by Liz Turner
Jay touched his nose self-consciously; a large band-aid covered it. One of his eyes was swollen shut now, and a bright purple in color. His lower lip had blood clotted on it.
“Mrs. Armstrong. I came to see Byron.” Jay said.
“Come in.” Victoria motioned him into the living room. To Annie, she said, “Annie, take Vanilla for a walk, would you? I love you, honey.”
Jay sank into the floral armchair, his skateboard next to him. Victoria noted the skull and crossbones on it, along with the legend “Danger: 420 Watts.”
“Can I get you some tea?” Victoria asked.
“Oh. No. I don’t drink tea.” He said. His fingers tapped the armchair. “Mrs. Armstrong, about Byron…”
“Byron’s gone out,” Victoria said. “He’ll be back anytime now. In the meanwhile, I thought you and I could have a chat.”
“Oh. I…”
“Since you’re here, can I fix you something to eat? A sandwich? I’ve got some orange soda too.”
“I’m good.” He said. “Really.” He patted his stomach. Then he held one hand up to his jaw, and Victoria realized the real reason he didn’t want to eat.
“Alright. Well, we need to talk, Jay.” Victoria said. “You fought with Byron today, didn’t you?”
“He told you that?” Jay looked away. “I should have known.”
A little indignant, Victoria said. “He told me nothing. Anyone with eyes knows it had to be you. Byron’s got some silly ideas about not snitching. He saved you a lot of trouble, and got an in-school suspension.”
“That’s it?” Jay laughed. “He should have been expelled! I know I would have.”
“Maybe that’s why Byron didn’t talk,” Victoria said severely. “You owe him, I think.”
“Me? I owe him nothing. He’s a…” Jay bit his lip. “Never mind.”
“Why did you fight anyway?” Victoria asked.
“I only went to him to ask about Margie,” Jay said. “I never thought he’d go off on me like that. Your son 's gone mad. He started shouting at me and beating me up for no reason. Maybe he’s always been jealous about Margie and me being together.”
“That doesn’t sound like Byron at all.”
“Yeah well, look. This isn’t something I want to chat about with his mom, ok? I came to square things out with him.”
“If by square things out, you meant fight again, I’ll tell you now that I won’t take kindly to it. Son or not if the two of you fight again, I’ll hand you both over to Corporal Jager and let him sort it out.”
Jay sneered. “As if that lazy uniform has any idea how to sort stuff out.”
“You’re angry at how he’s handling Margie’s case?”
“He’s doing nothing!” Jay exploded. “She’s been missing way more than 48 hours now, and this entire town is doing nothing! Everyone’s just going about their lives like Margie never even existed.”
“People are giving Michelle their time and their sympathy,” Victoria said.
“Time and sympathy! A missing girl needs a search party, not time and sympathy!” Jay jumped to his feet, towering over Victoria. Victoria stared him down, unimpressed.
“What do you think should be done?”
“They… we should all be searching for her.” Jay said. “She could be out in the woods somewhere, hurt.”
“Randolf has organized three search parties in the nearby woods,” Victoria said. “He also called forest rangers and gave them a description of her.”
“They should get helicopters or something!” Jay said. “Mrs. Armstrong, you’ve solved cases, haven’t you? When that old lady died and when the mayor was murdered… you were the one to figure it out. Couldn’t you figure this out too? Someone has to!”
“Michelle said she last saw Margie at 9 pm on the day of the fest,” Victoria said. “Margie was supposed to go home, but she didn’t. So when’s the last time you saw her, Jay? Maybe we can figure this out together.”
Jay looked at his feet and mumbled something.
“What’s that?” Victoria asked.
“My lawyer told me not to say anything about that,” Jay said.
“Why would you need a lawyer?” Victoria asked.
“My uncle told me it was better to have one in case… Randolf decided to arrest me.” Jay said. “But I wanted to tell Randolf. I did. Still, someone else from school must have told him.”
“Told him what?”
“I met Margie that night,” Jay said. “Everyone did. All us seniors from Everdeen were having a festival of our own. Kinda like a pre-graduation party. It got sentimental. I was a little annoyed because I just didn’t get any time alone with her until the party. My uncle had grounded me and taken my car keys the week before, so Margie and I both rode up with Janie.”
“What was Margie’s mood like?” Victoria asked.
“She was…angry.” Jay sighed. “She broke up with me that night.”
“Ah.” Victoria looked at him. Slowly, Jay sank back into his chair.
“I’ve read that people who want to commit suicide, sometimes try to alienate their friends and family deliberately before doing it,” Jay said.
“You think she was suicidal?” Victoria asked. “Just five seconds ago you were convinced she was missing.”
“I think… Margie was complicated.” Jay said. “She was depressed for sure.”
“So where does Byron come in?” Victoria asked.
“I don’t know,” Jay said. “He and Margie were in the computer club together. They.. I didn’t like how she treated him. I told her that Byron liked her and that she should probably stop talking to him. She told me I was just silly. But he did like her. I think she liked him too because after she had broken up with me, ten minutes later she was dancing with Byron.” Tears spilled from Jay’s eyes. He rubbed at them with his sleeve. “I can’t believe she’d treat me like that. I was good to her. We were together two years.”
“Jay, you were together two years. Margie had run away before, hadn’t she?”
“Oh please.” Jay rolled his eyes. “Margie snuck out of her house to stay overnight with a girlfriend or party with our gang three or four times. Each time, her mom majorly overreacted and reported her missing. It was funny at the time when the police got involved. The crazy thing is, now that she is missing, the police aren’t reacting at all!”
“But Margie had a strained relationship with her parents, didn’t she?” Victoria asked.
“Margie hated them both. Jonas didn’t care about her one bit, and her mother was too controlling. A perfect mother hen, you know? Always clucking.”
Victoria wondered if that uncharitable description was Marge’s or Jay’s.
“Did Margie ever talk about harming herself?” She asked.
“Sometimes she talked about death,” Jay said. “But in a general way. Like about how her father had died because of insulin. But I guess that’s what put the idea of suicide in my mind in the first place. Her father’s death.”
“He was diabetic,” Victoria said.
“Yeah but he died of an overdose of insulin,” Jay said. “One time we were in the woods and Margie told me something about it. It affected her a lot, you know. She said she never was the same after it. She said she still sometimes stays up at night wondering if her father had killed himself. If he’d taken the extra dose of insulin just to be free.”
“You’re telling me her father…”
“What are you doing here!” A voice thundered.
Chapter 8
Victoria whirled around to find Byron standing at the door, his boots muddy.
“Byron. Jay’s a guest here. Be nice.”
“A guest? A guest?” Byron laughed. “This is a joke, right? You’re practicing, like, ten ways to make Byron Armstrong furious or something?”
“Don’t raise your voice to me,” Victoria warned.
“Why not? You raise it to me all the time!” Byron said. “You aren’t even listening to me.”
“
Fine, I will. I will try and listen to what you have to say. I just won’t do a very good job if you yell.” Victoria said.
“Well, I have to yell if I come home to find this scumbag waiting for me,” Byron said. “You want to finish what you started, Jay? Is that it? Coz I’m up for it buddy.”
“Byron…”
“He started it, mom. Even then, I didn’t squeal because I thought… I don’t know what I was thinking. I should have just told Principal Sherman everything.”
“Byron, man, I just came here to say I was sorry,” Jay said. “I know I started it but…”
“Oh please. I know why you came here. You probably heard I didn’t tell and came here to beg me not to.” Byron said. “I know all about you, Jay. Your kind of scum hasn’t evolved after the neanderthal period.”
“Look, there’s no need to be nasty,” Jay said. “I know you had a thing for Margie.”
“A thing for Margie? Margie and I weren’t dating.”
“I saw you dancing that night.”
“I was dancing to cheer her up,” Byron said. “She came to me in tears about how she finally broke up with you. I told her good riddance.”
“So you were encouraging her to break up with me! I’ll get you for that!” Jay tried to charge at him, but Victoria put herself between the two boys.
“Bring it on, buddy, I’ll give you what you deserve.”
“Quiet!” Victoria said her voice acid. “Both of you should be ashamed!”
“Mom, get him out of here,” Byron said. “I won’t be able to control myself if I see him.”
“I’m leaving anyway,” Jay said. “But I’ll see you again, Byron.”
“If that’s a threat.” Victoria said, “Then you should know I’m capable of making some myself, Jay and all the lawyers in the world won’t protect you from me if you harm my son.”
Jay seemed to shrink at her words, and picking up his skateboard, he quickly walked out the door.
Byron kicked the door shut. But he had a smile on his face as he turned to Victoria. “Thanks, mom.” He said. “Nice to hear you defending me for a change.”
“You know I meant it, Byron. I wouldn’t let anybody harm you. Ever.”
“No matter what?” Byron asked.
“No matter what.” She said.
“I don’t like Jay much, you know,” Byron said. “I have good reasons not to.”
“I’m beginning to believe that,” Victoria said. “Tell me about them.”
Byron took a deep breath. Walking to the kitchen, he opened the fridge and poked around. “Maybe I could do it over a cup of milk and some cookies?”
“Unhealthy,” Victoria said. “How about a sandwich or some fruit?”
“Mom. Please? Rough day.”
“Alright, fine,” Victoria smiled and sat him down. “I’ll bake you some cookies if you like. We can do it together like we used to. You remember?”
“Do I?” Byron smiled. “You and I were the master and junior chef. I used to sneak up cookie dough and eat it when you weren’t looking.”
“I figured it out and started using egg substitute, you know,” Victoria smiled. “All so you wouldn’t get salmonella.”
“I loved your cinnamon nut cookies.” Byron rumbled around and got out almonds and eggs.
They spent the next fifteen minutes sifting the flour and creating the dough, then breaking it into unevenly shaped rounds before eventually popping it into the oven. Ten minutes later, the kitchen was fragrant with the smell of vanilla and cinnamon.
“Ahhh.” Byron put his nose up and sniffed. “Amazing.”
“You’ll miss this when you go to college,” Victoria said, putting her arms around his waist and squeezing. She felt him hesitate for a moment and looked up to see a strange expression in his eyes.
“What is it?” She asked. “Are you...”
“About Jay,” Byron smoothly changed the topic. “Mom, I want to tell you everything, but it’s a long story.”
“I’m all ears.” Victoria pulled out the tray of cookies and put it on the table to cool, smacking away Byron’s hand as he tried to grab one. “Not yet. Patience, young man.”
Byron gave an exaggerated shake of his hand, “Ow. Ok. So, the thing is, I never really noticed Margie; we didn’t have too many classes together. She was taking Biology courses. But then last year, she joined my computer club. All of a sudden, she and I were hanging out a lot more, and I realized she’s actually kind of cool.”
“Did you want to date her?”
“To be honest? Yes, I did. But she was with a guy, and I’m not the type to encourage cheating. You know that, right?”
“I do,” Victoria smiled. “I’ve brought you up well.”
“Yeah sure take all the credit.” Byron rolled his eyes. “Well, anyway, Margie was really cool. She was funny, and she found me funny. Even apart from the dating thing, I was fond of her as a friend, you know?”
“I never realized.” Victoria said sadly, “You never talked about her at home.”
“Yeah, well, you and Aunt Karen tease me about girls a lot these days,” Byron said. “I guess I just got shy. It’s safer to just talk about Joe or Mason with you guys.”
“I suppose it is.” Victoria made a mental note not to tease him about it again. “So, you wanted to date her and disliked Jay.”
“I mean… I wanted to date her, but that’s not why I disliked Jay, honestly.” Byron said. “I didn't like Jay because of the way he acted. He didn’t really care about her. Just about himself. I knew a lot more about her than he ever did. I actually cared for her, unlike him.”
Victoria sighed, wondering if Byron knew how jealous he sounded. “You can’t judge someone based on the little you see of their relationship.” She said.
“Yeah but Marge told me stuff too,” Byron said. “Stuff like how whenever she tried to talk to Jay about computers and stuff he’d tease her for being a nerd or if she told him she liked a particular band, he’d tell her that the band wasn’t cool and that only he listened to cool music.”
“Sounds… well, seems rude.” Victoria said. “Still, it’s typical insecure teenage boy stuff.”
“He was controlling,” Byron said.
“Did she say that Jay was controlling her?”
“Not really,” Byron said. “But he told her she shouldn’t speak to me or any other boys. That’s not normal, is it?”
No, Victoria agreed. But perhaps more of a sign of immaturity than malignancy.
Byron kept talking. “He kept badmouthing me to her and trying to get her to stop coming to the computer club because he didn’t want us spending time together. But she kept coming. She was fascinated with computers, partly I think because her dad used to be a computer engineer.”
“Did she ever give you signs that she was afraid of him?” Victoria asked. “Did he try and stop her talking to her other friends too?”
“Well… no.” Byron said. “Just me, I guess. Margie was kind of loud and cheerful, so she had tons of other friends.”
“A genuinely abusive relationship is generally marked by the person becoming isolated from all their friends over a period of time,” Victoria said. “They were together two years. Did she get more introverted? Did she stop speaking to her friends?”
Byron considered this. “No. She was still very extroverted. She was always hanging out with her friends. She hated being home alone so she was with Rebecca and Janie; they’re her two best friends. Also, she spent a lot of time with Jay and his friends, a mixed group of skateboarders.”
Victoria nodded. “How about physical abuse? Did you ever see her with bruises? Did she wear long sleeves on hot days or use extra makeup?”
“She hated to wear makeup, and I’ve never seen bruises on her,” Byron admitted. “Though…”
“Yes?”
“Last night, at the party, something happened,” Byron said. “She broke up with Jay last night, you know? She told him it just wasn’t working anymore. She told him tha
t she’d started dating him because she felt like they could share everything and that these days, she had to censor herself all the time before talking to him.”
“Why did she feel that way?”
“She’d told me about it. I guess it was because he had bad grades and she didn’t. I think Jay was a little jealous. He knew she’d get into a college, and he would be left behind. I think...” Byron looked sorrowful. “I think I always hoped she and I would get into the same college together.”
“Did she ever talk to you about wanting to run away?” Victoria asked.
“No. Never,” Byron said. “We mostly just talked about laptops and stuff. She was fascinated with forensics. She told me that when she grew up, she’d work with the CSI. Plus, we talked about hackathons; we even entered one together but didn’t make the cut.”
“What’s a hackathon?”
“It’s like, collaborative computer programming,” Byron said. “She and I were working on this cool project together for class. A program to create music on the computer.”
“So she was happy here?” Victoria asked. “Her mother thought she never fitted in.”
“I mean, she wasn’t exactly as popular as a cheerleader or something, but she wasn’t a total loser like Jay,” Byron said.
“Ah.” There was that word again. Loser. So dismissive. So hurtful. Imagine being branded that at 17. Did it keep Jay up at night, the thought that he was worthless, a loser? Did it make him jealous and afraid of losing his girlfriend?
“I mean, the people Jay hung out with are like all failing class,” Byron said. “Margie wasn’t a straight-A student, but she was in the upper tiers. Their relationship was bound to implode eventually. I guess it was a good thing she broke up with him when she did.”
“Did he react badly that night?”
“He was ok,” Byron said. “He tried to hold her hand when she walked away, but she shook him off. If he’d taken a few more seconds to release it, I think I’d have been on him. The thing is, it’s way too suspicious, isn’t it? Margie breaks up with him, and then goes missing the very next day? Maybe even the same night? He has to be involved somehow.”
“Maybe she ran away because she was really upset about the breakup,” Victoria said.
