THE SANDMAN - PART 5

THIS IS PART 5 of 9. To read previous sections click below:
PART 4
PART 3
PART 2
PART 1

It was Friday night in Provo which meant every living soul in Happy Valley could be found doing one of four things: Date night, girls night, guys night, or party time.

The door to Rex’s apartment opened. Jamie walked in and shut the door to prevent the cool air from coming in. Adam was somewhat of a stickler when it came to the apartment’s utilities and lectured his roommates about how much money was wasted trying to heat the whole neighborhood. Rex didn’t mind.

Adam was sitting on the couch with his computer in front of him. He had his guitar on his lap. Adam turned his head over his shoulder to see Jamie walk in. “Oh hey Jamie. Come on in.”

Rex came walking out from the back of the apartment when he heard Jamie come in. She walked over to the couch across from Adam and sat down. She still made herself at home like she did when she was dating Rex.

“What you been up to tonight, Adam?” Jamie asked. Rex sat down beside.

“Just practicing some guitar. I’m working on a new song one of the other students in another class posted online.”

“Well, we’re about to head over to the party,” Rex said to Adam.

“I’ll follow you guys if you don’t mind.” Adam shut his computer, put down his guitar, and walked back into his room. After a few moments he walked back into the front room with a noticeable cloud of cologne following him. Jamie looked wide-eyed at Rex when she got a whiff of the cloud. Rex just shrugged. This was normal. “Let’s go,” said Adam excitedly.

When Rex, Adam, and Jamie were about a block away from the party they could start to faintly hear music from the party. As they got closer they joined a steady stream of students coming from other directions to the party. There were people all over the property. Some were sitting on old faded couches that were sitting on the porch. Some were sitting on the porch railings. Some were just standing on the front lawn holding cups with cheap punch, talking.

“Who lives here?” Rex asked Adam.

“I actually don’t know. All I know is that Lauren is going to be here,” answered Adam.

The house looked like most other houses south of campus. It was at least fifty years old. You could tell the students that had lived there over the years had painted it a number of times themselves. The paint was chipping. The landscaping, however, was much nicer than most other student-occupied houses. The lawn was mowed nicely. And Rex noticed that a small flower garden on the side looked rather nice except for a small pile of sand someone had inadvertently dumped in the middle and tried to spread out uniformly as best they could.

Rex, Adam, and Jamie squeezed through a group of people talking in the front doorway. Jamie was in the lead. Their first stop was the refreshment table. They each grabbed a drink and some licorice. Then they headed for the basement. It was just as crowded but they managed to find a few open spots on a couch, although Adam had to sit on one of the couch’s arms. They weren’t there long when Adam spotted Lauren across the room. He nodded in her direction then looked at Jamie and Rex.

“I’ll catch you guys later, okay?” Adam said to Rex and Jamie.

“Good luck,” Jamie said with a smile. After Adam left, Jamie looked around the room and found a guitar in its stand. She walked over, grabbed the guitar and took it back with her to the couch. She crossed one leg over the other, put the guitar in place and started to strum. It had a capo on the second fret. She started to play a song quietly and sang to herself. A few people noticed, but they didn’t seem to mind because they turned back to their conversations and the music that was already playing over the speakers in the house. “I wonder whose guitar this is.” she said to Rex.

“It’s mine,” said a semi-familiar voice from the crowd. Rex and Jamie both looked up from the guitar and saw Remington Jenkins appear from the crowd. He walked over to them. His eyes were mostly on Jamie.

Jamie stopped playing and took the guitar off her lap. “Oh, hey Remington. You live here?”

“I do indeed.”

“This is a nice place. How many of you live here?” asked Jamie.

“Just me in fact,” replied Remington. “No roommates. Please, Jamie, keep playing. Don’t stop on account of me. I didn’t know you played.”

“Well, it’s really more of a hobby,” said Jamie, taking the guitar off her lap.

“Me too. Although I should be playing more. I AM taking an intermediate guitar class this semester. I just haven’t had a chance to play it since I did my last recording for class on BYU-Tube.”

“I’ve heard of those videos,” said Jamie. “They’re really popular.”

“Yeah, well, what with Alyson’s death this week, you can imagine things were pretty crazy. I’m still trying to catch up with assignments. It’s been especially hard in American Heritage since Alyson was my TA.”

“Hey, she was my TA too! What section are you in?” asked Jamie.

“I’m in the Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10:00 section. You?”

“I’m in the Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 1:00 section. How’s the class coming for you?”

“I’m doing okay I guess.”

“That makes one of us. How’d you do on last week’s test? I got a 72, but luckily with the curve it’s still average.”

“I actually got really lucky. I got a 95.”

Jamie punched him in the arm with a grin on her face. “It’s people like you that ruin the curve. People like you and this guy here.” Jamie nodded toward Rex.

Remington snapped his fingers and pointed at Rex. “Let’s see, don’t tell me. It was Rex, right?”

Rex nodded.

“So you’re an all-star student, huh Rex?” said Remington.

Rex just sort of shrugged. “I’m pretty good at figuring stuff out I guess.”

“He actually helps me with some of my articles sometimes,” said Jamie.

When Jamie said this, Remington got a little stiff in the jaw. He was very good at not letting on that something about this statement was bothering him, though. He maintained a very good poker face. Rex noticed the change, though.

“Really?” said Remington, calmly. “You, uh...you didn’t by chance help Jamie with her most recent piece on Alyson, did you? I mean, it was such a good piece.”

Rex had an even better poker face. He was now in a game of chicken with Remington. “I helped her with a few things. Grammar mostly. I really murder her papers when she lets me edit them.”

“Oh? You’re studying English then? Want to become a writer?” asked Remington, still with his poker face.

“Economics, actually. I want to make a killing in business some day,” said Rex, still not flinching.

“I see,” said Remington. He broke his poker face. “Well, Jamie, I’ve got some really great ideas for some of your future articles. Why don’t we go to the kitchen upstairs, get a drink and talk about them?”

“Uh, sure, I guess.” said Jamie, again being too nice to say no.

“Rex, I hope you enjoy the party tonight.”

Jamie walked up the stairs. As Remington turned to follow, Rex suddenly grabbed Remington’s upper arm. He wanted to say something, but nothing came.

“Is something wrong?” asked Remington, calm and collected, not in the least bit startled.

Rex opened his mouth. “Nothing.” said Rex. He let go of Remington. Remington sort of glared at Rex as he turned and walked up the stairs.

Adam came and took Remington’s place next to Rex. “Hey Adam. How you liking the party?” He asked, but didn’t give Rex a chance to answer. “Where’d Jamie go?”

Rex rolled his eyes in frustration. “She went upstairs,” he said.

Adam continued. “Listen, Lauren just left the party to do some homework so I think I’m going to head back now as well and get my video uploaded. You coming or staying?”

“I think I’ll come too,” said Rex, still looking toward Remington with disdain.

To be continued...

THE SANDMAN - PART 4

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

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

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