The Accomplice(50)

“Your neck okay?” Detective Oslo asked.

“What?” Owen said.

“Got a little scratch,” Oslo said.

“Who was that woman?”

“Scarlet’s mother. I apologize. You were supposed to come in the back door.”

“How did she know who I was?” Owen asked.

“She’d seen photos.”

“From who?”

“Who do you think?”

Owen thought for a moment that he might vomit. He hadn’t fully processed what was happening. The detective asked Owen if he needed anything.

“Like what?” Owen said.

He wasn’t sure what he could ask for. Owen had smoked a fair amount of weed the night before.

“Water or coffee?” Oslo said.

Owen wanted both, but he didn’t think he could ask for that. “Coffee, please,” Owen said.

Detective Oslo stepped out. Owen looked around the room. There were pockmarked panels on the walls. A mirror. Owen’s reflection startled him because it didn’t look like him. He turned away, thinking that there might be someone on the other side.

To be fair, in the quiet moments when he could truly consider Scarlet’s death, Owen felt a deep sadness. However, he was in a police station, in a room that smelled like sour sweat and stale coffee, and he had a basic understanding that a part of his life was over, the good part. It was hard to feel anything other than the panic of his current predicament. He’d had it easy so far. It would never be that easy again. He experienced his first true moment of nostalgia, thinking back just one week.

Owen’s phone buzzed in his pocket. It was Luna. He told her where he was. He had more to say. He wanted her to call his brother. But then the tall man came back inside. What was his name? He said it, but Owen couldn’t remember.

“I have to go,” Owen said to Luna, obediently ending the call.



* * *



—

Detective Oslo questioned the kid for about another hour. Owen explained that he and Scarlet were not together, despite views to the contrary. Oslo thought the kid looked sad but not sad enough.

Based on Scarlet’s phone records and the ME’s report, she died between eleven p.m. Friday night and two a.m. Saturday morning. Oslo asked Owen to detail his activities from Friday evening into early Saturday morning. Owen was alibied for the first half of that time. Then, Owen claimed, he was in his room, alone. The campus police could check his key card for entry, but that would only prove where his card had been.

“Did Scarlet understand that you were broken up?” Oslo asked.

“We barely spoke this year, so yeah,” Owen said.

“Did you fight recently?”

“I was trying to avoid her. So no.”

“When was the last time you had sex?”

“Last year. Maybe November,” Owen said.

“Long time to hold a torch for someone,” Oslo said.

Owen wanted to ask for a lawyer, but the thought of figuring that out was too overwhelming. He’d have to tell his parents and they’d have to find a lawyer and then everyone would come to town. It was a lot of trouble. Owen wasn’t sure it was necessary.

“How did she die?” Owen asked.

Oslo had been waiting for him to ask. He’d been interviewing the kid for over an hour. You’d think he’d want to know, unless he already did.

“Can’t say,” Oslo replied.

“Where was she found?”

“Black Oak Bluff. You familiar with that trail?” Oslo asked.

“Yeah,” Owen said.

Oslo noted a slight change in the kid’s manner, his pallor taking on a greenish tinge. Owen shifted in his chair.

“So, you’ve hiked that trail?”

“Sure.”

“Did you and Scarlet ever go there together?”

“Once,” Owen said.

“When?”

“A month or two ago, I guess,” Owen said. “I was trying to get away from her. She hated hiking. I just wanted to be alone. I thought it was the one place I could go where she wouldn’t follow. It was freezing that day.”

Oslo looked friendly, understanding. But Owen sensed that it was an act. He pondered his empty cup. The coffee was horrible. His bladder was about to burst and yet he still wanted more coffee.

“Can I use the bathroom?”

“Sure,” Oslo said. “Down the hall on the right. If you don’t mind, leave your phone.”

“My phone.”

“I can get a warrant, if you’d prefer. But I’m going to need it eventually.”

Owen was planning to text his brother from the bathroom. He had come to the conclusion that he needed a lawyer. Probably. Well, he wasn’t sure. He had to piss so badly, he couldn’t think straight. He dropped the phone on the table and made a beeline for the door.

After Owen used the facilities, he stepped into the empty hallway. He spotted a pay phone and thought about calling Griff, but he didn’t have any change on him. He didn’t know how long he’d been standing there when the detective opened the door and leaned into the hallway.

“Just a few more questions, Owen.”

Owen, defeated, slunk back to the interview room. Oslo had another cup of coffee waiting for Owen. He needed the kid to wake up a bit. He was too sedate, which made him hard to read. Owen took a sip of coffee and winced in pain from the heat.