RedZone (8 page)

  Sevynn gathered her things to get out of the car. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She turned it on to see who the message was from. It was Trey. “Ha, I knew he wouldn’t stay away too long.” She smiled to herself.

‘Hey’

‘Hey Wassup! U not mad anymore?’

A few seconds later. Another message came through.

‘Nah. Let’s meet up at the park by your apartments at 6.’

‘Cool!’

Sevynn felt satisfied that she lorded Trey back to her. “he must feel guilty.” She laughed to herself restarting her car.

***

  Detective Hart was, once again, back on campus.  This time he searched for Sevynn. He didn’t remember seeing her in the early parts of the investigation. After speaking with Trey he wanted to know more about the night Bryce died, since she was the last to see him alive.

  He asked around campus about Sevynn for almost 20 minutes. Finally someone coming out of the library told him she didn’t live on campus but the apartments were on 5 minutes away.

Just as the student at the library said it took him  a little under 5 minutes. He rang the intercom for the front desk.

“Yes?” An older sounding voice spoke through the speaker.

“Yes, ma’am, I’m Detective Hart from PPD, I am looking for a Sevynn Baker?” He responded. He then was buzzed in.

“Sir, I haven’t seen her this afternoon.” The woman immediately began conversation as the Detective walked in the door.

“Would you mind if I went up to knock on her door?” He asked politely.

“Is she in any trouble because I don’t want touble in my building?” The woman spoke quickly and defensively.

“No ma’am, just have to ask her some questions about the incident that took place in October.”

“Oh with that boy?” The woman said with a bit sass as if she was bothered by the murder. “All this investigating, he probably just commited suicide!”

“I doubt that ma’am.” Detective Hart chuckled at the old woman’s conclusion. “Room number?”

“Room 407.” She pointed him in the direction of the elevator.

“Thank you!” He said and smiled politely at the woman.

  Sevynn’s apartment was right there as he stepped off of the elevator. He could here the sound of the television mumbling behind the door. He first knocked with a few taps on the door. But after 30 seconds he knocked harder. Still no answer. He listened with his ear to the door. He wanted to see if he could hear movement in the apartment. None.

“Any luck?” The old woman chirped.

“No, no luck. Can you do me a favor?” He asked pulling out his business card and handing it to her. “Could you give this to Sevynn when she gets in. Tell her to give me a call.

***

  Trey walked over to the Learning Center to look for Angel. He asked a few people if he had seen him. “Yeah he’s in the rec room.” Someone pointed out. Trey looked through the small glass window on the rec room door. Angel sat in the room alone with only half of the room’s lights on and the television on CSC. Trey tapped on the door while welcoming himself in.

“Angel.” He called out and then cleared his throat. He looked up on the screen and it was a replay of his interview.

“What?” Angel said low almost a mumble.

“Look man, I want to apologize abou-”

“You see this dickhead on T.V.?” Angel cut him off speaking to an invisible person in the room.

“So you not going to let me apologize?” Trey asked getting angry. Angel put the T.V. on mute and faced Trey.

“This person, this asshole, this arrogant son-of-a -bitch on this screen...that ain’t you man.” Angel said looking Trey in the eyes.

Trey looked up at the screen. He saw that it was him but didn’t recognize himself. He walked towards Angel and sat on the chair beside him.

“Look, I’m sorry for my behavior.”

“What you apologizing to me for? Apologize to yourself. Apologize to Bryce.”

Trey put his head down and began to sob. It surprised Angel. He hesitated to reach out to Trey but he could see the tears were real and coming from a dark place. “Yo Trey. My bad about what I said that day.” Angel said patting his chest with one hand and Trey’s shoulder with the other.

“It’s cool. I was being a prick. I had to come talk to you face to face.” Trey said wiping his tears with his hoodie. Angel laughed in agreement. They hugged each other in forgiveness.

“I was going to call you but I lost my phone, so I didn’t have your number.”

“It’s cool man, hey, I wasn’t expecting you to reach out at all.”

***

  Detective Hart sat in his car. He stared at his notes from the last few weeks. “Something is still missing!” He claimed to himself. He looked over the conversation with Trey and Angel and also the statement Michele made. He needed Sevynn.

“Hi, Sevynn, this is Detective Hart, if you could give me a call back at 215-689-9542, I would like to speak with you about the investigation.” He hung up after the voicemail and started his car.

  Trey headed back to his dorm to finish packings for winter break. He smiled to himself, feeling better about the future and his attitude. As he was packing his most important items to take home.

  He came across the picture of him and Bryce again. It had fallen behind the desk the night he was drunk. It was dusty and the glass had cracked in the frame. Trey ran his fingers across the picture and his eyes teared up.

“Bro, we about to be stars!”

  Everyone returned back for the Spring half of the year. It had snowed frequently during Christmas break so campus looked like a winter wonderland. Students migrated in and out of dorms and Educational buildings. The football team all sat in the cafe, loudly and laughing amongst themselves. Things were back to normal with Angel and Trey. They had even hung out during their break.

  Trey checked his watch, he had to meet with Coach Booker at 2PM. They were going to discuss what his Spring training plans and academics. As he headed over to the gym, he spotted Detective Hart walking towards Michele’s dorm hall. He shrugged it off, “Dude might as well get a damn dorm on campus as much as his ass is up here.” He had joked to Angel once. Trey and Detective Hart caught each others eyes but Trey quickly turned his head and proceeded to Coach Bookers office.

***

“Detective Hart, what a wonderful surprise!” Michele said sarcastically, she also joked about him being on campus so much in the last few months.

“Hello, Michele.” He laughed at her humor, “May I come in?” She opened her door and gestured him to come in. He had never stepped foot in her dorm, even with him exploring the campus. She lived in a single and had it set up like a teenage girls room, with pompom’s and photos of her and friends, and some of Bryce. He also noticed she had Bryce’s obituary sitting up on her desk.

“That Henson, was a nice looking young man.” He started small talk.

“Yeah, he was.”

“So, I am here because I know you are friends with Sevynn Baker.” He changed the subject almost instantly.

“
Wa
s
friends with her.” Detective Hart raised his  brow and she continued. “I know you’ve heard by now that she tried to sleep with Bryce.”

Detective Hart chuckled a little, he heard the story and saw the video online.

“Did you talk to her yet, so she can lie and say Bryce raped her?” Michele asked.

“Excuse me?” Detective Hart was surprise to here this, it was the first time a rape was mentioned.

“It was a lie. He didn’t rape her. Everyone found out what happened once the video was posted.” Michele continued talking as she unpacked her things.

“Well I’ve been trying to reach her since December. She hasn’t returned any of my calls.” Detective Hart said still digesting the rape accusations.

“I’ve heard she left the school. Guess she was too embarassed to face everyone again.” Michele said casually.

***

“Pittman, this is Brady Watts, he’s the sports Writer

I was telling you about in December. Brady was a young white man, he was slightly shorter than Trey and wore his hair slick with gel. He had a face like a underwear model, chisseled and hard.

“Hey man, I’ve been watching you this season.” He began.

“Yeah, Hey man, nice to meet you.” Trey shook his hand excitedly.

“I want to write an article on you.” Brady sat down and crossed his legs. Brady figured with how his season went and him being invited to the combine that early on, he thought it would be a good idea for Trey to tell his story.

“Are you truly ready to leave school?” Brady asked starting the interview.

“I was born ready. No offense Coach, but it’s nothing else for me to do here at S.U. I’ve been dreaming of going pro since I was a child.” He continued as he looked over to his coach. “I feel like everything happens for a reason, it may sound bad, but I think my friend died so that I could get my chance.” Coach Booker gave Trey a look of surprise. “He knew how much I wanted this opportunity, and when I received it I showed out.”

“Yes you did. This is going to make you look good!” Brady praised Trey while jotting down some notes. He gave a grin to both Trey and Coach Booker.

“Well here’s my card. I have another interview in Virginia this evening. I will be in touch.”

As he was leaving, Coach Booker closed the door behind him and folded his arms. “You need to be quite careful of how you express you gratitude for Bryce. You sound like you are happy he’s dead.”

“Shit! Not you too Coach?” Trey said slamming his arms on his legs.

“No. I am not accusing of killing him, not at all. But your nonchalant behavior as if he didn’t matter, it’s a little obvious.” Coach Booker stated. “I know I was rough on you your first few years, but don’t blame Bryce. He did his part, he played the position he had always played. He was a great player, talented.” he cleared his throat and continued. “But you, you’re a hard worker. I’ve seen you study the playbook, go to the gym faithfully. That’s why you earned his position, not because he died.”

“Coach, I never felt like I mattered til now. I was always his sidekick.” Trey confessed to his coach.

“Ha, you chose to be his sidekick. This, right here, is the real you Antonio. You’ve put yourself in his shadow because you were afriad it would interfere with your friendship if you both were popular.” Trey thought hard. He realized it was his lack of self-esteem. He tried to out do his friend instead of just being his friend.

“Now my best friened is gone.” Trey said putting his head in his lap. Coach Booker put his hand on his shoulder.

“I know you didn’t kill him, Trey. You were angry, but you’re no murderer.”

***

  Detective Hart walked back into the station. His mind was filled with questions after speaking with Michele. As he walked in the station he saw up on the bulletin board, a photo of a beautiful young woman with the words missing in bold red colors. He snatched the picture off of the wall and recognized the name. Sevynn Baker.

“How long has then been up here?” He asked the officer at the front desk.

“Shit, since around Christmas.” The officer said looking up over her glasses.

“I’ve been trying to find this woman since December.” Detective Hart folded the piece of paper and put it in his coat pocket. He rushed back out of the door and dialed the number on the flyer. “Hi, is this the mother of Sevynn Baker? This is Detective Hart.”

  Detective Hart pulled up to the drive way of the house where Sevynn’s mother lived. The woman, who looked eerily similar to Sevynn stood in the glass door, holding her arms to shield her from the cold.

“Have they found my baby?” She asked with red eyes and tear stains on her cheeks.

“No, how did you discover she was missing?”

“I went to her apartment because she didn’t come home during break she stays there. No one had seen her. Not a trace.”

“Have you found her car or any-”

“Nothing! I keep calling her phone it’s off, it’s been off for the last 3 weeks. I-I just want my child.” The woman began crying again.

“Ms. you do know your daughter is a part of an investigation, a murder that-”

“That boy who was killed in October. Really? You are concern over someone who died in October and my child is out there somewhere, missing?”

“Ma’am, I am going to make it my duty to get your child home, I swear, but right now she is still a potiential suspect in this case.”

***

  Detective Hart return back to the station. He was exhausted. The case was starting to wear on him.Before he could sit at his desk a woman, called out his name. It was Bryce’s mother.

“Yes, I don’t know if you remember me but-”

“Miss Henson, Bryce’s mother.” Detective Hart interrupted.

“Yes. I just wanted to know if you have any leads on my son’s murder?”

“We’re trying the best we can miss.” He said faintly.

“Well, I heard that you were looking for his phone. I don’t know if this will help.” She pulled out a green folder. “It’s his phone records.”

  Detective Hart’s eyes lit up in disbelief. He finally had another break in the case. Miss Henson continued. “I’m not too savvy with the computer so it took me a long time to figure out how to download it and print it out.”

  Detective Hart smiled. He wanted to kiss her and give her a tight hug. “Miss, I think we are another step closer to finding your son’s killer.”