by Mark Stone
“Brick was arrested,” I said like it was the most ridiculous idea in the world, because as far as I was concerned, it was.
“I know that,” she said. “I slapped the cuffs on him myself.”
“Of course, you did,” I said, anger sharpening into a knife in my chest, tightening my jaw and forcing beads of sweat to appear on my forehead. “He’s a kid, Abby.”
“He’s not a kid,” she replied. “Kids are under eighteen. Brick Andrews is an adult, and he’s one who committed a heinous crime.” She shook her head. “Given the personal nature of your relationship with Gina Russell, I would have assumed, seeing as how you couldn’t save her, that you would at least be happy with the arrest of her murderer.”
“Oh, I will be happy with the arrest of her murderer,” I said, trying my best to hold my composure as my body started to shake with rage. “When that man is actually brought to justice. What you’ve done now, this pathetic lie you’re trying to pass off as truth, isn’t going to fool anyone.”
Abby narrowed her eyes at me, looking at me for a long moment as though she was trying to see through my words and into my intentions.
“If you have something to say about the way I’ve done my job or the conclusions I’ve come to, then I suggest you save them, Danny. This is a police investigation. It’s not trivia night at whatever watering hole you and your surf bro buddies attend on the weekends. We’re not open for suggestions and we’re not looking for input,” she murmured.
“Aren’t you, though?” I asked. “Isn’t that exactly what you were looking for when you asked me to help you with trying to stop Gina Russell’s murder in the first place?”
“And look how that turned out,” she said, a sentence which sliced me every bit as deeply as any knife could.
“That’s not what you wanted, though, was it?” I asked, pushing through the pain. “You didn’t really want me to get to the truth about this, did you?”
“I suggest you walk out of here, Danny,” Abby said, “while you still can.”
“You had no interest in the truth ever being uncovered,” I continued, sticking a finger in the woman’s face. “You just wanted to use me to pin what was happening, what you knew might happen, on some innocent person. I never dreamed you would ever pick someone as innocent as Brick. That guy wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“His prints are all over the murder weapon, he was covered in Gina Russell’s blood, and there are claw marks on his face that are consistent with a fight. I’m going to assume the DNA the coroner finds under Gina’s fingernails will match Brick’s, and once it does, I can’t think of a jury in the world that won’t convict him.”
I blinked hard, listening in horror as the woman laid out exactly what Brick was up against. It was definitely a mountain to climb.
“He didn’t do this,” was all I could muster.
“Why?” Abby asked, scrunching her nose up and shaking her head. “Because he’s your friend? Because you think he’s a harmless soul who couldn’t be responsible for something as horrible as this? He was on the beach when Gina was poisoned, he was at the bar the night the two of you were almost run over, and I’ll bet money I can find evidence of him at the mayor’s house the night all of this started.”
I said, instinctively jerking my head backward, “That’s not right,” I murmured. “There’s no way that’s right.” I knew Brick had been on the beach that day, but why was he at the bar that night? Would Abby be able to connect him to the mayor’s house on the night Gina spoke about, the night she hid in her closet and prayed for her life?
“You’re not trained for this, Danny,” Abby said, and while her voice softened a little, it still held a cold steel that I hadn’t heard in it before tonight. “I know you think you know people. I know you think you know this Brick person, but no one ever really knows anybody else. You might think you’re talking to the most innocent person in the world, and standing in front of you could be a cold-blooded killer.”
“Brick isn’t a killer,” I said, swallowing hard and letting the same cold steel find its way into my voice. “But you know that.”
“Do I?” Abby asked. “And what, pray tell, is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that you know exactly who is responsible for this,” I said, almost out of breath from the single sentence.
“Excuse me?” she asked.
“Why didn’t you tell me your brother used to date Gina Russell?” I asked, standing my ground.
Abby blinked hard. “Because it’s not your business,” she replied. “And I don’t like what you’re implying.”
“Yeah. I didn’t figure you would,” I argued. “And I didn’t mean to imply anything. I meant to say it straight out. Your brother is an abusive loser who was so embittered by his breakup with Gina that he wouldn’t stop until she was dead.” I took another step toward her. “And you’re using an innocent man to cover up for him.”
The steel in Abby’s eyes hardened even more, changing into something close to a barely subdued rage. She took a step toward me this time, bridging the gap between us completely. “You need to slow your roll, Danny.” Her voice was like the hiss of a snake you’d find in the tall grass around these parts. “My brother has already been looked into. He’s been dismissed as a person of interest. The ramblings of a lifeguard with a penchant for getting himself into trouble aren’t going to change that.”
“Looked into by who, Abby?” I asked, my face morphing into a belligerent sneer. “By you? You really think that’s fair? Hell, how fair could any of it be, given your connection to all of this?”
“I’ll tell you one more time, Danny, and it’s the last time I will. You need to get out of here while you still can. Otherwise, you’ll end up in a cell beside Brick.”
I looked at her for a long moment, and then an idea sparked inside me. Seeing Brick wouldn’t be that bad a thing. I needed to talk to him, to get to the bottom of what was actually going on. Since I wasn’t his lawyer, I wouldn’t be able to get in there to him any other way.
I picked up the coffee cup on her desk and threw it to the floor. She gasped as it shattered into a thousand tiny white pieces. Then I grabbed the lamp and launched it toward the wall. The bulb burst and the glass sprayed across the room.
Police were all over me now, and as one tackled me, bringing me to the floor, I looked up at Abby. She was still standing over me, staring down with aggravated eyes and folded arms.
“Thanks for the advice,” I muttered.
28
They tossed me into the jail cell with the kind of fervor you only ever really see in the movies. I had been arrested before. Hell, I had been arrested the night of the mayor’s party, and I knew that for the most part, it was a passionless event. Of course, I had just trashed their working space. I had come into their habitat and showed these cops that I had absolutely no respect for them, the job they did, or their safety while they were working. At least, that’s probably what it looked like to them. For that, I got thrown into the holding cell so hard that I didn’t stop until I slammed against the far wall.
I tasted blood as I pulled away from it, dabbing my fingers at my lips and coming away with red.
“Danny?” Brick’s voice asked, meek and small, from the other side of the cell.
Looking over at my coworker and one-time protégé, my heart broke. His eyes were red-rimmed and sunken into his face. His hair was a frantic mess on his head, and his fingernails had been chewed down to the quicks. Throw in the look of defeat and terror on his face, and it was obvious that the kid wasn’t taking his arrest very well.
That’s what he was, too. It was as clear as day as I looked at him now, at the way his body had pulled itself up into the fetal position on the bench, his arms wrapped around his knees like they might be safe there. Though Abby would disagree, Brick was a kid. He was scared to death and he was acting as kids do when they’re this afraid for this long. He was going into his shell and hoping nothing could find him there.
&nb
sp; “Do they think you killed somebody too?” he asked, blinking tears out of his eyes.
“I put myself here,” I said, taking the back of my hand and running it across my lips in an attempt to clear them of blood.
“Oh,” he answered almost absentmindedly. “That’s a weird thing to do.”
“I needed to see you,” I said, moving toward the kid with the same sort of gentle apprehension you might use if you were trying to get close to a deer.
“They said I killed her, Danny,” he said, his eyes going wide as if they were telling it to him again for the first time. “They said I shot Gina Russell, but I didn’t.”
“I know that,” I said, settling over him and placing a hand on his shoulder. “I know you’re not the kind of man who could ever do something like that. I just need to know who is. I need to know what happened when she died, Brick. Where were you? What were you doing?”
The kid sighed loudly, looking down at his hands, which were open in front of him and still stained with a tint of red.
“She died in my arms,” he said, unable to keep the tears from falling down his cheeks now. “I watched the life drain out of her, and I’m not new at this. I’ve seen someone die before. That’s part of the job, but this was different. This wasn’t like drowning. It wasn’t something I could stop, something I could help her with.” He shook his head hard. “We were looking for shells. I know it’s stupid, kid stuff and all that, but that’s what we were doing. It was my break, and you told me to keep her with me. That wasn’t easy. That girl has a mind of her own.” He swallowed hard. “She had a mind of her own, I guess. And she wasn’t used to being told no. I had kept her in front of the tower all morning, though. So, when she said she wanted to take a walk, just the two of us, I didn’t think anything would come from it.” He dropped his head into his hands. “That’s not true. She had been looking at me all morning. You know, like really looking at me. I thought maybe she liked me. I figured she wanted to get me alone just to . . . just to—”
“To show you how she felt?” I asked, finishing what was obviously a delicate sentence for him.
“And I got her killed,” he said, pulling his face from his hands, his mouth twisting in pain. “I should have known better. I knew she was in danger. I knew someone was trying to kill her. I should have been smarter than to take her to some secluded place on the beach on the off chance that she wanted to make out with me.” He shook his head hard again. “This is my fault! I’m the reason she’s dead.”
“Stop saying that!” I said, tightening my grip on him. “You are not the reason she’s dead. You did not do this. Wanting to kiss a pretty girl who you thought liked you doesn’t make you a murderer, but someone is, and you were there. So, I need you to tell me what happened.”
“I wish I could tell you,” he said. “Like I told you, we were looking for shells. We had found some, and then she wanted to make a game of it. I’d close my eyes, and then she’d go hide them somewhere along the beach, and I’d have to try to find them.”
“Oh, no,” I said, figuring where this story was going.
“I closed my eyes one time, and then I heard her run off,” he said. “There were a few seconds of silence, and then I heard her say something that sounded like ‘What do you want?’. Then I heard a bang. I opened my eyes immediately, of course, and ran to the noise. By the time I got there, though, it was already too late. Gina was just lying there. She had a bullet wound in her head and she was trying to talk. I leaned down and tossed the gun off her, because it was on her chest and it didn’t seem right for her to die like that. Then I scooped her head up with my hands and stayed with her until she was gone. It didn’t take long. One second, she was there, and the next, she just wasn’t.”
“Stop!” another familiar voice said from behind me. Turning, I saw Riley standing at the jail cell. He had a briefcase in his hand and a pair of sunglasses nestled in his blond hair. “Stop talking. Stop talking right now.” He looked over at the guard. “Open this up, and then take a hike. I’m going to be talking to my clients.”
“Clients?” I muttered. Then it hit me. Of course! Riley had a law degree before he decided to become a lifeguard.
As if by magic, the guard did exactly what Riley asked, and then he walked in. There was no shoving, no name calling, and no bloody lips. Riley sneered at us as the guard walked away.
“I can’t believe you two idiots are making me be a lawyer right now,” he said. “You know I hate it when I have to be a lawyer.”
“You’re a lawyer,” I said, turning to my friend.
“That’s what I just said,” he replied.
“I didn’t need to get arrested at all. You could have just walked in here,” I murmured.
“Yeah. You’re gonna wish you thought of that when your plea deal involves community service,” Riley said. “And as for you.” He turned his attention to Brick. “That mouth of yours stays shut. Anything the guards overhear can be used against you. You say nothing to anyone. Nobody. Understand? I don’t care that, for whatever reason, you want to be this idiot when you grow up.” He tossed a thumb in my direction. “You say nothing to him either. We’ve got a mountain to climb with you, and I’m going to need your cooperation. Got it?”
“Got it,” Brick said.
“You owe me thirty dollars, by the way,” Riley said.
“For what?” Brick asked.
“Money legally has to change hands for me to be your representation, and thirty dollars is how much the dinner you idiots pulled me away from cost. So, that seems like a fair number to me,” Riley said.
“They took my wallet,” Brick murmured.
“Of course they did,” Riley said. “Mouth shut. I’ll see you soon.” He turned to me. “And you. Come on. I posted your bail. We’re getting the hell out of here.” He pointed at me. “You owe me more than thirty dollars, by the way.”
“But my case is much smaller,” I mused.
“But the pain in my ass is much bigger,” he said as we turned and headed to the cell door. “Besides, something tells me this is just the start of the trouble you’re going to get yourself into with this.”
I looked back at Brick, knowing that I couldn’t stop, knowing that I had to keep going. If Riley had a mountain to climb, then I had a killer to find, and I wasn’t about to fail.
I took a deep breath. “Something tells me you’re right.”
29
Walking into the hospital room where Cameron lay was something I didn’t want to do. I didn’t like the man, of course. In fact, though I didn’t like the word, he came the closest to someone I hated that I could think of. Still, I knew I had to do this. In the last few weeks, everything had fallen apart. I was some kind of quasi-celebrity, I had lost the parts of my job that I loved the most, Nate had been hurt badly and was slowly recovering, Gina had died, and Brick had been falsely accused of her murder. Some of these things could never be fixed, and because of that, I felt like it was time for me to bury certain hatchets. Since I was going to do that, since I felt like I needed to do that if I wanted to be able to move past everything that had happened, it made sense to me to start with the biggest hatchet in my life, the one that would need the deepest burial.
“Can I come in?” I asked, standing at the doorway of Cameron’s room. His door was open, but I knocked on it anyway. I figured it was the polite thing to do.
“Haven’t been able to stop anyone else. Why should you be the first? Who is it, anyway?” Cameron groaned.
From where I was standing, I could only see the bottom of his legs and he couldn’t see me at all. I stayed where I was until I told him my name. Given our history, it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t want to see me at all.
“It’s Danny Chase,” I replied. “I came to talk to you.”
“Yeah. I didn’t figure you came to sing to me,” he muttered. Then, after a beat or two of silence, he barked, “Come in then! I don’t feel like talking to you from the door.”
“Righ
t,” I said, moving forward. As I entered, I got a full picture of exactly what Cameron had been through since I’d last seen him. His entire upper body was bandaged to the neck, which was covered with cuts and scrapes. His face was bruised, and his lip was swollen to twice its usual size. His right eye was black and blue and nearly shut.
“Who puts a bomb in a camera?” Cameron asked, shaking his head slightly as he saw me. “You look like crap, by the way, like you haven’t slept in days. Not that I probably have any room to talk.”
“I’m sorry you got hurt,” I said, and the tone of my voice was flat, probably flatter than I intended.
“I’m sure part of you is,” he said. “Just like I’m sure there’s another part of you that sees it as some kind of karmic justice, right?”
“I’m not really the type that believes in karma,” I admitted. “I believe bad things happen, sometimes because of nature and sometimes because of awful people. I don’t think either one of those things gives a damn about who they hurt in the process.”
“Still,” Cameron said, “it must be a hell of a thing to see. You believe I took away your career, and now you get to watch while mine goes down the tubes too.” He shook his head. “Not that it mattered too much. There wasn’t a realistic shot in hell that I was ever going to get back to the Olympics anyway. It’s why I took this damn job in the first place.”
I remembered something Ellis said before the room blew up, something about why Cameron wasn’t swimming in the first place.
“What do you mean?” I asked, settling in front of the bed at his feet.
He stared at me, a blank and empty thing if I’d ever seen one. “I guess it doesn’t matter now, does it?” he asked. “You’ll get a kick out of this. I was using steroids. Well, I mean, not steroids proper, but performance enhancing drugs. There’s a strain the Olympic board hasn’t found a way to test for yet, and I was on them.”