Kenhardt - Secrets 28

‘Yes. We both did. We felt that it was wrong. Of course we did.’ ‘But you didn’t stop. Didn’t end things.’ Oliver shook his head. ‘So you felt guilty, just not guilty enough.’ ‘We tried,’ Oliver said. ‘Tried to stop seeing each other. But we couldn’t.’ ‘Did you love her?’ ‘What?’ ‘Kiera. Did you love her?’ He was quiet. ‘You loved Haddie, yes?’ ‘Of course.’ ‘And did you love Kiera?’ ‘I don’t know.’ ‘Tell me about the weeks leading up to Tuesday May fifteen.’ Oliver looked at him again. ‘What, you mean before they died?’ ‘Yes.’ He took in a breath. ‘I don’t know, things were fine I guess. I was still seeing Kiera.’ ‘But you and Haddie were still together.’ ‘Yes.’ ‘If Haddie was seeing someone else, and you were seeing Kiera, why did you bother even staying together? Clearly things weren’t working.’ ‘Because she didn’t know that I knew. And she didn’t know about Kiera. We were both keeping each other in the dark about things. The only difference was, I knew what she was doing.’ ‘Yet you stayed with her anyway. Why? You could have broken things off, ended things for good.’ ‘I guess I liked having her around, as my girlfriend. It’s what I was used to. And maybe there was a part of me that thought she’d grow out of whatever she was going through and realize that we were truly meant to be together.’ ‘During the weeks before she died, was Haddie acting like herself again? Wanting to spend more time with you?’ Oliver thought about this for a moment. ‘Yeah, actually. She asked me to go to the mall on the Thursday before. She was also making plans for the spring fair.’ ‘And you didn’t find this unusual? That she wanted to spend time with you again?’ ‘I don’t know. I guess I was so used to her neglect that I didn’t realize if she started showing interest in me again.’ ‘Were you angry at her, Oliver?’ ‘What?’ ‘It must have made you mad, her cheating on you and such.’ ‘What are you implying?’ ‘I’m not implying anything. I’m just saying - if my girlfriend cheated on me…’ ‘You think I pushed her?’ Oliver said, exasperated. ‘I didn’t ! I would never. I wasn’t even near the roof that morning. But I wish I was. I wish I was there so I could have stopped this from ever happening.’ He began to cry. Joe sat there in silence. He couldn’t help but wonder if Oliver’s tears were for Haddie or for Kiera. Bently Carter sat in the same chair that Oliver Harries had just left. It was ensured that the two would not see each other or have any sort of contact. Bentley was a Secret, after all. Oliver didn’t know about him. No one did. Except for Kelsey Barnes, that is. ‘Mr Carter,’ Joe began. ‘I’m going to go over some questions with you. Alright?’ ‘Of course,’ Bentley was sitting straight with his hands folded on top of each other on the table. ‘When did you and Haddie Taylor first begin seeing each other?’ ‘I met her at a New year’s party. I guess we started seeing each other sometime in January.’ ‘And you were aware of the fact that she had a boyfriend?’ ‘I was aware, yes.’ ‘Yet you still continued to pursue her.’ ‘Well, when you put it like that, it sounds like I’m the bad guy. I’m pretty sure the feelings were mutual.’ Joe flipped to the next page of his notepad. ‘You say Haddie broke up with you a couple weeks before her death.’ he said. ‘What day was this, exactly?’ ‘I can’t remember the exact day now…’ ‘Give it a little thought,’ Joe said. Bentley went quiet. Then he said, ‘May 3rd.’ ‘So thirteen days, then. Not a couple of weeks.’ ‘I guess.’ ‘You guess.’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Tell me, Bentley, how did you feel when Haddie broke things off with you.’ ‘I was confused,’ he said. ‘We had been talking for the past four months and things were fine. Then she just says she needs some time and ends things with me. Just like that.’ ‘Did you assume she was trying to fix things with her boyfriend, Oliver Harris?’ ‘I didn’t really think about that, no. I didn’t question her motives. I’ve had girlfriends before, Detective. Sometimes they simply want to break up. It’s part of life. We all move on.’ ‘So you weren’t angry after she did this?’ ‘Angry, No. I was confused. A little hurt, maybe. I really like that girl.’ ‘And were you aware of the fact that Haddie was four weeks pregnant when she died?’ Just like that, his disposition altered. Eyes wide, face ashen. ‘What?’ ‘And according to her boyfriend, Oliver, the baby couldn’t have been his.’ ‘You think it was mine?’ ‘So you weren’t aware?’ ‘NO! of course not. God,’ he looked away, put his fist to his mouth. ‘She should have told me.’ Joe could have said he wasn’t even sure whether Haddie herself knew. But he decided to omit that bit. ‘Bentley, where were you last Tuesday between 11:30am to 12:00pm?’ ‘I was in class,’ he looked up and met Joe’s eyes. ‘Don’t tell me you think I did this, that I had anything to do with those girls’ deaths.’ ‘Maybe she did tell you,’ Joe said. ‘Maybe you weren’t too happy about that. Too young to be a father. Too much responsibility. So what do you do? Maybe you go up there, confront her. Something goes wrong …’ ‘What are you talking about? I didn’t touch her! I would never hurt Haddie,’ he stopped, breathing heavily through his nostrils. ‘We’ll need to confirm your alibi…’ ‘Alibi? What is this? Am I a suspect or something?’ ‘We need to confirm where everyone was during the time of the deaths. Until we can determine what exactly happened to them, everyone is a suspect. The principal got back to Joe with the attendances from Tuesday. There were a few absences and some lates, but Oliver were not among them. His teacher confirmed that the boy was in his scheduled class at the time of the deaths, Oliver did not leave the classroom until the bell rang for lunch. And by that point, the girls were already dead. The same applies for Bentley. The lecturer at UWC confirmed that he was in the Social Studies class at the time of the girls Death. It was impossible for him to get to St. Paul’s when the girls fell off the roof. Anyone could have been up on that roof. Anyone could have come in contact with the girls and pushed them. But Perhaps it wasn’t a student as Joe so quickly predicted. It could have been a teacher or faculty member. OR worse - a parent. ********** The first time Joe saw a dead body, he was seven years old. It was his grandfather. He died from lung cancer. The funeral was a blur and he didn’t recall anything from that day. Except for the body. It was an open - casket. His grandfather had been embalmed, his eyes were closed, his lips were eerily pink. His chest seemed to be inflated, his hands crossed over his stomach. Joe remembered looking over the casket, staring at this dead human being. It was peculiar to him, how something so evidently deceased could still look so alive. How one minute, this person could be living, breathing, conscious with a soul and a heartbeat, and the next, he was gone, his body empty. As though people are simply host - bodies containing souls, and once they die, what remains is an empty shell. The second time he saw a dead body was when he was twenty - five, straight out of the academy. The first call he responded to was a woman found dead in her apartment, gunshot to the head. He could recall that day clearly. Following the officers up the stairwell, entering the room and seeing her lying on the floor, her silk robe barely covering her body. Her eyes were open, a hole in the center of her forehead, dark, dried blood oozing down the center of her face and across her cheek. Her body was lying there so perfectly, as though she had been positioned a certain way. Her name was Amore Hollands and she was twenty - nine. All Joe could think was that this beautiful woman was too young to be dead. ************ He would need to go back farther, dig deeper into the girls’ personal lives and try to pin - point where things went wrong. He was so certain that there was something he was missing - an event or incident that occurred - that was the catalyst to the girls’ strange behaviour these last few months. He decided to return to the Taylor residence. By the cars in the driveway - Beemer and Cadillac - Joe could see that both George and Rosie were home. Rosie answered the door, looking serene and melancholy all at once. ‘Have you found something?’ She asked, hope igniting in her eyes. ‘Nothing substantial,’ Joe said, watching her face fall. ‘Can I come inside?’ ‘Please,’ she stepped back and let him enter the house. She moved lethargically, as though all of the life that she once possessed had been drained from her. She led Joe through their home and into the living room, once again. ‘So,’ Rosie said, sitting on the couch patiently but anxiously, legs crossed. George sat next to her. ‘Sorry to bother you at this time,’ Joe said. ‘I just feel like I’m still missing a huge portion of the girls’ lives. I need more information. What am I missing?’ ‘I don’t know what more we can tell you,’ Rosie said. ‘Do you have any idea of who could have done this?’ She shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. “We’ve already told you, we don’t know.’ Joe watched her, then turned to George. He seemed to remain impassive. ‘Mr Taylor,’ Joe said. ‘What do you think happened?’ He was quiet for a moment, thinking. ‘We live in a good town, Detective,’ he began. ‘Good people. Not many of us, but everyone is kind, friendly, helpful. We’re a community here. We get along, give each other assistance when we need it,’ he stopped again. ‘Why would someone like that kill my daughter? What could they possibly have accomplished?’ ‘So you can’t think of anyone - anyone at all - who would want to hurt Haddie or the girls?’ He shook his head - ‘Unless I’m missing something,’ he said. ‘After all, there were things she didn’t tell us.’ Rosie turned to her husband, almost as if to say don’t. ‘What do you mean?’ Joe asked, leaning forward in his chair. ‘It’s nothing,’ Rosie said quickly. ‘Let him speak, please. Mrs Taylor,’ Joe said. She closed her mouth. “Go on,’ Joe said to George. ‘No, my wife is right,’ George said. ‘It’s nothing disconcerting. I just meant that she’s a teenage girl. She has her secrets. don’t They all?’ ‘Yes,’ Joe said. “But in this case, it’s a matter of life and death. And anything that you might have found odd or conspicuous in the past - well, you need to tell me.’ It was silent again, as if nobody knew what to say next. ‘Did the girls seem secretive at all?’ Joe asked. “AS though they were sneaking around, doing something they weren’t supposed to?’ ‘No,’ Rosie said. “Haddie didn’t feel the need to hide things from us. She always asked us whenever she wanted to go to a friend’s place or to a party or anything like that.’ ‘Did they go out often? To parties?’ ‘Sometimes,’ Rosie said. ‘Here and there.’ ‘Did things ever get out of hand at these parties?’ Joe asked, recalling the party from last month. Haddie getting into the car with Beth’s boyfriend, drunk. ‘I don’t believe so,’ she said. ‘The kids here are good. Nothing crazy ever happens.’ ‘What else did the girls like to do?’ ‘They liked to go exploring,’ Rosie said. ‘Anya would take photos and Haddie and Kiera would be her subjects. They were all practicing to get their licences this year. They went to school, did their homework, went to the mall, hung out at our place, or at the Barne’s property,’ Rosie paused. ‘They were just regular girls, doing regular things. It’s not like they were delinquents. I don’t know what else you want me to say.’ ‘Would you say that Haddie was happy?’ Joe asked. ‘Of course she was happy,’ Rosie said without hesitation. ‘Really think about this though - did she truly seem happy, or did it just seem like she was happy?’ ‘Haddie was always smiling and laughing.’ George said. ‘She was full of life. She had big plans for her future. She wouldn’t have simply killed herself, if that’s what you’re asking.’ Joe nodded, remembering the conversation he had with Oliver the week prior. ‘Oliver mentioned that Haddie wanted to move away from Kenhardt, go to Jhburg, make it big. Is this true?’ Rosie smiled. “That was Haddie. Obviously we wanted her to go to school and become a lawyer, and that’s what she wanted as well. But she also had other dreams, Jhburg was one of them. Ever since she was a little girl, she’d talk about how she wanted to grow up and be Famous.’ ‘So would you say That Haddie liked it here in Kenhardt? Or Hated it?’ ‘I wouldn’t say hate,’ George said. ‘But she didn’t want to stay here after she finished school.’ ‘Everyone stays here,’ Rosie said. ‘It’s genetic. Families are raised here, and then the kids grow up and repeat the process. No one ever really escapes.’ ‘Escapes,’ Joe repeated. ‘You say that as though you’re trapped here.’ ‘I didn’t mean it like that, ‘Rosie tried to laugh it off. ‘I just meant …well…’ ‘You live here and then you die,’ George finished for her. ‘But Kenhardt’s a good place. We all love it here.’ ‘But not Haddie,’ Joe said. ‘No,’ George said. “Not Haddie.’ He was in her bedroom again, looking for anything that he might have missed before. Rosie and George were with him, going through their daughter’s things, looking for a sign, a clue, anything that could help them figure out what happened, what went wrong. Joe lifted up a photo album and began flipping through the pages. Pictures of Haddie as a baby, Haddie on her first day of school. Then, to the latter half of the book, photos of her and the girls, smiling, sticking their tongues out, laughing. Rosie was doing something similar, going though a scrapbook. Joe looked over and saw the page she was on, photographs, ticket stubs, string bracelets taped to the page. George had found a bin in her closet full of Old papers and receipts. Joe walked over to see if there was anything useful. Most of the receipts were from clothes and food, some from the movies. Then something caught his eye - mostly because it was Purple. Joe reached forward and grabbed the piece of paper from the pile, reading it over. It was an appointment confirmation with someone by the name of Esmerelda Zietsman. ‘What’s this?’ Joe said to George. George looked over the page and looked stumped. Rosie came over to look as well. ‘Oh, that,’ she said, taking it from her husband’s hands. ‘The girls went to see a Fortune Teller a while back. Just for fun.’ ‘When was this?’ Joe asked. Rosie thought for a moment. ‘It must have been in December. YES, it was just before Christmas actually…’ "You can't live someone else's expectation in life. It's a recipe for disaster..."