uh don't take this as law or medical advice im talking outta my ass here
Chad knocked on the door a few times. He wasn't sure if Dr. Lincoln would even be home - weren't doctors supposed to work a lot? He didn't know how to contact him outside of Cree or Abby, and he definitely didn't want to ask either of them about this.
He was eternally grateful when Dr. Lincoln opened the door. "Hey, Chad!" he greeted. "Abby and Cree are both out right now, but I can let them know you dropped by."
"Actually, I was kinda hoping that I could talk to you?" His face turned red. "If you don't mind."
"Certainly!" Dr. Lincoln opened the door wider and motioned him inside. Chad took a tentative step in. He'd never been particularly close to the Lincolns. Why did he think this was a good idea? Dr. Lincoln motioned to the living room couches and Chad took a seat at the end of one, folding his hands in his lap to stop them from shaking. "What's on your mind, Chad?"
"Um, well, it's about Wally."
"Ah." Dr. Lincoln nodded. "You heard he's out of the hospital? You seemed concerned about that last time we spoke."
"Yes. I am." He swallowed sharply. "I don't really know how to say it." He looked at the floor. He'd practiced this hundreds of times in his bedroom mirror, but he'd forgotten all of it.
"Are you concerned he has access to weapons?"
Chad slowly nodded. "I mean, I honestly don't think he'd use them, but I know he has access to them."
"Is that so? His parents said they don't have any guns. The closest thing they have is kitchen knives, and they've locked them up."
"I mean, it also kind of ties into the other thing… which is why he did it." He felt a bead of sweat forming on his forehead. What was he doing? He was betraying so many people with this. Was it really necessary?
Even if it wasn't, it was far too late to back out. He'd already said too much.
"Do you know why?" Dr. Lincoln asked. Chad clammed up, so he continued. "So far, he's said nothing to anybody. The closest thing we can think is school stress."
"I- I do know," Chad said under his breath. "But… it shouldn't get out to anybody. It's very… bad."
Dr. Lincoln's face darkened as he nodded. "I am a mandated reporter. I will need to report it."
"That's why I'm talking to you. It needs to be reported. But it can't go out to anyone else."
"I understand."
Chad swallowed. "It's a really long story." He thought for a moment. "Do you remember when the news was talking about Lyla Kaplan?"
"Oh, yes. That was terrible. I don't think they ever catched her murderer."
"They didn't… but Wally saw it happen."
He looked away so he didn't have to see Dr. Lincoln's jaw drop open. "I'm sorry, you said he was present at the murder?"
"Yeah." Chad swallowed again. How much could he even tell Dr. Lincoln? Why did he even do this?
"They never even found her body," Dr. Lincoln said softly, leaning in.
"I don't know if he knows where... where her body is. But I know he saw the whole thing, and I know he knows who did it, and I know he blames himself for it happening."
"What were the circumstances?"
"He, Jeremy, Janet, and Lyla were… playing in the woods." The lie didn't come out easily. How could Wally do this so fast? "I'm not really sure of all the details, but it was his plan, I think. And then he saw the whole thing happen. I don't know how it happened, but I know he saw it."
Dr. Lincoln sighed deeply. "Did he ever report it to the police?"
"I don't think so. I think one time they sent an anonymous tip, but the guy is still free, so it must not have done anything."
"We're going to have to go to the police. He needs to tell them."
"I know! I told him in the hospital that either he spoke up or I would. And he's still refusing." Chad suddenly realized he was angry. At who? Wally? How could he be mad at Wally? Wally was a victim. He couldn't be mad. "I think this might be why Jeremy did it too. And Wally is way smarter than he's letting on. He shut down after that happened. He barely does any work and lets everyone assume that he's some idiot who can't think for himself!" He was near shouting, but he couldn't get himself to stop. "But he's so much smarter than that, and he's just letting himself self-destruct because he won't talk about anything! And I know, in that forest, there are hidden weapons. I think there's guns there. They're probably still there. He knows where they are. And he can use them on himself. Hell, even without them he could probably tie up a noose or something. I don't know if he's thinking of it, but if he is, he's going to make sure that he does it right this time, and he won't let anyone get in his way!"
Chad stopped and took a deep breath. He wasn't sure why he started ranting, but his face flushed red afterwards. "Sorry," he mumbled.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Chad." Dr. Lincoln leaned forward and put a hand on his shoulder. "You did the right thing."
"I don't feel like it. I feel like I just made the worst mistake of my life. Wally's going to kill me. Not literally, but he'll want to."
"I don't think Wally can see this situation through a rational lens. There are too many emotions at play. Besides, he's only eleven, and this must have happened when he was seven or eight years old. Many of his formative memories are probably influenced by this." Dr. Lincoln removed his hand from Chad's shoulder and leaned back in his chair. "But we are going to have to tell the police about this."
"Will his parents find out?" Chad blurted.
"I'm sure they will. Why, is there something about his parents?"
"Not really, but I'm not sure he trusts them with knowing this."
"We can keep it between us for now," Dr. Lincoln decided. "I'm going to text my detective friend and see how we can go about this."
Chad sat and waited. He wiped a tear from his eye. Why was he crying? This was probably the best thing to happen in Wally's life. But he felt so, so guilty.
"He says it's unorthodox, but we could stage some intervention here at my house. I can have Abby invite him over, and then send her with Cree on some errand or some whats-it." Dr. Lincoln looked at him. "Do you want to be there?"
"I think I'll have to be."
"Tomorrow afternoon?"
"Sure."
And it was set up.
Abby was confused about inviting Wally over when she wasn't even going to be there, but Dr. Lincoln told her that it was just because he was a doctor, and he wanted to make sure that Wally was physically fine. She bought it, naturally. He'd almost died, and he hadn't really gotten a follow-up appointment.
Wally rang the doorbell. Nothing seemed amiss. But he was a little confused on why he was invited over.
"Wally! Glad you could make it."
Wally took a step inside. He saw two police officers, one by the door, and another casually sitting on the couch. On another chair he saw Chad, looking like he was about to vomit.
"What the fuck," he muttered, glaring straight at Chad. He sharply turned to leave, but the officer by the door grabbed both of his arms. Dr. Lincoln shut the door as Wally wiggled out of the officer's grip. "Don't touch me," he snapped.
"Wally, take a deep breath," Dr. Lincoln said, kneeling down to get on his eye level. The officer gripped him by the arms again. "You're not in trouble or anything. We just want to help you."
Wally narrowed his eyes and stared straight at Dr. Lincoln. "Bullshit," he spat. His cover was gone. This was completely him. He tried to reign himself back in, but he couldn't.
"We already know a lot of what happened, Wally," Dr. Lincoln said calmly, completely ignoring his outbursts. "We just need to know specifics of what happened to Lyla."
"Fuck off!" he immediately snapped. He tried to get away from the officer, but the officer moved so his arms were wrapped around Wally's chest. Wally could feel himself start to panic. He was certain the officer could feel his heart pounding away.
"You're not in any trouble," the officer on the couch said. "Chad over here mentioned that you might be concerned that you would get in trouble because you haven't reported it, but you won't get into any trouble at all. We just want to solve that case."
"Bullshit," he spat again. "I've read the laws. It's a felony in this state."
"You're a minor. And that would only count if you then lied to us."
"The law doesn't say that. You're a cop. Cops don't have to tell us the truth."
"Chad told us that you did once leave a tip," Dr. Lincoln said. "So you didn't fail to report."
"That's true." The officer nodded. "We have all of the tips documented, so we can probably line that up."
"I don't have to talk," Wally said. He stopped pushing against the officer's arms. "You can't make me talk."
"Wally, please," Chad pleaded.
"Don't I have a right to remain silent?"
"Wally, please, just end this," Chad pleaded.
"You don't know what the guy is capable of," Wally muttered.
"Believe me, the second this is over, we're going to go over there with an arrest warrant."
"And what about bail? Or if he gets out of prison? Or the jury thinks he's not guilty?" He was really starting to panic. Garsan was dangerous. Everyone they dealt with was dangerous. "You won't have any evidence at all. Just what I say. That's not 'without-a-doubt' guiltiness. That's just some idiot kid making up stories."
"Witness testimony in a cold case like this is everything." The officer on the couch stared at him with intense eyes. "Believe me, until your friend here told us that you saw her die, we'd been hoping that she was still alive, somehow."
The officer holding him seemed to sense that he'd lost the fight and let him go. Dr. Lincoln grabbed him by the shoulders and led him to the couch, next to Chad. He sat on the opposite side.
"Maybe I should ask Janet to come," Wally muttered.
"No, because you two will figure out a way to wiggle out of this," Chad said. "You always have."
"But she was-"
"Typically, police interviews are done solo," the officer said. The other officer was stationed by the front door. "But, given the circumstances, we figured this situation might work best."
He swallowed. How the hell would he explain this to Janet? She'd probably kill him. But he was trapped. Trapped between Chad (his new biggest enemy) and Dr. Lincoln (someone he now didn't trust).
The officer put a tape recorder on the coffee table. "Shall we begin?"
Wally looked around, desperately wishing for an escape. But there was none. Even if he flipped out and attacked someone, there would be three others there to stop him. He was trapped.
Maybe he could just keep his mouth shut? He hadn't consented to this.
But he felt something weird. Something inside of him was saying to finally say what he knew. To finally give closure. Was he a bad person for not going straight to the police? He sure felt like it, even though they'd had their reasons. They'd discussed it at length back then - telling the police what they knew would probably get a hit on their backs. They would, no doubt, have someone coming after them. Garsan was an evil person with evil associates. It was far too dangerous.
But they'd left everyone, especially Lyla's family, with no closure for so long.
He felt like an ass.
First he'd gotten her killed, and now he was stopping her family from having the much-needed closure.
The officer waited for him to say something. Everyone in the room was staring straight at him as his mind spiralled into all the possibilities.
Finally he nodded, staring straight at the recorder. Maybe he could just provide enough non-verbal communication to get his point across. Then, it wouldn't be documented for all time that he knew things.
"Alright. I'm Detective Brown. I'll be conducting this interview and recording it for documentation."
Wally stared at the recorder.
"So, Wally, where would you like to begin?"
He looked around at the room. Everyone was staring at him. He hoped that the couch would eat them right then and there. Hadn't that been a mission he'd been on with Sector V? Was that all the couches or just the one in the Treehouse? Maybe he could go back there and never come back.
"I don't know…" he finally said, almost under his breath. How could he even start? There was so much in that day, and all of it was burned into his memory.
Detective Brown tapped his pen against his clipboard. "Well, you can start however you want. Do you know who did it?"
Wally nodded, even though he knew that was a hint to spill the beans. The detective kept staring at him, just to build pressure for him to reveal more information.
These were all tactics he was well aware of.
They sat in a tense silence as Wally thought about it. Sure, Julius Garsan would probably immediately be arrested… but bail was a thing, and he could probably use his one phone call to do some damage.
Chad was fidgeting next to him. Chad ratted him out. He didn't think Chad's treat was serious. Why would he do that? He barely even talked to Chad! Now he had it out for him in two separate ways: the Galactic Kids Next Door and this. Was Chad trying to push his buttons?
Dr. Lincoln, on the other hand, was completely still and silent, something he was not accustomed to. He was used to Dr. Lincoln being a loud, joking man. But here he was, completely silent. It was very odd - he had sometimes wondered how he could be an ER doctor with his personality. In the few years of being friends with Abby and going to her house, he'd always seen the exact same person, but ever since Jeremy's death, he'd seen a much more serious and caring man than he had seen before.
But how did Wally even get in this position? Obviously, Chad ratted him out, but what did he say? Why did he go to Dr. Lincoln of all people? Why was this police interrogation happening in his house?
Then he remembered: he was completely and utterly trapped. Everyone knew he had answers, and nobody was going to let him leave until he gave them, no matter how dangerous of a position it put him in.
He could sit there until they gave up, which could be hours, or he could spit it out.
Maybe he could lie? There were a couple of lies he could think of. The first one was giving the name of a less dangerous individual, but he knew that would be morally wrong, and then he'd probably get charged with some felony. Or he could lie and say that he had been making things up the whole time, he didn't actually know Lyla, and Chad was just a nutcase.
There was only one way out of this situation. His heart started pounding. He started getting lightheaded. Maybe if he dropped dead, he could be free.
"Julius Garsan," he mumbled. He put his head on his arms. He felt like he was dying, but he knew he wasn't. Why hadn't he been more thorough when he'd tried to kill himself?
"I'm sorry?"
"Julius Garsan," Chad said when it became obvious that Wally wasn't going to say anything. Wally wanted nothing more than to deck him right then and there.
Detective Brown nodded and wrote it down. "Excellent. Thank you, Wally. Just that information will help us tremendously."
Wally doubted that he would be let go so easily, even if he'd just solved their cold case.
"Do you remember where this occurred?"
Wally frowned. "In the forest next to where he lives."
"Anything more specific?"
"To the right? I don't know." He hadn't lifted his head from his lap. He didn't want to look at everybody staring at him.
"How did it happen?"
Even though he knew it was coming, his stomach dropped. He lifted his head. Surely he had given them enough information by then. But he knew he hadn't. He had to keep going.
His heart was going out of control.
He'd never had to put it into words before. And that meant he had to retrieve the memory.
He thought back to that day. The running through the trees. What was the first thing? A scream? It must have been. "I heard her scream," he started.
Then he blinked and he was in the forest.
He could feel the weight of the Sector XX jumpsuit on him as he ran towards the scream. The crunching of the leaves beneath him. The sound of the wind and the tree branches waving in the storm.
"What happened next?"
That wasn't meant to be in this. Wally narrowed his eyes. Where was he? He was in the Lincoln's living room, right? Why couldn't he see it?
He felt a hand gripping his. That didn't make sense. He was running. "Wally, stay with us. I think he's having a flashback."
That certainly made sense. He'd had these a lot. But they'd never been this severe. Usually he could at least ground himself a little bit. This time, it felt like he would be running forever.
"Chad, could you go to the kitchen and grab some ice?" That sure sounded like Dr. Lincoln. Did he even know Dr. Lincoln back then? He wasn't sure. Everything before that day felt like one massive blur. Everything after that day felt like one massive blur. His whole life was a blur.
He heard some clanging of ice in a glass. And he felt a pang of coldness on his neck. For a moment, he wondered if he'd been shot. Being shot was supposed to feel hot, wasn't it? Maybe this was a shock response. Maybe he was dying. He deserved it.
"Is he even conscious?"
"I don't know. Wally?"
This made no sense! This wasn't how it was supposed to go! And they were just slowing him down! He needed to find Lyla!
"Doctor, what do you suggest?"
"In the ER when we need to assess someone's consciousness, we do a very painful thing called a sternum rub. If it is a flashback, this should bring him back. If it doesn't do anything, then we'd probably need to bring him to the ER."
"Go ahead."
Wally felt a hand grab onto his shoulder. The other left his hand. He was confused. What was going on? Who was this? Where was he? Wasn't he in a forest?
He was so confused, and the screaming got louder and louder.
Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in his chest. Had he been shot this time? He closed his eyes as a reflex. The pain numbed, and he opened his eyes. Back in the Lincolns' living room.
He blinked a couple of times and took a painful sharp breath. Once his eyes focused, he saw Dr. Lincoln's face in front of him. He jumped backwards.
"Maybe we should continue this some other time," Detective Brown said, clicking his pen.
"Headshot. AK-47." He didn't even recognize his own voice. "And knife. I don't know where. Abdomen somewhere."
The detective quickly scribbled things down. "Thank you, Wally."
He spaced out again while the detective and officer got in their unmarked car and left. How the hell hadn't he noticed the strange car in the driveway when he'd arrived? How dull were his senses?
Dr. Lincoln was still on the floor in front of him. "Wally," he started.
"No," he blurted, abruptly standing up. He flinched as Dr. Lincoln tried to grab his arm. "How dare you, Chad," he spat, looking at the teenager with a poisonous glare.
"Wally, please sit down for a bit," Dr. Lincoln said.
"No. I answered all their damn questions. I'm done here. Fuck off." He slammed their front door shut, bolting out of view before they could react.
Chad sat down and put his face in his hands. "Why did I do that?" he mumbled.
"You did the right thing, Chad," Dr. Lincoln said. He sighed loudly. "I don't know if we should let him be alone."
"He's going to tell Janet everything that happened. She can handle him."
"Are you sure?"
"He's definitely going to her place. He thinks they're in danger."
He wasn't going to her place.
He hitched a ride to the Moonbase with one of the local sectors. They were confused why he was there, but he told them it was important. They stayed off his back.
He immediately went to Rachel's office and banged on the door. "Come in," she called.
Wally closed the door and let his true emotions show on his face. He didn't want to hide it anymore. He was so tired.
"Wally, what's wrong?"
"He did it."
"Who did what?"
"Chad." He stared at the ground, mentally begging her to understand.
"Chad told the cops?"
Wally nodded. That was close enough. He didn't catch her eye, but he knew she could tell what a mess he was.
"I'm sorry, Wally."
"He told Abby's dad, and then he went to the cops or something. And they- they made me tell them everything. And I couldn't do it, but they made me." His voice was breaking. A tear fell from his eye. "And they're going to come after me and Janet now, and they wouldn't let me talk to her before it, and-"
Rachel interrupted him by pulling him into a tight hug. He broke down. His legs gave out under him as he sobbed into her shoulder. She gently brought him to the floor.
He took a shuddering breath. "I've ruined so many people," he continued, barely understandable through his sobbing. "Why was I cursed like this, Rachel? Why?"
"I don't know, Wally. I'm sorry."
"And all I want to do is end this fucking shit, and first I couldn't even do that right, and now, everybody's locked up all the ways I could do it, and I'm stuck here in this miserable existence. And the police said I was safe, but they know nothing, because I can't say anything."
Rachel sighed. She didn't know what to say. Of all the people who would be sobbing in her office, Wally was the person she least expected. How could you comfort someone like him? Telling him it would be okay would just be a lie. Telling him anything would be a lie.
Usually kids would come to her office sobbing because they'd gotten a scraped knee on a mission or they dropped their ice cream in the Moonbase cafeteria. Not stuff like this.
"They got Abby to lure me into their house. And I don't know if she knows anything. But am I supposed to assume that any time she invites me to her house, it's really just a ploy from Dr. Lincoln to get me to spill more shit? What if Chad tells them even more shit? Why would he do this? And the second I tried to remember what happened, it felt like I was back there, and I could feel everything, and everything else in the world was nonexistent and blurry. It was just that, forever. And he knows that there were only us three that saw him do it, me and Jeremy and Janet, and he's going to come after me because he saw me there watching him, and he's going to come after Janet. Maybe he'll use his phone call to put a hit on us or something; he probably has connections, and, and…I just want to die so bad."
Wally didn't know what he was saying. Rachel could barely keep up, between the disjointed sentences and trying to interpret what he was saying through his tears.
"Wally, do you want me to call Janet up here?"
He looked up at her. There were streams of tears from his eyes. He looked so incredibly broken. But he slowly nodded.
"Okay. I'll do that." She got up and walked to her desk.
Wally scootched back to the wall and curled up into a ball. He tried to calm his racing thoughts, but nothing could fix them. He was terrified.
When Janet walked in, she immediately noticed him on the floor, rocking. "Oh God."
"Chad spilled."
"Spilled what?" she demanded.
Rachel looked at Wally, but he didn't respond. "I'm not really sure. It was about Lyla. He told Abby's dad about it, and he went to the cops, and they made Wally talk to them."
"Is Chad out of his damn mind?! He knows how dangerous that was." Janet let out an exasperated sigh. "Wally, how much did you tell them?"
He picked his head up. His face was still wet with tears. "Who, where, what happened."
"Oh, God, we're completely fucked! Garsan knows who we are. And what if part of his defense is that we were coming after him?!"
"Fuck, I didn't even think of that part," Wally mumbled.
"There's definitely going to be a trial because there probably isn't any evidence! They probably don't even have a body yet!" Janet started pacing. "And his lawyers will probably try to push for us to get charged with a felony for not reporting it."
"The cops said I wouldn't, but they're cops. They lie."
"Exactly! Who does Chad think he is?" She whipped around to face Wally. "What did Chad tell Abby's dad?"
"No clue."
"Ugh! That means we're going to have to go talk to him. In the meantime, who knows if he can get a hit put out on us?"
"Guys, I think jails have all calls recorded."
"Visitors? Other inmates? Bail? He could do so much to us, and he knows who we are."
"We're fucked," Wally whispered.
"We need to talk to Chad," Janet decided. "We need to get him to tell us everything he told them."
"I don't think Wally is in any condition to do that."
"I'll bring him home. Then I'll get Chad to cough up whatever he said."
Rachel nodded. "I'll tell Abby that both of you are off duty until further notice."
"Come on, Wally." Janet grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet.
"I'm a mess. Everyone's gonna see."
"Nobody will notice. Everyone's an idiot. Let's go." Janet pulled his arm and he used his other arm to wipe away his tears.
Janet led him all the way back to his house. He shakily entered his key, but the door swung open. It was his father, looking mad as hell.
"Wallace, why did I get a call from Dr. Lincoln today?"
Wally gulped. He turned to Janet.
"He saw a crime and is very upset by it," she answered.
"Why were you in a position to see a crime? And who are you?"
Wally sighed. His father was too strict for him to have such a messed up life.
"I'm Janet. I'm a friend. And stuff happens." She glared into his eyes.
"I demand to know what's happening!"
Wally took a few steps back. He wasn't scared of his father, necessarily… but he was scared of this situation.
"Well, what did Dr. Lincoln say?" Janet retorted.
"I'm sorry, I don't know you at all. I'm not going to tell you our personal business."
"Notice how I'm the one bringing your son back, and how he can't say a word? And how I seem to know way more about this than you do?"
Janet never held back with her words. Wally could play a convincing good cop, but Janet was the bad cop through and through. He sank to the ground. His legs were like jello.
"Wally, come inside. Now."
He heaved himself up, feeling as if he might puke at any second. He sent a glance to Janet, begging for help, but both of them knew that there was nothing she could do about it. The door slammed in her face.
"What on Earth is going on?!" his father exploded. "I hear you're talking to the police already? People always said this would happen, but you're eleven years old! You should not be anywhere near police!"
Wally flinched. He'd heard various people say that he was probably destined for prison or death before he finished high school - if he finished high school. The community really disliked him. He didn't blame them. He hated himself too.
But they hated a fake him. Not a real him.
But they were basically the same at this point.
"I saw something bad," he mumbled.
"Sid, please," his mother chastised. "Dr. Lincoln said that he did nothing wrong."
"What is going on, Wally?" his father continued. "First some friend we've never heard of dies, and then you hurt yourself, and now this?! What on Earth is happening, Wally? We're your parents! We need to know!"
"I don't know." He stared at the ground.
"What even was this crime?"
He gulped. "I don't want to talk about it."
"We're your parents! We have to know!"
"I don't- I can't. I can't."
"Wally, please," his mother begged. "We want to help you, and we can't if you won't talk to us."
He stayed silent.
"This is ridiculous. You're grounded until you cough up the reason."
"Turn on the news. It'll be on there." His eyes widened. He hadn't even thought about what he was saying until it was already out there. The news was going to go crazy about this.
Mr. Beetles picked up the remote and turned on the local news. It was the top of the hour. "Breaking news - an arrest has been made for Lyla Kaplan's murder…"
He rushed to the bathroom and puked until his esophagus burned and tears were streaming from his eyes.
Meanwhile, Janet banged on Chad's door.
Chad swung it open. "I knew you would."
"You had no right," she snarled.
"I told Wally that either he did it or I did."
"You had absolutely no right! Do you know what you've done?" She grabbed him by the shirt and brought him down to her level. "What did you tell them?"
"Not much, really-"
"Specifics!" she barked.
"Literally I just said that he witnessed her murder. I told Dr. Lincoln that he probably had access to weapons, and he said that his parents didn't have any weapons, and I said that there were some in the woods somewhere."
"Are you fucking stupid?! Why the fuck would there be weapons in the middle of the damn forest?"
"I don't know, but he didn't really press me about it, so it's probably fine-"
"Fuck! Did you tell the police about that?"
"I didn't. I don't know if Dr. Lincoln did."
"Dammit. Well, I hope you know how much you fucked us over, and how Wally is having some mental breakdown that's probably going to get him locked in a psych ward."
"Is he going to be okay?"
"Don't pretend like you suddenly care about how he's doing after what you've done," she snapped. She let go of his shirt and stormed off.
Chad knew he did the right thing, but he couldn't help but feel like he had royally fucked up.