by Jack Parker
"Collin, calm down. It's been a year and how she lost her knife is probably a trivial detail to her. I don't think it's very important that she forgot how she lost it."
"But it's the same knife that was used to kill Scott! And what if she was telling the truth in that questioning session you filmed?! It would make NICK a suspect!"
Chapter 6
Questioning Jess
Teneire looked even more upset now that Collin had found a small inconsistency with one of the videos but thought that it was going to shine a whole new light to the unsolved mystery.
"Collin, I talked to Nick last year when I brought him in for questioning. He said he didn't have his knife with him that day at work and he asked to use Jess's instead. He even showed his own one, so..."
"But Jess's knife was what killed Scott! We've gotta look into this some more!"
"We? Go to a police academy and train or a couple years and become an officer, then we can talk about what "we" need to do."
"Please, sir!" Collin pleaded, sounding more desperate now than he ever had in his life. "Even if I'm not a police officer, didn't you notice how quick I picked up on Jess lying? Come on…couldn't I at least help catch some people lying when they question you?!"
Teneire looked as if he was ready to throw everything off his desk out of frustration. "You don't understand…"
"Maybe I don't. But I still wanna help. Please?"
Teneire began massaging the sides of his head. "Look, Collin, there's a reason we haven't been able to figure everything out. And besides, you don't even work here anymore. I might as well be letting a complete stranger come in."
"But I used to work here! Come on!"
"No! Now please, get out of my office!"
Collin was heavily disappointed when he realized this wasn't getting him anywhere. Groaning, he turned around and slowly started walking towards the door, purposely going at a sluggish pace to see if Teneire would change his mind. When it didn't look like that was what was going to happen, Collin pulled one more trick.
Turning around, he looked right at Teneire and said, "One chance."
"What?"
"One chance."
"Once chance what?"
"I want you to give me one chance to see if I can find anything in another questioning session to see if I can help you figure this whole thing out. If I don't find anything in that one session, you can kick me out the door and I won't bother you on this ever again. All I want you to do is let me give it a shot."
Teneire looked at him for a few seconds before bluntly saying, "No. Now please, I've got a lot of work to do."
Defeated once again, Collin turned to the door and started exiting the office. But just as he was passing the threshold, he turned around and said one more thing. "You realize I'm never going to stop asking until you let me try it, right?"
"And you realize you're hurting more than helping right now, right?"
"Yeah, so let me see if I can make up for that."
Teneire seemed exhausted-like he didn't want this to continue any longer. Putting his hands over his face as if he had been sleep deprived for weeks, he said, "You're gonna get me court martialed. Fine. One chance."
"R…really?!" Collin yelled excitedly. He was surprised by the sudden turnaround in his favor.
"But if you don't find any lies or anything suspicious in Jess's story, then you're gonna get out of my office and never talk to me about this case again, all right?"
"Yes, sir!"
On the outside, Collin was brimming with excitement. But on the inside, he was now feeling very nervous. He realized he had to pull something very impressive off in the questioning session if he was to keep Teneire's trust, and, considering how the crime went unsolved, he didn't know if he'd really be able to find a flaw in Jess's story in some way. He could only hope.
* * *
It was a few hours later and Jess had been summoned to the police station for questioning. She was in a small corner while sitting in a stiff chair. She had her hands clasped on her lap, and her expression made it obvious she was nervous, despite her efforts to mask it.
Teneire was sitting in the opposite corner, and Collin was sitting right besides him. Jess was even more confused about why her coworker was there, but she was more worried about herself now than she was about him.
"All right, Ms. Maldavo?" Teneire asked.
"Y…yes?"
"You know why we had you come here?"
"I think so…"
"You remember when Scott Halpin got killed last summer at your place of employment?"
"Yes…but I didn't do it!"
"No one said you did," Teneire tried to calm. "But we found your knife buried in the sand under the lifeguard tower at the lake, and it had Scott's blood on it."
"We"? I don't remember YOU helping out much with finding that knife, Collin coldly thought to himself.
Jess looked surprised to hear that bit of news. "I haven't really heard much about that until now."
"Your boss never told you?"
"Lisa doesn't like talking about Scott getting killed."
I can see why…
"So how did the knife get there?" Jess asked hopefully.
"Well, that's what we'd like you to tell us," Teneire answered plainly.
"Wait, what do you mean, 'we'? You mean Collin isn't here for questioning?!"
"No. He's here to 'help out'."
"What?! Why does he get to watch?!"
"It's a long story, but…"
"No, it isn't!" Collin butted in. "When watching back the tapes of your questioning…"
Teneire looked at him and sharply said, "You want me to let you go through with this, or not?!"
"S…sorry."
Teneire sighed and looked like he was regretting letting Collin 'help' with the questioning. He'd be lucky to get out of that questioning session with his rank if Collin didn't find something crucial.
Collin, too, realized how serious this was. He was risking Teneire's rank and trust, as well as his trust in himself, with this questioning session. He was hoping to himself he would never have to do something so important and be in such a tight spot again in his life…
"So, we're just going to ask you a few questions, and I want you to answer them completely and honestly, all right?" Teneire asked.
"Yes."
"Good. The tape's running. Everything you say is being recorded. Remember: fully and honestly."
"Got it."
Collin gulped. His excitement was now turning to anxiety.
"Why don't you start by telling us why your knife was found in the sand under the lifeguard tower?" Teneire suggested.
"All right. The last time I used my knife was right around this time of year last summer…except I didn't use it to kill anyone! I guess I lost it and it just somehow ended up at the lake. But I got no idea how it happened."
Before Teneire could say something, Collin spoke up when he was sure Jess was finished answering the question. "Hold it right there! Let me get this straight…"
Jess looked shocked, as did Teneire. Collin now had a gleam in his eyes like a hunter that just caught its prey.
"So you're saying you lost your knife and it somehow got onto the beach in some inexplicable way?"
"I…guess so."
"Oh really? Then I guess you're lying."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you're making up the story somewhere, because in the interviewing session you had last summer, you clearly and confidently said you lent your knife to Nick!"
"W…what? How do you know that?! You weren't even working there last summer!"
"I saw the video recorded of you when you when Teneire was talking to you last summer, and you CLEARLY said you gave your knife to Nick. Isn't that right, sir?"
"That's correct," Teneire said quickly. He was having a hard time keeping up with what his junior partner was saying, even though he already knew in advance what his main attack plan would be.
"So�
�you lost your knife or you gave it to Nick. Which one was it?!"
"Er…all right, fine. The truth is…last summer, I gave my knife to Nick. I swear that's what happened."
"Why'd you say you lost it, then, if Nick was the one who had it?" Teneire asked, slightly confused.
"Well, actually…it was kind of a mix of both things."
"What do you mean?"
"I gave my knife to Nick 'cause he said he was going to need it for work and he broke his own."
"Couldn't Nick have just gotten a new one?" Collin asked. He was trying to make his voice sound not so aggressive and confident.
Jess scoffed. "Coll, I think you need to start paying attention better. You won't get very far in this little game of yours if you don't."
"What do you mean?"
"Remember what Lisa said to you on your first day at Arbur Winslow about the knives we get?"
"Hmmm…"
"But be careful not to lose that, all right? It takes us over a week to order those knives and get them delivered. Trust me, you don't want to go ten days without one of those things."
Err…right, Collin thought to himself. "Yeah, I remember now."
"Nick said he lost his knife the day before he asked me, but since he needs his knife for almost every job Randy was havin' him do, he didn't want to go about a week without a knife. So he asked to use mine."
"But you still haven't answered my question," Teneire interrupted. "Why'd you say you lost it when you knew Nick had it?"
"Like I said, it was a bit of both. Yeah, I knew Nick had it, but when he didn't give it back to me after a while, I just assumed he lost it. And I never need mine, anyway, so it wasn't such a big deal to me that I didn't have one."
Teneire looked pretty disappointed at the lack of new knowledge they were getting, especially since the only new information was concerning a misinterpretation on Jess's part. "Well, Collin?"
"You know…something's kinda bothering me," Collin cryptically answered. This response caused a surprised and confused look to sprout on the faces of the other two people in the room.
"What's bothering you?"
"Sir, remember when you told me that everyone who's innocent has a good alibi?"
"Did I say that?"
"Yeah, you did. And, well…Jess really hasn't given us one."
"WHAT?!" Jess yelled. "You truly and honestly think I did it?!"
"No offense, Jess, but…well, you knew Nick had your knife, and then a few nights later, some guy got stabbed and died."
"It could've been a coincidence! And, you know, I was also trying to protect Nick. If everyone found out he had my knife, he'd be accused of killing Scott."
"My point is…if you weren't at Arbur Winslow that night killing people, then what were you doing?!"
"Wha?..."
"Let's not forget it was your knife that Scott's blood was on! And Scott got killed the same week you gave your knife to Nick! And you're saying Nick just "lost" your knife around that exact same time?! You know what I think?! I think you were just trying to get other people to think Nick had your knife when Scott got killed so they'd think it was him and not you. You weren't trying to cover up for Nick at all…you were trying to protect yourself!"
"Collin, calm down…" Teneire nervously ordered. "I know you want to help, but blindly shouting and accusing Jess of something that there's no physical evidence to prove isn't the way to do it!"
"But I'm onto something! Just look at her!"
Jess looked genuinely panicked, almost like she was about to be executed.
"It makes perfect sense she was trying to protect herself by 'protecting' Nick, it was her knife that Scott's blood was on, and she's already lied about what happened to that knife!"
"I told you, I didn't li…"
"AND she doesn't even have an alibi. Well, Teneire? Don't you think that makes her look suspicious?!"
"Collin, you're beginning to sound like a robot or something instead of a regular kid," he remarked. "I think you need to calm down."
"But Jess…"
"Collin, look."
Teneire pointed over to Jess, who now looked much more calm and relaxed than she did a short while before. "Actually…" she said in a small voice.
Now curious as to what Jess was talking about, Collin looked intently as she dug her hand into one of her pockets and pulled out a batch of crumpled newspaper clippings.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
Jess looked at her coworker furiously. Not only was she upset that she just got accused of being a murderer by him, but she also looked annoyed that she had to explain what she was doing. "You REALLY don't listen at all, do you?!"
"Wha?"
"What did I say to you on your first day?! Hmmmm?! What did I say?!"
Collin looked like he was going deep in thought for a few seconds before he hissed, "Waaaaiiit…"
"Me and some of my friends play in a group…Sometimes even the media comes to watch us. We're that huge…When people put an article about us, I always cut it out of the paper and keep it..."
"You don't mean…" Collin stuttered.
"Ooooh, yes," Jess said with a surprising amount of malice rising in her voice. After digging through the clump of old paper clippings, she handed one to Collin to read.
Collin gingerly took the clipping and read it to himself. As he looked at it, a slight, "Oooooohhhhh crap," came from his mouth.
The newspaper clipping consisted of a black and white photo of Jess and (who were assumed to be) some of her friends or group members standing on a stage performing one of their songs. Right below the picture was some tiny black font that read talked about the band and specifically said that they were performing at Nessie's Night Club on July 27-the same day Scott got killed. To add on, the text listed everyone playing in the band, and one of the names was Jessica Moldavo, confirming it was her in the picture.
Oh, man…Collin thought to himself.
"Ya happy now?" Jess said. "I was performing at Nessie's Night Club the night Scott died. And you know what? Nessie's Night Club is in Dhaosville, which is sixty miles away. You see?! I was sixty miles away when Scott died! Good enough of an alibi for you?!"
"Urrrgh…sorry," Collin weakly said.
"You should be! Not even on the job for a week and you're already pointing fingers at people and accusin' them of being killers. What the heck are they teaching in Catholic schools these days?"
If one more person makes a joke about me going to a Catholic school, I SWEAR…
Collin looked over at Teneire, who looked almost as annoyed as Jess was, but also slightly disappointed. "Well, Collin, at least we know who it wasn't now. But you got WAY too excited and WAY too out of hand. I don't think you're gonna be back here in the questioning room helping me again any time soon."
"W…wait!" Collin insisted.
"Too late for that. Ms. Maldavo, I apologize for this kid's behavior. I'm telling you, he wasn't ANYTHING like this when he worked for me last summer."
"It's fine," Jess said. "Just as long as you don't think it was me."
"Good. I think you're free to go now."
"Wait!" Collin yelled. At this point he wasn't even thinking and was just trying to do anything he believed would help him.
"It's too late for that," Teneire coldly shunned. "Jess, please leave, before Collin tries taking your head off."
"No! There's one more question I wanna ask!"
Jess groaned. "What. You want to prove that's not me in the picture or something?"
"Don't be stupid. I actually wanted to ask you about Nick."
"About Nick?"
"Yeah."
"Like what?"
"Well…you never said what he was doing the night Scott died."
"Collin, what are you talking about?" Teneire asked, trying to maintain his cool.
"Jess just proved that she was far, FAR away from Arbur Winslow when Scott died, so she couldn't have killed him. But if you remember what she said just now, she told
us that she never got her knife back."
"Yes. We're aware of that," Teneire said.
"And who was the last person to have that knife before Scott got stabbed with it?"
"Uh…Nick?" Teneire asked.
"Exactly! So if Nick had the knife when Scott got killed, then that would make him the killer!"
"Collin, I…"
"I don't think it was Nick," Jess said lowly.
Just like that, all the life got sapped from him once again. "Why not?"
"First of all, Nick doesn't even have a motive. And second, he was su…"
"You know, Collin…Jess didn't have a motive, either. But you flung the whole thing on her, anyway."
"Yeah!" Jess yelled, completely dropping what she was originally going to say.
"Yeah, but…so?! It still LOOKS like it was him!" Collin desperately said. He wasn't hiding the fact at all anymore that he was on his last leg. "And if he had Scott's knife when the killing happened, then it HAS to be him!"
Teneire groaned. "Jess, please leave. Collin and I need to talk in private."
Jess scoffed. "See you at work tomorrow, newbie," she coldly told him as she walked out of the questioning room.
As soon as she was out of earshot, Teneire let out a loud and annoyed groan. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"Huh?"
"You have any idea about bad you just made both of us look?!"
"What?"
"You said you'd do something to help us out, and I trusted you! If I had known you'd be this stupid…"
"But I did help!"
"No you didn't! How'd you help?!"
"Well, I proved who the killer wasn't, right?"
"What?"
"Come on, you guys HAD to have thought it was her at first. But thanks to me, you now know she's innocent. And if she's innocent, then that means the guilty guy would have to be the only other one who could have had Jess's knife when Scott got killed…and that's Nick!"
Teneire looked a bit surprised from this quick deduction. "Ya know what? Maybe you're right. We'll just start doing the investigating ourselves from here."
"Uh…when you say, 'ourselves', do you mean…"
"I mean the police department, and only the police department."