Darkness Follows
Authors: Emerald O'Brien
Darkness
Follows
By
Emerald O’Brien
Darkness
Follows
Copyright
2014 Emerald O’Brien
All
rights reserved.
For
those I think of when I wish upon a star,
blow
out the
candles, the clock strikes 11:11,
and
when I break a wish bone.
Table of
Contents
First,
she was screaming. The sound stuck in her throat as smooth hands squeezed
around it.
She
wanted to kick, and push and punch, but as hard as she tried, she could not
move an inch of her body.
The stranger leaned down until their noses were almost touching, his breath hot
on her mouth. She squeezed her eyes tightly, as tears streamed down the sides
of her face onto her pillow.
She
wanted her mom.
He
shook her like a rag doll, and her eyes popped open to see his smiling face
leering out of the dark. Panting and gasping noises rang in her ears, though
she was unable to identify who was making which sound. Everything was running
together.
The
stranger turned, searching for something over his shoulder.
She
heard a deep sigh, and her vision became fuzzy. Her eyes began to close.
Then
there was silence.
In
a haze, through her tears, she watched a shadow hover over the stranger’s
shoulder. It was the last thing she saw.
The
room was dim and hard and cold. Aurina wished she had asked the man on the
phone more questions, but his tone made her nervous. It was also the first
personal call she had received at Johnson and Stewart, which completely threw her
off. Now, as she waited, shivers ran down her spine.
The
room was much smaller than Aurina had seen in the movies. There was no one way
mirror, only a small black video camera with a blinking red light. She sat at a
square metal table and tapped her high heel compulsively against its leg. She
tried to take deep breaths, but her heart continued to race.
She
folded her sweater over itself, trying to fight off the chills consuming her
body. She had tried to call David before she left her desk at the law firm, but
he hadn’t picked up his cell.
Just
as she thought about going to the door, and peering out the small glass window,
it opened. A large man in a brown blazer waddled into the room slowly, plopping
his note pad on the table. The metal chair legs squealed against the cement
floor as he yanked it out and plunked
himself
down on
the seat. His round face wrinkled as he skimmed his notes.
“Ms.
Patrick, my name is Inspector Daniels, we spoke over the phone.” He picked up
his well-used Metro Toronto Police pen between yellowed fingers, and notes of
cigarette smoke wafted towards her. “You’re here because David Matthews has
been arrested on suspicion of murder. I know you haven’t been told much, and
after I interview you, I’ll see about filling you in.” Daniels didn’t look up
from his paper as he seemed to write a header at the top.
“David?”
Aurina asked more quietly than she expected. She thought this had to be some
sick joke, but then she remembered that she was being questioned by a police
inspector. The gravity of the situation began to pull at her stomach and made
her heart flutter. "That can’t be right…David's been arrested for murder?”
"Ms.
Patrick, I've told you all I can at this point.” Daniels’ voice droned in a monotone,
“He has not been charged; he has been arrested, and please keep that in mind as
you answer my questions. We are trying to get this sorted out, and we’ll need
your cooperation to do that." Daniels raised his brow, and Aurina knew it
wasn’t really a question. She straightened her glasses, which she always felt
slanted to the left, and nodded. The faster this man’s questions were answered,
the quicker she would be able to convince them they had the wrong guy.
"What
is your relationship with David Matthews?" Daniels asked.
"He's
my boyfriend. We've been together for almost a year now." Aurina had to
fight to keep her heel from shaking again. She wondered where David was at the
moment, if he was in the same department being interrogated as well. It
explained why he hadn’t answered her call.
"Do
you live together?"
"No."
She took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly, trying to keep calm. Daniels made a
quick note.
“Where
were you on the night of Saturday May 14th, 2011?” Daniels looked directly at
Aurina and her eyes widened.
“I
don’t know…that was over two years ago.” She stammered trying to think. “That’s
right around my sister’s birthday.” She dug into her large black purse, and
retrieved a red day planner from the bottom. As she flipped through the worn
pages, she stopped, and looked at Daniels. “The Saturday, yeah, I was out with
my sister Ryanne for her birthday. At a pub here in Toronto called Luck. I
remember I was with her all day and night.” She swept her side bangs behind her
ears.
“I’m
assuming your sister can corroborate that?” Daniels asked without looking up as
he jotted down notes.
“Yes,
she can. So can all of her friends who were there.” Aurina began to put her
planner back in her purse, and gave Daniels her sister Ryanne’s cell phone
number. “But, what does this have to do with David?’
“Where
were you on Saturday May 12th, 2012?” Daniels asked, ignoring her question.
Aurina sighed, thinking that it was lucky for Daniels (and her) that she was a
little compulsive about her planner. She opened it again, quickly skimming
through the pages. As she flipped to the right date, she suddenly realized that
because there were multiple days in question, there may be multiple murders
surrounding this investigation.
“I
don’t have anything for that specific date. But, last year around this
time, I was finishing up my last in-class semester of college.” She cocked her
head to the side and straightened her glasses, again wishing she had changed
into her contact lenses before leaving work. May last year was a busy time
filled with exams and assignments. Also, it was then that Aurina had begun
applying to law firms looking for legal admin placement students. “I must have
been studying, or working on a paper.”
“We
are going to need you to be sure Ms. Patrick. Can you be sure?” Daniels raised
an eye brow and kept his pen on the paper.
“I’m
sure I stayed in most nights in May, and I always spent weekends studying
during exams. I know I didn’t go out at night until the last weekend in June to
celebrate with my classmates. I even missed Ryanne’s birthday celebration last
year. I
must
have been at my apartment studying.” Daniels wrote this
information down nodding.
“Can
you please tell me what this is about?” She crossed her arms in front of her
chest. She was tired of answering all his questions, without having any of her
own answered. “Are you implying that I could be a part of this murder you have
David pegged for? David is not a murderer Mr. Daniels, and neither am I. I
didn’t even know David on these dates in question .There’s got to be some
mistake.”
“Were
you alone on the night of May 11th this year?” Daniels raised his voice
quickly, “You were in a relationship with David at this point. Do you remember
that Ms. Patrick?" If he was trying to keep her focused on his questions,
it was working. Aurina took her glasses off and dropped them on the table.
“That
was like a week ago. I was in my room alone, but Corrine was probably in her
room studying too, that’s my roommate.” Aurina gave Corrine’s cell phone number
to Daniels. “I have answered your questions, now please, what has all this got
to do with David?” She decided she would say no more until she discovered what
was actually going on, and if he asked another question, she would ask for her
lawyer. She wondered if it would have been smart to do that in the first place,
but they had caught her off guard.
“Alright
Ms. Patrick, I need to confirm this information, and I’ll be back.” Daniels
stood slowly, and pulled his pants up over his rotund belly. “Is there anything
you’d like to tell me before I go?”
Aurina
pursed her lips and shook her head. Daniels shrugged and took his papers out of
the room with him.
*****
She
waited for what seemed like an hour, although there was no clock in the room.
They had taken her cell phone and a few other things from her purse and put
them in a basket at the front desk soon after she had come in. The air
conditioning was being pumped into the room, and she tucked her sweater around
her like a blanket. The cigarette smell lingered after Daniels left, which
added to her impulse to simply get up and leave, but she knew she had to be
patient.
David
was a sweet man, selfless and thoughtful. To think he could have been involved
with a murder or murders made Aurina feel light headed. David was kind almost
to a fault and could even be a bit of a push over. She liked to be in control
most of the time anyway, and David gladly let her lead in their relationship.
To think David, the man she stayed up hours with, having deep conversations
about life plans and dreams, could have killed anyone was bizarre. Killers were
cold, and calculated. David was warm, and sweet. He wouldn't hurt a fly. The
police had made a mistake, a big one. She hoped her polite co-operation thus
far would help to rectify their error.
Aurina
jumped in her seat as Daniels suddenly re-entered the room with another man. He
looked much younger than Daniels, maybe roughly her age and had an air of intensity
about him. Freshly shaven and in a tailored black pinstriped suit, he was as
well dressed as most lawyers she knew.
"Your
alibis have checked out, not that I had any doubt, and we can now elaborate on
your boyfriend’s situation.” Pinstripe smiled. “We thank you for your
co-operation Ms. Patrick.” He gestured for Daniels to have a seat, but Daniels
leaned his weight over the back of the chair and stared at Aurina. “We
understand you have not known David long, but you should prepare yourself for what
we’ve discovered.”
“That’s
right,
we’ve been together for less than a year now,
so some of those dates he asked me about were irrelevant if this is truly
regarding David.” It was time for Aurina to learn the truth, and she was
stalling. She couldn’t help it. Both men were quiet, and neither one had taken
a seat. She stared up at them, wide eyed.
“Ms.
Patrick, David Matthews’ DNA was found at the site of a murder that occurred
just last week on May 11th. You may have seen it on the news. The victim’s family
and friends believe she did not know David, and we have not yet traced him back
to her life in any way. The murder resembles two previous murders that took
place around the same time both in 2011 and 2012. All three of the murders were
committed just outside a school campus.” Pinstripe told her. He gestured with
his hands a lot, and Aurina suddenly felt overwhelmed. “So you see Ms. Patrick,
we have proof that David was with the victim at her apartment.”
Aurina
reeled.
It couldn’t be.
"Which campus?" she asked.
"Longhearst
University, right here in Toronto” said Pinstripe.
Although
Aurina felt cold, as she rubbed the back of her neck, she realized she had been
sweating.
It had to be a coincidence.
“You
think David murdered…three people?” Aurina choked on the words. She was
envisioning the school clearly in her mind--the beautiful campus with its stone
paths and ivied brick walls.
“We
can tie him to one murder with the DNA we found recently, and for the time he
has spent in our custody, he has given alibi after alibi, but he hasn’t been
giving us straight answers about anything. His lawyer was here less than an
hour after he arrived and he hasn’t spoken to us since.” Pinstripe and Daniels
shared a look, and Aurina shook her head with tears forming in her eyes. David
would have told them he was innocent. But, Aurina knew when you lawyered up,
you looked guilty. David knew it too. Why couldn’t he have just told them the
truth?
“We
needed to confirm his statements, and your stories don’t match up.” Daniels
finally spoke as he put his pen down.
“I
don’t understand.” Aurina said shaking her head, wrapping her arms around her
purse in her lap. David was in some girl’s home, and she turned up dead. A
single tear fell down her cheek before she took a deep breath. “Who was the
girl?”
“Her
name was Ellie Cane.” Pinstripe seemed to be looking for a reaction, but Aurina
only vaguely recognized the name. Details of her murder had been on the news,
but Aurina had been so disgusted she tuned out quickly each time it came on.
“If
David knew her, he would have said.”
“David’s
a liar.” Daniels said, “That’s what we are trying to tell you.” Aurina recoiled
at the bold statement.
“David
told us he was with you on the dates in question. He was lying obviously.”
Pinstripe tilted his head, maybe looking for validation Aurina thought--and
then she saw it; it was pity.
“Why?”
Aurina asked. This was all becoming unfathomable.
“As
far as we can tell, you are one of the only people really close to him. He
needed an alibi quick, and he used you.” Daniels shoved his notepad under his
arm.
David
had no relatives in Canada, and hardly any friends, but through their short
relationship Aurina had never felt used in any way. David had been there for
her more often than she had for him, and her mind drifted back to the previous
September around the time she first met David when he had helped her family
move her sister into her first year of university.
"My
sister, Ryanne, she goes to Longhearst. David helped us, my
family,
move her into student residence this year." Pinstripe shot Daniels a quick
look.
“I’ll
go talk to Peter,” Daniels told Pinstripe. “We’ll be in touch.” He waddled
quickly out of the room, and the door slammed behind him.
“I
know you must be confused right now. But, you’ve been with David,
known
David for less than a year now.
How well do you think you know him?” Pinstripe sat down across from her and
folded his hands together on the table.
"Are
you sure? That David lied?" Aurina felt her face grow hot, and tears pooled
again in her lower lids. Pinstripe nodded, took his seat and brought it around
to her side of the table, sitting down beside her. The smell of his cologne
overpowered the dirty cigarette odour that loomed in the room. Aurina let her
tears fall steadily.
David
had been her boyfriend for roughly six months, they had known each other for
almost ten and yet in that time she felt she had really come to know him as a
caring and sensitive man who shared his life with her, his only real confidant.
That David could have murdered these girls was beyond her comprehension.
