Chapter Two: "Details of a Death"


Chief Dunn wasn't in his office as I was hoping. An officer just outside his door, however, informed me he was downstairs in the interrogation room. If he was questioning Iris, that was a good thing. Although he didn't know Iris all that well, he had to know Quinn would never hire someone capable of committing murder. I held onto that assumption when I knocked on the door. Dunn himself opened it, and indeed, Iris was sitting there.

She looked calm and relatively compliant, which were two characteristics that didn't fit her personality. I half expected her to be using that metal chair she was sitting in to try and gain an exit.

"Hey, Ben."

"Iris." I stepped through and took a seat. Chief Dunn joined me.

"Thank you for the call this morning. I got here as quick as I could."

"Don't mention it," Dunn replied, leaning back and crossing his arms.

Uh, oh. Perhaps Iris was being so cooperative after all.

"Maybe you'll have more luck getting something out of her. She doesn't seem to want to talk to me."

For the time being, I ignored Dunn's comment and leaned forward. Iris smiled casually as if there wasn't a thing wrong with her world.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

"Let's see." She leaned back as well and gazed at the far wall, although there was nothing there to look at. "I was getting ready for work this morning when Mr. Boy Scout over there knocked on my door. After a few words, I'm being put into his car and was brought here. Nice décor, by the way."

The last comment was directed at Chief Dunn, which he didn't seem to appreciate very much.

"Stop joking around," I warned. "These are some serious charges! Who are they saying you killed?"

I was trying my best to be careful with my choice of words. One wrong one, and Iris may come over the table to choke me. I knew her well enough to know that underneath this false appearance of disinterest, she was nervous and scared.

"Head Chief Boy Scout can fill you in on that."

Dunn scooted over the file that contained the arrest warrant. I scanned it quickly, memorizing a few details as I did so.

"Who is Gareth?"

"Obviously, the one I'm being accused of killing."

No kidding. I'd like to reach across and slap some sense into her! What did she think she was doing?

"Iris, listen. I love you. Ami loves you. Mr. Quinn loves you. You know we do. Don't take this lying down. If you do, you're going to break Ami's heart. You should've seen her face when she took that call this morning. She is really worried about your arrest. Allow me to help you. As a friend. Please."

I didn't understand her stubbornness, but then I didn't understand the basis of most women's emotions. Normally, I would ignore it, hoping it would pass. But the desperate nature of this situation required I push her a little.

Her eyes did well up then and she angrily swiped away a tear before it fell.

"It's his crazy mother who's responsible for this!"

"According to her statement," Chief Dunn spoke up. "She has a case against you or else we wouldn't be sitting here."

"Fine."

Finally!

"About three years ago – after you moved out of the neighborhood, Ben – a new family moved in. Emily Skye was the woman's name and she had two sons: Gareth and Karl. Gareth was close to my age and pretty soon we started hanging out."

"You keep using his name in the past tense," I observed. "Is he the one.."

"They claim I killed? Yeah."

She got quiet again after that, prompting me to keep her going by asking more questions.

"If you did kill him, - and I'm not saying you did – but if you did, what was the motive?"

She shook her blond head in disbelief and then threw out her hands. "Good question, Sherlock! I'd like to know that myself! Ask your friend!"

I heard a low rumble in Chief Dunn's throat before he spoke. "Gareth Skye died at the age of twenty-two from a heroin overdose."

Crap. Heroin had once been Iris's last drug of choice. It was the thing me and her parents had worked so hard with her to overcome. It had landed her in the hospital once, but as far as I knew, she hadn't touched the stuff for nearly two years.

"How is that Iris's fault?" I spoke directly to Dunn. I hadn't seen anything on the warrant to explain it.

"Mrs. Skye claims that her son, Gareth, was in the company of Iris when he died. Furthermore, she claims that Iris was responsible for providing the drug that killed Gareth and did nothing to help him."

"Like I would just sit there and watch him die. This is ridiculous."

"If you were under the influence as well," I pointed out to her, "how are you certain that's not exactly what you did?"

I worried the question would spark her temper, but instead, it caused a tear to fall and roll down her cheek. This time, she didn't bother to wipe it away.

"I'm not."

Iris was family to me. Just as much so as the couple who fostered me.

"Chief Dunn, would it be possible for me to have a word with Iris alone?"

"Does this mean she's hiring you to investigate her case? Because that's the only reason I can grant your request."

The answer was obvious. At least I thought so. "Of course I am."

"Then, allow me to give you two some privacy. You have ten minutes."

Once the door was shut, I stood up and walked around the table to embrace Iris. She had stood as well and clung to me for some time. Afterward, without a word spoken, we returned to our seats. Already, I could sense a change in her attitude.

"Gareth's mother is a real…I can't even say the word. That's Ami's influence, by the way."

I smiled in realization. Ami did possess the rare talent of bringing out the best in people.

"She never liked me," Iris continued, mindlessly scratching at the cuticles on her fingers. "But Gareth didn't care. Every time I went over to his house, I could hear them screaming at each other. The woman is a complete lunatic."

"What about Gareth's father? Is he in the picture?"

"Not hardly. Emily drove him away right after Karl was born. Gareth could hardly remember what he looked like. He was four years old when his father left. At least that's what he told me."

"So, what did the two you do whenever you hung out?"

Iris shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. We talked, ate, smoked, drove around the city. He owned the sweetest mustang. It had a V8 in it and man, could it fly."

"When did drugs become involved?"

The melancholic smile immediately disappeared. "Ben, I know this sounds hard to believe, but he was the one who introduced me to the stuff. Sure, I'd been dabbling in a little weed and sometimes even some cocaine now and then, but this stuff really knocked my socks off. It took me to another world. I mean, it used to be put into cough syrup, so I thought how bad could it be? Boy, was I wrong."

A quick flash of a memory of having to physically hold Iris down so she wouldn't harm herself during her recovery came to mind. This wasn't the time to think on the past, however. I needed to focus on what to do now.

"Were the two of you romantically involved?"

"Me and Gareth? No, not really. We just enjoyed each other's company. He was a good friend."

Hardly. I'd run off a few of Iris's so-called friends after she'd sobered up. In fact, the temptation for her to start using again had gotten so bad that her mother convinced me to take Iris away from the neighborhood. That's when I found her an apartment in the city and talked Mr. Quinn into offering her a job. As far as I knew, she hadn't touched anything since.

"I remember that night."

Her voice had gotten whisper-quiet and her sight focused upon the floor behind me.

"We were bored and there wasn't anything to do, so he pulls out his favorite needle and some heroin. He was the one who taught me how, and I'd only used the stuff a couple of times before then. At first, I didn't want to, but he told me he'd been doing it for years and that I wouldn't believe the high I'd get. I believed him, so I tried it. He was right. That night was different, though. I waited for that feel-good moment, but it never came. The next thing I know, I'm lying in a hospital bed and my mom is telling me Gareth is dead."

As soon as I'd walked in here, I'd retrieved my notepad and once in a while, jotted down some important details.

"How long ago was this?" I had to ask because I don't remember ever hearing the details of such a story. Her mother hadn't shared it with me and certainly neither had Iris. I did recall a time she had shot up and a neighbor had discovered her unconscious body outside her house with the needle still stuck in her arm.

"Two years this past November."

That seemed about right, but what I was wondering is why Mrs. Skye was just now getting around to filing an action against Iris. Something seemed off.

The door opened and caused Iris to jump. Apparently, she had been lost in a memory. I reached across and grabbed her hands, immediately noticing how chilled they seemed.

"Try not to worry. I'm getting to work on this right away."

The officer at the door cleared his throat as if I hadn't realized he was standing there.

"Ben? Tell Ami I'm sorry for all this. I didn't mean to cause her any worry."

"Nothing doing. We'll fix this soon and you can tell her yourself."

After one more supportive hand squeeze, I walked out of the interrogation room and took the stairs back up to the street. I'd head back to the office first to inform Ami of what was going on and then I was off again.

My first stop would be the home of Mrs. Emily Skye.