by James Bee
Done. Jason stood up and reached for the towel he’d laid nearby. Wiping away the little sweat that had oozed out of him, he took a deep breath. Today was not going to be very fun. Flicking a glance at the clock on his wall, he saw that he only had a handful of minutes to get downstairs. Better not keep them waiting. Hurriedly, Jason threw on his clothes, a baggy t-shirt and a pair of ripped jeans. Years ago he’d seen on TV that trendy people bought their jeans pre-ripped. Jason didn’t know if it was still in style, but he hoped so. It would be nice to be hip by accident. Though people probably don’t say hip anymore. Fresh, maybe?
Pulling the door closed behind him, he hurried down the stairs. The dorm rooms were on the second floor, far more of them than people to stay inside. The hallway was bare, no pictures, no windows, nothing to mark it as a place where people lived. The living quarters were functional, and that was the best thing that could be said about them. Right now Jason didn’t notice his Spartan surroundings. He just hurried past, eager to be downstairs. He couldn’t afford to be late, to give them any more reason to suspect him. At the bottom there was a wide-open space, one that was full of police officers. They looked up as Jason entered, their eyes hard and unfriendly.
“You’re Jason, right?” Sergeant Pullwell was back, and he was gesturing him over.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Good. In this room, please.” Pullwell held a door open, and Jason walked through it. Inside another man was waiting, though he wore plain clothes instead of the blue and black of the police. This man was sitting at a table in the middle of the room. There was a chair beside him and another on the opposite end.
“Please sit,” the man said. Briefly, Jason considered taking the chair beside him, just to see what the man would do. A younger him would have done it, too. Not now, though; there was no point provoking these men. He didn’t need to seek their wrath — they would give it him freely enough. Jason walked around and sat opposite the man. Pullwell closed the door and took the remaining seat.
“This is Detective Johnson. He’s been put in charge of locating Mia Powers. He’d like to ask you some questions. Now, you don’t have to answer of course, but—”
Jason cut him off. “I’m happy to answer any questions he might have.”
Johnson’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“I want to help you find Mia. She was a good friend to me and everyone else here. If someone hurt her, I want to help you find out who it was,” Jason said, and it was true. Though he’d rather he find the person first. Then he could deliver some justice of his own. The thought of someone hurting Mia made his knuckles itch.
“That’s good. We need all the help we can get. Though your cooperation will not recuse you from begin a suspect,” Johnson said, shuffling some papers on the table. Papers Jason suspected told the detective his life story. A story filled with violence and crime. He wasn’t even upset with the suspicion. How could he be? If he’d been sitting on the other side of the table, he’d do the same.
“When was the last time you saw Miss Powers?” Pullwell asked.
“Four days ago. She was helping me fill out some paperwork for a job application. It was the same day as the victim-offender meeting with Mac,” Jason said.
“I see. Did she mention going anywhere? Mention any problems?” Johnson asked.
Jason shook his head. “No. She seemed a bit nervous, I think. But no, she didn’t say anything. Though I wasn’t one to pry into her private life. Didn’t seem to be something she wanted to talk about much.”
Pullwell and Johnson exchanged a look. “No, I can’t imagine that she would,” Johnson said. “Now, do you know of anyone in the house that has any reason to dislike Miss Powers? Anyone that would want to hurt her for any reason?”
Jason scratched his chin for a moment before answering. “There isn’t a member of the program who Mia hasn’t helped a dozen times or more. Everyone here owes her a debt. Can’t think of why anyone would hurt her.”
Johnson tossed the papers down and stood up. “You’re an experienced man. You know how the system works, how the media will see this. This institution helps rehabilitate long-term offenders with a history of substance abuse. All of you in here have some history of violence. Some of you have killed. Miss Powers worked here amongst all of you. Now she is missing. How can I look elsewhere for the culprit? She was a sheep in a den of lions. I’m sure of it. I’m going to find out who did it if I have to tear this goddamn building apart and pull the information from all of you.”
“I didn’t hurt her, Detective. I know you won’t believe me, but I didn’t. Now, as you said, I know the system. I know how it works. So unless you have some evidence, spare me the threats and stick to your questions,” Jason said quietly. The anger was starting to build in him. The detective was not a large man. In the clink, Jason wouldn’t have given him a second look.
“Take it easy, Johnson. Just take it easy,” Pullwell said, pulling the detective back into his seat. “Jason understands our suspicion well enough. He is still innocent until proven guilty, after all. Now, I’m going to ask you a question. Off the record. I want one name, just one. I’m not going to ask you why or anything else. I just want a name. Can I ask you the question?”
Jason nodded, though he was confused. It wasn’t the sort of thing police said to him.
“Right, then. If you had to guess, out of the other people living in Oakview, who do you think hurt Mia?” Pullwell asked.
Jason frowned. His mind is already made up. One of us did something to Mia, and he just wants to know who it was.
“Mac.”
“Mac,” Johnson said, making a small note on a piece of paper in front of him. The two policemen shared another look, as unreadable to Jason as the first had been.
“Not Hank?” Pullwell asked.
“Hank? Why would Hank hurt Mia? She’s helped him the most out of all of us! They’ve spent hours and hours together. No way he would do anything like that. No way!” Jason was shocked that they could even think Hank could be a suspect.
“Maybe he had some feelings for her. Feelings that Mia didn’t reciprocate. Wouldn’t be the first time he did something like that,” Johnson said, looking hard into Jason’s eyes. Wouldn’t be the first time? There was only one thing that he and Hank didn’t talk about: their crimes, the big crimes. Neither asked and neither told. Yet details still circulated; jailhouse gossip existed about everyone. Second-degree murder. That was Hank’s crime.
“No. Hank would have told me. I would have known. I would have,” Jason protested.
“You two are close?” Pullwell asked.
“Yes.” Something changed in the way the two men were looking at him. Their eyes became a little more guarded, a little narrower. Blood slowly flushed into his face as he realized what was probably going through their minds. If Hank is one of their prime suspects, it’ll pull me in as a likely accomplice. Two convicted killers, living together.
“You happy in this program, Jason?” Pullwell asked, changing tack abruptly.
“Yes, sir. Very much so.”
“Looking forward to starting your life over again?”
“Yes.” Jason was starting to get uneasy. What were they getting at?
“Another half a year or so, and you’ll be out in the world eh? Been a long time since you’ve been a free man,” Johnson said, a half smile forming on his face.
“Eighteen years.”
“That’s a long time. The world’s changed quite a bit since then. Computers in everyone’s pockets. The whole world’s connected to each other. The possibilities are pretty wide open, even for someone with a past like yours,” Johnson continued.
“Then something like this comes along. Quite a lot of people have unfavorable opinions of Oakview. Most would like to see it closed, see the funding go to something more successful, something less controversial. This business could bury the program. Anyone involved might never taste freedom again. Even those not at fault might find themselves stuck beh
ind bars sooner than expected.” Pullwell’s words crashed into Jason like a fist to the gut. Go back to jail? After all this time? For something that he hadn’t even done.
“I can see that you don’t want that. You’ve had a taste of being free, and you don’t want to go back. Back to being told when to sleep, when to eat,” Johnson said. Jason’s heart began to beat quicker and quicker. The two men were right. He couldn’t go back. He had something to lose now; that had never been true before. He hadn’t cared if he got sent to jail again before. It was expected. Now, for the first time, there was something else in front of him. A future that didn’t have locked doors and armed guards in front of it.
“So how about we make a deal here? You say that you don’t know what happened to Mia, and we might even believe you on that. There is no motive for you to harm her, no reason at all.” Pullwell’s voice was friendly now. Jason knew what he was trying to do, but that didn’t stop it from working. “So let’s see what we can do for you. You don’t want to go back to jail. We don’t want to send an innocent man back either. But we still have to figure out what’s happened. We have to solve this and find Mia. You can help us, Jason. You help us, and we’ll vouch for you.” Spy on the others. Become a snitch. It went against who he was, who he’d been on the inside. It didn’t get much worse than a snitch.
But what other choice did he have? If he didn’t cooperate, the two officers could destroy all the progress he’d made.
Jason nodded.
“Good. We’ll talk to you later then. If you find something out and need to get in touch, Kenneth has our number,” Johnson said, clearly dismissing him. As Jason walked out of the room, he wondered who else the two men had tried to recruit. Would everyone in Oakview be suspiciously watching the others, trying to figure out who was guilty in exchange for immunity to the consequences?
9
Chapter 9
“They’re gone then?” Jason asked.
“Yeah, think so. Guess they ran out of questions or something,” Hank replied, running a hand through his graying hair. Johnson and Pullwell had been at it all day, dragging each of them into their improvised interrogation room. Even the staff hadn’t been spared the questions. Hank had been last, which Jason didn’t think was a good sign. Though why the two men weren’t focusing their attentions on Mac, he couldn’t figure out. He was the obvious suspect, at least in Jason’s opinion.
Hank pulled out his pill bottle and popped one of the tiny discs into his mouth. It was the third one since Pullwell and Johnson had finished with him. Whatever had happened inside, it seemed to have rattled Jason’s friend. Hank’s face was pale, and his hands hadn’t been still a moment. What had upset him so much? Was it nerves? Fear? Or guilt? Despite himself, Jason entertained the thought. Wouldn’t be the first time. Johnson’s words floated into his head. Could Hank have done it?
No. Jason forced the thought down. Hank was his friend, and he was different now. Whatever he’d done when he was younger, that was in the past. No way he would hurt Mia. No goddamn way.
“I’m going to bed. I’ll see you in the morning, Jase,” Hank said, patting him on the shoulder before walking up the stairs. Jason listened to the footsteps fade away. Oakview was quiet, everyone staying away from each other. The lockdown was still in effect. If it went on for too long, he and Hank would most likely lose their jobs. In fact, the longer Mia remained missing, the worse their prospects looked. Better she was found and let what would happen, happen.
Sighing, Jason turned and began to follow Hank up the stairs. Sleep wouldn’t make his problems go away, but still, better to close his eyes and hope for a better morning. But he’d hardly made it up half a dozen steps before he heard thumps coming down toward him.
“Hank?” he called. A man came around the corner, but it wasn’t Hank. In fact, he was so disheveled that it took Jason a moment before he was able to recognize him. “Billy? Are you okay?” Billy stopped short, staring at Jason with wide, unfocused eyes.
“Wasn’t my fault. Never saw her,” Billy mumbled.
“What are you talking about? Who didn’t you see?” Jason asked. Could he be talking about Mia?
“It was too dark. I didn’t see nothing. That’s what I told them. Didn’t see nothing. Not till it was too late.” Billy was staring straight at him, but Jason could tell that he wasn’t seeing him. He’d never been too close to the other man, but he liked him well enough. He just tended to keep at arm’s reach from the others, almost drawn into himself.
“Told who? The two officers?” Billy nodded but stayed quiet. Guess Hank isn’t the only one that got messed up by their questions. Billy looked to be on the edge of a collapse. He was swaying slightly back and forth.
“You have to tell them. Wasn’t my fault.” Billy stepped forward and grasped Jason’s arm. As he neared, the man’s breath washed over him. The all too familiar scent of booze traveled into his nose. Damn. He’d been sober near a year, too.
“You been drinking tonight, Billy?” Jason asked, grabbing the man by his shoulders to steady him. Should he call someone? He’d have gotten Mia if she were here. Somehow he didn’t think that bothering Kenneth would make the situation any better.
“Drinking? No. No. Don’t do that anymore. Where’d I get booze in a place like this?” Billy mumbled. Lying then. That wasn’t really Billy’s style, but Jason had experienced enough denial to see it.
“’Course you don’t, I forgot. How about I just get you to bed. Seems like you must have eaten something that didn’t agree with you. Lets just go up the stairs and you can sleep this off,” Jason said.
“No!” Billy shrugged his arm off. “I can’t sleep now. I have to go somewhere. Have to drive…” He trailed off, frowning.
“Go? Can’t go nowhere right now, Billy. Whole place is under lockdown. Whatever it is will have to wait.”
Billy shook his head wildly. “It can’t wait. It won’t wait. I can see it coming toward me. Headlights in the fog, setting the rain on fire. When I close my eyes, it’s all I can see. It just like before. Just the same, only this time I’m on the other side. The wrong side. And the right one.”
Jason just stared at him. What could he say? Billy was rambling, wasn’t making any sense, but still, something tingled in the back of his brain. Something that Hank had told him when Billy had arrived. Everyone gossiped about everyone else; that was just the way it was on the inside. Gossiped about everything, but mainly about their crimes. Especially here. If you got sent to Oakview, it meant that you had a long and often interesting criminal past. One that tended to include a number of victims. Yet Billy was different. He, Hank, and especially Mac were dangerous. They had hurt people, snatched the life from their bodies. Done the unforgivable, the ultimate crime. The three of them were ticking time bombs. Who knew when they could go off and kill again?
Billy was different. Billy was reckless. That’s what they said about him. Robbie had made a joke about it one day while they were standing around bullshitting. He’d said that it was weird that they called Billy reckless when he left so many wrecks behind. Drunk driving. He’d done it until they took his license away, and then he did it some more. One night it had all gone wrong, and he’d ended up here. He wasn’t the type of person to hurt on purpose. Out of everyone at Oakview, he would have been the last person Jason would have suspected. Yet something was clearly troubling the other man.
Billy tried to pull away, but Jason held him fast. The man was small, slight. Jason towered over him and could have probably smashed him through the wall if he wanted. At least that was the kind of thing he would have thought before.
“Billy. Do you know anything about what happened to Mia?” Jason asked, staring hard into the other man’s face.
“Mia?” Billy said, as though the name was unfamiliar.
“Yes. Mia, Billy. She’s missing. Remember? That’s why those policemen were here. That’s why they were talking to you. No one has seen Mia in days. Have you seen her?” Jason asked intently,
squeezing Billy’s arms.
“Mia? No. No. That wasn’t her name,” Billy answered, again trying to pull himself away. This time Jason let him go. Billy stepped unsteadily around him and walked down the stairs and out of sight. I should stop him, make him go to bed before he gets into trouble, Jason thought, but he didn’t. He just stood and watched the other man walk away. He could talk to him in the morning once he sobered up. Find out if he knew anything. See if he needed to talk. Jason knew as well as anyone what it was like to carry that guilt inside of you. How it could consume you from the inside out until you were nothing but an empty shell.
10
Chapter 10
Jason woke in a panic. His door, like all the others, didn’t have a lock and creaked like a dying frog when opened. The whining squeal sounded, slow and deliberate. Footsteps quietly padded into his room. Who could it be? Jason lay still, kept his breathing regular. It wasn’t something that was done, sneaking into someone else’s room. It was a surefire way to get yourself hurt.
“Jason. Wake up, buddy,” Hank’s voice whispered.
Jason relaxed and sat up. “What is it?”
“It’s Billy. He’s gone. Fucking vanished in the night.” Oh, shit. A wave of trepidation washed over Jason. He thought back to the night before. Should he have listened more carefully to what Billy had to say? What if he wasn’t drunk? What if he was telling the truth?
Jason swung his legs out of bed and got up. His clothes from last night were in a pile on a chair, and he pulled them on, a pair of old, baggy jeans and a T-shirt from some movie that he hadn’t seen. All the clothes they got were hand-me-downs, not that Jason cared much. Too many years in jail had eroded his already emancipated fashion sense.