consistent with this theory.
Paul Bannon had died the same way. Asphyxiation. Same chemical traces in his bloodstream. Same bruising of the face. What was bothering Jaxon more than anything was the peculiar state of the first kid’s body. The ME had told him some of the boy’s internal organs were frozen.
“Are your refrigerators set too cold?” Jaxon had asked.
“I checked. They’re fine. The rest of him was not frozen but he had some patches on his skin that resembled freezer burn. I think this boy has been frozen solid and recently thawed.”
“How long?”
“I haven’t been able to determine that yet. I’m checking with a colleague in North Dakota. He has some experience with this kind of thing. I should know something within a day or two.”
Luke had just picked up Ellie from her house and they were heading back to his place through the frozen streets when a car pulled up next to them and rolled down its window.
“Lucas Harrison, Eliana Pemberton. Can we talk to you a moment.”
It was the two cops who had been to Luke’s house that Sunday morning when they thought the body was him. Luke looked at Ellie and then back at the cops and shrugged. “I guess,” he said.
“Was Paul Bannon a friend of yours?” the one named Jaxon asked.
They both nodded. “He lived a couple of houses down from me,” Ellie said.
“Had Paul said anything to you two about being frightened or worried?”
They both shook their heads. “No,” Luke said. “He seemed normal to me.”
“Had he been absent from school more than normal lately?” The woman cop asked.
“No,” Luke said. “He was always there. He never missed a day unless school was canceled.”
“Did you guys get along?” Jaxon asked looking hard into Luke’s eyes.
He hesitated. “Yeah…I mean we were friends and stuff. He was mad at me for a little while when he had his stitches.”
“What stitches?”
“We would have these snowball fights and he had the bright idea to put ice inside of the snowballs. He hit my friend Jimmy in the arm with one and made his arm numb. The next battle we got him back, only he got hit in the face and had to have stitches. It was stupid, I know. We don’t use ice balls anymore.”
Jaxon turned and looked at the woman. She raised her eyebrows but said nothing.
He held up a picture and asked, “Do either of you know this boy?”
Luke and Ellie leaned in to get a better look. It was a shot of a face. A kid about Luke’s age. His skin was pasty white and his lips looked slack and lifeless. His eyes were mostly closed, but not because he was sleeping. One of his irises could barely be seen through the cracked left eyelid. It made Luke shudder involuntarily. He leaned back, looking away quickly.
“No,” Luke said and Ellie shook her head, a frown now on her face.
Jaxon put the picture away and Luke asked, “Was that the kid from the pool? The first one?”
Jaxon looked at Luke’s shoes, ignoring the question, and asked, “What size shoe do you wear?”
“Uh…I don’t remember. You’d have to ask my mom. I don’t pay attention to that kind of stuff. Why?”
“What happened to your coat?” the detective asked next, pointing to the rip in his sleeve.
“I’m not sure,” Luke said. “I think I ripped it on a branch while we were playing kick the can the other night.”
“On a branch, huh?”
Luke nodded and looked at Ellie who nodded too.
Jaxon reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a baggie. Inside was the piece that had been torn from Luke’s coat. He swallowed and his knees felt a little watery.
“I don’t think it was a branch,” Jaxon said. “I think you ripped it climbing the fence to the pool. This is the torn piece I have in this bag and I took it from the top of the chain link fence. Are you gonna stick with the ‘branch’ story?”
Luke decided to remain silent.
Jaxon opened the door and stepped out of his car. The woman did the same on the other side and walked around the front of the car to stand next to Jaxon.
“Alright,” Jaxon said, “I know you guys were in the pool area. We have footprints that we can match up and we have this torn piece of your coat. What I want to know is what did you see? You don’t have to be afraid of anything happening, we just need to know what’s going on. How about helping us?”
Luke looked at Ellie and then down at his feet which he shuffled in the snow. “We were in the pool but we didn’t see anything.”
“What were you doing in there in the dead of winter?” asked the woman.
“We were trying to skate on the ice but it was too thin. She almost slipped in but I grabbed her. Then we left.”
“That right?” Jaxon asked Ellie.
“Yes, Sir,” she said.
“And you didn’t see a thing? No body in the pool? No footprints in the snow? Anybody else hanging around the area?”
Luke and Ellie shook their heads, no.
“Just you two?”
Luke and Ellie nodded, yes.
Luke watched Jaxon look at the woman in exasperation and she shrugged her shoulders. He knew they weren’t buying it but he didn’t know why they weren’t arresting them or something. He was pretty scared but he wasn’t going to admit anything he didn’t have to. Ellie was looking like she was going to throw up and he hoped she could hold it together.
He turned back to Luke and said, “I don’t believe you two.” He pointed his finger at both of them, one at a time. “Something is going on and I’m going to find out what it is whether you tell me or not. A murder investigation is a serious thing and obstructing justice can get you both thrown in jail. Do you understand what obstruction of justice is?”
Luke nodded, as did Ellie.
He waited. Finally he said, “You have nothing else to add?”
Luke shook his head
“Fine. If you think of anything else to say call me on this number.” He handed them both a business card. “Don’t be surprised if we pay a visit to your parents soon.”
They both got back in the car and drove away. When they were gone, Ellie started to cry.
Luke and Ellie were back in his basement, the TV was on but neither one was watching it. He was holding her as she sobbed into his shoulder. They had made it into his house and down the stairs without anyone seeing them. Ellie had been crying non-stop since the detectives had driven away. He couldn’t seem to console her. She mumbled things he couldn’t understand so he just held her and stroked her hair as she sobbed.
She finally got herself under control, lifting her head off of his shoulder and looking into his eyes.
“What are we going to do?” she asked. “My mom is going to kill me.”
“I don’t think they know everything,” Luke said. “If they did, they would’ve asked us more stuff.”
“They knew we were in there. I bet they know John and Jimmy were there too.”
“Maybe. Their footprints were all over the snow, like ours, but they probably don’t know who they belong to. I think they’re just trying to find out who killed Paul and the other boy.”
“But they acted like we did it. He looked at me like I was a killer. We haven’t done anything.”
“Yeah-that bothers me too. I felt like they were blaming us or trying to get us to confess something. I wonder
