“That is correct.”
“Right, so if you look on your phone records, you can obviously see that text.” Pulling out another sheet of paper from his file he continued, “If you’ll notice on Mrs. DeFranco’s phone records, at 7:48 PM, your wife received a text from a number, that appears to be yours, asking her to meet you at your favorite place. Does your favorite place happen to be down at the docks, Mr. DeFranco?”
Shooting Martinez a look of disapproval, Sam quickly interjected. “Don’t answer that Brandon.”
Feeling empowered, Martinez shot back at her. “I’m sorry, Miss Brown, are you here for moral support or did you become a licensed attorney in the past week?”
Brandon appeared to be becoming more uncomfortable by the minute. He shoved the papers across the table. “Alright, what the hell is going on here?”
Sam stood from her seated position, her cheeks growing slightly red. “That’s what I would like to know. Is Brandon being detained or is he free to leave? Brandon, I think it’s time for us to leave.”
Anger took over his confused state. “No, wait a second, here. What are you saying, Detective? That I sent my wife a text asking her to meet me at the docks the night she died?”
Martinez was happy to have his attention. “It certainly appears that way at first glance.” He took hold of the phone record and placed it in front of Brandon pointing as he explained. “The text actually came from this number here. It was sent via a third party application to make the receiver believe it was sent from your phone. Funny thing is, it was sent from a phone that belongs to the Tribune.”
Brandon stood up and began to pace in the small room. “I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He leaned over the table and looked Martinez straight in his face. “I did not kill my wife!”
Allowing the moment to unfold, Martinez sat back and watched without saying anything. He saw the sweat forming on Brandon’s forehead and Sam’s nervousness forced her to stand in an attempt to calm Brandon down. She begged him, “Please, Brandon, it’s time to go...” As she placed her hand on his forearm he forcefully pushed her away.
“No! Enough of this!” Shutting his eyes he took a deep breath before sitting back down and glancing at the phone records again. “What do you mean, the text was sent from a third party app?”
Excited to explain it to him, Martinez leaned forward. “You see this number here? This is the number that actually sent the text to your wife’s phone. However, an app was downloaded onto that phone that allows the user to call or text any other number in disguise. Meaning, I can use the app right now to call your phone and make it appear to be your wife calling you. Or Sam. Or any other number I choose.”
Pulling out another piece of paper from his arsenal, Martinez said, “You know, not only was your wife murdered, she was pregnant at the time of her death.”
Sinking back into her chair, Sam grabbed her mouth with her hands and muttered, “Oh my God.”
Brandon did a double take. “She was what?”
His face grim, Martinez shook his head affirmatively. “I’m sure you were aware your wife was cheating on you, right? Was it yours or his? Do you even know?”
In fight or flight mode, Brandon chose to fight. “You know, I had no idea Pam was pregnant.” His head shook from side to side and a tear formed in the corner of his eye. “But I knew about Damian Burk. That’s what we were arguing about the night I was bogusly charged with domestic violence. Pam and I were already talking about divorce. That night solidified it. And then when SPD got involved, I made Pam a deal. She would help me with my article series, and I would sign the papers.”
Sam looked at him in terror. “Brandon, what the hell are you saying?”
Feeling ashamed, he explained himself. “Look, Pam and I had not been getting along for a while. I was hurt when I found out about Damian.” He looked at Martinez and stated absolutely, “But it didn’t make me want to kill her.” He paused for a moment. “I had an important article series about local law enforcement.”
Martinez rolled his eyes and curled the corner of his lips.
Brandon stopped and glanced at him. “No offense. It’s just business.” Turning back to his story he said, “I was working on it for months. Jim had everything approved. When SPD got involved in my life, it almost seemed to good to be true. I decided I would wrap up the series with my own personal experience. Pam agreed to help me. Figured she at least owed me that.” He sat back confident in his explanation of the chain of events. He turned his attention back to Martinez. “Hell, you guys already had me pegged as a wife beater, why on earth would I kill her?”
Sam looked up to the ceiling of the small room shaking her head as she defensively placed her arms across her breasts and took a deep breath attempting to hide the worry in her face.
His handsome face stern and filled with doubt, Martinez caught on to her body language, placed his strong forearms onto the table and crossed his fingers together. He starred Brandon down and said, “You know, that’s quite a story there Mr. DeFranco. I’m afraid it just doesn’t wash for me. See, I just delivered a warrant to your editor at the Tribune. Soon I’m going to have the phone records to the number I shared with you. There is no doubt the text your wife received luring her
