Scandalous (15 page)

“Hello?”
“Eric this is Michelle,” she said in a whisper.
“What’s wrong? Why are you whispering?”
“Brandon is in the shower right now. He killed Byron.” I almost ran off the road. I pulled over on the side of the

street and put the car in park. “What did you just say?” “It was Brandon that killed Byron. He admitted it to me a
few minutes ago.”
“Are you sure that’s what he said?”
“Damn man, yes, that’s what he said.”
“I’m on my way home right now. Just chill till I get there.” I hung up the phone, made a u-turn in the middle of the
street, and raced back home. I had to have run about ten red
lights, but I could not leave another friend at home with Brandon,
for him to do whatever to her. I didn’t know what I was going to
do when I got to the house. All I knew is, that I didn’t want her
alone with him.
My heart raced as I turned on our street. I didn’t know what
I was going to see when I opened the front door. My keys hit the lock and I heard a little movement. I swung open the door and Brandon was on the sofa and Michelle was sitting across from him in the recliner. I walked over to the entertainment center and tossed my car keys on top and grabbed what I had put
up there earlier. I turned to Brandon. “Can we talk in my room?” “Sure.”
He got up and followed me in the bedroom. He grabbed
me around my waist as the door closed behind him. He pressed
his growing manhood into my jean-covered butt.
“Before you get yourself all worked up Mr. Man. Tell me
again what you told the police about Tracy.”
He kissed me on my neck and rubbed my stomach.
“Come on, tell me boo. Do you really think Tracy had anything
to do with Byron’s death?”
“To be honest, no. But your girl Michelle did tell me that
she had a lot to do with it.”
I turned and looked at him, eye to eye. “What did she
have to do with it?”
“Everything, she helped Tracy do it.”
I was thrown for a loop. I didn’t expect him to say that. I
know Michelle has her ways, but I didn’t think she was a
murderer. Somebody was lying. Michelle said Brandon did it,
and Brandon said Michelle did it. To be honest, neither can be
trusted. Brandon continued. “You know what else she told me,”
he said, as he unbuttoned my shirt and rubbed my chest. “What?”
“She said the knife she stabbed him with is under her
bed. In a plastic bag.”
I pulled away from Brandon. And just stared at him for a
second.
“Are you sure that’s what she said to you?”
“Yes baby, why would I lie to you?”
As soon as he said that I started thinking that Michelle
was the one telling the truth. One thing I know is that when a
person says why would I lie or, trust me, right then, you know
some funny stuff is going on.
I walked away from Brandon and went to the bedroom
door. “Where are you going? I thought we were gonna get
something going here?”
I turned and looked at him. “Naw, I want to go talk to
Michelle about this situation.”
“Are you crazy. All she’s gonna do is deny it and blame
it on somebody else.”
“So what do you think we should do?” I really wanted to
know what was on his mind.
“I think we should call the police, get them over here, show
them where the murder weapon is, and get her locked up too.” I had no idea Brandon was this kind of person. It’s hard
to believe that I gave myself to him, wanted to be with him, hurt
a friend for him. But then something hit me.
“You really don’t seem too upset that Tracy is locked up.” “Well, I’m kinda hurt that she moved all the way up here
and moved Caldwell up here with her. She was still sleeping with
him. That hurt.”
I do see his point. I’ve also seen how Michelle and Tracy
started getting along right before all this went down. “Eric, we need to call the police and have them come get
Michelle. She helped Tracy kill Byron. We both know that. The
murder weapon is in her room. We need to get them over here
before she moves the knife.”
I didn’t want to believe him but he was making good
sense to me. I walked to the other side of the room where the
phone was. I stared at it for a second them reached for it. As soon
as my hand touched the phone it rang.
“Hello?”
“You have a collect call from the Pitt County Jail,” an
automated voice said.
Then I heard a very sad and scared voice say, “Tracy.” My hands started to shake. I didn’t want to let on that
Tracy was on the phone to Brandon, so I calmed myself down
and tried to talk normal.
“Will you accept the charges?”
Calmly, I answered, “Yes.”

I felt Brandon pulling at my shirtsleeve “Who is that?” “A friend! Damn, chill out.”
I focused back on the phone call, “Hey wuz up man?” “Eric, I know I said some hateful stuff to you today, but

you know I didn’t kill anybody.” Tracy’s voice sounded like a beaten woman. Her voice was tired and lazy.
“So what you need me to do playa?” “Brandon
must be in the room with you huh?”
“Yeah, so what else you need?” I looked back at Brandon and he seemed to be okay, thinking that I was on the phone with a friend.
“Brandon killed Byron. I know that may be hard to believe, but he did. I need you to believe me.”
“I do. You’re not the first person to say that.”
“He must have told you or Michelle too, then. He’s a big mouth. He likes to brag about anything he does.”
“I feel you.”
“I told the police he did it, so they might be around there to question ya’ll.”
In the background, I heard someone yell, “Time!”
“Eric, I gotta go, but get him to confess!”
After that the phone went dead, I hung up and went and sat next to Brandon on the bed. I wrapped my arm around him and asked, “Have you ever done something and just had to tell somebody.”
He looked at me with a confused squint on his
face. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I just want you to know that you can tell me anything. I love you and I want to be with you.”
“That’s good to know.”
I had to say something to get him to confess. “Feel free to tell me anything your heart desires,” I said, as I rubbed his back, running my finger up and down his spine.
“Well, there is something.”
I sat up straight. He had my full attention
“I slept with Byron a few weeks before he and Tracy met.”
I just sat there looking dumb. I didn’t know what to say. That was the last thing I thought I’d hear him
say. “You slept with Byron?”
“Yes. He was my teacher back home. He tutored me after class. Eventually, one thing led to another, and before you know it, we were at his house in bed.”
I couldn’t close my mouth. I was floored by what I was hearing. This entire situation got stranger and stranger by the second. “So you think Tracy and Michelle killed him because…?” I asked, hoping to pull more information out of him.
“Because, neither of them could have him. He was mine. He was only sleeping with Tracy to get at me for breaking it off with him. We all know Michelle is a slut. Look what she did with us. She even told me that she had a thing for Byron last time I was here.”
I stood up and walked to the door.
“Then we need to go to the police station, tell them what we know, and get both of them locked up for a very long time.”
Brandon stood up and hugged me. He pressed against my pocket and we heard a loud click noise. Brandon stood back from me. “What was that?”
“I don’t know. Sounds like my leg popped,” I said, shaking my leg like it had slipped out of place. I had completely forgotten I had a mini voice recorder in my pocket that I had put on the entertainment center before I left, just to see if somebody would say anything that might clear Tracy.
Brandon and I walked to the front door. Michelle looked at us and asked, “Where are ya’ll going?”
“We’ll be right back,” I said as I opened the door. Brandon went out the door in front of me. I looked back at Michelle and winked at her. She just dropped her head.
On the way over to the police station, Brandon told me all about his encounters with Byron. I was sure he had killed Byron at this point. He thought I was buying into all his bullshit he was tossing around. The only thing he said I believed was that he slept with Byron.
Once at the station, we walked in and saw several people that looked like they needed a bath desperately. The smell in the station was an old shoe type smell. I tried to breathe as little as possible, hoping not to poison my insides with the smell. We walked up to the front desk where a heavy set lady that looked like a man with a beard raised her head from the newspaper and asked us what we were there for.
“We’re here because we have information about the Byron Caldwell murder,” I said.
In a very deep husky voice she said, “Ya’ll sit right there. I’ll get the detective to see you in a minute.”
The bearded lady picked up the phone and Brandon leaned over to me. “Look, we have to be on the samepage. Just tell them that the murder weapon is in the house and that Tracy and Michelle killed Byron. Tell them that Michelle confessed to us while they took Tracy and put her in the policecar. Tell them that all the crying that Michelle was doing at thehouse was all phony. She helped kill Professor Caldwell.”
I wanted to jump up and knock his head off. This bastard was trying to get me to go along with turning in two innocent people for something he did. But in front of him, I played along.
“You know Eric, when we walk out of here, it will just be you and I together forever. I love you.”
It took everything in me not to throw up. I looked him square in the eyes. “I love you too baby.”
Two gentlemen in nice black suits walked over and introduced themselves as the detectives on the case. One asked me to go with him and the other asked Brandon to follow him. I walked into this small room and sat to a table. The detective walked in. “Would you like something to drink sir?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“So I hear you have some information about a murder that I’m investigating?”
“Yes I do.”
“Tell me what you know.”
I took a deep breath and began telling everything I knew about the case.
“Well I have been told three different stories. I was told that Tracy killed Byron. Then I was told Michelle killed Byron.” “Who told you Michelle killed him?”
“Brandon, the guy I walked in here
with.” “How does he know?”
“He said Michelle told him.”
“Have you talked to Michelle?”
“Yes, and she told me Brandon killed Byron.”
The detective seemed like he was more confused listening to me, than I was telling it to him.
“Well son, let me tell you. We went over to Mr. Caldwell’s house and did a little digging over there and it seems like your friend Tracy was over there the night before he was murdered. We also talked to an eye witness that said they saw Tracy running from his house, jumping in her car, and speeding off down the street.”
I didn’t know all of this had happened. Maybe Tracy really did have something to do with his murder. “Sir, I don’t know anything about all that. But, what I do know is that the murder weapon is said to be in our house.”
“Really, where?”
“In Michelle’s room. I don’t know who killed Mr. Caldwell, but I don’t think it was Tracy.”
“So you think it was Michelle
then?” “No, I didn’t say that.”
The detective got really upset and started yelling at me. “You said the murder weapon is in Michelle’s room. You also said that Brandon told you that Michelle confessed to the killing. These are your words, correct?”
“Yes but…”
“So you are saying that Michelle is the murderer!”
“No!” I jumped up out of my seat, and my pocket with the recorder in it hit the table.
Then it dawned on me that I had something recorded. I didn’t know what it was, but we were going to listen to it right now. Either this tape is gonna prove that Tracy really did it or somebody else is going down for the murder.
“Can I reach in my pocket
sir?” “For what?”
“I forgot I have a recorder that I set up in the house earlier today to record if someone confessed.”
“Give it to me.” The detective’s eyes widened and a smile shot across his face for a split second. He rewound the tape and pressed play. The detective and I both sat still as we listened to Brandon confess to Michelle that he was the one that killed Byron. I’m not sure if I was surprised or not because Brandon had already showed me the kind of person he really was. We also heard the conversation that Brandon and I had where he was telling me about how he and Byron were ex-lovers.
“That little shit,” the detective said as he swung open the door to the room we were in. I heard him yelling down the hall. “Where is Brandon!”
I heard another voice. “He left about five minuets ago sir.” The detective came back to where I was.
“Where would he be going?”
“I don’t know. Maybe back to Miami.”
The detective left the room in a hurry. A few seconds later another officer walked in the room where I was and asked me to follow him. We walked back to the front of the station. The officer turned to me “Sit down and wait here.”
I sat there in that one spot for what seemed like an hour. Finally, I heard a female scream.
“Eric!”
I jumped and turned to see Tracy running towards me. I hugged her tight. We both started to cry as we held one another.
“They let you out?”
“Yeah, they said they had a confession on tape and that they were going to arrest the real killer.”
We held hands as we walked out of the station. I hadn’t told Tracy everything that Brandon told me. I wanted to wait till we got home and she got herself together. As we pulled up to our house cops were everywhere. All I could think is that Brandon had gotten to Michelle before anybody could get to him.

If I had known the kind of person Brandon is I would never have gotten involved with him. I walked around the front room of the house, trying to figure out my next move. I’m not resting easy with the idea that Brandon and Eric left here together. Something tells me I’m gonna come up on the short end of whatever they’re planning.

Suddenly, there was a frantic knocking at the door. I jumped up and ran to the window to see who it was. It was Brandon breathing heavy and looking around over both shoulders. I didn’t want to answer the door but the way he was knocking on the door, it was either open it or he was going to break it down. I opened the door and without saying a word Brandon rushed past me.

“Brandon what’s wrong?” I asked as he went into Eric’s room and grabbed his things.
“Nothing!” He didn’t say a word as he flung his bags into his car and backed out the driveway. It didn’t take him two minutes to grab all his things and be gone. I stood to the door and watched as he spun his wheels and sped off down the street.
I didn’t know what was going on. I sat in the front room and tried to calm my nerves by watching a little television, but soon that was disturbed by the sound of screeching tires in the front of the house. Again I jumped up and ran to the window. My eyes almost fell from my face when I looked out and saw four police cars parked in the driveway, the yard, and on the street. It was police everywhere. I squatted down next to the front door.I didn’t know if they were going to start shooting or what was going to happen. Then it dawned on me that Brandon and Eric must have gone to the police station and told them that I was the one that killed Byron. How could they do that to me! Well they have another thing coming if they think for a fucking second I’m going to go out like a sucka. My mama ain’t raise no punk!”
I went into the kitchen to find anything sharp. “One of them come up in here, his ass getting cut!” I’m not gonna lie, I was scared as all outdoors. My heart was beating fast. My palms were wet. I felt like Malcolm X peeking through the blinds, protecting himself. Only difference is he had a rifle and I have a butcher knife. I saw a shadowed figure walk past the back glass door. I felt like I was in a movie. But just like in the movies, there’s always a way out. Well, I obviously didn’tget my script ’cause there is no way out that I can see. The twoof them sold me out to the police. To protect Brandon, Eric turned on me.
I looked out the window again and saw half the neighborhood standing outside trying to figure out why all the police were at the house. I felt like I was surrounded. A few minutes later I noticed I hadn’t locked the door from when Brandon left. I slowly walked over to the door as soon as my hand touched the knob the door pushed open. Without thinking I swung the knife I had in my hand. I cut an unsuspecting officer right across the chest. I stood there in shock as the officer stumbled back out the door. I looked up and saw several other officers rushing towards the door. I had not seen a single soul pull his gun out until I cut that cop.
“Get on the ground!” All the officers yelled at once. I panicked and threw the knife down and fell to my knees. A female officer grabbed me and pushed me face down on the carpet. The entire neighborhood was standing outside and saw the whole incident. They had me on the ground right in the front door. I heard someone say check the back room he might be in there.
“Who are ya’ll looking for?” I asked, as they pulled me into a sitting position. The female officer got in my face and asked, “Where is Brandon?”
“What?” I don’t know what I expected her to say to me, but that wasn’t it.
“I said where is Brandon?”