Behind The Lies

by Mark R Beckner

  “Brad who?” asks Baker.

  “Brad McGivens.”

  “So, Brad drove you to the school?” responds Baker.

  “No, I drove. I picked him up at Johnson’s”

  “Johnson’s Café?”

  “Yes.”

  “What time did you pick him up?”

  “About five-fifteen.”

  “What car were you driving?”

  “I drive the RAV4.”

  “And wasn’t it you who sent all these texts? Telling her how much you liked her and wanted to meet with her?” challenges Baker.

  “Yes, I mean no, not really.”

  “Explain,” says Baker.

  “Well,” Aaron explains, “Brad helped me with the texting. He started the texting, then later he started to dictate the texts to send her. He tried to set me up with Wendy, but in the end, she didn’t want to see me. I was nervous about doing this and then she made me feel humiliated.” Aaron starts to gently cry.

  “So, this really upset you?” asks Walker.

  “Of course, I was afraid that might happen. That’s why I didn’t go to school yesterday. I was too embarrassed and didn’t want to see her or my friends,” explains Aaron.

  “Is that why you grabbed her around the neck?” Walker asks as he leans in closer to Aaron.

  “No! I told you I wasn’t there! I would never hurt Wendy or anyone else.”

  “But you just told us you went there with Brad,” reminds Baker.

  “Yes, but not to the meetup. I waited in the car.”

  “Aaron would never hurt anyone,” interrupts Mrs. Livingston. “You need to talk to whoever Brad is.”

  “Oh, we will, and his story better match,” advises Walker. He then holds up a small plastic bag containing a gold ring. “Is this your ring Aaron?”

  “Yes.”

  “We found this near Wendy’s body. Can you explain that?”

  “Brad said I should give it to her as a show of sincerity or something like that.”

  “So, you gave her the ring Thursday night near the creek, right?” asks Walker.

  “No, no, Brad must have given it to her,” says Aaron in frustration.

  “How could he have given her your ring Aaron?”

  “I don’t, I don’t know…..maybe….maybe he took it with him,” stutters Aaron.

  “And how could he have done that?”

  “I told you I don’t know; it was in my car, maybe he took it.” Aaron guesses.

  “Your story is sounding pretty far-fetched Aaron,” says Walker.

  “Okay,” interrupts Baker, “You are telling us you sent all these texts to Wendy and set up a meeting with the help of Brad McGivens. There were a lot of texts Aaron. Then you drove to the school to meet Wendy Thursday night and Brad was with you, and it was him, not you, who went to meet Wendy while you waited in the car. This was after you spent over a week trying to get her to meet with you. You don’t know what happened to Wendy, but your ring was at the scene. How does this make sense Aaron?”

  “I’m telling the truth!” exclaims Aaron. “It was Brad who met her, not me.”

  “Did you ask Brad what happened?” inquires Baker.

  “He just came back, got in the car, and said she decided not to see me. It was embarrassing, and I just wanted to go home.”

  “Tell us what happened to Wendy’s shoe.”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  “She was missing a shoe, Aaron. I doubt she went to school with one shoe on.”

  “Will we find the shoe in your car Aaron?” asks Walker.

  “No, of course not,” replies Aaron.

  “And the yellow scarf, you texted that you had her yellow scarf, is that true?”

  “I did,” answers Aaron, “Brad gave it to me to give to Wendy.”

  “Wait a minute,” says Walker, “I thought you texted that you found it?”

  “Yeah, but Brad told me to say that.”

  “Where is the scarf now?”

  “I’m not sure, I think Brad may still have it.”

  “This is a wild story you’re telling us, Aaron. I hope Brad can confirm all this,” warns Baker.

  “Alright detectives,” Mrs. Livingston interrupts, “I think Aaron has told you all he knows, and he is obviously terribly upset over all this. He didn’t kill that girl. I know my son and he would never do anything like that! You need to talk to this Brad fellow.”

  “We will,” Walker again assures her, “and thank you for answering our questions Aaron. Now, we have search warrants for Aaron’s cell phone and the Toyota RAV4 parked out front. Here are the warrants. Aaron, you need to give us your cell phone now and Mrs. Livingston, we are going to tow your vehicle to the police department for a search and processing.”

  The detectives collect and bag Aaron’s cell phone and a tow truck takes the silver Toyota RAV4 to the police department. The detectives give both Aaron and his mother their business cards and tell them to call if they have or remember anything else.

  As they are walking back to their cars, Baker asks Walker, “what do you think Don?”

  “His story sounds too incredible to be true. And did you see how nervous he was? I think he was so embarrassed and humiliated by Wendy’s rejection he just lost it.”

  By 9:20 am, both detectives are back at the station searching the suspect vehicle. On the floorboard of the back seat, the detectives find a pair of black leather gloves and a female’s yellow scarf.

  “Well look at this Don,” says Baker as he holds up a light blue, New Balance right foot tennis shoe he finds wrapped in the yellow scarf.

  “That could be the smoking gun right there,” responds Walker. “I’ll bet he took it as a trophy to remember her by.”

  A cursory search of Aaron’s cell phone confirms that the messages to Wendy Spire had come from his phone. There is no question Aaron had suggested and agreed to a meeting with Wendy Thursday night behind the school.

  “Okay,” says Baker, “let’s get these items to the lab today for processing early next week. I’ll bet we find the victim’s DNA on these black gloves.”

  By the time the detectives finish processing the vehicle and getting evidence labeled and bagged, it is almost noon. Walker gives the Chief a call to update her on the case.

  “The Chief is pleased with our progress on the case,” says Walker. “I get the impression she would like to see Livingston arrested as soon as possible to bring some calm to the community. But she also agrees we need to first talk to McGivens.”

  “Yeah, let’s wrap it up here and go find McGivens,” replies Baker.

  The administrations of both Lincoln and Ford high schools decide to proceed with the championship game on Saturday night. The Michigan High School Athletic Association allowed the school administrators to make the decision, but did advise them that logistically, the high school playoffs cannot be postponed the following week. Both schools have hopes of making the state playoffs with a win this Saturday, thus it is important to play the game. The game will be played at 6:00 this evening. Brad is resting at home in preparation for the game when someone rings the doorbell at 1:10 pm.

  Brad lives with his two parents, Mike and Brenda McGivens, in a two-story Tudor-style brick home located in the older part of Rockville. The neighborhood is considered a wealthier, attractive area of town after the gentrification process over the last 15 years. The inside of the home is nicely decorated in a contemporary style with a large kitchen, dining room, and large open living room. The upstairs has been remodeled, combining three bedrooms into a huge master suite with a large master bath and walk-in closet, an office for Mr. McGivens, and a large library/reading/TV room. Brad’s bedroom is located on the main floor next to one of two downstairs bathrooms. The backyard has a large, covered patio bordering a kidney-shaped swimming pool.

  Brenda McGivens is a nurse at the local hospital and Mike McGivens owns and operates the popular McGivens Farm Equipment and Supply on the north side of town. T
his store provides farming goods and supplies for most of the farmers within a three-county area, as well as a healthy income for the McGivens family. Brad is the only child for Mike and Brenda, and they provide all they can for him. They are also immensely proud of Brad’s athletic skills and attend every game they can. They serve as athletic boosters for both the baseball and football teams. Brad probably gets his athletic skills from both parents, as they were both involved in athletics in high school. However, his mom Brenda has the most ability, as she played women’s basketball at Ferris State College and was the team’s leading scorer her last two seasons. Both parents are looking forward to Saturday’s playoff game. Brenda is home with Brad, while Mike is traveling back from a farming equipment conference in Des Moines, Iowa. He will be back in time for the game.

  Mrs. McGivens answers the door and is surprised when Baker and Walker introduce themselves as detectives and wish to talk to Brad.

  “What is this about?” she asks.

  “We would like to talk to Brad to find out what he knows about Wendy Spire and her death,” replies Baker.

  “He knows nothing about her death. How would he know anything about that? And this is a bad time, he has an important game to get ready for, or haven’t you heard?”

  “We know, Mrs. McGivens,” answers Baker. “However, this is important as well, and we have information that Brad is a friend of the person who may have killed Wendy, and Brad may have even helped set them up for a meeting.”

  “I’m sure he had nothing to do with that,” Mrs. McGivens states. “Okay, ask your silly questions and make it quick, he needs to mentally prepare for tonight.”

  Baker gives a quick glance toward Walker as if to say, can you believe this? “We’ll be as fast as we can, thank you.”

  When asked about his relationship with Aaron and Wendy, Brad admits that yes, he was helping Aaron text Wendy. He explains that Aaron was too shy to approach girls himself and had wanted to get to know Wendy, but didn’t know how to go about it. Brad agreed to help Aaron with his texting. The idea of a meeting after school was Aaron’s idea. Brad denies any knowledge of Wendy’s death until he heard about it on Friday. He never thought Aaron would harm Wendy.

  “Brad,” says Baker, “Aaron told us you went with him to meet Wendy and to make the introduction.”

  “No, that’s not true,” Brad answers. “I only helped with some texting and ideas on how to talk to Wendy. I knew he was meeting with her, but I wasn’t there.”

  “Not only were you there, but you left Aaron in the car and went to see Wendy yourself,” Baker retorts.

  “Not at all, I came home after practice and was here the rest of the night.”

  “That’s true,” chimes in Mrs. McGivens. “He came home from practice at about four-thirty, ate some dinner, then stayed in his room doing some schoolwork and listening to music.”

  “What do you know about a yellow scarf?” asks Walker.

  “I don’t know anything about a yellow scarf, why?”

  “Did you ever talk to Wendy yourself?” Walker continues.

  “Sure, I would see her from time to time and talk a bit.”

  “Some of her friends say you were harassing her.”

  “No,” then Brad pauses for a bit, “in a teasing way, sometimes I would ask her to go out with me, but I never harassed her about it. It was all friendly.”

  “Do you know anything about a gold ring Aaron had?” asks Walker.

  “He showed me a ring with his initials and said he wanted to give it to Wendy Thursday night,” says Brad. “Look, if I had known he was going to harm Wendy in any way, I would not have helped him with the texts. I feel awful about this. She was my friend too.”

  “Did you go to Johnson’s Café Thursday night?” Walker continues.

  “Detectives!” interrupts Mrs. McGivens, “he has already told you he was not involved, and I’ve told you he was home all night, so he could not have had anything to do with Wendy’s death. Now, is that all?”

  Walker looks back at Brad, “I notice a fairly good scratch on your left cheek Brad. Mind telling me how you got that?”

  “Uh, yeah, that was from practice on Thursday. Someone got his hand in my mask and scratched my face. No big deal,” answers Brad.

  “One more thing,” Baker states, “we need to examine your cell phone Brad. We need to know what, if any, texts you sent to Wendy or Aaron. You can give us permission, or we can get a search warrant if needed.”

  Mrs. McGivens begins to object, but Brad interrupts, “It’s okay mom, they can look at it. There’s nothing on it.” Brad then hands Baker his cell phone.

  “We’ll get this back to you as soon as possible,” assures Baker.

  On the way back to the station, Walker states, “his story is a lot different than Aaron’s.”

  “I agree,” sighs Baker. “And he does have a pretty good alibi, unless his mom is lying through her teeth.”

  Back at the station, Baker goes through Brad’s cell phone messages and phone calls. He confirms Brad was truthful about not sending any texts or making any calls to Wendy’s phone, but does find a couple of calls between Brad and Aaron. This does not seem unusual, given that both Brad and Aaron admit to working together on the texting to Wendy.

  After about 30 minutes of reviewing notes, Walker gets a call from Officer Ivey. She had been sent to the Spire home with a photo of the yellow scarf found in Livingston’s car. She advises Walker that all three family members identified the scarf as the one belonging to Wendy.

  Baker and Walker review what they have and believe they now have probable cause to arrest Livingston for the murder of Wendy Spire. With nothing tying Brad to the crime, and with his mother providing a solid alibi, there is no reason to believe Aaron’s story pointing the finger at Brad. They meet with Chief Carson to review the case.

  “It sure looks like probable cause to me,” agrees Carson. “And with the media frenzy and fear in this town right now, it would be nice if we could put people at ease with an arrest. Do we have any other theories?”

  “Only the story Aaron told about McGivens, but that didn’t pan out,” says Walker. “We have no evidence that Brad was there other than Aaron saying he was, and Mrs. McGivens swears he was home all evening. He may have inadvertently helped set that poor girl up for her death.”

  Baker chimes in, “not only that, but we found Wendy’s yellow scarf and tennis shoe in Livingston’s car. Aaron lied to us about both items, telling us he didn’t know anything about the shoe or where the scarf was. Yet, we found both in his car.”

  “Okay, I think we need to get him in custody before anything else happens. It won’t be long before his name leaks out and then all hell will break loose,” advises the Chief.

  Saturday, November 14th 5:30 pm

  Detectives Baker and Walker are at the door of the Livingston home. Mrs. Livingston answers the door.

  “Mrs. Livingston, I’m sorry to tell you we have a warrant to place Aaron under arrest for the murder of Wendy Spire,” announces Baker.

  “Why?” she asks, “he told you what happened. He did not kill that girl.”

  “We have evidence that ties him to the crime ma’am. We need to see Aaron now.”

  Aaron can overhear the conversation and walks to the door. He is crying and quietly says, “I didn’t kill Wendy, please believe me.”

  “Aaron, you’re under arrest for the murder of Wendy Spire,” advises Baker. He then places Aaron in handcuffs and leads him out the door to a waiting patrol car. Aaron is first taken to the police station where he is fingerprinted, and his mouth swabbed for DNA. He is then taken to the juvenile detention center.

  Thirty minutes after Aaron’s arrest, Brad McGivens is with the football team getting ready for the kickoff of the championship game against Ford High School. A win will send them to the state playoffs. However, Brad is having trouble focusing on the game. He has been a nervous wreck since talking with the detectives earlier in the day. Now, he can’t s
eem to get Wendy’s murder off his mind. He worries the detectives still think he was somehow involved. He is not the only one having trouble focusing on the game. Wendy’s death created a pall among the students that has carried over to the team. They do not perform well.

  Brad has the worst game of his junior and senior years, rushing for only 68 yards and catching 2 passes for another 22 yards. He drops the 4 other passes thrown his way. The Lincoln Wildcats end up losing the championship game by a score of 28-14. They will not be going to the state playoffs.

  Thursday, November 12th

  At 5:00 pm, Aaron leaves his home to go pick up Brad at Johnson’s Café. He is both nervous and excited over finally meeting and talking to Wendy. His fear is probably greater than excitement at this point. Will she even show up,? he wonders. Is Brad actually going to help introduce me? Aaron arrives at Johnson’s Café at about 5:10 pm and parks on the south side of the building. He waits for Brad.

  At about the same time, Brad is at home having just finished some dinner. He tells his mom he is tired and has some schoolwork to do, game plans to review, and that he’s going to his bedroom to listen to music while getting his work done. “Okay, if I don’t see you, have a good night,” she tells him.

  Brad retreats to his bedroom and cranks up some music, loud enough for his mom to hear. He then opens the bedroom window and climbs out, as he has done before when wanting to leave without his parents knowing. It is cold outside, so he takes his winter jacket and black leather gloves to keep himself warm for the walk. If he walks quickly, it will only take him about 15 minutes to get to Johnson’s Café.

  It is now 5:15 pm and Brad is not there. Aaron begins to believe Brad is not coming. Then, suddenly there is a tapping on the passenger window. “Unlock the door,” says Brad. Brad then hops into the front passenger seat.

  “You ready for your big night?” Brad asks.

  “I guess, as ready as I will ever be.”

  “Good, I see you have the scarf. Let’s go then!”

  As Aaron drives toward the school, Brad sees Aaron’s ring on the console of the car. “Is this yours?” Brad asks as he holds and admires the ring.