Behind The Lies by Mark Beckner (top ebook reader .TXT) 📕

He removes it from his coat pocket and places it on the ground near the creek path. Brad then notices one of Wendy’s shoes has come off in the struggle and is lying in the tall grass. This is perfect, he thinks to himself as he picks it up and wraps it in the yellow scarf with his leather gloves. He then sprints back toward the car.

Meanwhile, Aaron is waiting in the car wondering, what is taking so long?It’s been about 10 minutes; shouldn’t he be back by now? Aaron thinks about getting out, but doesn’t want to mess up the plan. Finally, he sees Brad approach the car.

Brad quickly opens the back door on Aaron’s car and throws the scarf with shoe and gloves onto the back floorboard, shuts the door, then hops into the front passenger seat. He is slightly out of breath. Aaron knows Brad opened the back door, but didn’t notice Brad throwing something onto the back floorboard. He thinks maybe Brad had opened the back door by mistake and is more concerned about what Wendy may have said.

“What happened Brad?” asks Aaron.

“Hey, I tried my best buddy,” says Brad between breaths. “She just decided she didn’t want to meet you after all. I tried my best.”

Aaron is too shocked and disappointed to notice how upset Brad is. He feels like crying, but knows that would be weak and does all he can to hold back the tears. How stupid was I to think a girl like Wendy would ever want to be with a boy like me? Aaron is thinking. How will I be able to face my friends and Wendy in school now? She is probably laughing at me. This is exactly what I was afraid of.

“Take me back to Johnson’s,” Brad tells him.

“I can take you home,” says Aaron.

“No, just drop me off at Johnson’s”

Not much else is said on the way back to Johnson’s Café. Once there, Brad just says, “see you later,” and takes off on foot. Aaron, disappointed in the events of the night, drives himself home.

It takes about 12 minutes for Brad to get home. The time is 6:05 pm. He climbs back into his bedroom window and everything seems normal as his music is still playing and his bedroom door still shut. Brad can’t believe he has just choked Wendy to death. However, he knows if anyone finds out, his life and career in football are over. He takes a few moments to compose himself, then exits his room, heading toward the kitchen.

“Hey mom,” he says, as she sits in the living room watching TV, “just getting a soda.”

“Getting your work done?” she asks.

“Oh yeah,” responds Brad.

Sunday, November 15th

Aaron has spent the night in the county’s juvenile detention facility. He is now wearing dull green cotton-blend pants with a drawstring for holding them up and a matching green button-up shirt, white sox, and slip-on white sneakers, the standard juvenile jail-issued clothing. He has told anyone who will listen that he is innocent. No one seems to believe him.

The media has become aware of Aaron’s arrest and his name and yearbook photo have already been on the news. People are generally shocked to hear that Aaron has been arrested for killing Wendy. No one saw this coming, but they are also relieved to have the person who committed this horrible crime behind bars.

It is about 10:00 am when Aaron’s mom comes to visit him. Aaron spends most of the visit crying and assuring his mom he did not commit this crime. He doesn’t know for sure who killed her, but knows it was Brad who met her behind the school, not him.  Brad had the opportunity and Aaron now remembers Brad did seem upset when he got back to the car.

“Try not to worry too much Aaron,” his mom says. “I will get you the best lawyer I can afford. Please don’t give up. I believe you Aaron.”

Aaron is finding it hard not to give up. He knows he will not do well spending much of his life in prison and dreads the thought. Just ten days ago his life was fine.

Meanwhile, Detectives Baker and Walker continue to put the case together. As they organize and graph the texts, document the evidence, and create a timeline of events, the case starts to come together nicely. There will be an initial appearance in court on Monday and they must be prepared. They also know that more evidence will likely be available once forensic testing is completed. Once they finish, there is not much more to do until more test results come in. By 1:30 pm, they are able to go home to spend some time with family and relax after a long, tiring weekend.

Monday, November 16th

Aaron Livingston makes his first appearance in court at 10:00 am. One of the County Assistant District Attorneys appears on behalf of the state to present the facts detailed in the arrest warrant. Given the evidence of premeditation and intentional murder of Wendy Spire, the District Attorney has filed a First Degree Murder charge against Aaron. The judge reads Aaron the elements of the charge, advises him of his rights, and against Aaron’s Public Defender’s pleas, sets bond at $500,000. He cites the planning and brutality of the crime, as well as community concern as reasons for the high bond. Mrs. Livingston cries softly in the courtroom as she listens to the judge. After the judge is finished, Aaron is led out of the courtroom and back to juvenile detention.

At 1:00 pm, Detective Baker gets a call from the state forensic lab. He is told that the DNA swabs off both leather gloves found in Livingston’s car had a mixture of DNA, but at least one of the samples matched the DNA of Wendy Spire. It is no surprise to Baker that the gloves had a mixture of unknown DNA, as who knows how many people or objects those gloves had touched in the days