Brad lives with his two parents, Mike and Brenda McGivens, in a two-story Tudor-style brick home located in the older part of Rockville. The neighborhood is considered a wealthier, attractive area of town after the gentrification process over the last 15 years. The inside of the home is nicely decorated in a contemporary style with a large kitchen, dining room, and large open living room. The upstairs has been remodeled, combining three bedrooms into a huge master suite with a large master bath and walk-in closet, an office for Mr. McGivens, and a large library/reading/TV room. Brad’s bedroom is located on the main floor next to one of two downstairs bathrooms. The backyard has a large, covered patio bordering a kidney-shaped swimming pool.
Brenda McGivens is a nurse at the local hospital and Mike McGivens owns and operates the popular McGivens Farm Equipment and Supply on the north side of town. This store provides farming goods and supplies for most of the farmers within a three-county area, as well as a healthy income for the McGivens family. Brad is the only child for Mike and Brenda, and they provide all they can for him. They are also immensely proud of Brad’s athletic skills and attend every game they can. They serve as athletic boosters for both the baseball and football teams. Brad probably gets his athletic skills from both parents, as they were both involved in athletics in high school. However, his mom Brenda has the most ability, as she played women’s basketball at Ferris State College and was the team’s leading scorer her last two seasons. Both parents are looking forward to Saturday’s playoff game. Brenda is home with Brad, while Mike is traveling back from a farming equipment conference in Des Moines, Iowa. He will be back in time for the game.
Mrs. McGivens answers the door and is surprised when Baker and Walker introduce themselves as detectives and wish to talk to Brad.
“What is this about?” she asks.
“We would like to talk to Brad to find out what he knows about Wendy Spire and her death,” replies Baker.
“He knows nothing about her death. How would he know anything about that? And this is a bad time, he has an important game to get ready for, or haven’t you heard?”
“We know, Mrs. McGivens,” answers Baker. “However, this is important as well, and we have information that Brad is a friend of the person who may have killed Wendy, and Brad may have even helped set them up for a meeting.”
“I’m sure he had nothing to do with that,” Mrs. McGivens states. “Okay, ask your silly questions and make it quick, he needs to mentally prepare for tonight.”
Baker gives a quick glance toward Walker as if to say, can you believe this? “We’ll be as fast as we can, thank you.”
When asked about his relationship with Aaron and Wendy, Brad admits that yes, he was helping Aaron text Wendy. He explains that Aaron was too shy to approach girls himself and had wanted to get to know Wendy, but didn’t know how to go about it. Brad agreed to help Aaron with his texting. The idea of a meeting after school was Aaron’s idea. Brad denies any knowledge of Wendy’s death until he heard about it on Friday. He never thought Aaron would harm Wendy.
“Brad,” says Baker, “Aaron told us you went with him to meet Wendy and to make the introduction.”
“No, that’s not true,” Brad answers. “I only helped with some texting and ideas on how to talk to Wendy. I knew he was meeting with her, but I wasn’t there.”
“Not only were you there, but you left Aaron in the car and went to see Wendy yourself,” Baker retorts.
“Not at all, I came home after practice and was here the rest of the night.”
“That’s true,” chimes in Mrs. McGivens. “He came home from practice at about four-thirty, ate some dinner, then stayed in his room doing some schoolwork and listening to music.”
“What do you know about a yellow scarf?” asks Walker.
“I don’t know anything about a yellow scarf, why?”
“Did you ever talk to Wendy yourself?” Walker continues.
“Sure, I would see her from time to time and talk a bit.”
“Some of her friends say you were harassing her.”
“No,” then Brad pauses for a bit, “in a teasing way, sometimes I would ask her to go out with me, but I never harassed her about it. It was all friendly.”
“Do you know anything about a gold ring Aaron had?” asks Walker.
“He showed me a ring with his initials and said he wanted to give it to Wendy Thursday night,” says Brad. “Look, if I had known he was going to harm Wendy in any way, I would not have helped him with the texts. I feel awful about this. She was my friend too.”
“Did you go to Johnson’s Café Thursday night?” Walker continues.
“Detectives!” interrupts Mrs. McGivens, “he has already told you he was not involved, and I’ve told you he was home all night, so he could not have had anything to do with Wendy’s death. Now, is that all?”
Walker looks back at Brad, “I notice a fairly good scratch on your left cheek Brad. Mind telling me how you got that?”
“Uh, yeah, that was from practice on Thursday. Someone got his hand in my mask and scratched my face. No big deal,” answers Brad.
“One more thing,” Baker states, “we need to examine your cell phone Brad. We need to know what, if any, texts you sent to Wendy or Aaron. You can give us permission, or we can get a search warrant if needed.”
Mrs. McGivens begins to object, but Brad interrupts, “It’s okay mom, they can look at it. There’s nothing on it.” Brad then hands Baker his cell phone.
“We’ll get this back to you as soon as possible,” assures Baker.
On the way back to the station, Walker states, “his story is a lot different
