friend,” I said, doing my best to sound sincere.
Reading Denzel’s expression was more difficult than finding a helpful employee at Walmart, but just when I thought he was going to leave without a word, his gruff exterior vanished momentarily.
“ I’ve talked with a few folks and the impression I’m getting is that he was starting to get into drugs as you mentioned. We haven’t connected the dots, but I think that may be linked to his death.”
I choked down the triumphant urge to jump for joy as I gave the cop a solemn head nod.
“ Don’t worry kid, we’ll catch the perp . We always do,” Dunn added , one foot out the door.
“ Thanks, officer,” I said, and with that, the real life Denzel vanished.
Once I heard the door lock snap in place, I flung myself into my chair breathing a deep sigh of relief. I had pulled this one out, came through in the clutch, and to be honest, I was rather pleased I had lied so convincingly to a cop. Despite this small victory, little did I know, the next time I’d see Dunn would be in handcuffs.
Chapter Eleven
O ne scrap of evidence could send me to the big house, but as weeks turned to months , I began to feel more at ease that the cops were following the investigator’s initial lead , rather than chasing yours truly.
The police believed that a drug dealer or a coke addict was responsible for the murder. I was neither addicted to cocaine nor did I sell it. My size shoe also helped reinforce my current attitude that I was not a prime suspect.
My three Gazette colleagues weren’t close to nabbing me either. Trevor was a hopeless twit, as everyone knew. There was no way that he was ever going to put the pieces together, even if I left him a trail of breadcrumbs linking me to the crime. Once I told Vickie about my interview and about Denzel’s suspicions, she started hunting down Brent’s friends to see if she could unearth anything. She snooped for a week or two but didn’t find much. Brent wasn’t a social butterfly and the few friends he did have were not about to tell Vickie about the giant stash of cocaine underneath his bed. With little to go on, no leads and no motivation, Vickie accepted that the case was in Denzel’s capable, lotion-soft hands.
Nancy Drew was the only one left on the case, but I found it hard to believe she was making any headway. As the semester progressed, Hayley talked about Brent less and less, leading me to believe the blonde bombshell wasn’t having much luck either. Oddly enough, for a pair of ex-lovers our conversations were becoming more cordial, and I no longer detested running into her or I could at least tolerant her. Then again, she also wasn’t dating Brent anymore, which made me secretly warm and fuzzy on the inside.
With the heat off and my professors yet to unload a pile of assignments and projects upon me, I was beginning to unwind. For the first time since junior year, I felt like a normal college student – drinking with my buddies, talking about slutty girls and football. I didn’t have to worry about classes, relationships or covering up homicides. It was fantastic!
Even the ominous murmurs in my head saying, “You are emotionally colorblind,” “You are void of compassion,” “You hide in plain sight, concealed by deception, you vicious killer,” were replaced with pleasant whispers such as, “You look ravishing in this sweater vest,” “These appletinis are delectable; excellent choice , Wayne,” “You’re so hilarious, you make Daniel Tosh look like Rob Schneider.” Evidently, my voices appeared to be on vacation as well, or least they were until my roommate told me about Harvey Cho.
Due to his afternoon clinicals, my roommate, Arthur didn’t arrive to join Scott and I for happy hour at our favorite bar, McMeminins, until about six thirty. Once Scott and I learned that Brent was off to France for a year, we desperately needed to find
Reading Denzel’s expression was more difficult than finding a helpful employee at Walmart, but just when I thought he was going to leave without a word, his gruff exterior vanished momentarily.
“ I’ve talked with a few folks and the impression I’m getting is that he was starting to get into drugs as you mentioned. We haven’t connected the dots, but I think that may be linked to his death.”
I choked down the triumphant urge to jump for joy as I gave the cop a solemn head nod.
“ Don’t worry kid, we’ll catch the perp . We always do,” Dunn added , one foot out the door.
“ Thanks, officer,” I said, and with that, the real life Denzel vanished.
Once I heard the door lock snap in place, I flung myself into my chair breathing a deep sigh of relief. I had pulled this one out, came through in the clutch, and to be honest, I was rather pleased I had lied so convincingly to a cop. Despite this small victory, little did I know, the next time I’d see Dunn would be in handcuffs.
Chapter Eleven
O ne scrap of evidence could send me to the big house, but as weeks turned to months , I began to feel more at ease that the cops were following the investigator’s initial lead , rather than chasing yours truly.
The police believed that a drug dealer or a coke addict was responsible for the murder. I was neither addicted to cocaine nor did I sell it. My size shoe also helped reinforce my current attitude that I was not a prime suspect.
My three Gazette colleagues weren’t close to nabbing me either. Trevor was a hopeless twit, as everyone knew. There was no way that he was ever going to put the pieces together, even if I left him a trail of breadcrumbs linking me to the crime. Once I told Vickie about my interview and about Denzel’s suspicions, she started hunting down Brent’s friends to see if she could unearth anything. She snooped for a week or two but didn’t find much. Brent wasn’t a social butterfly and the few friends he did have were not about to tell Vickie about the giant stash of cocaine underneath his bed. With little to go on, no leads and no motivation, Vickie accepted that the case was in Denzel’s capable, lotion-soft hands.
Nancy Drew was the only one left on the case, but I found it hard to believe she was making any headway. As the semester progressed, Hayley talked about Brent less and less, leading me to believe the blonde bombshell wasn’t having much luck either. Oddly enough, for a pair of ex-lovers our conversations were becoming more cordial, and I no longer detested running into her or I could at least tolerant her. Then again, she also wasn’t dating Brent anymore, which made me secretly warm and fuzzy on the inside.
With the heat off and my professors yet to unload a pile of assignments and projects upon me, I was beginning to unwind. For the first time since junior year, I felt like a normal college student – drinking with my buddies, talking about slutty girls and football. I didn’t have to worry about classes, relationships or covering up homicides. It was fantastic!
Even the ominous murmurs in my head saying, “You are emotionally colorblind,” “You are void of compassion,” “You hide in plain sight, concealed by deception, you vicious killer,” were replaced with pleasant whispers such as, “You look ravishing in this sweater vest,” “These appletinis are delectable; excellent choice , Wayne,” “You’re so hilarious, you make Daniel Tosh look like Rob Schneider.” Evidently, my voices appeared to be on vacation as well, or least they were until my roommate told me about Harvey Cho.
Due to his afternoon clinicals, my roommate, Arthur didn’t arrive to join Scott and I for happy hour at our favorite bar, McMeminins, until about six thirty. Once Scott and I learned that Brent was off to France for a year, we desperately needed to find
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