by A. L. Martin
“Maybe I should call my parents to get me a lawyer. It sounds like you are trying to accuse me of her death.” I stared icily at him.
“I told you, you are not under arrest, and I’m not trying to get you for your best friend’s death. I want to know how you were the only one that knew where her body was. Only the killer would have that kind of information.”
“See, there you go again! You are definitely trying to accuse me of her murder. Why should I tell you anything? Sophie tried to talk to you the other night, but you didn’t want to hear any of it. In fact, I distinctly remember you saying she was probably playing a trick on us.”
He sat there staring at me for a few minutes before he got up and went to lean against the wall to the right of me. He opened his mouth, about to say something, when his partner came back in the room carrying a dark brown folder. He laid the folder on the table in front of me and told me to open it. I glanced up at his partner as he stood next to me, waiting for me to open the folder. I lifted the folder flap enough to peak at the picture of Rylee. I had seen this picture a million times during the trial, and not to mention in my visions. I was sick of seeing it. The picture was of her at the murder scene. Her eyes were part-way opened, her beautiful red hair matted from the blood. I shoved the folder across the table and told them to get that thing away from me.
“You seem rather upset by what’s in the folder,” his partner said, walking around the table.
“I know what’s in the folder. I’ve seen that pictured tons of times during the trial and in my head! So, yeah, it does upset me! She was my best friend. The only person who wasn’t related to me that accepted me for who I was,” I sobbed.
“In your head. So, you planned everything out before the murder?” His partner slid the folder closer to me once more.
“NO! I didn’t kill her! What do I have to do to get you two idiots to realize that? I don’t know why you are hounding me about something that I didn’t do. I know you can’t arrest me for her murder. I’m not as dumb as you think I am. Young 18-year-old doesn’t know anything about the world. Well, you are about to be surprised by what I know.”
“I doubt that you are different from any other girls your age. All you girls care about are boys, shopping, and your phones,” Detective Alvarez said, moving away from the wall.
“Well, I am about to prove you wrong,” I said with a half-smile.
“How is that?” his partner asked.
“Well, I know that you can’t convict me twice for the same thing. That’s called Double Jeopardy, and it’s part of the Fifth Amendment. Most girls my age wouldn’t know that. So, yeah, I am different than most girls. Honestly, you can’t even question me about it.” I tilted my head to the side and crossed my arms as I leaned back in my chair.
“I see you’ve done your homework. If you didn’t kill her, then how did you know where her body was? Now, Alexina is missing. Did you kill her too?”
“If you are going to keep badgering me about stuff, then I want a lawyer here!”
“You won’t need one. We are about done here. We are going to be keeping an eye on you though. I wouldn’t be doing anything stupid. You may have others believing you, but I’m not easily fooled as them.” Detective Alvarez said, gathering up his papers and folder. He walked over to the door and opened it, just as a low boom resounded through the station. He and his partner took off running out the door.
I didn’t want to be there when they got back, so I took off out the door and down the hall toward the door that led to the front lobby of the station. The hall seemed to grow in length with each step I made. When I reached the door, I flew through it, almost running past Braedon and Kurt in the lobby.
I jumped into Braedon’s arms, wrapping my arms around his neck. I didn’t want to let go, but then I saw Sophie on the other side of the desk window. She was standing there in an over-sized sweater and jeans, with her hair up in a bun.
“What the hell are you doing back there?” My voice bellowed louder than I meant for it too. “Get out of there before you get caught. Are you out of your fuckin mind, Sophie?”
“She looks cute back there in a way,” Kurt said, laughing.
“Cute?” I raised my eyebrows, pointing over toward her.
“Did you guys help her?” I turned back around toward Sophie. In the background, I could see the officer with his back turned, talking to someone. He was about to turn around and see Sophie.
“Sophie, come on! He’s going to see you standing there. Go that way, and use the door to get to the lobby,” I motioned to her right side. She went to rush out of the area when the police officer turned around and saw her run by. He ran up to the front in a matter of seconds, looking at each one of us.
“What are you doing back here?” His voice was stern with authority.
“Who me?” Sophie pointed to herself.
“Yes, you. What are you doing back here, and you better have a good reason?”
She looked at him, then over toward us in the lobby, trying to figure out what to do.
“I am…here to…”
“You are here for what reason? Other than spending a night in jail, since you want back here so bad.”
“Well, you see, I have been sent here on behalf of the manufacturer of this desk.”
“What?”
I turned toward the entrance to face away from Sophie, trying to keep from laughing. Once I got myself together, and I knew I wasn’t going to bust out laughing at the next thing that was about to come out of her mouth, I turned back around to face her.
“Yes. I’m here to check the sturdiness of this desk here,” she said, climbing on top of it.
I stood there with my mouth gaping, staring at her in disbelief of what she had just done. I turned to look at Kurt and Braedon, and they had the same look on their faces.
“I will let my bosses know that this desk passed the test. It can hold someone long enough to climb to the top of it and over the window,” she said, reaching for one of the guys to help her down. “That concludes my test for the day. You have a great day!” She started pushing us out of the entrance of the police station. I turned to look back through the double glass doors and saw the officer still standing in the same spot, staring at the desk, scratching the side of his head. He looked up right when I started to move away from the doors.
“Omg, Sophie! What the hell was that? Testing the desk?” I laughed.
“I know it wasn’t one of my greatest ideas, but it was the only thing I could come up with in a hurry.”
“Well, I thought it was funny as hell,” Kurt laughed.
“Don’t encourage her!” I smacked Kurt on his shoulder. “Seriously, though, thank you for trying to get me out of there. It was horrible!” I tried wrapping my arms around all three of them at once. “Can we get out of here? Does anyone know what time is it?” I asked, walking toward Braedon’s truck.
Sophie grabbed her phone from her back jeans pocket. “It’s almost time for school to let out.”
Braedon opened the passenger door for me and helped me into his truck, while Kurt opened the door for Sophie. I sat there looking out the passenger window all the way back to the school to get my Jeep and take Emerson home. Sophie leaned up between the front seats, trying to wrap her arms around my neck to give me a hug, but instead came close to elbowing Braedon in the face. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, Karsyn. If you want, I can come by later and we can get something to eat. If you don’t want to leave, we can just stay at your house if you want.”
“Thanks, Sophie. I might take you up on that offer. Maybe all of us can go get something to eat later,” I said, glancing at Braedon and Kurt.
“Yeah. That sounds like a great idea. Sophie, meet us at Karsyn’s house and we can go in the truck,” Braedon said, smiling at me as he pulled into the school parking lot.
“Okay! I will be there around six.” She climbed out of the truck.
Kurt got out of the truck to give me and Braedon
a little privacy before I had to take Emerson home. I sat there quietly in my seat, while I twirled my ring around on the finger. I was still in shock from what happened at the police station. I couldn’t believe they tried to ask if I had anything to do with Alexina’s disappearance. After dealing with the arrogant Detective Alvarez, I knew I had to help Sophie find Alexina and clear my name once again.
“Are you okay, Karsyn?” Braedon took my hand in his.
“No. The detective tried to accuse me of having something to do with Alexina’s disappearance.”
“He did what?” Braedon yelled. “What a dick! I hope you didn’t say anything to him.”
“I told him if he was going to keep badgering me, then I wanted a lawyer there with me. He told me I didn’t need one, then he and his asshole partner took off running when they heard the big boom.”
“Are you going to tell your parents about what happened today?” He caressed the side of my face. I melted each and every time he touched my face. I could sit here like this forever.
“No. I don’t want to upset them more. Besides, I’m 18. They don’t need my parent’s consent to question me like before.”
“Why did he question you, to begin with?”
I lowered my head. “He was asking me questions about Rylee’s murder. He was trying to pin me for her murder.”
“Are you fuckin kidding me?” he screamed. “You didn’t kill her! What a douche!”
“He can’t put me on trial for her murder, and I let him know that. It shut him up pretty fast, but that is when he started in about Alexina. Do you think there is a chance we could actually find that meadow?”
“What are you saying, Karsyn? You want to go looking for it? I don’t know if that would be a good idea now. It sounds like the detective wants to charge you with something, and he’s hell-bent on making sure it happens. I don’t know what you went through with Rylee’s murder, but I have a feeling it was pretty bad. I don’t want to see you suffer through something like that again. Just know that I will be with you, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“Maybe it will help clear my name. Trust me, I’d rather just run away and not deal with any of this, but I can’t hide from who I am. My past will always find me.”
“Well, I guess we better get searching for this meadow. It has to be close. I will follow you to your house, and we can start searching the internet for local places that fit the description from your vision.”
I leaned over the console, a couple of inches away from his lips, looking into his baby blue eyes. “You are the best thing that has happened to me in a long time. I love you for wanting to stick with me through this hellish nightmare, but I understand if you want to walk away.”
“Karsyn, don’t you get it? I’m not going anywhere. I want to be with you, even if that means dealing with the visions of death. It’s not like you are the one killing these people. So, yeah…you aren’t getting rid of me.”
He got out of the truck, walked around to the passenger door, and helped me out of the truck. He took me in his arms and held me for a few minutes. I buried my head in his chest, breathing in his cologne. We walked over to my Jeep, and within a few minutes, Emerson walked through the side exit with her friends, talking and laughing as they made their way across the parking lot.
Sometimes, I found myself jealous of Emerson and her life. She never had to deal with the police asking her if she was the one who killed her best friend. She had everything I wanted for myself, but I was happy she didn’t have to deal with seeing people’s deaths.
“Hey, Karsyn! I texted Mom earlier about going over to Allison’s house to stay the night. She said it was fine, but she wanted to know if you could take me over there. She is meeting Dad for dinner so they won’t be home till late. So, can you take me over there as soon as I pack my clothes and stuff?”
“Yes. Mom and Dad won’t be home for dinner?”
“No.”
“Good thing we are going out to eat with Sophie and Kurt later,” Braedon chuckled.
Braedon gave me a quick kiss, then walked back over to his truck. He followed us to our house and pulled in the driveway behind me, which let me know he was going to drive me and Emerson to her friend’s house. I no sooner unlocked the door when Emerson breezed past me and up the stairs to her room. Kurt walked past and immediately went to the kitchen. Luckily, Emerson was too preoccupied to even ask why Kurt was with Braedon in his truck.
Braedon followed me into the kitchen, where we found Kurt fixing himself a sandwich. I asked Braedon if he wanted something to drink or a sandwich. I grabbed two bottles and me some grapes. I walked around the island and hopped up on the middle stool so I could be in between Kurt and Braedon. I knew we had at least 20 minutes before Emerson would be ready to go.
We sat there, eating and talking about where to go and eat tonight. I didn’t want to talk about what happened at the police station with Emerson in the house. She would freak out and go running to Mom and Dad with the information. I knew she would mean well, but I didn’t want Dad going into a state of panic and moving us away. I didn’t want to leave Braedon and Sophie. I finally had a boyfriend and friend who accepted me for who I was without being scared of me. They gave me the greatest gift I could ask for right now…Acceptance. I had to help them find Alexina and pray for the best. I sent Sophie a quick text for her to come over now while we sat waiting for Emerson.
“Okay, I’m ready to go to Allison’s. Are we taking Braedon’s truck?” Emerson yelled, running down the stairs.
“We have to wait for Sophie to get here. She should be here in a few minutes.”
“You knew I was upstairs packing. Now, we have to wait longer,” she sighed, dropping her bag on the kitchen floor.
“It’s you, Emerson. You take a long time getting ready for anything that isn’t school related. You only get ready early in the morning for the simple fact I won’t yell at you about making us late because you know Mom will be yelling too.”
Chapter 18
After we dropped Emerson off at Allison’s house, we tried to decide what sounded good to eat before we got too far out of the city. We all decided that Downtown Mall was out of the question because it never failed; we always ran into Blair. I didn’t have it in me to deal with her right now. We made about three-four trips around the city before we finally decided on a pizza place that was located at Downtown Mall. I had to come to terms with the fact that there would always be girls like Blair around, making my life hell. I had to stop living my life in fear of them. Just as we had hoped, the pizza place wasn’t that busy yet for a Friday. Most people were still at work.
“Are you okay, Karsyn?” Sophie said, sitting across from me in the booth.
“Yes. It just brought back a lot of memories from Rylee’s trial. Things I didn’t want to ever think about again. When the trial was dismissed, I made myself promise I would only remember the good things about Rylee. Detective Alvarez made me break that promise.”
“What can we do to help?” Braedon asked, caressing my hand.
“All of you being here with me is enough. It means a lot to me that I have all of you,” I said, looking at each of them with a smile. I didn’t think I would be doing so well if I didn’t have them here supporting me. I couldn’t have asked for better people to be in my corner. “I did want to talk to all of you about something while we eat.”
“What did you want to talk to us about?” Sophie said, taking a drink of her sweet tea. I was about to tell them when the server came out with our pizza. She placed it in the middle of the table, then made sure we were doing okay before she walked away.
“I wanted to talk to all of you about looking for the meadow. We should have looked for it the other day when Alexina sent you that text. I’m sorry, Sophie. I was being selfish in fear of being treated like an outcast.”
“Karsyn, you have no reason to apologize. We didn’t understand what you had been through. As far as the meadow, I think it’s a bad idea now, especially afte
r what happened to you today. What happens if by some chance we don’t find her, or worse she’s dead?” she lowered her voice to a whisper, as her eyes welled up with tears.
“Maybe I am supposed to help her. I don’t think I could live with myself, knowing that I could have helped her and didn’t do anything. I can handle the rest of it because I know all of you will be there for me. My friends and boyfriend left me when Rylee’s trial started and they found out about me. My family, of course, stood by me, but it wasn’t the same. You don’t know what it’s like to have all your friends turn their backs on you.”
“I have to agree with them on this one, Karsyn. You went through hell during her trial. I don’t want to see you have to go through all that again, friends by your side or not. I love you too much,” Kurt reached for my hand over the pizza.
I knew I had to help Alexina. My friend was over there fighting for her life, or maybe dead already. We went back to eating pizza, but I tried to study each of their facial expressions to see if I could tell whether they were thinking about what I had talked about. Sophie picked at her pizza, which was a dead giveaway that she was thinking because, for a girl, she could put away some pizza.
“I don’t want you looking for the meadow alone, Karsyn. I haven’t known you long, but I can tell you are serious about this,” Sophie said.
“Thanks, Sophie. It means a lot to me that you want to go with me, but I can’t ask you to risk getting in trouble too.”
“You don’t think we are going to let you go alone, do you? You going along would make it a lot worse for you than if all of us went together. Besides, you said it yourself, you need us,” she smiled.
