THE SANDMAN - PART 6

THIS IS PART 6 OF 9. Be sure to read the previous parts:

PART 5
PART 4
PART 3
PART 2
PART 1

Rex and Adam walked back into their apartment. Adam headed for his room after throwing his jacket on a kitchen chair.

Rex sprawled himself out on a couch in the living room and closed his eyes. “I hate parties,” he said to the empty room.

He heard Adam tune his guitar in the back room and start to play “I’ll Be” by Edwin McCain. It used to be one of Rex’s favorite songs, except that’s all Adam ever really played. Rex could’ve sworn that was the only song he knew.

About fifteen minutes passed (it seemed longer, being filled with strains of “I’ll be your crying shoulder” coming from the back room) and the door swung open. In walked Jamie. She came in and sat down on the couch opposite Rex’s couch. She took off her shoes and lifted her legs up onto the couch.

“I hate parties,” she said. “I thought Remington was going to talk about the newspaper. Instead he kept telling me stories that gave him excuses to touch my hand. He demonstrated how he can pretend to read people’s palms, then he talked about how to ensure the hands get good circulation (with a demonstration), then he insisted we compare the sizes of our hands.”

Rex chuckled. “Sounds…fun.”

“I did manage to work in some questions though,” said Jamie. I managed to find out where he was on Monday when Alyson died. He said he was downstairs in his house practicing guitar for class.”

“Really?” said Rex. “So he does have an alibi. Was the party starting to die down when you left?”

“Yeah, why?” responded Jamie.

“I think I’m going to go back to the party. I wanna check something out.”

“Like what?” asked Jamie.

“Well, tonight when you and Remington were talking about your most recent test you said you got a 72 but Remington said he got a 95.”

“So?”

“You also said that with the curve your score was the average. I’m just guessing here, but that would mean Remington’s score is almost three standard deviations above the average. Do you know what the odds are of someone as busy as he is getting such a high score on one of the hardest tests in one of the hardest classes on campus?”

“No, do you?”

“Well, no. But they’re not very high. I think it’s a little too coincidental that HE would get such a high score in Alyson McBride’s class,” said Rex. “Like I said, it just doesn’t fit.”

“Then I’m coming with,” said Jamie.

Rex and Jamie got back to the party. People had started to leave and only a few remained. Instead of walking inside, Rex and Jamie walked through the carport to the back of the house. They peeked around the corner to see if the coast was clear. No one was back there. Rex saw one of the windows was dark and started to look around for a way to get up to that window. He pulled a trash can over. It was full so it was pretty sturdy. There was even a plastic bag hanging out from under the lid. It looked to be a leftover sandbag or compost bag. He took it out and examined it. It wasn’t opened, but it was empty. That struck him as unusual. He climbed on top and put his hands on the windowsill above and pulled himself to a standing position on top of the trashcan. Jamie held the trashcan sturdy. Rex put his hands against the window and looked through. “Do you see anything or anyone?” whispered Jamie.

“No,” whispered Rex in return. He removed the screen and handed it to Jamie. She set it to the side. Rex quietly opened the window and climbed through.

He shimmied rather ungracefully through the window and onto the bed in the room. He turned around and reached his arms through the window to help Jamie through. It was dark but their eyes slowly adjusted.

In the living room, Remington was saying goodbye to the last of the party guests. He was talking with one of his fellow student council members about an upcoming Question and Answer session with BYUSA to be held during lunch in a few days. “Let me go get a flyer from my room with all the information,” said Remington.

This looked to be Remington’s room, thought Rex. He and Jamie spread out a little and began to look around. There was a BYUSA sweater on the bed with a student government pin and Remington’s name embroidered on it. On his desk were his computer (in power save mode) and a large spring, like one from a mattress. Jamie picked it up and looked at it. Why would someone have a spring like this just laying around? Rex also noticed a funnel on the bed next to the spring. He shrugged his shoulders, not knowing what to make of them. He continued to gaze around the room, up and down. Something on the ceiling caught his attention. Some rope was hanging from the ceiling, just above Remington’s desk. It was nailed in.

He looked down an imaginary straight line from the rope to the desk underneath. All he saw was the computer mouse and a pencil. He squinted, picked it up and took a closer look. He could see what looked to be sand stuck between the mouse buttons. Suddenly the bedroom light turned on. Rex froze in place, holding the computer mouse. “Rex? Jamie?” said Remington with his hand still on the light switch.

Rex and Jamie both turned around. “Remington, hey!” Rex said nervously, trying to think of something to say.

“What the heck are you doing here?” said Remington. But he didn’t say “heck.” “Do you realize I could call the cops on you? You’re trespassing.”

Rex and Jamie were silent.

“Is this still about Alyson? I told you, you’re making a BIG mistake. Leave. Now.” He was adamant.

Jamie had started to climb through the still-open window. Rex followed her. He reached toward the window then turned around. “Maybe I’m making a mistake, but I can afford to. You can’t, though Remington. Because when you do, it’ll be all over.”

With that, Rex climbed through the window and into the night.

Jamie walked through Rex’s apartment door. Rex followed and shut the door behind him. Jamie sat on one couch and Rex flopped himself face first into the other couch’s cushions. He let out a small sigh of discouragement. Rex turned himself around so he was now lying on his back with his face toward the ceiling.

“I know he did it but I just can’t prove it, the why or the how. Were they dating? Was she blackmailing him? Was he trying to cover up an accident?” Rex asked hypothetically.

Jamie rested her head on her knees. “I trust you Rex, but I have to admit, you don’t have a lot to go on. I agree that what Remington said about Alyson earlier this week after the devotional sure makes him look like he knows more than he’s letting on, though.”

Adam came walking out of the back bedrooms holding his guitar in one hand and his computer in the other. “Can I show you guys my guitar piece I’ve been working on?”

Rex and Jamie smiled at each other. Adam was a welcome relief to the stressful night. Rex had told her about Adam’s one-song repertoire. “Sure,” said Jamie, always supportive of Adam.

“It’s a new song I’m learning. It’s based on a tutorial that one of my classmates posted on BYU-Tube.” Adam set the computer up on the coffee table and sat down in the banana chair.  He hoisted his guitar onto his lap. “It’s actually a video by Remington Jenkins. He’s in the guitar class above mine. He puts up a video every week. This one already has 15,000 views.”

Suddenly Jamie and Rex became much more interested and sat up on the couch. Adam pressed play on the video and started to play along with Remington’s video. Minus a few errors here and there, Adam did pretty well for an amateur guitarist. He strummed the last chord very dramatically and Jamie and Rex applauded.

“Adam, that was so good!” said Jamie.

“Yeah!” agreed Rex.

“Thanks. Remington makes some pretty good videos. I’m actually looking at another one of his. It uses a capo so it’s a little bit different for me. I’ve never used one before,” said Adam.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll do great,” said Jamie. “I’d love to hear how it’s coming, but it’s late. I better get going.”

“Let me get the door for you,” said Rex. They both got up from their couches and headed for the door. “Thanks again for coming to the party with us,” said Rex. “I’ll talk to you more about Remington and his alibi later.

Jamie started to walk out the open door when Adam called from his banana chair. “Wait you guys. When did Alyson die?”

Jamie responded. “About 12:43 AM Monday morning. Why?”

“Well, I was looking at when his most recent video was posted just as you said that thing about Remington and his guitar alibi. You better look at this.” He pointed at his screen, beckoning Jamie and Rex to come and look. Jamie walked back into the apartment and Rex shut the door. They walked over to the computer and looked at the video. It showed Remington sitting at home on his couch. Their eyes darted to where Adam was still pointing. The time stamp showed that Remington posted this video at 12:43 AM on Monday morning. The same time Alyson drove into the parking lot.

To be continued...