Chapter 10

Detective Jacobs walked into the YMCA in search for Jon Ambrose. He found a swim teacher asking he where Jon could be. She led him to the training room of the facility. Once there, Detective Jacobs stood at the doorway of the gym. The lady walked over to where Jon was assisting a young man in some barbell curls. She whispered into his ear, then turned his gaze to the detective.

"Thanks. You're doing good, man. 5 more of those and you'll be done. Jack, could you come over and take over for me, please?"

Jon walked over to where Detective Jacobs stood.

"Detective Jacobs." Jon greeted with an extended hand.

Detective Jacobs accepted the handshake. "Hello, Jon."

"What brings you here today?"

"I just wanted to stop by and talk with you. Is there somewhere private we could talk?"

"Sure. My office is quiet. Would you like to talk there?"

"Sure."

The two of them began tracking toward Jon's office.

" My partner stopped by your place to check on Dean. How is he?"

"He's pretty heartbroken. He didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night."

"That's to be expected."

They made it to Jon's office on the North side of the building by the locker rooms. He opened the door inward allowing the detective to enter first. The office was medium sized with a reddish-brown cedar desk, black leather chairs in front of the desk. File cabinets, mini fridge. The red painted walls had a winners touch to them of diplomas, medals, and trophies of different sizes on the shelves. Detective Jacobs whistled in approval.

"You were that much into sports growing up, huh?" Detective Jacobs asked sitting in one of the leather chairs.

"Baseball, hammer throw, track." Jon sat down at his desk.

"How about Dean? Was he much into sports?"

"Oh yeah. All the time. We were quite the competitive duo, Dean and I. Our parents could not stand us trying so much to out each other in sporting activities. Mom and dad came to all of our games until we were 14. Our parents were killed by a drunk driver on their anniversary. We were at a friends house when it happened, then we were raised by our grandparents."

"I'm sorry to hear that. It must have been devastating to you both."

"It was. Severely."

"How's your relationship with Dean now?"

"We're very close. Always have been. But we've had our moments. For example. In high school. Over a girl. Her name was Nancy. She moved after she graduated. We dated for a few weeks. Then a rumor started that my brother was trying to come onto her. We were Juniors, she was a Senior. I confronted Dean one day and he told me it wasn't true. We were raising our voices, we shoved each other. I slapped him, he slapped me back. Then punches flew and our little fight got us both suspended for a week. Turns out she had played us both. She said she wanted to see what would make me tick. I told her one day that I was sometimes secretly envious of Dean. I guess that's what made her pull that little stunt."

"What made you secretly envious of him?"

"He got most of the awards. Top grades. Sometimes, I thought he was better than me. To say I wasn't inwardly jealous of Dean would be a lie. But..." Jon added a shrug. "Hey. What siblings aren't jealous of their other siblings, huh? But there was no doubt that I loved my brother. And when he told me he was going to propose to Stacy, I could not have been more happy."

"Last night, you said she was like a sister to you."

"And it was the truth. When he crumbled last night after telling me she was murdered, it made my heart shatter. The last time I saw him like that was when our parents died. To see your brother so distraught, you just want to help him anyway you can. But you feel so helpless sometimes."

"Being a brother to him is the best thing you can do for him. He appreciates you being there for him. You continue doing that and you'll be just fine."

Detective Jacobs rose from his chair and retrieved a card from his inner jacket pocket. He passed it to Jon. "If you think of anything, don't hesitate to call."

"Thank you, detective. I'll let you know immediately."

Detective Jacobs turned to walk out of his office. Jon picked up the card turning it over in his hands, reading it front to back. He then began to think. He began to think long and hard. Then he smirked.

He was thinking about how easy it was. Going over to visit her as a friend. He helped her pick out the dress. He offered to run her bath water adding the lavender bubble bath to the at her request. He remembered walking back into the room seeing her hold up a red haltertop dress up to her bathrobe covered body. Stacy asked Jon what he thought. He liked it. Then he remembered...he remembered...

He remembered the sound of the smack his open palm made against her left cheek sending her to the floor. He remembered seeing the fear and shock in her eyes when she looked up at him. Jon reached down and grabbed her by the throat, pulling her to her feet. Jon led Stacy to the bathroom and tossed her into the tub. When she tried to escape, he held her underneath the water by her throat. He pulled her up out of the water to deliver his kiss of death to her, smack dab on the lips. He held her under water again feeling her struggle until the struggling came to a complete stop. He wiped his wet hands on his pants as he gazed at the lifeless eyes of Stacy Marie Hopkins. Jon walked over to the mirror, found her lipstick, and wrote a message on it in big bold letters.

Jon chuckled sadistically at his scheme. He reached into the top drawer of his desk pulling out a lighter. He lit a corner of the card on fire. He watched the card float to his desk top.

"Oh, Dean. If I couldn't have her...neither could you."