“I can’t remember anything,” he added with his eyes tightly shut as he shook his head. He started to sob uncontrollably.

“So what you’re telling me is that you aren’t sure if you killed these people?”

James looked up at the ceiling, his body now shaking with each sob until he opened his mouth to speak.

“I don’t know what I’m capable of,” he added before the weight of his words sank in, pushing him into an uncontrollable cry.

***

Tara and Warren stepped out into the hallway of the hospital. But just when the door closed, their eyes darted down the hall to where Sheriff Brady was briskly walking toward them with a short, middle-aged man that Tara had never seen before.

“So, how did it go?” she asked, when close enough.

She stood in front of them with an unwavering smile, revealing that she knew something that they didn’t yet. She quickly introduced them to the man standing next to her—the station’s psychiatrist.

Tara knew that the sheriff wanted James Hayden to be who they have been looking for all along. She wanted this to be over, as did Tara, and while James Hayden didn’t deny the allegations, Tara couldn’t help but wonder if he really did only steal the wallets and the camera, and all the other objects they found collected in his home. When he finally admitted to stealing, it was the first time Tara saw a flicker of genuineness as if he were telling the truth.

“Well,” Tara began, “he didn’t admit it, but he didn’t deny it either.”

Warren nodded. “There’s a good possibility it’s him though,” he chimed in. “Don’t you agree?” he asked Tara.

“Well, I—” Tara began, but she still wasn’t quite sure.

She needed more evidence to feel confident saying that she too knew it was him. The sheriff could sense Tara’s flicker of doubt and before she could even finish saying that she wasn’t too sure, Sheriff Brady spoke.

“My officers dug through that box of pills you found,” she began. “It looks like he was prescribed anti-psychotics.” She continued to explain that they had found bottles with his name on the labels. One of them, prescribed a couple weeks ago, had barely been touched, leading them to believe he wasn’t taking them.

“Would that cause a lapse in memory?” Tara asked, curious if maybe he was telling the truth when he said he didn’t remember.

Brady looked toward the psychiatrist who then shrugged.

“Not necessarily,” he confirmed. “But if he was taking any of the narcotics that were found in that box, that could potentially cause a lapse in memory, especially while withdrawing from anti-psychotics.”

Tara shared a quick glance with Warren. It certainly explained the lapse in memory, leading Tara to believe that maybe he wasn’t lying after all.

“Maybe he was telling the truth then,” Tara added.

But the sheriff just shook her head, before reiterating that he had a possible murder weapon and the victims’ belongings. They had enough to convict him.