never knew. And then she went ahead and married Tim." He pushed off the wall and began pacing again. "She only tried to seduce Tim so that Lucy would leave him and go to her. She only agreed to have sex with me to make Lucy jealous and confess her feelings for her. Alisha loved Lucy. Not me, not Tim. We were the victims."
I struggled to process this revelation, the pieces clicking into place with frightening clarity. Alisha loved Lucy? That explained everything – the identical houses, the strange behavior, the obsessive attention. My hand instinctively went to my pocket, where my phone was recording every word for Hazel to analyze later.
"Did Lucy know how Alisha felt about her?"
Tobias shrugged, his shoulders slumping again. "I have no idea. I never got to ask her. But if she did, Lucy wasn't acting like it. She was acting like she didn't know anything about it."
The thought made my stomach turn. To be so completely unaware of someone's obsession...
"Did you find out where Alisha was staying?"
"No, not yet. We haven't found her cell phone either. She only went to a few places, so we're still trying to find her." He ran a hand through his hair, frustration evident on his face. "The week Lucy died, she called me to tell me that she had found something out. She had found out what happened to her. She said she was going to tell me. She asked me to meet her in the cabin."
Everything clicked into place. That's why Alisha had told Lucy to "have fun in her cabin of sin." She believed Lucy was having an affair and had arranged to meet Tobias there.
"How did you find out about the pregnancy? Is it from the wrapper on the kitchen counter?"
He nodded, his expression grim. "As soon as I saw it, I knew Tim hadn't done this. I knew it was Alisha but I couldn't prove it. I couldn't go talk to her because I didn't know what madness she'd pull if she was confronted with the truth. I needed more evidence. I felt bad that Tim had to stay there until we were sure."
I couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for Tim. Losing his wife and child on the same day, then being accused of their murder. Believing the woman he loved had betrayed him with someone else. It was too cruel.
"I've still got my eye on you, Tobias." I stood up, adjusting Lana in my arms. "You've hidden a lot of things from me, and I've had to find them out myself when I gave you the benefit of the doubt. But you can go. Keep looking for Alisha's hideout. I'll try to take my mind off the fact that you might have killed her."
As he gathered his belongings, I called out, "Tobias, what do you think Lucy wanted to say to you? She said she had information about your missing girl. Did you ever find out what it was?"
He paused at the door, his back to me. "I didn't. By the time I got to the cabin, the paramedics were taking her out in a bodybag."
The door clicked shut behind him, leaving me alone with my thoughts and the heavy weight of a sleeping child in my arms. I picked up my phone, my fingers hovering over the screen as I contemplated the twisted web of obsession and betrayal that had led to such tragedy.