Chapter 67
When Sean didn’t spot Ray in any of the common areas, he assumed the man had returned to his room. Because of Ray’s connection to Frank Maynard, Sean was confident Ray was the killer. If he were wrong, then so be it, but he needed to be prepared for a violent confrontation.
Sean stared down at the gun in his holster. He wasn’t sure if Ray had a weapon, but if he went into the man’s room with his weapon drawn, then he might trigger an unneeded escalation.
Sean touched the grip of his pistol, then left it in the holster as he knocked before entering, hoping to keep the young man calm as they talked.
“Sheriff,” Ray said, a smile on his face as he was packing up his clothes. “Didn’t expect to see you again. I heard there’s a new sheriff in town.” He chuckled at the corny joke, and then he cleared his throat. “Must be nice to have that pressure off.”
“You could say that,” Sean said.
Sean took a moment to take stock of the room. He noticed that Ray’s hair was wet. Sean stepped back and looked into the bathroom, where he saw some wet clothes on the floor. “You take a shower?” Sean asked.
“Um, yeah,” he answered, still packing. “Wanted to wash the day off of me, you know?”
“Must have been cold,” Sean answered. “What with the power having been out for so long.”
“Uh, yeah,” Ray said, but this time he slowed down his packing, still keeping his back turned to him, however.
Sean looked into the open shower and saw a puddle near the vanity, but what caught his attention was the belt on top of the pile of discarded clothes near the bathroom door. The belt was around the same size that had been slipped around Frank Maynard’s neck.
Sean glanced back to Ray, who had turned around now, facing Sean and watching him with an intense focus.
“Is there something you want to ask me, Sheriff?” Ray asked.
“Yes,” Sean answered. “The first one is: why did you lie to me about your name, and why did you use a fake one?”
Ray nodded, but there was no smile on his face anymore. And yet, given the gravity of the conversation, the young man remained calm. “Honestly, I was surprised it wasn’t flagged during the background checks,” he said.
“It would have been if I had bothered to look at the pictures,” Sean said. “And my deputy, who did see the pictures, didn’t know what you looked like, so she never thought to bring it up. It was luck.”
“Luck,” Ray repeated, and then he shook his head. “I don’t believe in luck. But I do believe in karma.”
“And is that why you came here?” Sean asked. “To give Frank Maynard what you thought he deserved?”
The young man still had his hands by his sides, and he made no sudden moves. His body blocked the luggage, and from what Sean could tell, there was nothing nearby for the man to grab or use as a weapon. But that didn’t mean Sean was ready to lower his guard.
“You know what he did,” Ray said.
“I know what he was charged with, but the charges were dropped,” Sean said.
“Only because I made some mistakes before then,” Ray said.
“The boy who cried wolf.” He scoffed. “I can’t tell you how many times I heard that during the investigation, how I was lying just to make more of a scene.
If I had known how those choices I’d made before were going to haunt me…
” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. It’s done. It’s over.”
“For your abuser, maybe,” Sean said.
“So, you believe me then?” he asked.
“Yes,” Sean answered. “But you killed a man. Regardless of whether he was a bad person, that’s still a crime, Jason.”
Sean chose to use Ray’s real name.
“You know, I was worried about this weekend,” Jason said.
“I kept wondering if I could go through with it or not. Finally confront the man who had scarred me forever. The man who had…used me. Made me trust him and then betrayed me by making me…touch him and have him touch me.” He had tears in his eyes now.
“Do you know what I did to myself after that? After no one believed me? Drugs, alcohol, fights, anything to stop thinking about what happened to me at that fucking camp. All because of him.”
“What happened to you was horrible,” Sean said. “It was monstrous. And you never should have had to bear the weight of that alone for as long as you did.” He walked closer, and Jason’s eyes continued to fill with tears. “But murder is a crime, regardless of the reason you did it.”
“I know,” Jason said, and then he forced a smile.
“But you know what? After I did it? After it was done? I felt better than I had in years. That weight, that pain, all of it was gone, because I made sure he knew it was me. I was honestly surprised it took him so long to recognize me. But when I cornered him at the pool…he knew. The moment we locked eyes, he remembered who I was. I was the last thing he saw in this world. I don’t regret it. And if I had to do it again, I would.”
Sean stopped a few feet in front of Jason, and he waited. “All the same. I’m going to have to arrest you.”
Jason wiped his eyes, then nodded. “I figured. But you know what? I have a feeling I won’t do much time, not after everything comes out about what that man did. I don’t think I’ll be spending a lot of time in jail.” He smiled. “I’m a hero, Sheriff. I slayed the monster.”
Sean said nothing as he gently turned the young man around and secured Jason’s wrists behind his back with zip ties.
He was certain the young man believed the punishment he administered was just. Most people in his situation would feel that way.
But Sean had seen all kinds of horrific crimes against innocence, and if there was one thing he had learned, it was that using the same violence against the monsters that they used to inflict pain never worked.
Because, eventually, that pain would come back and transform them into something else.
Sean didn’t remember much from the few times he went to Sunday school, but one lesson stuck with him: evil only begets more evil.