Behind The Lies

an attraction to this mysterious secret admirer. She knows it is strange not to know who this person is, but there just seems to be a connection she can’t explain. She still has some anxiety over being played for a fool, but it has also provided her some unexpected thrill to have this secret admirer. After all, he seems like a nice person and they have some of the same interests. Plus, he has promised to soon reveal his identity and set a meetup to talk in person. She can hardly wait.

Friday, November 13^th, 5:46 pm

Detective Baker receives a call from the Sheriff’s Computer Forensic Analyst. He learns that a preliminary examination of Wendy Spire’s cell phone revealed a string of texts over the past week with another student. The texts were initially anonymous, only identified as a “secret admirer,” but eventually revealed to be sent by Aaron Livingston. The texts talked of a meeting behind the school Thursday evening, the night of Wendy’s death. According to the analyst, Livingston appears to be obsessed with Wendy. This is not looking good for Livingston, thinks Baker.

At 6:05 pm, Detective Walker returns to the office with the preliminary results from the autopsy. The Coroner’s finding is that Wendy had been killed from strangulation. This was evidenced by redness and bruising about the neck area, vertical scratches on the neck, damaged cartilage, a broken hyoid bone (a U-shaped bone just under the tongue), and some petechial hemorrhaging (pinpoint rupturing of capillaries in the skin). The Coroner was impressed by the amount of damage to Wendy’s neck. The Coroner told Walker it took a lot of force to cause this much damage to the neck. Wendy’s neck was swabbed, and her nails scraped for potential DNA. There was no evidence of sexual assault. Toxicology and DNA samples were driven to the closest state crime lab in Grand Rapids by one of Rockville’s patrol officers. Walker had called and asked to have someone stay at the lab after hours to accept the evidence so that they would have it to analyze first thing Monday morning. Walker requested testing as soon as possible, given the situation in Rockville. The lab administrator said he would have someone get on it first thing Monday.

Baker shares the texting information obtained from Wendy’s cell phone. “It is looking like this Livingston kid is a person of interest.”

“Hell,” says Walker, “I’d call him a suspect at this point. We’ve got witnesses who have said he was meeting her last night, we find texts from him to Wendy, which from the sound of it he was obsessed with her, and we find a ring at the scene engraved with A.L.”

“Yeah,” Baker responds. “And his mom owns a silver Toyota RAV4. A car of that description was seen by a neighbor parked in front of the school on Locust.”

“Let’s put an officer outside his home to maintain surveillance,” suggests Walker. “We need to keep tabs on him and that silver Toyota until we can search the car and have a chat with Mr. Livingston.”

“I’ll have an officer assigned,” says Baker. He realizes things are quickly coming together and it will be a late night. His next task is to start working on a search warrant for the silver RAV4 and Livingston’s cell phone. “We better get some coffee brewing.”

Wednesday, November 11^th

Brad’s plan seems to be working. Based on her texts, it appears Wendy is enjoying this secret admirer relationship he has orchestrated with Aaron. If I can get her to agree to a meetup with Aaron, I will have successfully won her over, thinks Brad. It doesn’t matter that Wendy doesn’t know he is the writer of the texts. It still gives him pleasure that he can win her over with his words. At the same time, it angers him to know that if Wendy had only given him a chance, he could have used the same approach he is using through Aaron.

At noon, Brad walks through the cafeteria and spots Wendy sitting with Katy at their usual table. He approaches them from behind, “How are you fine ladies doing today?”

“Same as always Brad, just fine,” responds Katy, as she rolls her eyes.

“You gals coming to the football game Saturday?” asks Brad. “You know it’s for the league championship, right? It would give me more motivation if I knew you were there Wendy.”

“You know I’m not interested in football,” sighs Wendy. “And I’m not interested in you either, so I would appreciate it if you would just leave us alone Brad.”

Brad just shakes his head. Little do you know just how interested you are in me, you just don’t know it yet, you bitch, Brad says to himself. “Okay ladies, you don’t know what you are missing.”

As Brad starts to leave, he slides Wendy’s yellow scarf off the back of her chair in a delicate sweep of his hand and slides it under his open jacket. Neither Wendy nor Katy notice. Brad swiftly walks away without saying another word.

When Wendy gets up to leave, she finds her scarf missing. “Where did my scarf go?”

“I’m not sure, did you have it when you came in here?” asks Katy.

“I thought for sure I did. Maybe someone took it.”

“I didn’t see anyone take your scarf. Maybe you left it in class or dropped it in the hall somewhere?” suggests Katy.

“I don’t know, I thought for sure I carried it here with me. I hope no one took it, that is my favorite scarf!” exclaims Wendy. “Do you think Brad took it?”

“Why would he do that?” asks Katy. “I didn’t see him take it.”

That afternoon Brad meets Aaron in the courtyard behind the school for some additional texting to Wendy. Aaron has come to enjoy the texting sessions as much as Brad. He knows he never could have developed this secret relationship with Wendy without his help. However, he does worry about what will happen once his identity becomes known and Brad is no longer at his