Autopsy of a Mind

Chapter 129: Volatile Relationship

"I know the areas very well" Nash told him. 

"I don't remember the hospital. I don't even remember the railroad."

"They are near the residential area you spoke about, though," I said softly as I went through the map application on my phone and pulled it out. I knew where it was. And I had a clue as to who lived in the residential area. 

Collins. I might have abused my power to access records and found that one out. 

What a wonderful image this was coming out to be. 

"Okay, so she was freaking out about something you said. What happened then? How did she kick you out?" Nash changed the topic immediately. 

This man didn't do smooth transitions. He used my interjections as punctuation and flitted between conversations.

"Yeah. So, she tried to open the door but it was locked. I didn't want to be in her house when she clearly wanted me to get out. So, I exited through the backyard."

"And that's it?" Nash asked in a controlled voice. 

"Yup," McCain confirmed shortly.

I pulled out my cellphone and pushed it towards him. He watched the screen carefully. It was a map.

"Can you tell us where you went from there? Anything that can give us an alibi as to where you were and the timestamps on that so that we can exclude you from the suspect list."

McCain quickly tapped around it to get rid of Nash's invasive questions. He tucked his head and scrutinized while Nash gave him a stare. 

His eyes asked me if we would apply more pressure or if we should keep feeding him new stories to trap him. 

I didn't respond. The current technique was doing fine. Maybe a combination of both? Not pinning it on him was better as he wouldn't clam up and give us all the information.

"Did you go here?" Nash pointed towards a particular road. 

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"No, I don't remember going here at all." He pressed his finger to his lip to think. 

"Mm. We caught you on camera at a store in this area. The clerk remembers talking to you explicitly. You even circled around the store a couple of times. Why did you go there?"

McCain gritted his teeth before he answered. "I needed to buy something I presume."

"You were definitely there, then. That means you weren't all by yourself composing music all day. So why would you tell us, tell the police that comes to your house"

McCain interjected, trying to exonerate himself. "I told you. I thought it was another day. I told you that I don't know which day it was." He was making animated gestures, trying to get his point across.

"So when did you think you went to her house and the store?" Nash asked, his voice low and firm. He had leaned into McCain, and even though his posture was aggressive, his tone was still calm and somewhat comforting.

"I don't know." He shrugged. 

"When did the police come over to your house and call on you to talk about Maya's death, then?" Nash asked.

McCain grew silent. "Yesterday," he was quiet. 

"Ah, and when we asked you where you were and the last time you had gone over to Maya's house, you said you weren't in contact with her for more than a week. You didn't feel the need to tell us that such an interaction had happened and you had lost track of time as to when it was?" Nash pressed, now unkind. 

I tapped on the map on my phone. "Did you get far enough to see the elementary school to the right?" I asked, immediately when he wouldn't answer. 

"I don't know."

"Where did you go after? Straight home?"

"Yeah. I just I needed to get some air and then go back."

Nash took up the questioning again. "When you last saw Maya, what was she doing? How did she look when you walked out of the house?"

Of course, we didn't expect McCain to tell us that she was lying in a pool of her own blood. That would have been wishful thinking. 

"Uh she was looking at her phone."

"Did she walk towards your direction to close the door or something?" he inquired, leading him on. 

"No I don't think so."

Yes, because the back door had not been closed. Someone from outside would think it was, but you could twist the knob and get in without a hitch.

There was silence. I bit my lip as I looked up at him abashedly. I knew to pretend like I was reluctant to ask something so personal. "Can I ask you something personal?" I said softly. "It'suhyou mentioned that you had a strained relationship with Maya. You mentioned that she was talking to another guy. You also mentioned that you were talking to another girl. Did you guys have an open relationship while you were together?" I asked. 

"Uh not really." He was unsure of how to answer. 

"Like it's not been really long since the divorce and it's hard to see new people so early on"

"No. I have a girlfriend and she had a boyfriend. That's all. It was an understanding between us. That, as long as our son was okay, we wouldn't bother about the relationships of the other." I could hear his confidence drop. He started the sentences strongly but eat up the words as his voice dipped towards the end. A classic sign of not being sure of what he was talking about.

"Every marriage has a rough period. Especially in the case of celebrities where the world has their eyes on you and the relationship is volatile." I was pulling out the big guns. I showed sympathy and understanding towards him. To him, he thought me empathetic and would open up about his relationship with me.

"Yeah" he trailed off, remembering something with a faraway look in his eyes.

"How long has the strain been going on, then?" I asked. 

"A few years I mean" His eyes were glazed. "I didn't tell her about my problems anymore and she didn't want anything to do with me. Whenever we got together, we were toxic. God, it looked like a crime scene all the time."

He shook his head.

Great choice of words there, champ. 

"We were great recently. We were understanding towards one another and collaborating to bring up our son." He looked at me for reassurance.

"Was Maya only talking to a guy or was she also involved with girls?" Nash asked suddenly, surprising me.

I controlled my expression and saw the panic flash in McCain's eyes. Ah, so there had been girls too. 

"She did have female friends. She was planning on going out with them for a long weekend sometime in the future," he admitted.

"With your son?" Nash confirmed. 

"Yes."

"And how did that make you feel?"

"Lonely." McCain's demeanor was small and defeated.

"That's okay those are normal human feelings," Nash reassured. "Did you feel hurt?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, she is allowed to go where she wants."

"But still she's your ex-wife and you have a son together. Even if you are divorced and seeing other people, it is tough to see somebody you care about somebody that you love go out with someone without you. And I get that."

There was silence. 

"Is that why you were driving around campus all day?" Nash asked. "Cause you missed her?"

"I I had a lot going on in my mind and I needed to think." He paused. "I couldn't compose at all and I cleaned the house all day. And then I wandered."

"Did you talk to other girls that day? When you found out?" I asked. 

McCain looked at me guiltily. 

"It's fine. When we get hurt by the people we love, we want to relieve it. It's natural to choose to hurt them back or feel better from the attention of others. Don't blame yourself for that," I reassured. 

"No I didn't talk to anyone else," he said finally. 

"And this was yesterday?" Nash tried to confirm. 

He blinked. "As I said, I have the days mixed up"

"Okay then the day you went to see Maya, did you text any other girls?" Nash reframed the question.

"I I think so?" he was unsure.

"Okay, fair enough!" Nash rested his case. 

We went off into a tangent about where he went for lunch and when he got out of the home. Where did he go what did he remember? He was driving completely erratically. 

At this point, we had been in that room for forty minutes.

"I drive like this sometimes to clear my head. I like exploring, so I drive along the small alleys to get familiar with unknown roads. I often get lost and need navigation to get back home."

"Again not trying to fault you for anything. Sometimes days can be a blur, familiar roads can seem new, too."