18. Jack
The drive to the police station is almost eerily quiet. The snow has nearly melted and most of the ground is now visible but in its winter slumber the world looks kind of barren without the snow to give it that glittery glow that makes even the coldest winter look magical. It’s cold and there’s a cloud cover making the world feel dark. Or maybe I’m just perceiving the landscape from a depressing lens.
I’m so fucking relieved they’ve made an arrest but I’m also terrified. I’m not sure why I’m scared but it feels like everything is about to change. Benji mentioned worrying that I’ll pull away once the case is solved and we aren’t leaning on each other for support and now I’m worried that maybe he’ll start pulling away.
I glance over at the love of my life and he’s chewing his lip looking just as nervous as I am. I think we both know who they arrested but the idea of finding out the details of what happened to Jessica that night is also kind of terrifying. Not knowing all of the details has been something of a relief for me. It’s hard to picture someone hurting my radiant sister but knowing exactly what they did and why makes it all feel so much more real.
When we exit my Jeep, I take Benji’s hand and he immediately squeezes mine in a tight hold. Benji leans up and softly kisses my cheek so I pull him into a tight hug.
“It’s going to be okay, Jack.”
“I just… I’m so relieved they caught the guy but I’m also scared to find out what happened. I’m not sure why.”
“I’m scared too. I think knowing what happened is scary because it feels so final and I also think it’ll be hard not to imagine it. I hate that the last images of Jess are going to be her ghost and violence.”
We don’t talk about Benji seeing Jess’ ghost very often, just like we rarely talked about him seeing a ghost in high school. It seems like such a fluke, freak encounter type thing but maybe that’s how ghosts are. Maybe it is just a glimpse, just enough to leave a scar but not enough to give anything to really go off of. Benji being some type of medium certainly isn’t anything like it would be in a movie but maybe that’s for the best because he doesn’t seem to enjoy seeing ghosts and he almost never wants to talk about it.
“In some ways, I’m glad I didn’t see her ghost but in others I wish I had. Her last image is going to be her hair strewn about in the woods and her arm…so pale. I sometimes feel like I can smell that horrible fucking smell. I still have dreams that I’m in the woods only you aren’t with me and the images I see are so fucking terrible.”
“I wish we hadn't seen all of that but at least we were together. Jess asked me to find her and we did that. Now let’s go find out who put her there and get justice.”
We walk into the station hand-in-hand and put on our brave faces. This time, there’s very little wait and Detective Macy brings us back to an interview room. He offers us a coffee when we sit on the uncomfortable chairs and then gets right into it when we decline.
“It took a while for us to catch the two of them together but I had a few officers tailing Alex Callister and Eric Lloyd for the last few months. After we saw that photo you sent in, Jack, we had enough reasonable suspicion to begin really investigating the pair. They were often careful not to be seen together so we were all a bit surprised when they went to Winterfest together. We already had DNA and prints from Eric Lloyd, which as you know didn’t match what we found in the car. We had kind of ruled him out as a suspect until we saw how buddy buddy he was with one of our other persons of interest.”
“We were surprised to see them at Winterfest too. We also saw the tails so we kind of got out of there so we didn’t spook them.” Benji’s voice is quiet but sort of echoes in the empty interview room and he immediately chews his lip again.
“I guess I need to have my officers work on being more discreet.” Detective Macy laughs and kind of shakes his head. “I want to thank you for not getting too involved with the investigation. The information you provided was extremely helpful and really gave us a pathway to an arrest but if you had tried to get more involved it could have compromised the investigation. So, thank you for that. I know it’s hard to sit by and wait, especially because these types of investigations do take a lot of time.”
“So, who killed my sister?”
“At first it was a bit convoluted. We got a DNA and print sample from a cup that Alex Callister left behind at Winterfest-”
“Let me guess, that was a match to what you found in her car?” I knew that fucker had something to do with her death, I’m just not exactly sure where Eric comes into play.
“Yes, it was. What we weren’t certain of is what Eric Lloyd’s involvement was. We knew he had to have been involved because it would have been too much of a coincidence for her to have died right after meeting him and to have been found so close to his property. Especially given he’s old friends with Alex Callister. It turns out they went to high school together and have been close friends for years. All of that just didn’t add up to him being an innocent bystander but the lack of physical evidence in the car and on Jessica made it hard to pinpoint his exact role.”
Benji and I kind of nod dumbly because I don’t think either of us is sure how he comes into play or why he would go along with a murder plan without any motive of his own.
“Was he in on it or did Alex take advantage of their friendship?” Benji seems to have connected more dots than I have because I just can’t see any reason why he would risk prison over a friendship.
“A mix of both. Once we arrested both men, Eric was really quick to flip on Alex. His story is that Alex told him he was in a serious relationship with a woman and he was worried she was cheating. He asked Eric to make a Tinder account and see if he could find her on the app. We know that he wasn’t actually in a relationship with her and likely already knew she was on the app. Eric matched with her and Alex asked him to meet up with her to see if she’d have sex with him so that he’d know she was actually cheating.”
“Wait, Eric slept with my sister as a favor to his friend?”
“It seems so. It likely wasn’t a hardship, he indicated multiple times that he thought she was beautiful and really charismatic. He claims he had no idea what was going to happen next.”
“Was Alex waiting outside?”
“Yes. Alex waited until Jessica was coming to her car and then immediately attacked her. Eric saw and tried to push him off, or so he claims, but ultimately relented when Alex kept going on about how she deserved it for humiliating him. Eric said he’s always had a hard time standing up to his best friend but that he refused to partake in the murder or disposal of the body.
“What he did do was stand and watch as Alex strangled her. He also followed behind Alex as he drove Jessica’s car down that service road and watched him drag her body into the trees. They thought her body being left to the elements instead of being in the car would destroy more evidence. That would have been true but you two somehow found her before that could happen. Then, he drove Alex back to his place and they moved on like it never happened.”
“Why would they dump the body so close to Eric’s place?” Benji is clearly thinking more clearly than I am because I feel blind with rage, unable to come up with any helpful questions. It’s bad enough that Alex killed her but Eric standing by and letting a woman he just had sex with get strangled to death because he didn’t feel like he could stand up to his friend makes it impossibly worse.
“I asked that too and he said they were scared they would get caught if they drove her car too far away and no one used the service road so they both assumed it could be years before she was found. Realistically, we likely wouldn’t have found her for a long time. My officers did drive down that road but we didn’t go as far down as you did because the terrain was so rough and the road looked completely abandoned. If you hadn't had a weird hunch or whatever this case would likely still be unsolved because it's next to impossible to prosecute without a body or physical evidence and a lot of the evidence we have might have deteriorated with time.”
Benji and I kind of nod dumbly because neither of us is about to mention that the weird hunch was actually Benji seeing a ghost covered in aspen leaves and then getting a weird ass feeling while looking down that road.
“Is Eric being charged with murder?” That fucker had every opportunity to help Jessica and if he had just grown a backbone she would still be here with us. He’s just as guilty as Alex, even if he isn’t the one who wrapped his fingers around her neck.
“He took a plea deal and is being charged with accessory to murder and a slew of other charges related to failing to report a crime and illegal disposal of a body. We could have gone for murder but his testimony will pretty much guarantee that Alex is found guilty and will likely result in a life sentence. Eric will still spend upwards of twenty years in prison for failing to help your sister.”
“Good, he deserves to rot in prison.”
“I agree and the District Attorney has already said they’ll be pushing for a maximum allowable sentence for his role. I wanted to tell you all of this so that you didn’t hear it from an outside source. Word has already hit that we made two arrests and it’s likely this story will be on the news by tonight. We may need one or both of you to testify depending on how the trial goes and the decisions the DA makes.”
“Of course, anything to help bring justice to Jessica.”
“The trial will likely take months so this isn’t the end just yet but we have enough that the judge is likely going to rule Alex Callister a flight risk so he is very unlikely to get bail and Eric Lloyd is already being transferred to prison since he took the plea deal. He’ll also be required to testify as part of his deal and his confession will be used in court.”
“Thank you, Detective. For keeping us in the loop but also for arresting those fuckers.”
I can’t help the tears that streak down my cheeks and when I look over I notice that Benji is openly crying too. We stand, shake the detective's hand, and leave the station hand-in-hand. Closure should feel good, and in many ways it does, but knowing that Jessica could have been saved if only Eric had grown a backbone adds a new layer of hurt.