Fidelity (Infidelity #5)

After midnight. Really?

I couldn’t even remember what time it was when we drove away from Montague Manor. The whole night was a blur of scenes like pieces of a puzzle that didn’t quite fit. I looked to my watch, but it was gone. The policeman had taken that and most of my other personal belongings during the booking. Though they hadn’t taken it, I didn’t have my phone either. The last time I had it, I’d handed it to Charli.

I didn’t want to make a call—I was confident Deloris was on this. What I wanted was to open the necklace app, to see Charli’s blue dot flying toward New York. If I could be reassured that she’d done as I wanted, I could concentrate on the shitstorm around me.

Just then, the door opened and I stood, stunned and surprised that I recognized the first man to enter. I’d spoken with him only a few days before.

“Mr. Demetri.”

I extended my hand. “Mr. Crawford. I didn’t expect you.”

He tilted his head to the left. Beside him was a tall man with dark skin and intelligent eyes. “This is Daryl Owen.”

We shook hands.

“As you may recall,” Stephen Crawford said, “I’m a law student, not an attorney, yet my new internship is with the practice of Preston, Madden, and Owen here in Savannah. When I received the call from your assistant, Mrs. Witt, I called Mr. Owen, one of the partners. He agreed to take your case.”

“Mr. Demetri,” Mr. Owen said.

“Lennox,” I corrected. “Thank you, Mr. Owen. I appreciate your coming out at this time of night.”

The two men sat across from me at a small metal table.

“I’ll be frank,” Mr. Owen said. “Before the detective comes in, you should know that aggravated battery, in the state of Georgia, faces between one and twenty years in prison and a fine up to $100,000. No one has claimed that you used a firearm, which is in your favor.”

“Aggravated battery? I hadn’t been told my charge.”

“They read you your rights?”

“Yes.”

He nodded and jotted down a few notes. “The detective is going to ask where you were this evening at approximately nine-thirty?”

“I’m not sure of the exact time, but I was at Montague Manor this evening. There was a big party.”

“Were you on the guest list?”

I smirked. “Most certainly, I was not.”

“Yet you were on private property?”

“I was.”

“Lennox,” Mr. Owen said, “we need you to be one hundred percent honest with us.”

“I am.”

“Why were you at Montague Manor?”

“To rescue my girlfriend.”

“Your girlfriend?”

“Yes.”

Mr. Owen and Stephen exchanged looks.

“Would your girlfriend be Mrs. Alexandria Spencer?”

The muscles in my neck tightened. “No. My girlfriend is Miss Alexandria Collins.”

Stephen opened a folder he’d placed on the table and retrieved a paper. Sliding it across the table, he said, “We wanted you to see this before the detective came in. Would this be the signature of your girlfriend?”

I bit the inside of my cheek as I read. Starting at the top, it read:

State of Georgia, County of Chatham. To any Clergy or any other person authorized to solemnize: You are hereby authorized and permitted to join the persons named below in matrimony.

Edward Bryce Carmichael Spencer and Alexandria Charles Montague Collins according to the Constitution and Laws of this State, and for doing so this shall be your sufficient…



I scanned down.

I hereby Certify, That Edward Bryce Carmichael Spencer and Alexandria Charles Montague Collins were joined together in matrimony on this 6th day of November…



My stomach knotted as I read yesterday’s date. Wait, it was now after midnight. That made it not yesterday, but two days ago.

The officiant named was Keith Townsend. It contained the court’s seal, and under his signature were both Edward’s and Charli’s signatures.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed the paper back across the table and looked Mr. Owen in the eyes. “I understand how that may look, but I promise you, they are not married. That’s not her signature.”

“And you know that because…?”

“Because she told me and I believe her.”

The door opened and the detective from the scene came in.

“Mr. Demetri, do you remember me? I’m Detective Holden.”

I nodded.

“I heard the answer regarding the marriage license of Edward Spencer and Alexandria Collins. Tell me, how do you explain her signature on this license dated yesterday?”

I didn’t look at Mr. Owen nor did I correct Detective Holden on the number of days since the signature. I looked directly at Stephen Crawford and said, “I think it was forged just like many other signatures that I’ve seen recently.”

“What other signatures?” Detective Holden asked.

“Detective, how is that relevant to the charges against my client?” Mr. Owen asked.