Sunday, November 25, 2012

THE SANDMAN - PART 4



THIS IS PART 4 of 9. Be sure to read the preceding parts by clicking below:

Adam and Jamie looked quizzically at Rex. “Let me get this straight. You think Remington Jenkins is the murderer?” asked Adam.

“Just now, when Remington was talking to us he mentioned that he felt bad whenever someone takes their own life, and he SPECIFICALLY mentioned Alyson using her own gun to take her own life,” said Rex. He explained these points very carefully as if he were tutoring them in the finer points of catching a killer. He emphasized different words with his hands.

A look of concern, confusion, and disgust settled on Jamie’s and Adam’s faces as they thought about what Rex was saying. Their eyes showed that they were still processing what Rex was saying.

“But why would Remington want to kill Alyson?” asked Adam.

“...and make it look like a suicide?” Jamie inserted.

“I don’t know. But he’s the murderer.”

All three stood there in silence for a few seconds. All they could do was think about Remington and Alyson.

“Ew. I just gave him my number,” said Jamie. A shiver went up and down her back.

“Jamie, when are you planning on starting your next piece about Alyson?” asked Rex.

“Well, I talked to her roommates and I was planning on going over to Alyson’s place tonight to talk with them to get to know a little more about Alyson,” said Jamie.

“Would you mind if I came along?” asked Rex.

“Don’t you have homework?” asked Jamie with a smile.

“Well, yeah, but…” chuckled Rex. He was somewhat infamous for not doing his homework in a timely manner, but still managing to ace the tests. Students that lived by the curve hated him. “But this is so much more interesting. I’ll pick you up at 7:00.”


Rex knocked on Jamie’s door that night at 7:05. Jamie’s roommate, Emily, opened the door. She was a little shorter with very curly and springy hair and wore glasses. She didn’t look it right now but when she straightened her hair and wore contacts she was very attractive. “Oh, hey Rex.” She turned her head behind her and yelled for her roommate. “JAMIE!” she shouted. When people first met Emily they would have pegged her as a petite sweetie with a tiny voice and gentle personality. She was quite the opposite. You always knew what she was thinking. “Why are you here? I thought you guys broke up, like, three weeks ago?” she said bluntly.

“We did,” said Jamie from behind, walking out of her bedroom in the back of the apartment. “He’s helping me on an assignment tonight.” Jamie slipped on her shoes, put on a coat, and grabbed her journalism purse (the big one). It contained a pad of paper, a number of pencils, a tiny digital audio recorder, and some pepper spray. “We shouldn’t be long.”

Rex smiled at Emily but didn’t say anything as he followed Jamie out the door and shut the door behind them.

“So how’s Emily doing?” asked Rex.

“Oh, she’s been complaining about how no guys ever ask her out and how she thinks all guys (including you) are pigs.”

“So, same as usual with her, then.”

“Same as usual.”

They had decided to walk to Alyson’s apartment tonight despite the cooler weather. They strolled down 400 North with cars and runners passing them. They took a right on 500 East and walked a few more blocks.

“Which complex does Alyson live in?” asked Rex.

“She’s in the Twin Peaks apartments.”

“Really?” Rex sounded surprised.

“Why?” asked Jamie.

“Well my roommates and I actually looked at those apartments earlier this year. You know how we like to save money. But we felt those apartments were...TOO cheap, if you know what I mean.”

“They were rated as some of the cheapest apartments in Provo in an article the paper did on student housing,” said Jamie.

They arrived at the Twin Peaks apartment complex. They definitely looked a little run down, even by student housing standards. The air conditioning units were sagging in the windows. The heating units were running at full capacity and you could hear it. The cement had a number of stains. The parking-lot had patches on patches of asphalt and was still cracking.

“I guess the owner is hoping the weeds will hide the cracks,” said Jamie sarcastically.

They walked up two flights of a semi-sturdy and loud metal stair-case to apartment 207. They knocked on the door. They could hear a TV playing a little loud on the other side.

They heard someone behind the door unlock the deadbolt. A plain but attractive girl answered the door. She was a real “girl-next-door” type. She was smiling when she answered and Rex guessed she always smiled. But she didn’t say hello.

“Hi. My name’s Jamie Stirling. I’m with the Daily Universe and this is...Rex.” She didn’t know if she should refer to him as her assistant or not, so rather than hesitate, she didn’t refer to him as anything. “I spoke with someone named Kirsten earlier about coming over.”

“I’m Kirsten. Come on in,” said the girl at the door. She extended her hand and shook hands with Rex and Jamie.

Rex and Jamie walked in. The two other roommates on the couch turned the TV off and stood up. Rex and Jamie shook their hands. “Hi, I’m Maren,” said the shortest one. She had rather short, blonde hair and chose not to wear makeup.

“I’m Kelsey,” said another. Kelsey had brown hair that was pulled back in a pony-tail.

“Sorry to bother you after you just got home from campus, Kelsey,” said Rex.

Kelsey’s eyes darted back and forth. “How’d you know I just got back from campus?”

“Well, this backpack on the floor by the door has some shoes by it but Maren is wearing shoes. Plus when both of you got up from the couch your imprint from where you were sitting flattened out before Maren’s.” Sometimes Rex had to remind himself that these things weren’t as obvious to others as they were to him. This annoyed Jamie when they were dating, but by now she had grown accustomed to it.

“We’re so sorry for your loss,” Jamie interjected, trying to draw attention away from what Rex had just said. “We can only imagine what this must be like for you.”

“We’re still getting used to the idea that she’s gone,” said Kirsten. “It started to sink it today when the police brought some of her personal items that were left in her car still.” She nodded toward a box on the table. Rex noticed some pens and pencils, chapstick, sunglasses, and a receipt.

“I’d really like to write a proper article about her for the paper, though, and ask you a few questions if that’s okay,” said Jamie.

The three roommates all nodded in agreement.

“Great.” Jamie and Rex had also talked about the interview before coming in. They wanted to find out more about the suicide/murder without making it look like that was all they were there for. In reality, that’s all Rex was there for, and the investigative journalist in Jamie couldn’t help but be naturally curious herself.

Jamie and Rex sat down on the loveseat. It only had a few holes in it. The girls sat down on the couch. One of its cushions had cotton coming out like it was bleeding. Kelsey kept trying to push it back into the couch, but her efforts were futile.

“What do you guys remember most about Alyson?” Jamie prepped her pencil and pad.

“Well, we moved in together without really knowing each other. Alyson sort of became the ringleader of the apartment and made sure we did stuff together,” said Kelsey.

“If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t be friends. Just roommates,” said Maren.

“She had a very magnetic personality. Where she was, fun was,” agreed Kirsten.

Jamie was taking notes. Rex had his hands on his legs and was looking around the apartment, only half paying attention.

“What was her home life like? Her relationship with her parents?” asked Jamie

“Oh wonderful. She often drove home on the weekend if she didn’t already have a date. She was very close with her parents,” said Kirsten.

“We’ve all sort of become good friends with her parents.” said Kelsey. “When they came down here for visits they never just visited with Alyson. We were always invited.”

“What was her dating life like? She didn’t just go through a nasty break-up, did she?” asked Rex. This was a question he’d been wanting to ask.

“Well, she did just break up with her boyfriend, Marcus. But that was a few months ago, and it was mutual. No ill feelings from either side. She often talked about how it was the cleanest break-up she ever went through,” explained Maren.

“Did she say anything about her job as a TA? Did she love it? Hate it?” asked Jamie.

“No, nothing that stands out anyway,” said Kelsey.

“She really like studying American History and she really enjoyed teaching others about it. She always got the highest reviews among the American Heritage TAs,” said Maren. “She loved it so much that she kept saying that she would be sad to leave it, even though she needed a better paying job since her father lost his job. She doesn’t get as much help from them as she used to.”

“Is it okay if we see her room?” asked Rex.

“Sure,” said Kirsten. “I think that’d be okay. We’ve sort of started to box her things up already though.”

Everyone got up from the front room and Kirsten led them to Alyson’s room. “She was my roommate. My side is on the left, hers is the right.” She gestured for Jamie and Rex to go in first. It was a rather small room. There was a window between the two beds that were on opposite sides of the room. If the occupants of both beds were to reach their hands out in the middle of the night they could touch fingers. It was a modest room, clearly made nicer by a girl’s touch, but clearly a girl that was trying to make do with what she had. On the shelf by Alyson’s bed was a photo of her family. Lying next to the framed family photo was a box containing a pair of diamond earrings that looked relatively new. She had a poster featuring a picture of Jesus and an inspirational saying. Her desk had an open textbook on it with some lined paper. The handwriting matched the writing on the suicide note, Rex noticed.

The closet was filled with hangers and clothes. On the floor of the closet were Alyson’s shoes. The sneakers that she was wearing when she died were gone, of course. All that remained were a pair of generic Sunday shoes (that would go with most any dress) and a pair of really nice Sam Edelman stilettos still in the box. Rex eyed the receipt next to the box and saw they were bought from Nordstrom.

“Let me finish writing down a few more notes and we’ll be out of your hair,” said Jamie, still scrawling on her notepad. “Finished.”


Rex and Jamie said goodbye to Maren, Kelsey, and Kirsten as they walked back down the sketchy metal stairway and headed back to Jamie’s place.

As they got closer to Jamie’s apartment complex, Rex asked, “So, do you have any plans for the weekend? I mean, Remington hasn’t called to ask you out yet, has he?”

“No. Which, believe me, I’m fine with.”

“Really, a nice guy like him?” Rex asked sarcastically.

“Well, I have a list of deal breakers, and possible murderer is one of them.”

They stopped at her door and faced each other. They had been in this goodnight-doorstep-scene position with each other many times. “Do you want to stop by my place on Friday before the party or should Adam and I pick you up on our way over?” asked Rex.

“I’ll probably be coming from campus so I’ll stop by your place.”

“Alright. Thennn...I guess I’ll see you tomorrow at lunch.”

“See ya.”

They paused just long enough as if about to hug each other. Instead Jamie turned the doorknob and walked into her apartment and Rex turned and left.

CONTINUED IN PART 5

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