A Timely Murder

by Max Parrott

  He shrugged.

  "Sandra is an actress at heart," he said. "She pretended to love me, and I fell for it. She pretended to want to marry and have a child, and I fell for that as well. After that, when she knew she was anchored to me, she stopped pretending. She showed her true reptilian self. But now that Oliver is gone, she's pretending again. She knows how to use her crocodile tears. I don't know the true Sandra. She probably doesn't even know herself. Maybe there's nothing there at all... just a blank shell full of nothing but the base needs of a human being. Food, water, air, distraction. Do I think she could have killed my son? Yes. Do I think she actually did it? I don't know. I have no evidence to support it."

  "Nothing?" Jasmine asked.

  He shook his head. "Sorry."

  "Do you think she could have done it to spite you?"

  He laughed at that. "To spite me? The prerequisite of that is she would have to hate me first. But for her to truly hate me, she would have had to care about me in any way at one point or another. If she did do it, it wasn't to get back at me. That's for sure. She doesn't care. I'm sure I rarely enter her thoughts at all."

  There was silence for a moment, filled only by the soft noise of Barrett's pen gliding over paper.

  "To coincide with Sandra's change in demeanor," Lyle went on, "Oliver went through his own change, in the days leading to his death."

  "What sort of change?" asked Jasmine.

  "He seemed... avoidant. He didn't speak to me as often. We rarely saw him except here at Pineapple, which I suppose he saw as safe harbor. Enough witnesses and bystanders that nothing could happen."

  "What was he worried about? What did he think could have happened?"

  "I really don't know. Another blowup between Sandra and I, maybe. I've made my peace with who I'm married to a long time ago, but she is truly a spoiled brat. If she doesn't get what she wants from me, presents and all that, she'll get nastier and nastier until I relent. It causes fights now and then."

  "If I could butt in really quick," Barrett said, "it sounds like you hate this woman. Why not get a divorce?"

  "Because by law she owns half of everything," Lyle said. "I might as well kiss Pineapple goodbye, even though I'm the one who created it, made it what it is... that's the legal system for you. Besides, I'm making it all out to be worse than it is. We fight now and then, but most of the time we get along. I guess it would be more accurate to say we coexist peacefully. She doesn't bother me, and I don't bother her."

  Jasmine nodded. "But if she killed Oliver..."

  Lyle frowned. "That would change everything. It would take a half dozen cops to keep me from my revenge. It would also mean I could divorce her without giving up anything but... I would trade it all to have my son back."

  He frowned, sniffing once, and that seemed to be all the emotion he was prepared to display. Perhaps if he was at home, and not in this professional environment, he would have behaved more genuinely.

  "Is there anything else?" he asked. "I'm afraid I can produce no damning evidence at the moment."

  "There's one more thing," said Jasmine. She pulled the baggie of her backpack and showed it to Lyle. "Is this your wife's ring?"

  He nodded with hesitation. "That's the one. Cost a fortune, but back then I thought she was worth it. I hadn't even noticed it was missing. How did you come across it?"

  Jasmine looked at Barrett. The question now was, how much should they reveal to Lyle? There was no right or wrong answer, and Barrett nodded to show her it was up to her own discretion.

  She turned the bag around. "Whose handwriting do you think this is?"

  Lyle narrowed his eyes and sat forward to look more closely. But it didn't take him long to answer.

  "It looks like Oliver's," he said. "I can't be sure, but it does look like it. Do you mind telling me what this is all about?"

  He seemed to be sweating now. His heart must be racing. Thoughts must be whirling through his mind at a million miles per hour. But why not? What parent wouldn't be sweating, or experiencing palpitations when they were faced with these things?

  "I can tell you," said Jasmine. "Professor Alan Keller claims someone left this ring and this note on his desk. I don't know how to figure out this mess I'm in. Hopefully someone will come along who does. Hold on to this for me. I can't trust anyone else right now. That's what the note says. Does it mean anything to you?"

  Lyle shrugged. But it was not the casual, almost flippant shrug he would have given a few minutes ago. It was a heavy gesture, loaded with weight, and as his shoulders sunk the rest of him seemed to sink right along with them.

  "It could mean any number of frightening things, couldn't it?" he asked. "But maybe it's safe to assume that the most likely and natural explanation is also the right one. Oliver felt he was trapped between Sandra and I. Trapped between love for his father and love for his mother. I think it was probably something like that. As for why he would take his mother's ring and give it over to someone... I don't really know."

  Especially to someone who disliked him, Jasmine thought.

  But then again, he might not have known that Keller disliked him. Maybe Oliver respected the professor quite a lot, trusted him more than anyone else... If he was as forgiving and caring as Lyle made him out to be, this seemed perfectly possible.

  At any rate, it was almost sad to see the mighty Lyle Bridges in such a state. Collapsing in on himself, falling to pieces. It was like watching a strong, sturdy bridge, which you've driven across a hundred or a thousand times, suddenly being swallowed up and ripped to shreds by a flood. She decided now would be the time to leave.

  "Thank you very much, Mr. Bridges," she said, standing up. "I appreciate the time you've given us. And I really mean that."

  He smiled and nodded absently as she and Barrett made their way out.

  "Do you think he'll be okay?" Barrett asked.

  "That depends," said Jasmine. "If it turns out Sandra killed Oliver, I don't think he will be."

  "But we have to be open to the possibility, right?"

  She nodded. "The truth will win out, in the end."

  Chapter 9

  For the second time in recent memory, Jasmine found someone waiting outside her apartment door. This time it wasn't Joe. This time, it was someone whose face was wet not from sweat or from rain, but from tears.

  "Alicia," Jasmine said, wrapping the girl in a hug. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. I was worried about you."

  Alicia seemed oddly defensive, refusing to return the hug and even step away from him. From behind Jasmine, Officer Barrett cleared his throat awkwardly.

  "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked.

  "Do what?" Jasmine asked.

  His eyes flicked over to her. "I was asking her."

  Jasmine turned her head, staring into her friend's eyes. Or trying to. Alicia could not meet her gaze.

  "I'm sorry, Jasmine," she choked out through suppressed tears.

  "For what?" Jasmine asked.

  Alicia's chin trembled. "I was just walking around campus when a police car pulled up. They asked me if I could help them with something. They were asking a lot of people. But..."

  "You were the one who identified that tag from my backpack," Jasmine said.

  Alicia nodded. "I'm the reason you got arrested. I'm sorry, Jasmine. I'm so, so sorry."

  "For what?" Jasmine asked with a smile. "For telling the truth? You didn't do anything wrong."

  "Of course I did!" Alicia replied.

  "But you didn't," said Jasmine. She turned away, leaning on the railing. She stared over the edge, out across the rain-soaked parking lot. "Actually, you helped me out. I'm starting to see something, now. I think I'm starting to figure something out... but it's too early to really tell."

  Her heart was thumping. Her mind was racing as she tried to drag that creeping suspicion up to the front of her mind and shine an analytical light on it. Like a name or a word dancing on the tip of her tongue, she couldn't quite figure out
what she was feeling. It was the most frustrating feeling in the world.

  Suddenly, her thumping heart started to beat faster. Her vision narrowed in toward a point, and she felt a strange chill passing over her.

  Another vision was coming.

  Jasmine felt her legs going weak. She started to fall forward slowly, leaning out over the railing further and further like a drunk at a party. The last thing she saw before her eyes clouded over completely was the hard ground below. In another second, she was going to topple over into thin air.

  Fear passed through her like an electric current. She caught her feet on the floor beneath her and jerked herself back. At the same time, she felt Barrett and Alicia both grabbing her from behind to help out. She stumbled backward a bit, knocking against a column. Her vision filtered back in, and her heart rate slowly returned to normal.

  She hadn't seen anything. The vision had passed her by, offering none of its secrets.

  If she had been alone, she would have cursed and punched the closest available surface. Potentially vital information had just flown straight past, irretrievable. What was she going to do now?

  "Sorry about that," she made herself say. "I was just trying to get inside Oliver's head. What he must have been thinking right before he fell. I guess I started to slip, though. The railing's pretty slick."

  They seemed to buy it, or else they decided it wasn't worth questioning her further.

  She turned to Alicia. "As long as you're on the topic of telling the truth... do you think there's anything else you want to get off your chest? Anything you want to explain?"

  Alicia took a deep breath. "I guess there could be a couple things."

  Barrett gestured toward the apartment door. Jasmine took the spare key out of her bag and opened it up. They stepped inside, removing their wet shoes, and sat together in the tiny living room.

  "Last time I was here," Alicia said, "I was in a dark place. Not as dark as the place I went to right afterward but... pretty dark."

  "Did it have something to do with Oliver?" Jasmine asked.

  Alicia laughed, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. "It had everything to do with Oliver. Have you ever met my sister, Jasmine?"

  "I've seen her a few times," Jasmine replied. "We don't have any of the same classes, obviously."

  Alicia nodded. "She's beautiful, isn't she?"

  "I guess so."

  "She's prettier than I am."

  "I don't know about that."

  Alicia shrugged. "Well, I think most people think she is. Including Oliver. He was in love with my sister, Jasmine. He was too shy to ever show it around, but I found out. I caught him writing a love letter to her one day. Then I found a whole stash of them in Morgan's room. When she caught me looking at them, she laughed and told me all about how this weird, quiet kid at school had a crush on her. She thought it was all a big joke. And now I'm starting to see that it is, isn't it? A big old cruel cosmic joke! She had his love, and she treated it like garbage. And I was in love with Oliver... he was everything I ever wanted. But he barely knew I was there."

  She shrugged, letting out a long sigh that stuck and shuddered in her chest for a moment.

  "So," she went on, "that's what I was freaking out about that night, Jasmine. Me and Morgan were texting about Oliver. I was trying to convince her to help me out. I thought maybe if he couldn't have her, he could settle for me. It was stupid and I knew it, but I couldn't help but try. She just wouldn't help me out. She refused. She made fun of me..."

  "I'm sorry, Alicia," Jasmine said.

  "You've got nothing to be sorry about. I do. I've been a mess. Oliver and I never talked more than thirty seconds at a time, and here I am crying over him like he was my husband. Missing school, tanking my grades. God, I'm such an idiot."

  "No you're not," Barrett suddenly interjected. "When I was your age, I got in a fight to try and win over a girl I liked. I got my butt kicked, and she still didn't like me afterward. That was stupid. You can't help the things you feel, Alicia. Feelings aren't really ours to control, even though we sometimes wish they were."

  Jasmine looked back at the officer, giving him a nod. "I was trying to think of what to say, but I guess that does it."

  He returned her nod. "I've got your back. Sometimes I arrest burglars. Sometimes I rescue ducklings from sewer drains. And sometimes I give love advice. It's all part of the job."

  "Well, thanks, both of you," Alicia said. "I feel a lot better now, actually. I wish Oliver was still here, but..." She shrugged. "I don't have the power to bring him back. I'll just have to live with that. Along with what I did to you, Jasmine."

  Jasmine scooted closer, giving her friend another hug. This time it was returned in earnest.

  "How many times am I going to have to say it?" Jasmine said. "You didn't do anything wrong. I'm fine, I promise. And I don't care if I have to keep saying it forever, Alicia. I'm fine."

  She nodded, sobbing in Jasmine's arm and soaking the shoulder of her shirt with tears.

  There were noises outside the apartment door. Footsteps, and paw steps. Dog claws clicking on the balcony. The door opened; Joe and Luffy came in, both looking wet and quite haggard.

  But the dog filled back up with energy as soon as he saw who was inside. He grinned from ear to ear and sprinted forward, leaping five horizontal feet to land like a crazy ball of fur straight in Jasmine's lap.

  "You're alive!" he said.

  "I was only in jail," she replied. "I wasn't dead."

  "I heard dogs perceive time differently because they don't live as long," said Barrett. "To them it really does feel like we're gone forever when we go to the store or whatever."

  "Thanks for reminding me of my mortality, officer," Luffy remarked. "Jasmine! You'll never guess what happened..."

  He proceeded to explain it all to her. How he had taken Joe for a ride, the things he had seen and heard. Meanwhile, everyone else in the apartment engaged in an awkward chorus of hellos and how-are-yous. Joe looked like the most uncomfortable man in the world, and he kept glancing at Jasmine, begging with his eyes for her to rescue him. But she was too busy listening to the dog's story, a testimony that no one else could hear.

  When Luffy was finished, Jasmine leaned her head back and tried to figure out two things at once. Her mind was split into two different trains of thought. One of them tried to discern what Luffy's observations meant. The other tried to determine how to broach it all with Barrett and the others without it seeming like she had plucked information out of thin air.

  Maybe, she thought, she would keep them in the dark for now. She smiled as a plan came into her mind fully formed. A way forward, a way to wrap all of this up. Of course there was one crucial piece of information missing - the perpetrator. But she would just have to have faith in herself.

  "Barrett," she said, finally breaking into the dying conversation. "I need to ask you another favor. You got me out of my classes at Wildwood for a week. Now I need you to get everyone else back at Wildwood."

  He sat forward, nodding. "Just tell me when."

  "No time like the present," she said.

  He glanced at his watch. "It's almost nine o'clock, Jasmine."

  "What's your point?" she asked. "We don't want to interrupt classes, do we? This seems like the perfect time."

  Barrett shrugged. "If that's what you think is best. Who do we want to be there?"

  "Let's see," Jasmine said. She pulled the old list out of her bag. The one Barrett had originally given her. She read the items out loud. "Lyle Bridges. Sandra Bridges. Joe Sanderson. Alan Keller."

  Joe stepped forward, craning his neck to peer at the list.

  "What is that?" he asked.

  "A list of suspects," said Jasmine. "Don't worry. I think we can pretty much cross your name off."

  She took out a pen, but she didn't cross any names off. Instead, she wrote in the number five beneath the last item on the list.

  "Who else?" she asked. "Obviously we want Elden DuPont
to be there."

  She wrote in his name, then moved on.

  "Charles Dane," Barrett suggested.

  Jasmine nodded and added it in.

  "Charles?" Alicia asked.

  "We have our reasons," said Jasmine. "We can also add Sampson Hawke, for reasons that will become clear to you all soon. Then we can also had Lucille Whitaker and her husband."

  "Why them?" Alicia asked.

  "Just trust us," Barrett said with a smile. "Who else, Jasmine?"

  "Obviously, you and I and Alicia will be there as witnesses," she said. She turned to her friend. "If you want to come, anyway."

  Alicia nodded, giving the thumbs up.

  "Anyone else?" asked Barrett.

  Jasmine thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No. I think this is it." She tapped the list with her finger. "If someone did kill Oliver Bridges, their name is on this list."

  "Hold on," said Luffy. "You didn't add me. Don't you think I could have killed him?"

  Smiling, Jasmine leaned forward and scrawled on last name on the list. Everyone burst out laughing.

  "This is ridiculous, isn't it?" Barrett asked.

  "Yes," said Jasmine. "But it's kind of fun, too."

  "Speak for yourselves," Joe said miserably.

  Barrett stood up and gave the drifter a pat on the back. "Chin up, Joe. You're off the hook until Jasmine says differently. If you come through this clean, I'll see what I can do to get you some work around here."

  Joe nodded, letting out his breath. "Okay. Let's do it."

  ***

  It wasn't easy as it seemed to get everyone gathered at Wildwood. They had to get Sandra's phone number off Lyle who they had trouble reaching due to a sudden late rush at Pineapple. However the restaurant closed at ten that night, and he promised he would be along with Sandra in short order.

  Sampson Hawke proved equally tricky to wrangle in. He didn't answer his phone calls. Finally, Barrett had to look up his address and stop by his place to ask him to come to Wildwood. Jasmine, riding along in the passenger seat of the cruiser, was able to get a look at the house and confirm that it was the one from her vision.