Kenhardt - Secrets 27

‘Many of the students have been seeing me this past week,’ she told Joe. ‘I know a lot of them were friends with the girls, and even those who weren’t friends with them are still shaken up by their deaths. Some students have also expressed feelings of fear and anxiety; They think there’s a murderer in this school and they don’t feel safe.’ ‘That’s why everyone keeps saying suicide,’ Joe said. ‘It’s a coping mechanism, makes them feel safer. It’s terrible that these kids have to go through something like this.’ ‘It truly is,’ she said. ‘What I want to know is whether anyone has come to see you and has seemed a bit odd. Maybe they asked a lot of questions about the investigation. Or they were really eager to talk about themselves?’ Vanessa thought about this for a moment. ‘No one I can think of off the top of my head. The majority of students who have come in here have been girls. I’ve just seen lots of crying, hyperventilating, and confusion. Some of them just want someone to talk with, to feel that they’re not alone. They vent to me. Come in here for one thing, then end up going off about their own problems. You wouldn’t believe how many girls come in here and talk about self - esteem issues and bullying. I though St. Paul’s was better than that but I guess no school is ever safe from these sorts of things.’ ‘Did you know the girls? They ever come in here to talk with you?’ ‘No, I didn’t know them well. Anya came in here once or twice last year. Her parents are divorced and she felt that talking with someone helped. It’s a difficult situation to be in, with divorced parents.’ ‘Did she ever express any signs of distress? Depression?’ Vanessa hesitated. Joe wondered if she was breeching some sort of client - patient confidentiality. But then again, Anya was dead. ‘I don’t believe so,’ she finally said. ‘If she had, I would have come forward sooner. Because of the suicide theory, of course.’ ‘Alright,’ Joe said. ‘Well, please, if you remember anything else, or speak to anyone and think something might prove useful, don’t hesitate to call me,’ he handed her his card, stood, then left. Joe grabbed a coffee and sat in his car. He wasn’t getting anywhere. His leads were proving useless. How was this case so complicated? It was a town of five thousand, for Christ sake. Why wasn’t he getting any answers? The worst part was not being able to determine whether it was suicide or homicide. Because every time that Joe convinced himself that it was a murder and that these girls did not kill themselves, he found himself going in circles. Who would want to kill them? And why? And then there was Kennedy’s theory in the back of his mind, making him doubt himself and his certainty. Anya’s sleeping pills, depression, and the discovered bag of Dagga Chloe gave him. She had been acting different these past few months, Quiet, more secluded. Different crowd of people. Perhaps Anya was suicidal. Maybe they all were and didn’t show the signs well enough. Yet still, there was no note. IF they did kill themselves, wouldn’t they have left a note? He knew that that wasn’t always the case. People kill themselves all the time and didn’t leave a note. But still, it was peculiar and definitely one of the main factors that kept him on the fence about this whole debacle. He finished his coffee and threw the empty cup on the seat beside him. He sat up straighter, took out his notepad, and began reading through his notes from the past week. He started with the families. Maybe he should go back there? Talk to them some more, express his urgency to solve this case. He got to the part about Haddie and her pregnancy. For some reason, out of everything he had gathered, this seemed to be the most important. He wasn’t disregarding the fact that Anya was hiding Dagga and taking Zoloft. Or that Kiera was seeing her best friend’s boyfriend behind her back. Those were important, but this crucial - potentially life altering. People got killed because of unwanted pregnancies. Did someone want Haddie dead because of that baby? Oliver didn’t know about it. But Bentley Carter might have. Joe brought Bentley into the station for questioning, along with Oliver Harris. They were kept in separate rooms, unaware of each other’s presence. It was the fifth day of the investigation and the interrogation room hadn’t been used yet, so it was about time. All roads led back to these two. Besides Beth Porter, the girls didn’t have any enemies. No one who wanted to hurt them or get revenge that he knew of. So in that case, who would want them dead? These were the only two people that Joe could think of. Oliver was up first. Joe had already gone over most of the questions with him previously, but he had a feeling that Oliver wasn’t telling him the whole truth. He sat at the table in the quiet room, hands resting on the table in front of him. He was visibly nervous. Joe walked into the room and sat across from him at the table. The video camera was already setup to record their conversation. Joe brought out his notes and set them in front of him. ‘Hello, Oliver.’ He looked up timidly and they met eyes. ‘Hi,’ ‘Do you know why I brought you in today?’ Oliver shook his head. ‘I just need to go over some more questions with you, Alright?’ ‘Okay.’ Joe cleared his throat. ‘When did you first begin suspecting that your girlfriend, Haddie Taylor, was cheating on you?’ ‘Um,’ Oliver sat up a bit straighter. ‘I guess around February. Beginning of February.’ ‘And why did you believe that she was cheating on you?’ ‘I already told you this,’ he said. ‘She was acting different, being strange and distant, Like she didn’t have time for me anymore. And the time we did spend together, she was quiet and disconnected.’ ‘And you didn’t think it was because you did something wrong?’ ‘No,’ Oliver said. ‘Because I didn’t do anything wrong. And if I did, Haddie would have told me.’ ‘Okay,’ Joe said, nodding. ‘So you suspect your girlfriend is cheating on you. What do you do next?’ Oliver was quiet for a moment, staring at Joe. ‘I did nothing.’ ‘You didn’t go out looking for this guy? Follow her around? Check her phone and messages?’ ‘I did that,’ Oliver said. ‘She wasn’t stupid. If there were any messages, she deleted them.’ ‘Okay, so then what?’ Oliver sighed. ‘I don’t know what you want me to say. My girlfriend was cheating on me. I loved her. There was nothing I could do. I couldn’t prove it. I couldn’t just leave her.’ ‘So you started seeing her best friend. Was that to get back at her?’ ‘I told you, it wasn’t like that.’ ‘Let’s go over it again,’ Joe said. Olivier was getting frustrated. ‘Haddie and I just weren’t like how we used to be. And whenever we’d all hang out, Kiera and I just seemed to talk and laugh and get along. I don’t know. I guess I looked to her for comfort. Since Haddie wouldn’t reciprocate the feelings I was showing. I turned to Kiera. It was nice, just being able to talk with her.’ ‘Did Kiera ever express any guilt for what you two were doing?….”