Naive by Charles Royce (world best books to read .txt) 📕

“As a matter of fact, she looked at me.” Shawn smiles.

“Well, there you go, lucky bastard.”

“I didn’t see you there, so I can’t really vouch for that, but I’m assuming you ran into Jenna at some point?”

“Well, first I talked with James West, the CEO of Élan, who asked to talk to Lennox, I told you about that. Kinda strange. Then I ran into Jenna.”

“And what time was that?”

“Oh, wait, I texted Lennox before that at some point, I’m not really sure. They took my phone, otherwise I’d tell you exactly.”

“Okay, don’t worry about that. I’ll have the files from the police on Wednesday, that’ll tell me exactly when.”

“Okay. Jenna and I talked a little bit, maybe laughed just a little at you and Haylee trying to talk to Meryl. Then around 9:00pm, everyone started gathering for the programmed part of the evening, you know, presentations and sizzle reels and shit. But I called Lennox right before that, he didn’t answer, so I started getting worried. I left, took a cab and got home maybe around 10?”

“It took an hour for you to get home?”

“No, no, it didn’t take that long.”

“So what happened between 9 and 10?”

“Oh, shit. You’re right. I must have the timeline wrong.” He pauses and works through the times in his head. “I remember checking my time on the way to the event, around 7:45, and remember thinking I was already 15 minutes late. Then on the way home, I checked my phone and it was 9:55 somewhere along the way.”

“This helps a little. I guess we can fill in the blanks when we get a better idea of time stamps from videos and cell phone records.”

“This is the timeline I told the police though. Roughly, I think.”

“Don’t worry, you were a mess, and timelines are totally fuzzy after a trauma. Trust me, please don’t worry about that.”

“Okay.”

“Then you got home. Now here’s where I need as many specifics as possible.”

“Well, I remember as the cab was pulling in, I looked up at our place and saw that the lights were off. But the shades were still up. If Lennox had left, he woulda pulled the shades down. He always does that. So I figured he might have fallen asleep or something.” Micah loses himself in thought. “Honestly, I pictured Lennox having someone up there, that’s where my brain went. That’s where it always goes, ever since …”

Shawn fills in the subsequent silence with his own knowledge of the Lennox-and-Josh-cheating-saga. Shawn snaps his fingers. “Micah, I need you to concentrate. What happened when you got out of the cab?”

“Right. Okay, I searched for my keycard, swiped it, and went through both sets of glass doors. I went up the elevator, hoping it wouldn’t make much of a sound, cuz if there was someone up there, I wanted to catch them in the act.” He pauses and looks at Shawn. “I know, I have serious issues.”

“You’re being honest. And this will go a long way, if only for me and the way we play this. You didn’t tell the cops or the detective any of this, did you?”

“No, no, I was way more vague. In fact, I didn’t even remember any of that when I talked to them.”

“Okay, good. Go on.”

“The elevator doors open, and everything is dark. I keep the lights off and sneak around the corner to the bedroom. I’m about to peer into the room when I hear a gurgling sound from the living room. By instinct I know it’s Lennox, and I rush over to him, thinking he’s choking on something. He is lying there, barely moving, and I freak out.”

“Freak out? How so?”

“Well, all I could think about was getting whatever it was out of his throat, and just started pounding him and pounding him. Over and over.”

“Jesus.”

“I know!” Micah looks at Shawn, whose cheeks are slightly raised, eyes at half-mast, nostrils pinched. Micah agrees with the disgust and begins to feel his eyes well up. “I did kill him, didn’t I?”

“Micah, no. No! Of course not! He’d been stabbed thirty-three times, for God’s sake. He was already near death. I’m not sure there was much you could do to save him, and you did what you thought was right.”

“But it wasn’t. Right, I mean. I didn’t do the right thing. I deserve this.”

Shawn feels the need to lighten the dark turn the conversation is taking. “Friend, stop. You did not kill Lennox. You tried to save him. And from now on, this is what you say, again and again. ‘I did not kill Lennox.’ Any mention of you killing Lennox, or even thinking that you killed Lennox is off the table. And especially this ugly-ass table. Am I clear?”

“Okay, okay.” Micah laughs through some sniffling and wipes his nose on his sleeve.

“Now. Is there anything else you remember?”

“He was naked.”

“Naked? Why? Wait, you said he was getting ready for the event. Did he just get out of the shower?”

“Maybe. Before the shower, he said he was gonna take his time, eat a snack, ‘mosey on over there,’ I think are the words he used. I kinda just yelled from the elevator door on my way out, I needed to meet Jenna at the event, so I didn’t pay attention.”

“You don’t think this was sexually related, do you?”

“I don’t think so, but honestly I have no idea.”

“Well, once we get the autopsy results we’ll know for sure. Anything else?”

“No, not rea—wait, there were some weird flashing red lights in the corner of our living room, you know, where the living room meets the kitchen?”

“Cop lights?”

“No, I hadn’t called the cops at that point.”

They both pause in silence.

“Weird,” Shawn says, typing ‘red lights’, then formatting it in a red color with an underline. Red lights in the corner, what the heck? He begins tapping on his laptop. “Micah, is there anyone else who could have done this?”

“His fucking ex-boyfriend maybe? It would explain why Lenny was naked.” Micah watches