Aaron, Harold, and Timmy are also in the cafeteria sitting at their usual table in the corner at the far north end. They find it is quieter there and most people leave them alone, allowing them to talk chess strategy or play games on their Ipads. It isn’t long before Brad McGivens comes strolling through the cafeteria.
“Hi ladies, anyone ready to go out this weekend,” Brad asks as he passes the table of Wendy and Katy.
Both girls just roll their eyes.
Brad gets to Aaron’s table and sits down across from Aaron, next to Timmy.
“So?” asks Brad. “Did you get a response?”
Aaron hands Brad his phone.
“Well, that’s good, at least she is interested,” states Brad. “Let’s see what we can do today.”
“I’m not sure about this Brad,” says Aaron with a worried look.
“Trust me,” Brad quips back.
Brad types a new text message. Thank you for responding. I’m too shy to reveal who I am right now, but wanted you to know I admire how you play the violin and how nice you seem to be to everyone. I also find you attractive and would like to get to know you better. He then hits send.
“This is already embarrassing,” Aaron protests.
“Well why don’t you go over there, sit right down and ask her out then?” retorts Brad.
“That would be awkward for me,” says Aaron.
“Exactly numb nuts,” sighs Brad. “This is why I’m helping you. If she wasn’t interested, she wouldn’t have even asked who you were.”
Aaron didn’t like being called numb nuts, but he isn’t going to challenge Brad either. Besides, he kind of likes the idea that he is communicating with a girl, even though it isn’t him sending the texts.
Aaron’s phone buzzes with a new text message. Thank you for the kind words. Really would like to know who you are.
“See, we have her interest,” nods Brad. “Now, you want to stop?”
Aaron thinks about it for a minute. “No,” he says. While Aaron thinks it will be embarrassing once Wendy finds out who he is and rejects him, he is feeling an excitement he hasn’t experienced before. Maybe they can have a “texting” relationship?
Brad takes the phone again and types another message. In good time. For now, let’s just keep it mysterious. Your secret admirer ☺
After receiving the text, Wendy and Katy look around the cafeteria to see if they can see anyone who might be doing the texting. Is anyone looking at her? A couple of people glance their way, but nothing seems obvious. Who knows if the person is even in the cafeteria, but strangely, all the texts have come when they happen to be there.
Wendy can feel a sense of mystery and excitement. She isn’t sure what she is getting into, but it is something different from the norm. She isn’t so great at conversing with boys either, so this isn’t so bad. Still, she wants to know who this person is and has some concern someone is just pranking her, which could turn out to be very embarrassing.
That night, the Lincoln Wildcats complete their final regular-season football game by defeating the Westridge Panthers 38 to 7 to finish undefeated (10-0) and on top in their division. McGivens ran the ball 24 times for 214 yards and caught 3 passes for another 63 yards, finishing with 277 total yards. Their next game will be the following Saturday, November 14th, for the Tri-county League Championship against another powerhouse, Ford High School.
Afterward, McGivens and about half his teammates go to the usual after-game party in the corn field behind the country home owned by quarterback Chance Mahoney’s parents. The Mahoney family hosts the bonfire party after most games, weather permitting. So long as things do not get too much out of hand, the Mahoney’s let the boys and their girlfriends have their fun. It would sure be nice if Wendy was here with me, thinks Brad.
Saturday, November 7th
It is about 11:00 am and Aaron is working on his home computer finishing a paper for his history class when his phone rings.
“Hello,” answers Aaron.
“Hey, it’s me,” Brad responds. “Meet me at Johnson’s Café in thirty minutes.”
“Why? I’m busy,” says Aaron.
“Because we have to follow-up on your text,” explains Brad. “You can’t go all weekend without sending a message. You must cultivate these things. You can’t just leave a girl hangin’. You’re bad at this stuff, aren’t you?”
“I, uh…..can’t we wait till Monday?” Aaron asks.
“Hey, this girl likes you, so don’t blow it,” Brad says in an irritated voice. “I’m going out of my way to help you, so meet me at the café. It won’t take long.”
Aaron has never been this close to maybe having a girlfriend, and if she does like him, he doesn’t want to blow it.
“Okay,” says Aaron, “see you in thirty minutes.”
Johnson’s Café is about three blocks from the high school. It is a well-maintained café specializing in typical burgers, sandwiches, salads, meatloaf, and other comfort foods. It also has a good selection of ice cream and desserts. A little convenience store is attached on the west side and four gas pumps are out front. It has 20 tables that can seat 80 people. The café serves the neighborhood, and a number of high school students walk the three blocks for lunch every day, while others drop by after school for a soda or ice cream. Inside, the walls are decorated with Lincoln Wildcat posters and memorabilia from the baseball, basketball, and football teams.
Aaron drives his silver 2014 Toyota RAV4 to the café, arriving around 11:35 am. Brad is already inside seated at a table with two cokes in front of him. When Aaron walks in, Brad waves him over.
“Here, this one’s for you,” says Brad, as he moves one of the cokes in front of Aaron.
“Thank you,” replies Aaron.
“Now give me your cell phone,” demands Brad.
Aaron hands it over and Brad starts typing a text message. Hi Wendy, this is your secret admirer. I could not stop thinking about you last night. The more I know about you, the more I see what a nice person you are. If I wasn’t so shy around girls, I would call you right now so we could talk. I’ve never even had a girlfriend. It may take me some time, but please don’t give up on me. If you don’t want me to text anymore, I will stop.
“Brad,” Aaron says. “Why did you ask her if she wanted me to stop?”
“Because,” answers Brad, “it’s kind of creepy to be texting her anonymously and you don’t want to scare her. You gave her an option to stop if she wants to. This will make her more at ease.”
This makes sense, Aaron thinks. Brad does seem to know a lot about how to talk to girls. I would never know how to do this like he does. But will it work?
Brad and Aaron sit for a bit drinking their cokes waiting for a response. Brad starts talking about the football game from the previous night and how well he did, sharing statistics on his accomplishments. This of course bores Aaron to death and he has no idea about most of what Brad is talking about. His mind starts to drift off when his phone buzzes. Wendy has responded.
Aaron and Brad read the text. I’ve been thinking about you as well and trying to figure out who you are. I’ve never really had a boyfriend, so don’t feel embarrassed. We can just text for now if that is more comfortable for you.
“See,” says Brad. “She is interested in you as well. I told you I know how to get girls. We will have to set a meetup next week.”
“I’m not sure I’m ready for that,” Aaron responds.
“You will be by then,” Brad assures him.
Brad then sends another message from Aaron’s phone. I am busy most of this weekend, but will text you again next week.
Okay, look forward to it, responds Wendy.
Friday, November 13th, 5:00 pm
Detective Baker is now working with Officer Linda Ivey in gathering information on Lincoln High student Aaron Livingston. Ivey has found that Livingston is known as a good student with outstanding grades. He is also known as a shy kid, and while he does not seem to have many friends, two
close friends appear to be Timmy Goodman and Harold Best. Baker conducts a criminal history on Aaron Livingston and finds no record of him ever being in any legal trouble. And according to Principal Jenkins, Aaron has no disciplinary record at the high school. Baker obtains Livingston’s home address and learns that he lives with his mom on West Emory Street. Two vehicles are listed to Megan Livingston at that address. One, a 2018 white Ford Explorer, and a second, a 2014 silver Toyota RAV4.
“We will need to talk to this Aaron kid soon,” says Baker. “He may be the last one to see Wendy alive and is certainly a person of interest right now.”
“I could go pick him up right now if you’d like?” asks Officer Ivey.
Baker gives it some thought, but believes it is still too early. He wants to get the autopsy results and maybe some information from Wendy’s cell phone before contacting Aaron. He knows the more information they have, the better.
“No, let’s wait until we get more information on how she died, and maybe we can get something off her phone as well,” replies Baker. “Document everything you’ve told me in your report.”
By now, the death of Wendy Spire is the top story on all the local news channels. Students and parents have been interviewed on TV expressing sorrow, anger, and disbelief in how this could happen in a community like Rockville.
Chief Carson walks into the office, “What’s the latest Steve? I’ve got the press, parents, and school administrators calling me non-stop.”
“Should have something from the autopsy any time now,” Steve responds. “And we have more information about this Aaron Livingston, who may be the last person to have seen her, and maybe the one who killed her. But, too early to know right now.”
“Hey Steve!” shouts Officer Ivey. “Just got a call from Sgt. Thomas. He says the neighborhood canvass found a person who lives across the street from the school who saw several vehicles parked on the northeast end in front of the school. One of them caught his attention as it had someone in it, but he couldn’t tell who it was.”
“Can he describe the car?” asks the detective.
“Yeah, said it looked like a silver RAV4.”
Monday, November 9th
Wendy has shared her texts from the weekend with Katy Anderson. Katy sees the interest Wendy has developed in this mysterious secret admirer and hopes this is not some cruel joke being played on her friend. As is typical, Katy meets Wendy in the cafeteria on their lunch break. Wendy has not received any texts since Saturday and is concerned that maybe the texts have stopped.
“I’m not sure what to think,” ponders Wendy. “Seems like I would have gotten something by now.”
“Why don’t you text him?” Katy asks.
Aaron is in his usual spot in the cafeteria corner with Timmy and Harold, but he has not seen Brad today. Aaron glances in the direction of Wendy, wondering if she has any idea the texts have come from him. “Where is Brad?” Aaron wonders aloud.
“Maybe he was just pranking you,” Harold says. “You could just text her yourself.”
“I would have no idea what to say,” Aaron sighs.
Just then, his phone buzzes. Where have you been? Talk to me.
Wendy has texted him. Aaron feels his face flush, as he senses excitement and anxiety at the same time. How should he respond? If he texts her back now, what if she sees him and comes over to confront him? That would be so embarrassing. He doesn’t know what to say. Of course, neither Timmy nor Harold is any help in suggesting what he should say. He decides to let it go unanswered.
Later that afternoon, Brad approaches Aaron in the hallway between classes. “How’s it going kid?”
“Where were you?” asks Aaron. “She texted me today at lunch and I didn’t know what to say. You’re just setting me up.”
“Nooooo,” says Brad. “I was busy, besides, you can’t only text her at lunch hour. Won’t take her long to figure out it is you hiding in the corner texting her. What did she say?”
Aaron hands his phone to Brad.
“Okay, this is good. She wants you to keep texting. See? You just have to trust me.”
Brad starts typing a new text. Sorry, I have been busy. Thx for the text. Hope you had a good weekend. Looking forward to your concert. Like your music. Maybe we can meet to talk sometime soon.
“There, that should do it,” says Brad.
Aaron is relieved to have Brad’s help, but still not sure whether Brad’s efforts are genuine or if he is being set up for disappointment and humiliation. He wishes he had the confidence of Brad.
Brad tells Aaron, “Now ask her if she likes Taylor Swift’s music.”
“Huh?”
“I know she likes Taylor Swift. It will give you something in common.”
For the first time, Aaron types his own text to Wendy. She responds in minutes, expressing surprise he has heard her play the violin and that she does in fact like Taylor Swift.
“Now tell her you will text again tomorrow afternoon,” Brad tells Aaron. “I will meet you here tomorrow at the same time to help you out.”
Tuesday, November 10th
As promised, Brad meets Aaron on Tuesday afternoon and helps Aaron send additional texts to Wendy. They text back and forth about her upcoming orchestra concert, Aaron’s interest in seeing her play, Wendy’s favorite color (yellow), and their favorite foods.
Wendy is starting to feel an attraction to this mysterious secret admirer. She knows it is strange not to know who this person is, but there just seems to be a connection she can’t explain. She still has some anxiety over being played for a fool, but it has also provided her some unexpected thrill to have this secret admirer. After all, he seems like a nice person and they have some of the same interests. Plus, he has promised to soon reveal his identity and set a meetup to talk in person. She can hardly wait.
Friday, November 13th, 5:46 pm
Detective Baker receives a call from the Sheriff’s Computer Forensic Analyst. He learns that a preliminary examination of Wendy Spire’s cell phone revealed a string of texts over the past week with another student. The texts were initially anonymous, only identified as a “secret admirer,” but eventually revealed to be sent by Aaron Livingston. The texts talked of a meeting behind the school Thursday evening, the night of Wendy’s death. According to the analyst, Livingston appears to be obsessed with Wendy. This is not looking good for Livingston, thinks Baker.
At 6:05 pm, Detective Walker returns to the office with the preliminary results from the autopsy. The Coroner’s finding is that Wendy had been killed from strangulation. This was evidenced by redness and bruising about the neck area, vertical scratches on the neck, damaged cartilage, a broken hyoid bone (a U-shaped bone just under the tongue), and some petechial hemorrhaging (pinpoint rupturing of capillaries in the skin). The Coroner was impressed by the amount of damage to Wendy’s neck. The Coroner told Walker it took a lot of force to cause this much damage to the neck. Wendy’s neck was swabbed, and her nails scraped for potential DNA. There was no evidence of sexual assault. Toxicology and DNA samples were driven to the closest state crime lab in Grand Rapids by one of Rockville’s patrol officers. Walker had called and asked to have someone stay at the lab after hours to accept the evidence so that they would have it to analyze first thing Monday morning. Walker requested testing as soon as possible, given the situation in Rockville. The lab administrator said he would have someone get on it first thing Monday.
Baker shares the texting information obtained from Wendy’s cell phone. “It is looking like this Livingston kid is a person of interest.”
“Hell,” says Walker, “I’d call him a suspect at this point. We’ve got witnesses who have said he was meeting her last night, we find texts from him to Wendy, which from the sound of it he was obsessed with her, and we find a ring at the scene engraved with A.L.”
“Yeah,” Baker responds. “And his mom owns a silver Toyota RAV4. A car of that description was seen by a neighbor parked in front of the school on Locust.”
“Let’s put an officer outside his home to maintain surveillance,” suggests Walker. “We need to keep tabs on him and that silver Toyota until we can search the car and have a chat with Mr. Livingston.”
“I’ll have an officer assigned,” says Baker. He realizes things are quickly coming together and it will be a late night. His next task is to start working on a search warrant for the silver RAV4 and Livingston’s cell phone. “We better get some coffee brewing.”
Wednesday, November 11th
Brad’s plan seems to be working. Based on her texts, it appears Wendy is enjoying this secret admirer relationship he has orchestrated with Aaron. If I can get her to agree to a meetup with Aaron, I will have successfully won her over, thinks Brad. It doesn’t matter that Wendy doesn’t know he is the writer of the texts. It still gives him pleasure that he can win her over with his words. At the same time, it angers him to know that if Wendy had only given him a chance, he could have used the same approach he is using through Aaron.
At noon, Brad walks through the cafeteria and spots Wendy sitting with Katy at their usual table. He approaches them from behind, “How are you fine ladies doing today?”
“Same as always Brad, just fine,” responds Katy, as she rolls her eyes.
“You gals coming to the football game Saturday?” asks Brad. “You know it’s for the league championship, right? It would give me more motivation if I knew you were there Wendy.”
“You know I’m not interested in football,” sighs Wendy. “And I’m not interested in you either, so I would appreciate it if you would just leave us alone Brad.”
Brad just shakes his head. Little do you know just how interested you are in me, you just don’t know it yet, you bitch, Brad says to himself. “Okay ladies, you don’t know what you are missing.”
As Brad starts to leave, he slides Wendy’s yellow scarf off the back of her chair in a delicate sweep of his hand and slides it under his open jacket. Neither Wendy nor Katy notice. Brad swiftly walks away without saying another word.
Behind The Lies Page 10
