“Do you think Carson liked Felicity for more than a friend?” Sherwood asked.
“If he did, he didn’t show it, but I don’t know why for the life of me why he would like her for more than a friend because she sure as hell used him a lot,” Erin said.
“Like how?” Seals asked.
“To get us in free every time we came to the club, and it worked after us only being at the club for less than five times, otherwise, we would’ve had to pay the $10 cover charge each and every time. We would also get free drinks, even though half of the time they were watered-down sodas,” Erin said.
Sherwood and Seals grinned.
“Anything else that Carson was generous to give?” Seals asked.
“Tickets to special events that were held there. He would give us free tickets and VIP passes to meet the singers and everything. I thought it was really cool, and I knew this was all because of Felicity,” Erin said, and then sighed. “But I don’t even wanna think about what she could’ve been doing to get these things from him. But what I didn’t like is that she thought she was owed this stuff, and more than half the time, would ignore Carson while at the club on regular and special nights. She only talked to him and wanted him around when she wanted something.”
Sherwood and Seals nodded.
“So Carson wasn’t boyfriend material to her, we take it?” Seals asked.
“Not at all. She said she didn’t find him attractive in the least bit and that he was far from her type, and that the only reason why she was nice to him was to get the things from him that she thought she deserved while she was at the club because she knew that she could because his brother’s the owner. And of course, she wanted me to have these things, too, so it was double everything. It seemed like he was always happy to see us at the club, so I thought nothing of it,” Erin said.
Sherwood continued to write notes on his notepad. “Anything you would like to add?”
Erin shook her head. “I just hope you all find who did this to her.”
“That’s what we’re doing, Erin. That’s why we need everyone’s cooperation in this investigation. We need to find out about Felicity as much as we can, and you’ve been a tremendous help to us. We’ll definitely be talking to you again soon. Here’s our cards,” Sherwood said, and handed his to her; Seals did the same.
“Thank you,” Erin said, as she took their cards.
“If you hear or see anything on social media or at school about Felicity and who could’ve done this to her, please let us know because right now we have no suspects, but from what you’ve just told us about her, everyone is a suspect,” Seals said.
Erin tensed up. “I understand.” She got out of the car and walked through the parking structure towards her car.
Back inside the unmarked police car where Sherwood and Seals were, they looked at each other while Seals sat back up front.
“So, what do you think?” Seals asked.
“That Felicity is something else,” Sherwood said, as he shook his head. “You notice how I said is, right?”
“Right,” Seals replied. “Because I’m sure you noticed, as well as I did, that Erin was talking about Felicity in the past tense, as if she just knew or knows she’s gonna die.”
“Of course I noticed that; it was hard not to. And what do you think about her saying that Carson posted up something about what happened to Felicity, but then when we asked to see it, she claimed that it was erased?”
“It’s possible he could’ve put up something about it since news does spread fast on social media, but then didn’t wanna look like a suspect so he erased it. But then again, she could’ve been lying about it; only she knows that. But what I do know is that we’re not only paying Sloan Avery a visit today, we’re paying Carson one as well,” Seals said. “If Erin has something to hide, I’m sure Sloan and Carson will tell us.”
They pulled out of the parking lot and left.
Meanwhile, in Erin’s car, she tried desperately to contact Sloan to let him know that the cops were going to try and talk to him today, but she couldn’t get in touch with him on the phone or through social media. “Dammit! Come on, Sloan! Answer me! I don’t want you to think that it was me who told the cops that you’re the one who probably hurt Felicity!” After numerous tries, she stopped. “Well, he’s gonna have to talk to them sooner or later.” She looked at her phone again and went to Felicity’s social media pages to see what people had written on them . . . she gasped. They were all deleted.
Chapter 18
The doorbell rang at the Avery’s home. Sloan’s mom, Lydia, answered the door. “Yes?”
“Hi, are you Sloan Avery’s mom?” Sherwood asked.
“Well, yes, I am. I’m Lydia Avery. And you are?” Lydia asked.
“I’m Detective Roland Sherwood and this is my partner Detective Genevieve Seals. We’re here to talk to your son Sloan about his ex-girlfriend Felicity,” Sherwood informed her.
Lydia gave him a blank stare. She stared at him as if she didn’t know who he was talking about.
“Is Sloan here, Lydia?” Seals asked.
“Of course he’s here. But he hasn’t been with Felicity for almost two weeks,” Lydia informed them.
“Well, it doesn’t matter that he isn’t with her anymore, Lydia. We need to talk to him because he was with her. Right now, we don’t have any suspects in this investigation, so we want to talk to the people that are or were close to her. You do understand that this is a process of elimination, right?” Sherwood said.
Lydia sighed. “Of course. Come on in. I’ll go get Sloan.”
“Thank you,” Sherwood and Seals said.
“You can both have a seat in the family room,” Lydia said.
Sherwood and Seals sat down on a couch in the family room while Lydia went to go get Sloan.
Minutes later, Sloan came downstairs with Lydia behind him.
Sherwood and Seals stood up.
“Sloan Avery?” Sherwood asked.
Sloan stared at him as if he didn’t know what he was doing here. “Yeah?”
“I’m Detective Roland Sherwood and this is Detective Genevieve Seals. I’m sure you know what happened to your ex-girlfriend Felicity Gains?” Sherwood asked.
Sloan lowered his head. “Yeah, I do. Everyone knows.”
They all sat down on the sofa, with Sherwood and Seals on one sofa, and Sloan and Lydia on the other sofa adjacent to them.
“Well, we’re here to find out if you have any information about what happened to her last night. Did you see her or talk to her anytime last night?” Sherwood asked.
“No, I didn’t,” Sloan replied. “The last time I saw her was on Friday night.”
“This past Friday night?” Sherwood asked.
“Yeah,” Sloan replied.
“And where did you see her?” Seals asked.
“Moves. It’s a teen nightclub on the northwest side of the city. I rarely go there. That was only my second or third time going there,” Sloan replied.
“Did you interact with Felicity?” Sherwood asked.
“Yeah, and only because she came up to me. She seemed happy and happy to see me for some reason, even though I broke up with her the week before. She would always call me her bae, but I never felt like I was her bae because of all the fuckery she caused,” Sloan said.
“Can you give us some examples?” Seals asked.
Sloan sighed. “She would always cheat on me, post pictures on social media half-naked, and always invited attention from other guys, even though she was with me. I warned her about what she was doing and that we weren’t gonna be together anymore if she kept doing what she was doing, but it just went through one ear and out the other. I concluded that she wasn’t worth it and broke up with her in the morning at school. After school that same day, I found out that she cheated on me with a guy who goes to our school.”
“Do you know who that guy is?” Seals asked.
Lydia looked at Sloan.
“No, I don’t,
” Sloan lied.
Sherwood and Seals looked at each other.
Sloan sighed again. “Felicity cheated on me with so many guys I didn’t even keep track and didn’t want to. That’s why we’re not together anymore. I just had to let her go because she wasn’t serious about our relationship. It was obvious that she cared more about herself and her dire need for fun and attention that she could give a damn about us as a couple.”
“I understand. So, where were you last night?” Sherwood asked.
“Here,” Sloan lied. “It was raining so I decided to just stay here. I had a couple of friends over and we just played video games and watched movies.”
“Who are your friends that were over here?” Seals asked.
“Miles and Roth,” Sloan replied.
Sherwood and Seals wrote down their names.
Sloan stared at the ground as Lydia stared at him.
“Who’s your ex, Sloan?” Seals asked.
Sloan stared at her as if she was kidding. “Felicity! You know that,” he replied.
Seals continued to stare at him. “Yeah, I know.”
Sherwood closed his notepad. “Well, I think we’re done here. Here’s my cards,” he said to Sloan and Lydia, as he gave each of them one; Seals did the same. “If you have any information about who could be involved in what happened to your ex-girlfriend, Sloan, please let us know. Call, text, or e-mail us anytime, all of our information is on the cards.”
Sloan nodded as he looked down at the cards.
Minutes later, as Sherwood and Seals drove down the street away from Sloan’s house, they talked about their talk with Sloan and Lydia.
“He’s hiding something,” Sherwood said. “I knew it the second I saw him.”
“Definitely,” Seals replied. “And I guess he didn’t get it at all when I was asking him who was his ex. Of course he thought I was talking about Felicity, but who I was really talking about was Willow Hartman. Do you think he knew that?”
“It’s hard to tell,” Sherwood said. “You really caught him off-guard with asking him that. It was definitely meant to confuse him and it really did.”
Seals nodded with a grin. “Yeah, it did. Why didn’t he mention Willow? I wonder if the two of them had some kind of involvement in what happened to Felicity? You know, like trying to get rid of her so they could be together once again and don’t have to be bothered with all of her fuckery and wanting him back?”
“Anything’s possible,” Sherwood said. “Let’s get some lunch and then see if we can catch up with this Carson from the club.”
“Sounds good,” Seals said. “Oh, and did you notice how Sloan didn’t even ask us how Felicity was? She could’ve been dead and he wouldn’t have known it. I mean, she’s his ex and he broke up with her, but I would think that he would care about her a little to want to know her condition.”
“Yeah, I noticed how he didn’t ask about her, either, just out of respect at least. I mean, he liked her at some point since they were together. But his mom didn’t ask about her, either.”
“I noticed that, too,” Seals said. She looked down at her phone, and gasped! “Oh, wow! Look what just showed up on my social media feed!” She gave her phone to him.
Sherwood looked at the picture at a stoplight. “You’ve got to be kidding me! So someone is saying that these four girls go to school with Felicity, and this is a picture of them at her house earlier yesterday and they threatened to kill her while they were there?! Who sent this picture to you?”
“I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out! I’ll send this person a private message when we get to the restaurant,” Seals pledged. “It says that the four girls are Jackie Briggs, Cherie Landry, Trina Pratt, and Willow Hartman!”
“You’re kidding!” Sherwood said, trying to act like this didn’t shock him. “Looks like Sloan is definitely hiding something about his ex, his ex Willow, that is.”
“Oh, for sure!” Seals replied. “Looks like we got another lead . . . and four more suspects.”
Back at Sloan’s house, he sat in his room playing video games. Lydia walked in. She stared at him. He looked up at her and then paused his game. “What, Mom?”
“Why did you lie to them?” she asked.
“What? What do you mean? I didn’t lie to them!”
“YES YOU DID!” she shouted. She stood right in front of him, blocking his view of the TV. “Sloan, this is serious. You know you lied to them about being here the whole time last night. I know you weren’t here because I was here.”
“Yeah, but they don’t know that!” he angrily replied. “Look, I had nothing to do with what happened to Felicity last night, okay? And I don’t want them thinking that I had something to do with it! You know how those fuckin’ cops are, they always blame the boyfriend, husband, ex-boyfriend, ex-husband first! We’re always the first in line to be blamed! You know how this shit goes, Mom!”
“Yeah, I know how it goes, Sloan, and I just don’t want you lying to them because eventually they’ll find out that you are! Are you sure you didn’t see Felicity at all since Friday?”
He stared at her. “Not at all.”
She sighed. “Look, honey. I don’t want those cops coming back to this house. I’m a single mom trying to raise you and your younger sister the best I can since your father and I divorced. I don’t need this; we don’t need this. I didn’t like Felicity at all because she was a fuck girl — and you know how much I told you that when you were with her — but if you did talk to her last night and the two of you got into a fight at her home and it got out of control and led to what happened to her then please tell me now! And please tell those cops as well!”
“I haven’t seen Felicity since Friday night at Moves and that’s all I’m gonna say about it, Mom, because that’s the fuckin’ truth.”
“And I know you were anywhere but here last night, Sloan, and that’s the fuckin’ truth!” she replied.
He stared down at the floor; he refused to say anything.
She sighed again. “Look, honey, I’m just trying to protect you, okay? You’re a great young man, Sloan. You’re handsome, nice and intelligent, and you have a future whether it’s in football or not, but you have one, unlike someone like Felicity who will never be anything more than what she is now . . . if she survives, and I hope she does so at least she’ll have the opportunity to prove me and everyone else wrong about her. But I only care about you and I’ll do anything in this world to protect you, remember that, because I’ll be damned if you lose out on a bright and promising future over some fuck girl.”
He slightly smiled. “I know, Mom.”
She walked towards his door; she turned around. “Oh, and one more thing. Be very careful about what you say to anyone about Felicity or anyone else from now on because you never know where what you say may end up because you know how people like to twist words, lie, blame others, and will do anything for attention — your ex knows all about that. So I suggest not talking to anyone about Felicity on social media until all of this blows over, and that can’t be soon enough.”
“I agree, Mom,” he replied.
She nodded, and then left his room and shut the door behind her.
He picked up his phone. “Hey . . . look, the cops were at my house not long ago. We need to talk . . . .”
Chapter 19
Jackie, Cherie, and Trina sat in a meeting room in the administration office at school. It was Monday morning in the middle of first period, and they were called to the office personally by Principal Henderson. They all sat on the same side of the table, and talked about why they were sitting in here.
“Look, I’m not gonna lie, you two, I’m scared,” Cherie said.
Jackie and Trina sighed as they looked down at the table.
“Don’t the two of you have anything to say?! We could be in a lot of trouble over a fuckin’ picture! We didn’t have anything to do with what happened to Felicity!”
“And they know they can’t prove that we did. They ju
st wanna talk to us, that’s all. They know that we didn’t do anything. And you’re right, Cherie, what can they really get out of that picture other than the fact that we were over Felicity’s house?” Trina said.
“Yeah, but there’s, like, millions of houses that look like that in this city. How did they know that it was Felicity’s?” Cherie asked.
“They don’t know for sure. Look, if we all stick together then they won’t get to us. They don’t have any proof that we were over there that day, now do they? That picture doesn’t tell as much as they’re gonna try and make us think it does, and that’s what they’re gonna try and do, I know it,” Trina said. “Oh, and where the fuck is Willow?”
“When I find that out I’m gonna kick her ass,” Jackie declared, as she stared at down at the table.
Cherie and Trina looked at Jackie in shock.
“Why?” Cherie asked.
“Why not? Where the fuck is she? Why are just the three of us sitting in here and she’s not? She was also in that fuckin’ picture!” Jackie said.
Cherie and Trina looked at each other, and then at Jackie.
There was a knock on the door. It opened to Principal Henderson, along with Detective Sherwood and Detective Seals. “Girls, this is Detective Sherwood and Detective Seals. They’re working on Felicity’s case. Now you already told me and your parents that you would fully cooperate with the investigation, now I want you to tell them that,” she said.
Jackie, Cherie, and Trina slightly nodded.
Principal Henderson left the room and closed the door behind her.
“Girls, we don’t want to keep you in here all day, okay? So the more you cooperate with us then the sooner you can leave,” Sherwood said.
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