Fatal Footsteps

by Brenda Donelan

  “Me neither. Luckily, neither of us have this problem,” Marlee said. “I can’t imagine what Beth was going through. I didn’t even know she was seeing some guy that was in a band. Did you?”

  “No. I see Beth all the time, but it’s always out at the bars or parties. She’s never really with any guys. She just sort of floated around and talked to everyone, and then she was gone,” said Jasmine.

  “And then she was gone,” echoed Marlee.

  A little before 2:00 pm the next day, Marlee left for the library to meet Officer Stevens. The building was abuzz with students researching topics, writing papers, studying for exams, and talking to each other about happenings from the previous night. She weaved her way through the clusters of people to the enclosed rooms and found the police officer standing in one with the door ajar.

  She dared not tell Barry that her friends busted her last night as she called him from the dorm lobby. Even though she hadn’t revealed his name or any of the information he’d passed on to her, he would be skeptical and might end their agreement.

  At his request, Marlee gave the long version of Beth’s supposed pregnancy disclosure. “I don’t know if it’s true. For all I know, Cami made it up just to act important.”

  “You need to talk to Cami yourself, in private. Try to figure out if she’s being truthful. Also, find out more about Beth’s boyfriend that dumped her,” Barry directed.

  “Got it. I’ll get as much detail as I can,” Marlee assured.

  “The other thing I need you to do is stay in close contact with the guys living at the house where the party took place. Act like you’re just there to console them, but find out everything you can, especially about Blake.” Barry flipped open a small notebook, glancing at it.

  “Okay. I’ll go back over tomorrow to chat. I’m friends with one of the guys that lives there, so I really would be there to give them moral support,” Marlee said.

  “Sure. Whatever,” Barry said, flipping through the pages in his notebook.

  “Anything new that you’ve heard about the death investigation?” Marlee inquired. She’d offered up her information and expected Barry to do the same.

  “No, not yet. Tomorrow will be a big day because the autopsy will be completed. I go on duty early in the morning and should hear something during my shift. I’ll let you know after criminology tomorrow.”

  “Did you see anything that looked odd at the crime scene? I mean, was there anything that looked out of place or didn’t add up?” Marlee questioned.

  Barry scrunched up his face and ran a hand across his crew cut. “No, not really. I’ve been with the police department for eight years, and I’ve seen a few other instances when someone was found frozen to death. This case didn’t look much different.”

  “Is that what you think happened? She either fell down and couldn’t get up or passed out and then froze to death?” Marlee asked.

  “We know she was dead when she was found. We also know that by all accounts, she was drinking heavily last night. No blood or weapons were found at the scene. Of course, we won’t know until tomorrow whether there were injuries or trauma to the body,” Barry recited as if testifying in court.

  “I have a feeling that there’s more to Beth’s passing away than just alcohol and cold weather. See you tomorrow afternoon in criminology,” Marlee said as they departed the study room and went their separate ways.

  When she arrived back at her dorm room, Jasmine was gone, but she’d left a note saying she was meeting with others from her class to begin work on a group project. Marlee did a fist pump in the air. She would have some time to herself, and with any luck, might be able to get together with Cami. Marlee pulled out the campus directory and located Cami’s room and telephone numbers. She chose to go to the room first, on the chance Cami would be there alone.

  Cami opened the door a crack and peeked out. Her eyes were blurry, and her short brown perm was matted on one side.

  “Sorry for waking you up. I was wondering if I could talk to you alone,” Marlee said. They were acquaintances only, so Marlee knew there was a strong chance Cami would blow her off.

  “My roommate is taking a nap too.” Cami motioned with her head toward the other side of the room. “We were taking a break from studying.” They agreed she would come to Marlee’s room in a few minutes.

  Cami showed up five minutes later, her eyes clear and her hair de-matted. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

  “Kristie and Jasmine said you told them about a conversation you had with Beth the night she went to the party. I wasn’t there, and I just wanted to hear about it directly from you,” Marlee said off-handedly.

  Always ready for attention, Cami launched into her story. “Beth and I were working some overlapping hours on Thursday. I noticed when I got to work she seemed really upset. Then she ran to the bathroom, and I found her there crying. She told me her boyfriend had broken up with her when she told him she was pregnant. I told her she should go home, so she called our boss and told him she wasn’t feeling well.”

  “Had Beth taken a pregnancy test or been to the doctor?”

  “I don’t know. She didn’t say,” Cami replied.

  “Did she say she was for sure pregnant or that she just thought she might be?” Marlee asked.

  Cami glanced around the room. “I don’t remember her exact words, but Beth really seemed to believe she was pregnant.”

  “Did you know her boyfriend or anything about him?”

  “I saw him a couple times when he stopped in at 7-11 to see Beth. He’s sort of scruffy-looking. He’s older and has long hair, but it’s not cool long hair. It’s stringy and kind of greasy-looking,” Cami reported.

  “Did he have a mustache?” Marlee asked, wondering if the mysterious boyfriend was the creepy roommate from Stairway to Hell.

  “No, he didn’t. If I saw him walking around town, I’d think he was homeless because he always wore this huge greenish-colored coat with a big hood on it. It had several cigarette burns and looked grimy,” Cami said.

  “What did Beth see in him? Did she talk about him to you?”

  “No, she never even called him by his real name. Beth just referred to him as Spark. I don’t know if he goes by that, or if that was a nickname only she used. I’d tease her about him after he’d leave 7-11, but she’d just smile and wouldn’t say much,” Cami said.

  “Was he in a band or something?” Marlee asked, recalling her conversation with Jasmine and Kristie.

  “I overheard them talking about him going out on the road. Then he made some music references, so I assumed he was in a band. I know he lived in the trailer park by the pool.”

  “How do you know where he lived?” Marlee asked.

  “Beth’s car wouldn’t start one night back in December when she got off work. I was in here picking up my check, and she asked if I’d drop her off at Spark’s place, and I did,” Cami said.

  “Could you find the place if we went over there?” Marlee asked.

  “I’m not sure. Maybe.” Cami was hesitant. Either she knew how to find the location and didn’t want to show Marlee, or she couldn’t remember the way.

  “What say we give it a try,” Marlee suggested. “We’ll have to take your car because I don’t have one.”

  Cami continued to hesitate. “I really need to study. We might be having a pop quiz in Chemistry tomorrow.”

  Marlee gave her a hard stare. “Is that why you were taking a nap when I knocked?”

  Giving a huge sigh to demonstrate her inconvenience, Cami said, “Let’s go. But I need to make it quick.”

  They hopped into Cami’s bright orange Gremlin and turned the heat full blast. A Poison song blared from the cassette player. On the short drive over to the trailer park, Marlee continued to question Cami about her conversation with Beth and what she knew about her. The more Marlee asked, the more evasive Cami became.

  “So, what’s with the non-helpful answers?” Marlee finally asked. “I can tell you
know more about this than you’re saying. Just tell me what you know.”

  Cami pulled into the trailer park and pulled off to the side of the road. She stopped the car and put her head down on the steering wheel. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

  “What do you mean? Just tell me the truth,” Marlee pleaded.

  “I know who Beth’s ex-boyfriend is. I’m dating him now,” Cami whispered.

  The story changes depending on one’s motive. Everyone has a reason for telling the story the way they do.

  Chapter 8

  “What? You’re dating him? Did Beth know?” Marlee asked. “Were you two seeing each other while he and Beth were going out?” One question poured out after the other, not leaving time for Cami to formulate an answer.

  “That’s why I didn’t want to tell you the specifics,” Cami said. “I knew you’d freak out.”

  “I’m not freaking out!” Marlee screeched.

  “There was some overlap between the time Beth was dating him and I did,” Cami reported. “She couldn’t accept that it was over. One night we were at his trailer, and we heard noises outside. Beth was sitting in a tree outside the bedroom window drinking and singing. And it was the middle of January.”

  “What? Why would Beth do that?” Marlee asked.

  “To spy on us. And I bet she was drunk when she climbed up the tree. She had a bottle of something and was singing love ballads.”

  “What’s the guy’s name? You obviously lied about that since you’re dating him.”

  “Eddie Turner. But Beth called him Spark.”

  “He must not be quite as gross as you made him out to be,” Marlee said, recalling Cami’s earlier assertion that he looked like a homeless man.

  “Well, no. I exaggerated quite a bit. He’s a little scruffy, but I think he’s hot.”

  “Why did Beth keep him secret? She never mentioned anything to me, Kristie, or Jasmine about Eddie. Why didn’t we ever see them together?” Marlee queried.

  “Eddie’s the bass player in a rock band, so he’s gone Friday through Sunday every week; sometimes longer if they have a long distance to travel. He spends so much time in bars for work that he doesn’t like to go to them on his days off. Mostly, he just hangs out around home,” Cami reported.

  “How were you and Beth able to work together civilly if you stole her boyfriend?”

  “I didn’t steal him. Like I said, there might have been a bit of overlap, but I didn’t do anything to break them up. Eddie pursued me, and he said he ended it with Beth,” Cami recalled.

  “Just be honest with me. Did Beth really tell you she was pregnant?” Marlee asked.

  “Yes, she did. I swear it,” Cami insisted.

  “Why would she tell you of all people?”

  “Maybe to get Eddie back?”

  Marlee had to admit that made sense. Whether or not Beth was actually pregnant was immaterial at this point. Beth might have suggested it to Cami in order to cause trouble between her and Eddie. The plan may have been to get Eddie back for herself and kick Cami into the dust.

  “Why didn’t you just tell me this back at the dorm? Why all the secrecy? You had to know it was going to come out sooner or later,” Marlee chastised.

  “I don’t know. Now that Beth’s dead, I didn’t want everyone to think I’m a bad person because of Eddie,” she whimpered. Saving face was a strong motivator, a branch that many would cling to if they were in Cami’s shoes.

  “So, show me where he lives,” Marlee urged.

  “He won’t be home. He doesn’t get home until Sunday nights at the earliest.” Cami looked at her Swatch watch, confirming it was only 4:00 pm.

  They drove to the end of the trailer park, and Cami turned off the car. The flash from the television set was visible from the road. “Guess he got home earlier than usual,” she said. Marlee couldn’t tell if she was genuinely surprised or if she was acting. Or if Eddie had lied to her about the time he’d be home.

  “I think it would be best if I talked to him alone,” Marlee said, wanting to compare Eddie’s version of events with Cami’s story.

  Cami opened her mouth to speak, but then thought better of it. She nodded and turned the car back on to re-activate the heater.

  There were at least ten trailer parks in town, but this one was the most rundown and shady. Marlee approached the off-white trailer, jumping when the dog tied up next door lunged at her and snarled. She climbed up the rickety steps and knocked on the door. The sound of a sporting event was audible through the flimsy door.

  The door flew open, nearly knocking Marlee off the step. An imposing figure stood before her, glaring and holding a glass filled with dark liquid. “What do you want?” he challenged.

  “Are you Eddie?” Marlee asked, knowing from Cami’s first description that he was. She originally portrayed him as scruffy and dirty, but later implied that he was just rough around the edges. The first description rang true. He was barefoot and wore dirty jeans with more holes than denim. His blue sweatshirt contained stains appearing to be spaghetti sauce or blood. An actual string of pasta was curled up on his shirt under his chin.

  “Yeah, who wants to know?” Eddie asked, eyeing her quizzically as if she might be a strip-o-gram sent by one of his buddies. His breath smelled strongly of alcohol and cigarettes.

  “I’m a friend of Beth Van Dam’s. I just wanted to talk to you for a few minutes,” Marlee said, inching her way up to the top step.

  “The cops already talked to me. They tracked me down in Omaha where we were playing,” Eddie said as he motioned Marlee into the dark trailer. He went over to the TV and turned it down. “You want a beer?”

  “Sure,” Marlee said, thinking that to refuse his offer might make him less inclined to talk.

  Eddie grabbed a can of Old Milwaukee out of the refrigerator and handed it to her, his hand making contact with hers for longer than necessary. He drank from his glass of dark liquid and sat in a saggy, stained recliner. He gestured for her to sit on the couch. Marlee hesitated, unable to distinguish fabric patterns from stains. She was wearing her best jeans and didn’t want to ruin them by sitting in a puddle of God-knew-what. In the interest of building rapport, she sat gingerly on the very edge of the stained couch.

  “So, how long had you and Beth been dating?” Marlee asked, hoping to put together a time frame of Beth’s past.

  “Dating?” Eddie burst out laughing. “We weren’t dating. We were just… you know,” he said as he waggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner. “Is that what she told you? That we were dating?” He continued to laugh as if he just heard the world’s funniest joke.

  Marlee tried to brush off Eddie’s cloddish behavior toward her dead friend. “What about Cami Fischer? Are you two dating?”

  Eddie grabbed his stomach as he lurched to one side, still laughing. “Where are you getting this?” he gasped between guffaws. “Dating!”

  “So, who are you dating?” Marlee asked, irritation creeping into her voice.

  “I’m in a band, baby. I don’t date anyone. I’m just out to have some fun. Why? Were you looking for some action?” Eddie asked, making what he probably thought was a seductive stare.

  “Eww, gross!” The words were out of Marlee’s mouth before she knew it. He was repulsive, but she didn’t need him to know that.

  “Oh, that’s nice. You college bitches act all uppity. Like you’re too good for the likes of me,” Eddie snarled and took another drink. He grabbed for his cigarettes and ignited a Marlboro Light with his Bic lighter.

  Marlee needed to do some backpedaling and fast or else Eddie would clam up without answering any more of her questions. “No, that’s not what I meant, Eddie. I just meant it would be gross to go out with a guy that my friend was interested in.” Marlee held her breath, hoping that Eddie was dim enough or drunk enough to fall for her justification.

  “Oh. I thought you were saying you were too good for me,” Eddie said, blowing smoke out of the side of his mouth.

&nbs
p; “Not at all,” Marlee said, attempting an alluring look at the scruffy rocker.

  Eddie raised his eyebrows and licked his lips. Before he could say something disgusting, Marlee interjected, “I just want to know more about your time with Beth. When did you meet?”

  “My band had a gig here in December, I think it was. Beth was there, and she came up to talk to me when we were on break. After the show, she came back here with me. My band is Zenith. Have you heard of us?” Eddie asked, still leering at Marlee.

  She had her eye on the door and knew she could outrun Eddie if he tried to put the moves on her. He was much taller than Marlee, but she felt confident that she could knock him off balance and get away since he was moderately intoxicated. “Oh, sure. I’ve seen you guys before. That’s why I thought you looked familiar,” Marlee said, lying. She hadn’t heard of his band, and she was certain that if she’d seen a dirtbag like Eddie that she would have remembered him.

  Continuing to puff on his cig, Eddie carried on with his story. “We came back here, she spent the night, and left the next morning. She stopped over here a couple more times, and I told her I didn’t want a girlfriend.”

  “So, you only slept together that once?” Marlee knew it was a personal question, but Eddie didn’t seem like a guy who would hold back if it dealt with bragging about sexual conquests.

  “Oh, no. Lots of times. Once after I kicked her out, I came home one night and found that she broke in and crawled into my bed. The craziest thing was that she had dug a dirty Metallica t-shirt out of my laundry hamper and was wearing it,” Eddie said.

  “Did Beth tell you she was pregnant?” Marlee asked.

  “What? No!” Eddie shouted. “I always wear protection.” He picked up an oversized box of condoms from a TV tray next to his chair and waived it in Marlee’s direction. “I’m in a band. I have to be careful. I have chicks chasing me around and trying to trap me. If Beth was knocked up, it wasn’t because of me.”

  Looking around the old trailer with the stained furniture and at the disheveled musician, Marlee couldn’t imagine why anyone would sleep with him, let alone try to trap him. “Was Beth seeing anyone else?”