by R E Swirsky
Tommy shook his head. "Not really."
"Oh you say that now, but I bet it bled quite a bit on Friday night."
Jason flinched and stole a glance up at Tommy, when Dean mentioned Friday night. Dean pretended not to notice.
"What Friday night?" Tommy replied.
Dean laughed. "You escaped Thursday afternoon and you turned yourselves in on Saturday morning as if it was no big deal. And you returned with one big gash on your forehead and no explanation."
Tommy just shook his head and offered no response.
"Okay, here's the deal. I think I know what you two have been up to. I couldn't figure it out for the life of me at first, but it all came together when I saw your photo in the paper after you turned yourselves in. You had that bloody bandage across your forehead."
Jason sat up and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He frowned and looked up at Tommy, but Tommy ignored him.
"Jason and I just wanted to feel some freedom before the trial. That's it detective. Really," Tommy offered.
"How about I tell you where I think you really were?"
"Go on, then. Where were we?"
Dean nodded and stood up. He clasped his hands together tightly and smiled.
"What puzzled me at first was why your friends Ricky and Bobby tried to break into your house on grad night. I caught Bobby while he was still inside. He was yelling, calling out for some answers, thinking I was Ricky. And do you know what he asked?"
Tommy and Jason both shook their heads.
"He was shouting out to Ricky. ‘How do you open it?’" Dean snickered. "I replied back. ‘Open what?’ Your friend denied ever saying that, but I didn’t forget."
Dean moved about the room slowly.
"And then there are your other friends, Doogie and Willie."
"They are not my friends," Tommy said.
"Nor mine," Jason added.
"It doesn't really matter, but what does matter is Doogie's father's gun was used to kill a man in your old house on Friday night. How the hell did Doogie's father's gun, the one he purchased just days before, end up in the hands of a total stranger back in your house? That was a big mystery for me.
"I finally talked to Doogie on Sunday night. Apparently, he was up camping in the backcountry with Willie and two girls. He said his father purchased the gun for him, and he didn't know where he lost it. He swears he had it when he left on Thursday to go camping, but by the time he got to the campsite, the gun was gone."
Dean stared at both boys, but neither gave Dean anything back.
"Strange, wouldn't you say?"
Dean sat back down across from the boys.
"Here's what else. I found a backpack with maps marking out a trail to get from Sandy McNabb Campground to just across the river from your old house." Dean noticed Tommy swallow, and Dean nodded at him.
“Ayuh. I Found the backpack in the back bushes by the steps."
Jason looked at Tommy and frowned.
"Still, I didn't know what was going on. I suspected you two were involved, but I had no idea how exactly you were connected. I figured it must be something very big for you two to risk an escape over it."
"Let's move on to Friday night. After Gerald broke in, I rushed up to the house and I heard two men shouting at each other. One is Gerald, who was later be found dead on the floor of the study. I know what I heard, but I couldn't figure out how you got out of the house when I had it surrounded. I’m still not quite sure how you even got into the house."
Tommy looked at Jason and shifted in his chair uncomfortably.
"What do you want, detective?" Tommy asked him bluntly. "If it's a confession, you are not going to get one."
"I expected you would react this way. But let me go back to that photo in the paper of you. That's what put it together for me."
"I am not following you, detective," Tommy said. "Are you really suggesting we had something to do with the death there on Friday?"
"That's exactly what I am saying. I went back to the house at first light on Saturday morning. I found the backpack in the bushes by the back steps. I still had not figured out how Doogie's gun ended up inside the house.
"The way I see it, Doogie's gun would have to have been picked up in the back country and brought down to the house because I really do not believe Gerald brought the gun with him. It looks to me like Doogie was a part of this too. A big coincidence that he was camping on the very route marked on the map.
"It also bothered me greatly that Sarah wasn't home when I arrived just as the sun was breaking the horizon Saturday morning. She arrived nearly an hour later and told me where she went."
Dean paused and stared at both boys. The room went quiet until Jason broke his silence.
"Where did she say she went?" he asked.
"Calgary. Another coincidence isn't it?" he said. "You turned yourselves in shortly after she was in Calgary."
"So?" Jason countered.
"So?" Dean shouted back at him. He realized he had raised his voice and quickly lowered it back down.
"Sarah invited me in for a coffee after she got back from her little trip to Calgary. The house was the same as we left it the night before, but I did notice something in the kitchen sink as I went to the window to show Sarah where I found the backpack. It was just a couple of bloody rags and such. There was also a pair of scissors sitting by the sink and a roll of gauze. We had just had another bloody murder in the front study, so why not have a bloody rag in the sink?"
Jason let out a sigh and put his head in his hands for a moment. Tommy looked at his little brother and put his arm around his shoulder. "It's okay, Jason. We've done nothing wrong," he said. Jason cried.
Dean continued with his revelation as Tommy continued to comfort Jason.
"When I saw your photo, I at first wondered where you had been for the last thirty-some hours, but as soon as I saw the bloody bandage on your forehead, I thought of the bloody rags in the sink. It was then that it hit me. Why would there be any bloody rags in that sink? Sarah wasn't injured. My team was in there immediately, and Gerald's body was the only one with blood on it. Sarah was certainly not cleaning up Gerald's blood in the middle of the night. So whose blood was on those rags?"
Jason kept his head buried in his hands.
"I have those rags from Sarah's trash back at the precinct in my office, but that's not why I am here."
Jason continued to sob.
“And I haven’t even dusted the backpack for finger prints yet.”
Jason frowned at Tommy.
"You boys have two very good friends in Ricky and Bobby. Good boys; both of them. I believe those two would do almost anything for you."
Tommy hugged his brother again and looked up at Dean. He nodded in agreement. "They would," he whispered softly.
"I searched for them yesterday, and found out that they went camping Tuesday night. Curiosity got the better of me and I, of course, took a drive out to find their campsite."
Dean placed his hands together on the table.
"It was no accident that Ricky and Bobby tried to break into your house. They were definitely after something inside. When Ricky ran into the house on Friday night, he must have been overwhelmed with fear, fright, terror or something equally powerful to cause him to rush into a scene like that. Now why would he put himself at risk? What could be so damned important to risk getting yourself killed over?"
Dean let the boys think about all he said.
"I can only make a guess here, and you can stop me if I'm wrong or you can say nothing and let me believe what I am about to say.
"I have no doubt that you two were in your house Friday night. You were after something, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what it could be.”
"You boys were good hockey players. The best this town has seen in a long while."
Dean cleared his throat and spoke directly to both boys. This was a difficult momen
t.
"Your friend Tim played hockey, and so did your friend Ricky. I did some homework, and Ricky’s father was certainly not pleased about him quitting hockey, especially when he was nearly as good as you were, Tommy. So what would make Ricky quit hockey and put himself at odds with his parents? And then your friend Tim? What could be so bad that he would commit suicide, but tell no one why?"
He was done talking, and after regurgitating his theory aloud to these boys, he sensed he needed to change directions. He felt a lot of pain in the room, and he couldn't hide the fact that it was affecting him. He had intended on speaking to the boys to confirm what he suspected and blow this wide open, but after hearing his own voice repeat what he suspected and seeing their reaction, he began to reconsider what he was about to do.
"Jason, can you please look at me for a minute."
Jason kept his head buried in his hands. Tommy was watching Dean carefully. He looked worried.
"Please, Jason," Dean said softly. "Just for a minute."
Jason lifted his head up and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. He did his best to keep his eyes on Dean.
"Listen you two. All I want to know is one thing. Just one question. A simple yes or no."
Tommy nodded. Jason continued to stare. His eyes darted about uncomfortably.
"This is about your friend Tim. And now that I think about it, maybe your friend Ricky too and maybe many others."
Jason's eyes suddenly stopped their darting around and focused on Dean's intently.
"Your friends had a big fire going out there. A hell of a hot one. I'll ask this one question and please answer this honestly."
The two boys didn’t moved a muscle as they waited for Dean's question.
"I found what looked like a hard drive in the ashes. There was a lot more than just wood burning in that fire. Lots of plastic. I have a very good idea of what they were burning, and I really need to ask you this." He hesitated only a moment before he asked the one question that was so important to everyone.
"Did they get rid of it all?" he asked.
Tommy blinked rapidly. He glanced over at Jason and then nodded at Dean. He looked back at his brother who also nodded quickly and then pressed his face back down into the crook of his arm. Jason began to weep once again.
Dean released a heavy sigh, gave a short acknowledgment, pushed his chair back and stood up. Dean was satisfied. He trusted that he knew enough. He believed he understood why the boys killed their father, and though he may not have all the facts, he knew enough about where things stood. As he reasoned it out, he accepted it.
Dean searched for words of comfort to offer the boys, but he had none to give. He smiled softly and removed his hat.
Jason lifted his face to Dean. Tears continued to crawl down his cheeks. "Are you going to say anything?"
Dean looked down at both boys and slowly shook his head from side to side.
"It's not my story tell; is it, son? If it needs to be told, it will be. But not by me."
Dean left the room. Tommy hugged his brother. He held him tight and cried with him.
The End
See next page for all books by R E Swirsky
WISH ME FROM THE WATER
When a young teenage boy commits suicide, the town’s people believe it was because of bullying. Two brothers quickly uncover the horrible truth and take matters into their own hands.
EXTREME MALICE
The teenage boy living next door is charged with the crime of strangling Jack's wife. The boy's guitar string was found around her neck. Jack was hundreds of miles away on business.
IN THE MIDST OF A PREDATOR
A very short story.
Young Bobby finds himself alone at the fair and lured by a sexual predator. (This same Bobby, many years later, becomes one of the main characters in Wish Me From the Water).
THE BLUFFINGTON FOUR
A time travel mystery. Four students stumble upon a device hidden away in an attic and are sent through a portal back in time. Their attempts to find their way home takes them to many different dates, but all lead back to one point in time in which a crime was committed. They soon believe the four of them committed the crime and resolve to go take their place in history.
BUMSTEAD'S WELL coming in 2014
It was just a dare to spend 24 hours alone at the bottom of the old well on the abandoned farm. What's the worst that could possibly happen?