The Betrayal (9 page)

“We’d been dating constantly for a couple of months before she introduced me to Ella. I didn’t even know she had a daughter until the week before she introduced us. We’d met for dinner and parties many times during weeknights and weekends and not once had she mentioned anything about a daughter or the need for babysitters.”

He drew in another deep breath and let it out on a sigh. “I’m not sure why it took her so long to say anything. Perhaps she thought it would scare me off.”

“Did it?” Chloe asked, not daring to breathe.

“Of course not,” he retorted. “I love kids, but not in the way you’re implying. My brothers have enough between them to just about fill a theme park. The only reason I don’t have any of my own is that I haven’t found anyone I want to have kids with.”

He flashed a disarming smile, a roguish glint in his eyes. “It takes two, you know.”

Chloe felt the heat of it, all the way down deep in her belly and even lower. His humor was all the more surprising given the gravity of their conversation. She squirmed on the chair.

His gaze turned knowing and it was all she could do to prevent the heat from spreading up her neck and across her face. He spared her from replying by continuing his story.

“My parents have always told me the best thing I can do for my kids is to love their mother.” He shrugged. “I guess I haven’t found her yet.”

“You’ve never been in love?” she asked and then immediately regretted it.

Declan’s barrister sat forward. “Are these questions necessary, Investigator?”

This time she did flush and there was nothing she could do to stop it. With unsteady hands, she shuffled the papers in front of her and prayed her question would be ignored.

Sneaking a peek in Declan’s direction, she stifled a groan. He watched her closely, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

“Of course I’ve been in love. It started from the time I was three. Jennifer Doyle was her name. She was the prettiest girl in preschool. I gave her my lunch every single day for at least a week.”

Chloe forced herself to meet his teasing gaze. “A whole seven days? That
is
dedication.”

“Five, actually, but who’s counting?”

His grin widened and Chloe clamped her lips together lest they move upwards of their own accord.

What was she doing?
Was she
flirting
with him? He was the suspect in her investigation.
What was she thinking?

Tearing her gaze from his, she cleared her throat and tried desperately to restore a professional demeanor.

“So, Meg told you about Ella…?”

Declan rearranged his position in the chair, his body relaxed. “I’m not sure how it came up, but one night, Meg told me she had a daughter. I was surprised she hadn’t told me earlier, but it didn’t make any difference to me or to our relationship.”

“Did you ask about the child’s father?”

He shook his head. “It wasn’t important. Meg said something about going through a messy divorce and that a lot of her money was still tied up in the courts, but I wasn’t that interested. It was early days in our relationship and I was still a little uncertain about how serious things would get.”

“You’d been dating regularly for two months. You didn’t think you were past the early days?” Chloe asked, a little disbelievingly.

He shrugged with unconcern. “Call me old fashioned, but I like to take things slowly. Build up the anticipation. I like to get to know the woman I’m dating before it becomes complicated.”

Chloe was desperate to ask whether that meant refraining from sleeping with Meg, but the question would be totally out of bounds and one that he and his barrister would justifiably have reason to object to.

“When did you meet Ella?”

“I think it was the weekend after Meg told me about her. I hadn’t freaked out at the news she was a mother and I guess she felt comfortable enough to introduce us. We went to a movie, chosen by Ella, and afterwards went out for ice cream.”

“And Meg was with you?”

Declan pulled a face. “Of course she was with us. Do you think she’d introduce her four-year-old to someone and then just leave? Is that something you would do, Senior Investigator Sabattini?”

Heat seared Chloe’s cheeks and she looked away.

“Do you have kids, Investigator?” Declan asked.

She resolutely kept her gaze fixed on the paperwork in front of her and shook her head.

“I see. That explains your question, although I can’t for the life of me think of anyone who’d be willing to leave their young daughter with a complete stranger.”

Anger tightened her throat. “That’s not what I said, Agent Munro and you damn well know it. This woman accused you of fondling her child. She claims to have caught you on two separate occasions in her daughter’s bedroom. I’m trying to establish the truth of what happened and what weight, if any, should be given to her claims given that you have come before me charged with illegally accessing child pornography.”

Chloe’s eyes blazed into his, her breath coming in short pants. She felt a brief surge of satisfaction at the remorse that filled his eyes.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Can we try again?”

Chloe swallowed and drew in a deep breath, focusing on her notes.

“You said you and Meg dated for nearly a year. That’s a reasonable amount of time to put into a relationship. Why did it come to an end?”

For the first time, he looked uncomfortable. His gaze fell away and he moved restlessly in his chair. Chloe sat forward, her body tense.

“It didn’t work out. Simple as that.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Anger flashed in the depth of his eyes. “I don’t know what else you want me to say?”

She narrowed her eyes on his face. “I want you to tell me the truth.”

He held her gaze for an interminable few seconds and then looked down at his lap.

“All right, you want the truth? The truth is, I wasn’t ready to take her on, to take
them
on. She was looking for a husband and a father for her child. While I’m not against either of those roles, I couldn’t see myself in that role with
her
. For a little while, perhaps, but not forever.”

His gaze caught and held hers. “As I said, I’m a little old fashioned; that’s what it would be for me. Forever.”

Chloe tried to look away and couldn’t. The sincerity in his eyes beckoned to her, pleaded with her to believe him. She dragged her gaze away and cleared her throat.

“Tell me what happened.”

Declan’s shoulders slumped on a heavy sigh. “She went psycho. Completely off-her-brain out of control. The night I broke it off, she pelted me with anything and everything out of her kitchen cupboards. Thank Christ she didn’t have any sharp knives at hand or else I might not have lived to see it through.”

“Did you report her assault to the police?”

He shook his head and grimaced. “Of course not. Have you taken a look at me? I’m six-foot-four and weigh over two hundred pounds. Meg barely came halfway up to my shoulder and weighed less than half that. I’d have been the laughing stock of the office.

“Besides,” he added, squirming a little. “I guess some part of me thought she was allowed to vent a little anger. After all, I’d just told her we were over. She’d invested the best part of a year into us and I’d gone and called it off. I kind of felt she had a right to beat up on me.”

Chloe made a few notes on the paper in front of her, digesting his explanation. She had to admit, it made sense and she couldn’t imagine him complaining to a random general duties officer about how his featherweight ex-girlfriend had assaulted him.

“What about Ella? How did she take the news?”

A fond smile flickered at the corners of his mouth. “Ella was a trooper. I found her curled up on her bed. I thought she was asleep, but she wasn’t and I went in and sat down beside her. I told her I wouldn’t be seeing her for a while. She asked me why, so I told her the truth. She was a smart kid. She gave me a hug and thanked me for telling her. I left soon after.”

“Did you hear from Meg again?”

Declan made a noise of disgust. “She rang me constantly and when I gave up answering the phone, she started texting me. I can’t remember exactly what she said but the flavor of it was always the same: I was the biggest asshole in the world; I’d led her on; I’d wasted twelve months of her life; I’d never loved her.” He shook his head. “It went on and on.”

“Did she ever say anything about Ella?”

“No. Meg wanted me back. She
begged
me to come back. She told me we’d work things out, that she’d do anything to have me back. She wanted us to be one big happy family.”

“Why do you think she came forward with the accusations?”

He eyed Chloe balefully. “You’re a smart woman, Investigator Sabattini. It doesn’t take much working out.”

“So it was nothing more than a woman scorned? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Not just me, Investigator. This was thoroughly looked into by the New South Wales Police Internal Affairs Department. They arrived at the same conclusion: The allegations were groundless.”

Chloe continued to stare at him, saving the best for last. She couldn’t wait to hear his explanation for the next bombshell.

“Do you own a laptop, Agent Munro?”

His hard gaze remained on hers, but his expression stayed neutral. “Yes. I have a Toshiba I have for personal use.”

“A Toshiba laptop was seized during the search of your apartment. Would that be the laptop you’re referring to?”

He shrugged. “Without seeing it, I can’t say for sure, but if you say it came from my apartment, then I’d guess it was mine.”

“Is your laptop protected with a password?”

“No, as I said, I only use it for personal stuff. I don’t keep anything of importance on it and I live alone. There’s no need to prevent anyone from logging in.”

Chloe made a note of his response. “Do you ever take the laptop with you when you travel away or for any other reason?”

“No. If I’m traveling for work, I sign out a work laptop. If I’m traveling for leisure, I leave as many technological devices as I can at home. That’s the whole point of getting away, isn’t it?”

His lips tugged upwards in a tiny smile. She tried hard to ignore its effect on her.

“Have you ever loaned your laptop to anyone? A friend? A colleague?”

“No.”

“Are you certain?”

“I’m certain.”

Declan’s barrister made a sound of impatience. “Is there a point to any of this line of questioning, Investigator? I thought we’d agreed you’d be direct.”

Chloe compressed her lips together and nodded. The moment had come.

“As you wish, Mr White.” She turned her stare on Declan. “As I mentioned, the laptop taken from your apartment has been examined. A substantial number of pornographic images of children were found on the hard drive. Would you care to explain how they got there?”

Declan’s face leached of color. Shock and disbelief widened his eyes.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” he choked.

Roger White was on his feet. “Declan, don’t say another word.” He turned blazing eyes toward Chloe.

“Investigator Sabattini, how dare you! How dare you ambush my client like this! You could have had the decency to give me a little prior notice of your discovery.”

Chloe shrugged, unmoved. She’d done nothing wrong. Her narrowed gaze remained fixed on the man seated across from her.

“Are you prepared to answer the question, Agent Munro?”

“No—”

“Yes,” Declan declared.

They spoke simultaneously and then squared off in silence.

“I have nothing to hide,” Declan stated, his voice cold. “Not now, not ever.”

“We need to talk about this before you say anything that might be used against you,” White pleaded. “Don’t give them anymore ammunition.”

“I have nothing to hide,” Declan repeated, his hard gaze now fixed on Chloe’s.

She drew in a deep breath and waited the men out. Long seconds passed before White’s shoulders slumped in defeat.

“So be it, but I reiterate my earlier warning,” he growled and regained his seat. He looked far from happy.

Tension emanated from every part of Declan’s body. Chloe picked up her pen and tugged the notepad closer, waiting for him to speak.

“I have no idea how those images came to be there. That laptop never leaves my apartment. Most of the time, it’s not even charged. There’s nothing else I can say, other than to tell you again: I am not a pedophile and I did not download pictures of child pornography: not then, not now, not
ever.
”

Chloe eyeballed him, but remained silent, digesting his clipped words.

Declan’s expression turned grim with emotion. His eyes narrowed. “Investigator Sabattini, have you ever been accused of doing something you haven’t done?”

She held his gaze and tried not to flinch. “No,” she lied.

“You’re lucky. It’s not a nice place to be. I don’t know what else you want me to say. I’m being set up. Someone is trying to bring me down. Why? I have no fucking idea, but I will find out who’s behind it. While you’re hell-bent on putting me behind bars, I’m going to be looking for the asshole who started this because there’s one thing I’m certain of: It sure as hell wasn’t me.”

He pushed back his chair and prepared to leave. “You know,” he added. “It’s so easy for someone to ruin a man’s life over shit like this. Pedophilia is an ugly topic and one we’re all rightly sensitive about. It’s the reason I joined the CPU—to put as many of them behind bars as possible.

“But, it’s so easy for a mother, or anyone for that matter, to play the child molester card to destroy someone they want to punish. When it comes to something like this, it’s their word over mine. In Meg Harvey’s case, all I had is the knowledge of my own innocence, plus the fact that I was pulling a twelve-hour nightshift with more than five police witnesses to verify my whereabouts on at least one of the occasions I was supposed to be fondling her four-year-old. With respect to the images found on my hard drives, I’m not so lucky. All I have is my word that I didn’t do it and right now, that seems to be worth shit.”

Chloe closed the file and folded her hands on top of it. His explanation about Meg Harvey’s complaint supported the fact that her State counterparts had taken the matter no further. He’d answered her questions with forthrightness and what appeared to be honesty and she couldn’t help but feel he told the truth. But the fact was, pornographic images of children had been found on his hard drive, on
both
of his hard drives. It was evidence that simply couldn’t be ignored. He’d admitted he’d never given anyone his login information. He’d admitted the laptop never left his apartment. At this point, she had no choice but to accept it was him who’d downloaded the images, for whatever reason.