Behind The Lies

by Mark R Beckner

  “Yes,” says Aaron. “It used to be my Dad’s, but I kept it after he died.”

  “A.L., was his name Aaron too?” Brad inquires.

  “No, his name was Allen, so our initials are the same. I sometimes wear it to remind me of my Dad.”

  “This might be good to give to her, show how sincere you are.” Brad then slips the ring into his coat pocket without Aaron noticing.

  They arrive at the school at 5:26 pm. Aaron parks the car on Locust street on the northeast side of the school. Brad tells Aaron to wait in the car while he checks to make sure Wendy shows up.

  “Shouldn’t I go with you?” asks Aaron.

  “No,” says Brad. “Let me go and make sure she understands what is going on, then I will call you and have you come over. I will show her the scarf, so she knows this is real and that I’m only here to make the introduction. This way, if she backs out, you won’t be embarrassed, as I will be the one making first contact.”

  “Oh, well, okay,” Aaron says.

  Brad gets out of the car and heads toward the back of the school. This is working out just as I planned, Brad thinks to himself. I can explain to Wendy that the person she fell for was me and not Aaron. I was the one who created those texts. They were my words, not Aaron’s. And I’m the one who found the yellow scarf and am now returning it to her. She will realize her feelings are for me, not Aaron. He will later tell Aaron that Wendy decided she did not want to meet him.

  As Brad approaches the path along the creek, he sees Wendy sitting at one of the benches near the bike path. When Wendy sees Brad approaching, she does not quite recognize who it is, as dusk is settling in. As he gets closer, she stands up and realizes it is not Aaron Livingston. It is Brad McGivens.

  “What are you doing here?!” she blurts out.

  “Wendy, let me explain,” Brad replies.

  “I don’t want to talk to you right now, I’m waiting for someone.”

  “Yes, you are waiting for me. I’m the one who wrote those texts. Look, I have your scarf to prove it.”

  Wendy is puzzled. “Those texts came from Aaron, not you.”

  “No Wendy, they came from Aaron’s phone, but they were from me. I have always wanted you to like me Wendy, but you never gave me a chance. Now you can see me in a different light.”

  “See you in a different light?” she says. “If this is your idea of a joke, then you are worse than I ever imagined!”

  “Wendy, come on,” says Brad, as he grabs Wendy by the shoulders, “just give me a chance. One night out with me will change your mind.”

  “Get your hands off me Brad!”

  The rejection from Wendy, after Brad worked so hard to show her another side of him is infuriating. “Just go out with me Wendy, you will see.”

  “I said get your hands off me. I wouldn’t date you if you were the last guy on earth! You’re a terrible person Brad.”

  Brad is now feeling enraged. He has gotten mad before, but this is not only maddening, it is embarrassing. He will be the laughingstock if this level of rejection is ever known. After all the effort he put forth to show his sensitive side, Wendy is having none of it.

  Wendy now tries to pry Brad’s hands off her shoulders. It is no use. Brad is so much bigger and stronger than her.

  Brad starts to raise his voice, “Wendy, just go out with me one time!”

  “You’re hurting me Brad, stop it. I’m going to scream.”

  As Wendy starts to open her mouth to let out a scream, she feels Brad release her shoulders, only to place both hands around her neck in a vice-like grip. She can feel the cold leather of his gloves as he pushes her back toward the trees and creek. Wendy quickly starts to gasp as she reaches up and tries to remove Brad’s hands. It is to no avail, as he is just too powerful, and she can no longer breathe. She starts to flail her arms and hands, reaching out to anything at all. Maybe if I gouge out his eyes, she thinks, as she tries to reach out and scratch his eyes. She also starts to kick her feet in defense of her life.

  Within seconds, Wendy’s neck feels like it is being crushed. She can only make weak gurgling sounds and cannot breathe at all. It feels like her eyes might pop out of their sockets. She doesn’t want to die. So much to live for and accomplish in her life. How can this be happening to her? Soon, she can’t see at all, as everything goes black. She can feel herself going into an unconscious state. And then, she can feel no more.

  Brad continues his vice grip around Wendy’s neck as he pushes her further into the trees and out of sight. The rage inside of him burns like a roaring campfire. He has never been so angry in his life. He squeezes and lifts up so hard Wendy’s feet briefly come off the ground. Her gurgles finally stop, and her body goes limp. Brad continues to hold on and stare into Wendy’s face as though he is in a trance. How can you reject me like that? he thinks.

  After a few more seconds, Brad snaps out of his trance-like state and releases his grip. Wendy falls lifelessly to the ground. Brad stares at the lifeless body of Wendy Spire while standing over her and breathing heavily. What have I just done? This was not supposed to have happened. Brad soon realizes he is in trouble and has to think fast. Brad grabs Wendy behind the shoulders and drags her further into the trees and leaves her lying near the edge of the creek.

  He realizes no one knows he is here except Aaron, and it is Aaron who set the meetup, not Brad. Brad picks the yellow scarf off the ground and then remembers the ring he had grabbed in Aaron’s car. He removes it from his coat pocket and places it on the ground near the creek path. Brad then notices one of Wendy’s shoes has come off in the struggle and is lying in the tall grass. This is perfect, he thinks to himself as he picks it up and wraps it in the yellow scarf with his leather gloves. He then sprints back toward the car.

  Meanwhile, Aaron is waiting in the car wondering, what is taking so long? It’s been about 10 minutes; shouldn’t he be back by now? Aaron thinks about getting out, but doesn’t want to mess up the plan. Finally, he sees Brad approach the car.

  Brad quickly opens the back door on Aaron’s car and throws the scarf with shoe and gloves onto the back floorboard, shuts the door, then hops into the front passenger seat. He is slightly out of breath. Aaron knows Brad opened the back door, but didn’t notice Brad throwing something onto the back floorboard. He thinks maybe Brad had opened the back door by mistake and is more concerned about what Wendy may have said.

  “What happened Brad?” asks Aaron.

  “Hey, I tried my best buddy,” says Brad between breaths. “She just decided she didn’t want to meet you after all. I tried my best.”

  Aaron is too shocked and disappointed to notice how upset Brad is. He feels like crying, but knows that would be weak and does all he can to hold back the tears. How stupid was I to think a girl like Wendy would ever want to be with a boy like me? Aaron is thinking. How will I be able to face my friends and Wendy in school now? She is probably laughing at me. This is exactly what I was afraid of.

  “Take me back to Johnson’s,” Brad tells him.

  “I can take you home,” says Aaron.

  “No, just drop me off at Johnson’s”

  Not much else is said on the way back to Johnson’s Café. Once there, Brad just says, “see you later,” and takes off on foot. Aaron, disappointed in the events of the night, drives himself home.

  It takes about 12 minutes for Brad to get home. The time is 6:05 pm. He climbs back into his bedroom window and everything seems normal as his music is still playing and his bedroom door still shut. Brad can’t believe he has just choked Wendy to death. However, he knows if anyone finds out, his life and career in football are over. He takes a few moments to compose himself, then exits his room, heading toward the kitchen.

  “Hey mom,” he says, as she sits in the living room watching TV, “just getting a soda.”

  “Getting your work done?” she asks.

  “Oh yeah,” responds Brad.

  Sunday, November 15th

  Aaron has spent the night in
the county’s juvenile detention facility. He is now wearing dull green cotton-blend pants with a drawstring for holding them up and a matching green button-up shirt, white sox, and slip-on white sneakers, the standard juvenile jail-issued clothing. He has told anyone who will listen that he is innocent. No one seems to believe him.

  The media has become aware of Aaron’s arrest and his name and yearbook photo have already been on the news. People are generally shocked to hear that Aaron has been arrested for killing Wendy. No one saw this coming, but they are also relieved to have the person who committed this horrible crime behind bars.

  It is about 10:00 am when Aaron’s mom comes to visit him. Aaron spends most of the visit crying and assuring his mom he did not commit this crime. He doesn’t know for sure who killed her, but knows it was Brad who met her behind the school, not him. Brad had the opportunity and Aaron now remembers Brad did seem upset when he got back to the car.

  “Try not to worry too much Aaron,” his mom says. “I will get you the best lawyer I can afford. Please don’t give up. I believe you Aaron.”

  Aaron is finding it hard not to give up. He knows he will not do well spending much of his life in prison and dreads the thought. Just ten days ago his life was fine.

  Meanwhile, Detectives Baker and Walker continue to put the case together. As they organize and graph the texts, document the evidence, and create a timeline of events, the case starts to come together nicely. There will be an initial appearance in court on Monday and they must be prepared. They also know that more evidence will likely be available once forensic testing is completed. Once they finish, there is not much more to do until more test results come in. By 1:30 pm, they are able to go home to spend some time with family and relax after a long, tiring weekend.

  Monday, November 16th

  Aaron Livingston makes his first appearance in court at 10:00 am. One of the County Assistant District Attorneys appears on behalf of the state to present the facts detailed in the arrest warrant. Given the evidence of premeditation and intentional murder of Wendy Spire, the District Attorney has filed a First Degree Murder charge against Aaron. The judge reads Aaron the elements of the charge, advises him of his rights, and against Aaron’s Public Defender’s pleas, sets bond at $500,000. He cites the planning and brutality of the crime, as well as community concern as reasons for the high bond. Mrs. Livingston cries softly in the courtroom as she listens to the judge. After the judge is finished, Aaron is led out of the courtroom and back to juvenile detention.

  At 1:00 pm, Detective Baker gets a call from the state forensic lab. He is told that the DNA swabs off both leather gloves found in Livingston’s car had a mixture of DNA, but at least one of the samples matched the DNA of Wendy Spire. It is no surprise to Baker that the gloves had a mixture of unknown DNA, as who knows how many people or objects those gloves had touched in the days prior to the murder. But he is pleased to learn that some of the DNA belonged to the victim. All the pieces are coming together, he believes.

  It is now mid-afternoon, and Aaron has been sitting in juvenile detention for almost a full two days. His anxiety level has never been so high. He knows he didn’t kill Wendy, or did he? Does he not remember what happened? Did he black out? If he didn’t do it, how did her shoe get in his car? He remembers Brad opening the back door. Could Brad have put it there in that brief moment? Regardless, Aaron does not believe he can survive in prison. Only his mom seems to believe him, and prison life is not something he is willing to adjust to. With his mild, shy manner, he believes he will be picked on unmercifully in prison. Aaron begins to contemplate ways to kill himself. He doesn’t know whether he can survive another night of jail. All I wanted was a girlfriend.

  Meanwhile, Brad is sulking and spending most of his time in his bedroom. He believes the evidence against Aaron is strong enough to protect him, but he knows Aaron will continue to claim he was the murderer. Brad doesn’t believe anyone saw him with Aaron that night, so he is fairly confident his alibi will hold up. Brad did not intend to harm Wendy, all he wanted was for her to accept him and agree to go on one date. Why couldn’t she just say yes, reflects Brad. He also knows his concern over this situation affected his performance Saturday night in the biggest game of the year and blames himself for the loss. His parents, however, only believe Brad is upset over losing the game.

  Back at the police department, Walker walks into the office and Baker informs him of the DNA results on the gloves. “That’s great,” says Walker. “Did they find Aaron’s DNA as well?”

  “No, he said there was a mixture of DNA and he could only identify Wendy’s,” responds Baker.

  Walker then says, “Strange he could not find Aaron’s DNA. You’d think his DNA would be all over those gloves. Did he take any samples from the inside of the gloves?”

  “I don’t think so, at least he didn’t say he did.”

  “Call him back and ask him to check the inside as well,” says Walker.

  “What are you thinking Don?”

  “I’m not sure, but Aaron’s story was so, I don’t know, incredible, that you wonder why would he make up such a story? Wouldn’t it have been better just to say, hey, I chickened out and never went to the school?” Walker suggests.

  “It is an incredible story,” Baker agrees. “I’ll call the lab back and ask them to do some further testing. It’s better to cover any loopholes now rather than later.”

  Walker continues, “Remember the part about picking Brad up at Johnson’s Café?”

  “Sure, but he has a pretty solid alibi, unless you think mom was lying.”

  “Probably not, but you never know. I’m going to go check at Johnson’s to see if they have any security cameras,” says Walker.

  Walker responds to Johnson’s Café and walks around the building. He finds two outside cameras, one on the northwest corner of the building and one on the southwest corner. He then goes inside and asks the clerk if he can get the video from last Thursday evening.

  “No, only the manager has access to those files,” says the clerk.

  “Well call him right now and get him down here,” demands Walker. “We are conducting a homicide investigation and those videos could be important.”

  A half-hour later, one of the managers shows up and agrees to give Walker a thumb drive copy of the video from all of last Thursday and Friday.

  It is around 5:30 pm when Walker returns to the office with the video. “Did you talk to the lab tech?” asks Walker.

  “Yep, he said he would get on it and have results in the morning,” replies Baker. He said he would also have the results from the DNA scrapings under her nails by then as well.”

  “Great, I’m going to stick around for a while and review this video footage from Johnson’s and see if I find anything helpful,” advises Walker. “You go home, nothing else we can do tonight.”

  At 6:00 pm, Livingston is served his dinner of two burritos, a small salad, chocolate pudding, and water. He picks at the food but is too upset to eat. He can’t stand the thought of another night in jail. And this is the best it will be, he believes, actual prison will be ten times worse. He continues to think of suicide, but doesn’t know how to carry it out while in jail. Even the dinnerware they give him is plastic.

  At about 7:00 pm, Walker is still reviewing the video when he spots what appears to be a light-colored Toyota RAV4 cross the screen in front of the southwest camera at 5:10 pm last Thursday. He cannot see any license plate, but it looks similar to the car Aaron was driving. Four minutes later, he sees a person cross in front of the same camera, walking toward the south side of the building. He cannot tell for sure, but the subject matches the build and look of Brad McGivens. At the 5:17 mark, he sees what appears to be the same vehicle leaving the parking lot south from the SW corner of the building.

  Walker continues to study the video. At the 5:50 mark, what appears to be the same light-colored Toyota RAV4 comes into view from the south and this time pulls up more in front of the building. A mal
e subject gets out of the passenger side and starts walking in a northwest direction until he is out of view. The lighting is better from this angle and Walker believes the subject looks a lot like Brad McGivens. Damn, thinks Walker, Aaron may be telling the truth after all. Walker re-runs the video several more times trying to get further identifying details. He notices the subject who walks past the camera initially and then gets out of the car upon its return is wearing a dark winter jacket. After the fourth time watching, he notices a significant change. In the first video, the subject walking southbound has on what appear to be black gloves. In the second video, when the subject exits the vehicle at the 5:50 mark, there are no gloves on the subject’s hands. Well, I’ll be damned, thinks Walker.

  Walker calls Baker at his home. “Hey Steve, sorry to bother you, but I believe I have Aaron’s vehicle and Brad McGivens on video at Johnson’s from Thursday night,” he excitedly tells Baker.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

  “I kid you not. We need to get to Brad tomorrow morning before school to confront him and get a DNA sample. Do you think the lab will be able to test it tomorrow if we get it to them first thing?” Walker asks.

  “They know how big this case is for us. I’m sure I can sweet talk them into helping us out,” replies Baker. “Let’s get in early tomorrow and be at the McGivens place by seven.”

  “I think we’re going to need a warrant,” says Walker. “I highly doubt mom will let us just take a DNA sample from Brad.”

  “You’re right,” says Baker, “would you like me to come back in to help?”

  “No, I’m already here. I can just make the necessary changes and additions to the affidavit we already have. I’ll get with the on-call judge tonight on my way home to get it signed. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

  Tuesday, November 17th

  Walker and Baker are in the office by 6:30 am. Walker has the warrant authorizing them to collect DNA from Brad McGivens. They arrive at the McGivens residence at 6:55 am. Brad McGivens answers the door. “What’s the matter?” he says.