THIS IS PART 9 OF 9. Be sure to read the previous parts:
PART 8 PART 7
PART 6
PART 5
PART 4
PART 3
PART 2
PART 1
“I would just like to
welcome you all out to the Q&A. Thank you so much for coming. First a few
announcements. This Friday is the mid-semester festival. Activities will begin
in Brigham Square at 8:00 and will include dancing, a climbing wall, live music
in the Ballroom, and a movie in the Varsity Theater. There will also be
assorted other games and activities located in Brigham Square. Tickets are $1
and are available at the Info Desk. Now...Let’s hear it for our BYUSA
president, Remington Jenkins!”
There was modest applause
from the crowd as Chelsea left the pulpit and took her seat. Remington walked
to the podium with a smiling face.
“Before we begin, I just
want to thank you all for the things you’ve done to mourn Alyson’s death last
week. It’s been a difficult time for this whole campus. It always is when we
lose one of our own. I especially want to thank the different clubs for each making
a ribbon to tie around a tree on campus. Seeing those ribbons has brought
comfort to all of us.
“Now. This Question and
Answer, as you know, is held once a semester in an effort to help us, the BYUSA
officers, be more in touch with you, the student body and your needs and wants.
All week we’ve placed a box outside our offices and you’ve been filling them
with questions. Any kinds of questions. Completely anonymous. They can be
questions about our policies or our dating life.” Remington snickered at this,
as did the rest of the student body listening in the Wilk. Except for Rex and Jamie.
They had both felt that the only people that laughed at such remarks were those
that weren’t dating someone and were thus self conscious about any mention of
dating.
Chelsea handed Remington
the box. Remington opened the top, reached in, fished around for a while, then
pulled his hand out holding a slip of paper. “Okay, let’s see here.” He
unfolded the slip and read it. “‘What is BYUSA doing to improve the parking
situation in Provo, specifically around BYU Campus?’ Good question. To be
honest, we’re doing all we can. However, we don’t have a whole lot of control
outside of Campus. We have been discussing with the Provo City Council some
ideas to build some garages, but that’s still very early in the development
stage.
He reached his hand in for
another question. “‘Have you ever considered putting vending machines in the library
in a free-to-snack zone?’ Yes, actually. We’re getting pretty close to
implementing a new plan for such a zone that includes vending machines.”
He tossed that question
aside and reached in for another. “‘Why did you murder Alyson McBride?” Remington
read aloud. Remington’s voice slowed down as he read and it slowly dawned on
him what he was reading. The crowd began to stir and whisper. Remington seemed
a little shaken. He tried to hide it. “Let’s go to the next question.” He
pulled out and unfolded another slip of paper from the box. “How did you murder
Alyson McBride?”
Rex and Jamie were
standing at the back of the audience. They looked at each other and smiled.
Remington continued on the
stage, nervously. “This is ridiculous.” He threw the question back in the box
and closed the lid. “Let’s take questions from the audience. Chelsea, where are
you?”
“I’m over here, Remington.
We’ve got a student here, Rex, who has a question.” She held the microphone she
was carrying to Rex’s mouth.
“Yes, Mr. President. Thank
you.” Rex took the microphone from Chelsea and started walking toward the
stage. “Actually, I don’t have any questions. I was thinking I could answer
those last two.” A steady murmur rose from the gathered students as they
whispered and gasped to each other in semi-confusion at what was being implied
by Rex. Rex walked up on stage and stood about 5-feet from Remington and the
podium.
Remington was visibly
nervous about Rex being on the stage, but he held his ground. “This is
impossible. Half of campus knows that I was at home recording and posting a
video for my guitar class. Check the time stamp!”
“That’s what you wanted us
to notice. But I noticed a few other things.” Rex faced the audience. “You see,
Remington was planning on attending Harvard Law School, and nothing could stop
him. Except, of course, for American Heritage. He knew this was one of his
worst subjects and one of the hardest classes on campus. This class could break
him. He knew that his TA, Alyson McBride was strapped for cash so he paid her
to feed him the exams before they were administered. She enjoyed this for a
while, finally able to afford rent and buying fancy shoes and dresses. But
then, Alyson grew a conscience. She called Remington and threatened to turn him
in. Now he not only faced not making it into Harvard, but he could lose his
standing as BYUSA president, and as a student. Nobody would accept him. So he
agreed to meet her to discuss it over. Before he did, though, he needed a way
to make it look like he was at home when he would kill her. His guitar videos
were some of the most popular videos on BYU-Tube. If he could just make it look
like one was posted at the same time. But how? He didn’t have any roommates. He
couldn’t do it remotely. Then it hit me last Friday on a date.” During Rex’s
explanation, Remington’s face had started to drop. It lost its typical charm.
The faces of those in the crowd showed concern. People’s gaze darted back and
forth between Rex and Remington.
Rex recalled the items he
saw in Remington’s room. The large spring, the sand in the computer mouse, the
pencil, the nail hole in the ceiling. He also recalled the empty bag of sand in
the dumpster he climbed on to get into Remington’s room. He continued his
explanation to the gathered students. “He made a sand timer. He hung a sand bag
from the ceiling and cut a hole in the bottom so the sand came out slowly. Over
time the bag poured sand into a funnel that sat atop a spring. At the bottom of
this funnel was a pencil. He had measured the sand and timed it so that as the
sand poured into the funnel it gradually weighed down until the pencil pushed
on the computer mouse, submitting his video at around the same time Alyson was
killed. And I bet he didn’t expect it to submit the video at the EXACT time. He
was most likely hoping for roughly the same time. Either way, he had his alibi.
Does that answer the question, Remington?”
The eyes of the students
darted back and forth from Rex to Remington, horrified. Remington started to
open his mouth. He hesitated.
Rex continued. “One last
thing. One of the items found in Alyson’s car was a receipt made on a credit
card, dated the Saturday before Alyson was killed. On that receipt is a
purchase of a bag of sand matching the one I found in your garbage last
weekend. I’m betting that if the police dig a little further, they’ll find
you.”
Remington was speechless.
“You made a mistake,
Remington,” said Rex.
Chief Mackay and Officer
Cory stepped up onto the stage from behind. “Remington Jenkins, you’re under
arrest for the murder of Alyson McBride. Come with me.” The chief put his hand
on Remington’s shoulders and turned him around. He put Remington’s hands behind
his back and slapped the hand cuffs on them. “Care to say anything to this fine
group of students?”
Remington’s head fell
down.
“Then come with me,” said
Mackay. He led the former BYUSA president out the door.
On the way out Remington
said, “Wait.” He turned back toward Rex who was still standing on the stage.
“Well played Rex.” He thought for a moment. “Have you ever considered student
government? They could use a guy like you now that I’m gone.”
Rex got a smirk on his
face. “Nah. Government’s too corrupt for me.”
Jamie had come on stage to
join him. She winked at Remington. “We’ll see you later Remington. Guess this
means no second date?” She and Rex chuckled.
------------------------------
A few days later Rex was
again sitting in the Wilkinson center at lunchtime, waiting for Jamie. His face
was hidden behind a copy of the Daily Universe. The front page headline read,
“McBride Murder Solved By Student; BYUSA Pres Taken Into Custody.” Rex folded
the paper in half as Jamie approached.
“What do you think?” asked
Jamie as she stood by the table where Rex was sitting.
“I like it.” He smiled and
nodded his approval.
“Good, because I just got
another call from chief Mackay.”
THE END
