by Tee Bryant
***
Nick fidgeted left and right trying to get comfortable. He was finally alone at the frat house, spending his downtime sitting on the couch playing a video game. He cursed at the screen and jerked the controller around. After dying several times, he threw the controller on the floor and lay back on the couch. Focus was impossible.
“Stupid ass game,” he whispered. He almost fully dozed off when the front door flew open, revealing an angry Carter.
“Man, what the hell is going on?” Carter demanded.
“What?” Nick said, sitting up and squinting.
“I know what you guys did,” Carter said.
“What do you mean you know?” Nick scoffed. “You were supposed to be with us Carter! Does sunt omnes unum not mean anything to you?”
“That is not what this is about, and you know it,” Carter said.
“That is what this is about,” Nick pointed out. “Brotherhood. What type of blood runs through your veins because I know that we protect our own. Now you may not like it, but you're in it too.”
“I'm not in anything,” Carter said through his pointed teeth.
“Yes you are,” Nick shot back. “You let that little human conscience of yours fuck with you if you want to. You'll be in prison right there with the rest of us. Is that what you want, Carter? Is that what you want? Because it can happen!”
“At least one of us has a conscience,” Carter said coldly. He turned around to leave as Zach came in through the dining room eating a big bag of chips.
“Is everything alright in here guys?” Zach said. “I heard some screaming in here.”
“Nah,” Carter said, glaring at Nick. “Nothing's wrong. Nothing's wrong at all.” He left without another word.
“Kids,” Nick said with a nervous chuckle. “Crazy kids. Where were you? I didn't think anyone was here.”
“I came in through the back,” Zach said. “You sure everything's alright?”
“Everything's perfect,” Nick lied. “Couldn't be better. Don’t worry about us bro. We’re just having a brotherly discussion.”
“I remember those,” Zach smiled. “Those were the good old days. The alums would be so proud of us right now. You got to stay on these young boys. Brotherhood is something some of them have to learn firsthand.”
“Tell me about it.”
***
Nick was finally napping on the couch when he was awakened by a rapping on the door. He squinted as the sun pierced through the open door. When he focused through the haze he made out two officers. He was so afraid he thought his insides would fall out of him.
“Can I help you?” he said as nonchalant as possible.
“Is there a Mr. Nicholas Kennedy here?” the officer on the left asked. According to his badge, this officer’s name was Officer Pettaway.
“You're looking at him,” Nick said with a nice fake smile. “What can I do for you?”
“We want to know if you can come in and answer some questions for us about Adrian Finch,” Pettaway said.
“I have nothing to do with that,” Nick said. He was no longer smiling. “And I know nothing. Thanks.”
Pettaway put his hand on the door. “Look, Mr. Kennedy. You can make this easy, or you can make this a lot harder than it needs to be. Just come in so we can follow up on some information, and we'll let you go bud.”
“But I already told you there's nothing to tell,” Nick said.
“Alright,” the second officer said. His name tag said JAMES. “We can just go get a warrant. No big deal.”
Nick started to shut the door again and hesitated. He definitely did not need them searching the house. “Alright,” he said. “I'll come with you. But like I said, there's nothing to tell.”
***
Nick was escorted to the interrogation room by Pettaway and James. They offered him something to drink to which he politely declined. He wasn't sure he would be able to hold anything down anyways. The officers stepped out and were immediately replaced with a detective. The thin, smug, glasses wearing detective set some paperwork down on the table and sat in the chair across from Nick.
“Mr. Kennedy,” the detective said, pretending to be interested in the paperwork in front of him, “would you care to tell me about your relationship with Miss Finch?” He closed the folder and made eye contact with Nick.
“I already told the officers,” Nick said. “I don't know anything about her. Can we please stop this nonsense and let me go?”
“You're not going anywhere with those types of answers, Mr. Kennedy,” the detective said. “Now, do you care to elaborate?”
“I told you, I don't know the bitch. Now can we please…”
“Mr. Kennedy,” the detective interrupted. “Nick, can I call you Nick? You see, the thing is we know that you knew Adrian Finch. Now, what we need from you is for you to tell us what the capacity of your relationship was. That’s all.”
“Oh, my God!” Nick said in frustration. “What are you, autistic? I told you, I don't know anything that happened! Didn't you already get the guy who did this? Why don't you go talk to him and get off my back?”
“We have information that says otherwise,” the detective said.
“Your information is wrong. Like I said, go talk to that other guy.”
“Nick, this is going to be difficult until you decide to talk to us. You are only making it worse.”
“Well, there's nothing to talk about. Do I need to call my lawyer? Are you trying to set me up for something? Can’t you just do your job?”
“Well,” the detective said with a grin, “we can sit here and do this dance until you decide you have something to talk about or I can have a warrant issued. Your choice buddy.” He got up to leave and motioned for the officers to come back in.
“You can't do this!” Nick yelled. “No! You don't know who you're messing with! My father will have your neck! This precinct doesn't know who they're messing with. You’ll all be on the unemployment line once I’m done with you!”
CHAPTER 6
Jenni walked across campus so fast her legs were on fire, but she welcomed it. Through the numbness she was glad to finally feel anything else. As she reached for the door of the building she caught a glimpse of her reflection. She almost didn't recognize herself. Her skin was pale, and her eyes were glossy with pronounced dark circles underneath. She looked like a ghost.
She shook her head and marched into the hall, not slowing until she reached Carter's dorm. He greeted her with a pitying expression.
“Hey, babe,” he said.
“Carter,” she said, forcing her way in the room. She noticed his roommate hanging out on his bed. “Hey can you give a few minutes, please?”
“Yeah, yeah,” James said. “No problem.” The Goth grabbed his bag and showed himself out.
“What's wrong?” Carter asked.
“Nick!” Jenni said.
Carter's eyes widened. “What about him?”
“Why am I getting phone calls saying he's been arrested for my sister's murder?”
“I don't know what you're talking about, babe.”
“What do you mean you don't know? Aren't you always with him?” She wanted to cry, but she didn't have any cry left in her. She was exhausted. “What do you know? Tell me, Carter.”
He put his arms around her and kissed her on the head. “If I knew anything I thought was important,” he said, “I would have told you.”
***
The brothers of Omega Omgea Psi were brought into the station one-by-one for questioning. Each of them had the same story; no one knew anything about what had happened to Adrian. No one knew anything about anything. Except for Carter.
“Well, there is something I do know,” Carter told the detective, concentrating on his own fingers.
“Okay,” the detective said.
“That night,” he said slowly, “we went out.”
“Who is 'we'?”
“Us,” Carter said. “The pledges. Mys
elf, Derrick, Scott, and Clinton. And Nick was there, too.”
“Where did you go?” The detective's voice was comforting.
Carter paused, trying put it all into words. “We went out on campus. It was just supposed to be a joke, you know?” He glanced up at the detective and then went back to studying his hands.
The detective waited for him to say something else. “What did you do that night?” he finally asked.
“Well,” Carter said. “Nothing. We just jumped out of the bushes. You know, we were trying to scare her. But Nick took it too far.”
“How so?”
“He chased her down. He got up on her, and then...” he put his hands up as he relived the moment in his head. “That's when she fell. She collapsed.”
“And what did you do at that point?”
Carter closed his eyes and shook his head. “We just ran. We were scared, you know. No one knew what to do. No one was supposed to get hurt. He just took it too far. Just went too far.”
***
Nick tapped his fingers on the table. He was tired of this stupid detective, and his stupid balding head, and that stupid giant mirror that doubled as a stupid giant window, and he knew there were more stupid people watching him.
“Nick, can you tell us what you and your fraternity brothers were doing on campus that night?” the detective asked, folding his hands on the table.
“Hanging out,” Nick shrugged. “Shit. I don't see the crime in that. Now, I told you I don't know anything. This is unlawful arrest. My fath-”
“Mr. Kennedy, we have our sources. We have every right to keep you here as long as we need to. We know what you were doing on campus. You can either tell me what happened or you can tell a judge.”
Nick thought about that for a moment. “Alright,” he said. “I'll tell you what happened. We were pulling a prank. You know, just trying to scare the girl. Like I told you, I don't know her, but this guy Carter does. He's always seemed like he didn't like her for one reason or another. Maybe she turned him down or some shit. I don't know. But what I do know is what I saw that night.
“Something came over him. I mean, he turned into an animal the way he pounced on her. I didn't want anything to do with it. I didn't even want to be there to begin with. So I left. It probably wasn't the right thing to do, but I didn't know what to do. I guess I thought I was trying to protect him. But that's all I know. I swear.”
***
Carter sat on his bed with Jenni as there was a loud knock on the door. He opened it up to find himself being forced into handcuffs at gunpoint.
“Carter Wiggins, you're under arrest for the murder of Adrian Finch,” the officer said. “You have the right to remain silent...”
“Carter, what's happening?” Jenni said in a panic.
“It's okay,” Carter reassured her. “We'll fix this. It'll be okay.”
“You have the right to an attorney...” the officer continued.
“Carter? Please tell me they're wrong. They have the wrong guy!” Jenni cried.
“It's going to be okay,” Carter said.
“Do you understand your rights?” the officer said.
“Yes,” Carter said as they escorted him out.
***
Nick took a second to smell himself before he opened the door. He hadn't had a shower in two days, and that was going to be the first thing he did. Maybe he'd eat a sandwich first. But then there was the evidence. He had to get rid of his mask and thermals. He sighed and walked inside.
“Hey, dude,” Zach said, jumping up from the couch. “What's going on?” He followed Nick up the stairs and watched him frantically try to sort himself out.
“Don't worry about it,” Nick said. “It's all getting straightened out.”
“Bullshit,” Zach replied. “Why are they targeting us? And why are you out and Carter's in?”
Nick stopped what he was doing to look at Zach. “Wait. He got arrested?”
“Yeah dude.”
“Shit,” Nick said, looking around the room. “Well, don't worry about anything. I got my father and everyone on it.” He quickly remembered what he was doing and started gathering the clothes.
“What about Carter?” Zach pushed on.
“What about him?” Nick shrugged. “It's obvious he has some business to take care of. Where's Bartley?”
“Out of town,” Zach said. “He went to go visit his parents.”
“Good. Where's everyone else?” Nick asked as he dug through his dresser.
“Around. I guess,” Zach said.
“Anyone know anything?” Nick asked.
“No,” Zach sighed. “We don't know anything. I wish we did though.”
“Good.” Nick took his phone out of his pocket and made a call while Zach listened. “Derrick? Hey, what's up? Yeah, I'm good. No, we can't talk on here. I need you to tell everyone to come to the house tonight. Alright. Alright, man, I'll see you here.” He ended the call and looked at a perplexed Zach.
“Dude,” Zach said. “What is going on?”
“I got this all handled,” Nick said smoothly. “Trust me. I need some time alone. You don't mind, do you?”
“Nah, dude,” Zach said. “Take all the time you need. What are you doing with the guys?”
“I just want to talk with them real quick and see how they're doing. Catch up and stuff. They are real emotional right now.”
“Are you sure? There isn't anything I need to know about?”
“Everything's fine,” Nick reassured. “I just want to see the guys.” He turned around and strolled into the bathroom for a much needed shower.
CHAPTER 7
“What's up?” Scott said as Nick let him in. He was the last one to arrive to the frat house for the emergency meeting.
“What's going on?” Clinton said from the couch. “Where's Carter?”
“Let's go into the dining room,” Nick said.
“What are we going to do?” Derrick asked once they were settled around the table.
“Now, now,” Nick said. “Everyone in this room took a pledge to each other when we joined this organization. Sunt omnes unum. We are all one. Everyone has abided by that pledge, except for our brother who is not here right now. Carter has decided to go against that pledge. We all know what happened that night and that's exactly where we're leaving it: in that night. Between us. But Carter has decided to go against that and against everything we stand for. He has put my future in jeopardy, and he has put your future in jeopardy as well.”
“What?” Scott said, confused.
“That's right,” Nick said. “He is in there right now getting the heat off of himself and leaving us to fry. You want to know how that makes me feel?” He picked up an empty wine glass from the table and threw it against the wall. The brothers winced and shielded their faces.
“Well, what are you going to do?” Derrick asked once he was sure he wasn't impaled with any loose shards of glass.
“What am I going to do?” Nick said, raising his voice. “What are we going to do? What are we going to do?”
“We're going to wait for more information,” Clinton said. “Calm down.”
“PRISON!” Nick shouted. “Is that enough information for you? All of us are in this together, and all of us are going down unless we do something!” He looked around the table, his temple pulsing. “And this is what we're going to do,” he said more quietly. “They're going to release Carter in a few days. We get to his girl before him, but not like last time. I have to lay here for a little while so you're going to have to bring her here. We get Carter over,” he paused and made a gun with his hand. “Boom. Boom. Murder-suicide with the confession explaining it all. Everyone moves on. Everyone is free.”
A dark silence spread over the room as the brothers listened to Nick, each one mentally digesting what it was he had to do.
***
Jenni was on her way back from class when she ran into her friend Kelly.
“Hey!” she said.
“Hey, girl,” Kelly said, giving Jenni a hug. “How you doing?”
“I'm alright,” Jenni nodded. “Any chance you could email me the stuff I missed in class?”
“Girl, don't even worry about it,” Kelly said. “Take all the time you need. I'll give you all of my notes if you need them.”
“Thanks,” Jenni said. “It's just been so hard these last few days. With class and...”
“You don't even have to go on,” Kelly said. “I understand. If there's anything I can do for you just let me know, okay?”
“Thanks,” Jenni smiled. “I appreciate it a lot.”
“No problem, girl. Like I said, take all the time you need. You got my email, number, and all that, right?”
“Yeah,” Jenni said.
“Well, don't be afraid to call if you just want to talk,” Kelly insisted. “I'm here for you.”
“You are really doing too much,” said Jenni. “But I appreciate it.”
“I understand how it can be when you're hurting and trying to put on a front for everyone else. You don't need to front around me. Feel free to let it out.” She gave Jenni another hug.
“Thank you so much,” Jenni said when Kelly let go. “I really should be going.”
“Alright, girl,” Kelly smiled and waved. “Call me.”
Jenni continued on her route back to her dorm when she felt a forceful grip on her arm. She turned and saw Scott latched on to her.
“What the-” she started.
“Don't make a scene,” he hissed.
“What do you think you are doing Scott?” she said.
“I said don't make a scene,” he growled.
“Scott, let go of me right now!” she said under her breath.
“Shut up!” he whispered.
“Scott this isn't funny.” She tried to pry his fingers off her, but his grip was too tight. The frail boy’s true strength was deceptive.
“Shhh!” He tightened his hold on her even more.
“Ow! That hurts! Get off!” She said and started pounding on his knuckles with her fist.
“Shut up,” he repeated. “You're coming with me.” He escorted her to the parking lot where Derrick was parked in Nick's truck. He then pushed her into the front seat and sandwiched her between Derrick and himself.