Authors: Kelly Favor
“It feels a little formal, like I’m in court.”
“Relax, Miss Young. I’m here to help you.” He hit a button on the device and then sat back. “Now, could you please tell me everything you can recall about the night in question?”
Kallie took a deep breath and then exhaled. She hadn’t discussed it in depth with anyone but Hunter, and so she was unsure of where to begin. But haltingly, she started to tell the detective about meeting Levi at the gym, and his inviting her to the movies and then the theater being shut down. The detective prompted her and asked her questions now and again, but mostly he just listened.
Hunter brought them their coffees, along with a small tray that held sugar, Splenda, a container of milk and another container of creamer. Neither Kallie nor the detective touched the coffee at first.
She was just getting to the part of her story where she went to the door to read the sign that said the theater had closed down.
“And then I decided I wasn’t going to wait around for him,” Kallie said.
“You weren’t going to wait for the man who invited you—“
“Levi,” she said, nodding. “He wasn’t there yet and the whole area was deserted and creepy.”
Hunter poured himself a cup and strolled casually to the table, where he stood and watched them—or rather—watched Detective Phillips.
The detective glanced up at him before turning his attentions back to Kallie.
“What happened next? After you decided to leave?”
Kallie exhaled shakily. She had a sudden body memory, as if her unconscious had decided to, at this particular moment, replay the scene as vividly as if it were occurring in the present.
She found herself back in the empty lot as before, checking her phone and then deciding that she wasn’t going to wait around anymore.
Kallie could even smell the smells of that night—the scent of trash from the alley, and she could feel the cool night air against her skin.
She began walking back to the car, her mind already halfway home, and happy to be away from this desolate place. And then, as the sounds of her footsteps echoed in the silence of the lot, she heard a voice from right behind her.
“Kallie?” the familiar voice said, and as she turned around—
The blinding pain, and then falling and blackness. Only this time, after the blackness, came a flickering image. Levi was kneeling down and rummaging through her purse. He was dressed in black slacks and a black shirt, and wearing gloves. He looked very different—the expression on his face was devoid of any emotion.
Blackness again. Another flicker, this time of Levi staring into her eyes, as if he was a doctor examining her. “You’ll live,” he muttered. “This time.”
Darkness once more.
These memories were so vivid and frightening that Kallie was momentarily frozen, paralyzed with shock and fear.
“What’s wrong, Kallie?” Hunter asked, stepping forward and snapping her out of her strange trancelike state.
“I—I just—“ she looked up to Hunter, needing his consolation, wanting to break down in his arms and tell him what had happened. She was frightened, never having had an experience like this before. Part of her wondered if she was starting to go insane, or if perhaps there’d been a brain injury more significant than what the hospital had found.
“Tell me what happened,” Hunter said, his voice now filled with intense concern.
Kallie shook her head, unable to even speak about it. Tears filled her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she managed.
Detective Phillips watched both of them closely, his expression showing everything from concern to suspicion. “Take your time,” he said softly. “I know this is difficult to think about.”
Hunter put his mug on the table, and put his hands on her shoulders, leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Can you do this right now?”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
“Want me to tell this guy to hit the road?”
Kallie shook her head, drying her eyes with her fingertips. “No. No, it’s okay.”
She looked up and tried to smile at the officer. “I’m just having a moment is all.”
The detective nodded slightly, but the impression he gave Kallie was that he didn’t like the turn this was taking.
“Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” he said.
She sighed. “I just was remembering some things I’d never remembered before.
It startled me.” She looked at Hunter, who raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“What kinds of things?”
“Well—“ she began, but the detective cut her off.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to clear something up.” He turned to Hunter. “I appreciate you being here as moral support for Miss Young, but I’d really like to be the one conducting this interview.”
Hunter straightened, his body language visibly shifting as the other man tried to assert himself. “Interview? I thought you were just here to check in on her.”
“I am. But I also need to get her story, so that we can try and find the person who attacked her.”
“We know who’s responsible for this,” Hunter told him.
“You do?” the detective said, sitting back.
“We do.”
Kallie sensed that the conversation was becoming more hostile and combative, and that Hunter was actually bothering Detective Phillips with his posturing. She gently put a hand on Hunter’s wrist. “Honey, let me handle this, okay?”
He opened his mouth as if he was about to counter with something about why they should just tell the police about Terrence and be done with it. But then he seemed to think better of replying, and just nodded with resignation. He picked up his mug and grinned. “I’m just going to shut my mouth now.”
Detective Phillips smiled perfunctorily. “I’d like to speak to you too, Mister Reardon. But first, if we could just focus on Kallie for a few minutes, it would be great.”
Hunter gave a shrug. “Why not?”
Detective Phillips looked at her again. “Please continue with your memory of that night. We left off with you deciding to get in your car and exit the parking lot.”
“That’s right,” Kallie said, and then proceeded to explain her recollection of the event. This time she included seeing Levi from her position on the ground.
Hunter’s mug was poised in mid air as she recounted seeing the man rummaging through her purse and then looking in her eyes. Hunter’s face was almost scarlet with rage when she finished.
The detective noticed his reaction. “I take it you haven’t heard any of this before?”
Finally, Hunter continued bringing the mug to his lips and sipped before answering. “I have not. Kallie told me about hearing someone call her name from behind her, and then she said the rest was a blank.”
“That’s true,” Kallie replied. “I just now remembered seeing Levi. Is that possible? Am I imagining it?”
The detective shifted in his seat. Once again, she glimpsed that bit of gun beneath his blazer. “Anything’s possible. But let’s stick to what you remember for now. Can you recall what the man who assaulted you was wearing that night?”
She did her best to describe his outfit. Her voice was shaking as she told every detail she could think of.
“And you’re certain it was the same man who invited you on to the movie theater?”
She nodded. “Yes. But like I said, I didn’t remember any of this until just now.”
“And you’ve had no contact with Levi since the incident?”
“None. I don’t have my phone and I don’t remember his number.”
“What else do you know about him? Last name, address, anything that could help us track him down?”
“Not much. He mentioned being a grad student, but didn’t say what college he was attending.”
“You say you met him at the gym over on Longmont Ave.”
“That’s right.”
The detective nodded. “Good. Well, he should have a membership there, so hopefully that will give us his name and then we can take it from there.”
“I doubt you’ll find him,” Hunter said.
Detective Phillips’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you say that?”
“Because he was working for somebody. This was not an ordinary assault,”
Hunter told him.
Kallie shook her head, knowing that Hunter sounded crazy. “We don’t know for sure,” she said. “There might not be any connection.”
Hunter laughed. “Of course there’s a connection.”
The detective held up his hand. “Just what is it you think you know about the assault?”
Hunter stepped closer to the table. “I had a woman staying at my house who’d recently left her boyfriend, and her boyfriend happens to be a very jealous and disturbed individual.”
The detective looked confused and doubtful but gestured for Hunter to continue telling his story.
So Hunter spent a few minutes recapping his situation with Scarlett and Terrence, and then started to describe how Kallie had come to the house while Terrence was there.
At this point, Detective Phillips stopped him. “Let me get this straight. You were providing shelter to a victim of domestic abuse, and her abuser showed up here?”
“Yes.”
“And you weren’t here at the time?”
Hunter shook his head. “No, I wasn’t.”
“And then Miss Young showed up at the scene?”
Kallie nodded. “I did.” She explained how Terrence threatened her and spit at her car before departing.
The detective seemed underwhelmed by this new piece of information. “And did you then call the police to inform them of the situation?” he asked.
“No,” Kallie replied.
“Why not?”
“I just didn’t want to be involved. I didn’t want anything to do with it.”
Detective Phillips sighed and ran a hand through his short blond hair. “And you think this relates back to your assault in what way?”
Hunter barked a laugh. “Isn’t it obvious? This guy, Terrence, is trying to get even with me by hurting Kallie. This is payback for me helping his girlfriend.”
Detective Phillips looked doubtful. “You think this man basically put out a hit on Miss Young? And he did it to upset you?”
Hunter nodded. “Check him out. His name is Terrence Craven, and he’s an owner of a string of bars in the Boston area.”
The name brought a look of recognition to the detective’s face. “You’re talking about the Craven Group—they own Burt’s Bar next to Fenway Park.”
“That’s right. Among other bars and clubs in the area.”
Phillips shook his head. “Well, this is a strange turn.” He sighed, finally taking the nearby mug in hand and having his first sip of coffee.
“It’s strange from the outside, but it all makes sense. Terrence is a nasty piece of work and I’m sure he has an arrest record a mile long.”
Reaching into his blazer pocket, Phillips produced a small notebook and pen, and he flipped to a clean page. “If you’d be so kind as to give me the name of the woman you’ve been helping? The one you said was staying at your house?”
Hunter hesitated, but finally told him Scarlett’s name. “I can give you her phone number, and I’ll let her know that you’ll be in touch,” Hunter said. “She’s obviously a bit leery of talking to people about this. And the police haven’t always been helpful to her in the past.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
When they were done going over the final details, the detective stood up again and shook Hunter’s and Kallie’s hand. He thanked them for their time and said he’d be in touch as soon as he had any news to report.
And then he was gone, leaving nothing but his card on the table, along with his coffee mug, which had left a small circular stain. He’d only taken one sip.
As Hunter dumped the coffee into the sink, he voiced his frustrations to Kallie.
“That guy was an ass—an uptight prick.”
Kallie was sitting down again, trying to quell the sense of unease which had taken root after the detective left the house. “Why do you say that? He seemed okay to me.”
Hunter laughed. “Did you see the look on his face when I told him about Terrence and Scarlett? He thought I was crazy.”
“You have to admit, it does sound a little far-fetched. Most people don’t operate that way. I mean, it happened to me and even I’m not totally sure I agree with your theory.”
Hunter turned from the sink. “You don’t agree with me? You think it was a coincidence?”
She shook her head. “Maybe Levi was just a bad guy. Maybe he was going to rob me or even worse, and then that janitor showed up and he ran off.”
“Come on, Kallie. You don’t honestly believe that, do you?”
“I’m not sure. I think it could have been almost anything.”
Hunter put the now empty mug in the dishwasher and slammed the dishwasher door shut with a loud bang. “If you knew Terrence like I do, you’d know that this is exactly the kind of thing he would do. And I still blame myself for taking that security detail off you when you told me to stop following you. I never should have listened.”
Kallie laughed. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“No.” He glowered, but there was a twinge of a smile behind his anger. “It’s supposed to make me feel worse. I’m so pissed at myself. I never should have allowed this—“
“You can’t control everything all of the time. Shit happens.”
Hunter looked at her for a moment and then burst out laughing. “Shit happens?
Is that what we’re supposed to learn from this situation?”
“Maybe.”
“I don’t know what to tell you Detective,” Hunter said, pretending to address the police officer. “But shit happens. Hope that helps.”
“He’s going to look into it, maybe he’ll turn something up,” Kallie said.
Hunter came back to the table and sat down, moving his chair closer to her. Now their legs were touching and he gazed into her eyes. “I love you, Kallie. You know that, right?”
“Yes.”
“And you know that I’m on your side.”
She nodded. “Of course.”
“So listen to me when I tell you. That cop was useless, Kallie. He can call himself a detective, but at the end of the day—he’s not going to help us.”
“But how can you know?”
He shrugged. “I just know. It’s my job to know people and I can tell that guy doesn’t believe us. He wants a simpler explanation, something that can be summed up in twenty words or less in the police blotter.”
“Maybe once he looks into Terrence’s background and sees—“