“Isn’t it true that Isobel strongly objected to you dating her daughter because of your criminal past?”
Jason shrugged.“Like I said, that’s a big misunderstanding. I made some mistakes, but that’s all behind me now. I’ve paid for those mistakes, and left that life behind me. Alison knows this, and I’m sure that if her mother had agreed to meet, I could have convinced her of my intentions and she would have accepted me.”
“So the fact that you were in prison for aggravated robbery wouldn’t have stopped her from accepting you as her daughter’s future husband?”
“Like I said, that’s all in the past. And besides, that was a misunderstanding.”
“There seem to be a lot of misunderstandings in your life, Jason.”
He grimaced.“I’d call it a miscarriage of justice, but I know you people don’t like that kind of talk.”
“So now you’re denying the charges that were leveled against you at the time?”
“Absolutely. And if you’d looked into my case you’d know all this.” He directed an angry look at his interrogator. “But then you don’t care about the truth, do you? If you did, I wouldn’t be sitting here, being accused of something I didn’t do.”
“Okay, so let’s go back to last night. You claim you were at home with Alison when her mother was being killed.”
“I don’t claim this, I was there. We never left the apartment.”
“So if a witness says they saw you getting out of Alison’s car at two o’clock last night, and walk up to the house where Isobel was staying, they’d be lying, is that it?”
Jason became weary.“Who’s the witness?”
“Let’s just say the statement is credible.”
“Then I’ll say he’s lying. Flat out lying.”
At this moment Chase placed a number of photographs in front of Jason, and I could see his composure crumbling. He was shuffling nervously on his chair, and had turned a little white around the nostrils.
“For the tape, I’m showing Mr. Rocamora a series of photographs taken last night at two o’clock, clearly picturing him leaving a car driven by Alison Droba, and walking up to the house where Isobel Droba was staying. You can see Alison behind the steering wheel, and you in her presence.”
“I-I can explain this,” said Jason, and swallowed nervously.
“Please do,” said Chase. “Cause I’d say you’ve been lying to me.”
“I was there,” said Jason. “That’s to say, we were there.”
“And what were you doing there?”
“Look, Isobel and Alison had a big fight that afternoon, all right? And so we figured that I’d talk to her and try to make her see reason.”
“And you thought you’d do this in the middle of the night?”
“Sure. Isobel was always working late on that book of hers. And when I walked up to the house I saw the light was still on in her room. Also, I didn’t want to bump into Michele—that’s Alison’s aunt.”
“And why is that?”
“Because she hates me even more than Isobel did,” said Jason with a touch of bitterness. “Absolutely detests me, Detective, for no good reason except she’s filled with some kind of prejudice, even though we’ve never even met. But anyway, so Alison thought it might be a good idea if I met Isobel face to face, without anyone else present, and so she dropped me off after midnight last night.”
“Two o’clock, as the time stamp on these photographs clearly indicate.”
“Okay, fine, two o’clock. So I go up to the house, and I see that the light in her room is still on.”
“How did you know where Isobel’s room was?”
“Alison had told me. She drew me a diagram. I had it in my hand as I was approaching, as you can see here.” He was pointing to one of the pictures, and Chase checked and nodded. “Okay, so I see that her light is still on, and I shimmy up the drainpipe, which Alison said would get me straight to her mother’s room.”
“You didn’t think she’d be scared when she suddenly saw your face appear at her window? Especially as she knew you were a convicted criminal she’d warned her daughter about?”
“That couldn’t be helped. Alison had suggested a meeting many times, but her mom kept refusing. Said she wanted nothing to do with me—I blame Alison’s aunt for that. She’s the one who kept badmouthing me to her sister. But anyway, so I finally reach her window and I look in. And that’s when I saw it.”
“You saw what?”
“Isobel. She was lying there, and it was obvious that she was dead.”
“How did you know? Did you climb in and check her pulse?”
Jason gave Chase a look that said‘Are you kidding me?’ “She was dead, man. No doubt about it. There was blood everywhere, and her head was bashed in.”
“So what did you do? Did you call an ambulance? Did you notify the police?”
“I ran. I got out of there as fast as I could.”
“Now why is that, you think?”
“Because I knew that if I stuck around you’d blame this thing on me! And it wouldn’t be the first time either! Once a criminal, always a criminal, right?”
“So you ran back to the car and told Alison what happened to her mom?”
“I did, yes. And then I told her to get out of there as fast as possible.”