Back at the station, Maria and Officer Reyes were looking
into Camila Maxwell. She was a twenty-two-year-old student at the local
university. How could she be tied up with Clayton Moore? Reyes said that they
could revisit that later on. Maria grabbed a leather binder and opened it up.
Inside were the transcripts from a trial that Clayton Moore was a part of about
a year ago, as well as the court transcripts from what Clayton claimed as his
finest work. Maria took the transcripts of Clayton Moore's trial. To her
surprise, it was a murder trial. Clayton must have gotten the transcripts from
an attorney that he did work with.
*"I'd like to call the defendant, Clayton Moore to the stand,"
said State Attorney Marcus Harvey. "Mr. Moore, is it true that you were with
the victim Camila Maxwell on the night of her murder?" "Yes," Clayton replied.
"In your statement, you said that you went to get a folder out of the car. What
was in that folder Mr. Moore?" "Camila had so much potential in writing. She
had wanted me to read what she had written for a school report, and it was in
that folder." "Mr. Moore, is it true that you were having an affair with Ms.
Maxwell?" "Of course not. I love my wife, and I would never cheat on her.
Camila was more like a student to me." "Are you sure? You didn't want more from
her and when she rejected you, you got angry and strangled her to death? You
didn't make any sudden moves that had her try to get away from you?" "No. I
didn't kill Camila; she was dead when I got back from the car. I found her in
the water with the marks around her neck." "Witnesses said that they saw you
over her dead body with your hands around her neck. You're telling me that you
had nothing to do with that?" "Yes sir. I had nothing to do with that." "No
further questions your honor," said Marcus. Judge Eisenhower stood and called
for the jury's decision. A man from the jury stood up and said, "The jury finds
the defendant not guilty." *
Maria put the paper down and said that Camila Maxwell was
dead. "This says Clayton Moore was the last to see her alive and he was accused
of her murder but found innocent." "Maybe someone from the Maxwell family
didn't believe that Clayton was innocent and killed him," Reyes pointed out.
Maria closed the folder with a feeling of confusion. "It's a great place to
start," she said, grabbing her coat and heading towards the door. Maria and Reyes got in the car and drove to
the Maxwell estate; a large, fancy house in an expensive neighborhood. They
walked up to the door and knocked. A middle-aged woman answered the door. Maria
pulled out her badge. "Good afternoon, Julia Maxwell, I'm Detective Maria
Spelling and this is Officer Carlos Reyes. Do you have a minute to talk about
your daughter?" The woman went to slam the door, and Maria put her foot in the
crevice to stop it from closing. "Mrs. Maxwell, we may have some useful
information on your daughter. Please just talk to us and help us out. We may be
able to help you get answers that nobody has been able to give you yet. You
just have to answer some of our questions first." Mrs. Maxwell sighed and let
them in.
"Is Mr. Maxwell here?" Maria asked. "Richard!" She shouted.
Then entered a tall man. "The police are here to talk about Camila." Maria
asked them to have a seat while she pulled out her notebook. "When was the last
time that you saw your daughter?" Richard said, "We saw her the morning of her
death; she was leaving for school." "Did Camila seem different that morning?
Like acting weird or changing her routine?" "No. She was a ray of sunshine and
a delight to be around. She made everything around her better just by walking
into the room," Julia replied. "Did your daughter say if she was going anywhere
after school? Or say if she was meeting someone after school?" Maria asked. "She
was so excited; somebody wanted to see her writing and possibly publish a book
that she had been writing for years now," Richard said. Maria panicked before
asking this next question. "Have you heard of a man named Clayton Moore?" Julia
stood up and took a few steps around in circles before giving an angry "yes" to
her. "We know that Clayton Moore was found innocent for your daughter's murder.
I can't imagine how much it must have hurt to watch a monster walk free,"
Maria whispered with sympathy. "Have either of you seen Clayton Moore since the
trial?" Richard stood up with an angry look on his face. "No. He's lucky,
because I would have killed that bastard with my bare hands if I ever saw him
again." Officer Reyes chimed in, "you do know that you are talking to police
right now, right? Those might not be the words that you want to be using." Richard
dropped his eyes a little. "You're right. I'm sorry," Richard whispered as he
sat back down. Maria took a deep breath, looked over at Reyes, nodded and
turned her sight back to the Maxwells. "Are you aware that Clayton Moore is
dead?" Neither one of them seemed surprised, which worried Maria. "Would either
of you happen to know anything about that?" Julia took a breath in awe. "Are
you accusing us of killing that man?" "You jumped to that conclusion oddly fast,"
Maria said with a smirk. "Are you sure you don't know anything?" Julia started
to the door, "I think it's time you leave," she said while opening the door. "Thank
you for your time, I'm sure we'll meet again," Maria grinned on her way out.