Blood on My Hands (24 page)

Numb, I go back into the motel room. Slade’s cell phone is lying on the night table. I open it and there on the screen is a photo of me. And it just makes me cry harder.

But finally, when I feel like I’ve gotten control of myself, I call Mom and tell her I’m okay and I’ll be home later. She wants to know where I’ve been and I promise to explain that, too.

Then I sit on the unmade bed and try to make sense of it. But I can’t. Slade killed Katherine? It simply can’t be. The only explanation is that the police are as wrong about him as they were about me. And that means I’m still not finished. I’ve proved that I had nothing to do with Katherine’s murder, and now I have to prove the same for Slade. But how? Where do I begin?

Lost in thought, I idly scroll through the photos on Slade’s phone. They are, for the most part, photos of me. Mixed in are a few shots of young men in military uniforms, no doubt acquaintances from Guard training.

And then … a photo that causes me to freeze. A young woman’s naked torso, shot from the chin down. A slim body with large round breasts.

It is an unmistakable glimpse of how much I still don’t know.

Chapter
49

INTERVIEW WITH DAKOTA ELIZABETH JENKINS

B
—Chief of Detectives, Dennis K. Bloom

J
—Dakota Elizabeth Jenkins

M
—Detective Sergeant Ellis McGregor

NU
—Nurse Elena Sanchez

TAPE 1, SIDE A

B
   Today’s date is September seventeenth and it is now 3:43 in the afternoon. We are in Fairchester County Hospital. Present in the room are myself, Dennis K. Bloom, Chief of Detectives, Soundview PD; Detective Sergeant Ellis McGregor, Soundview PD; Dakota Elizabeth Jenkins; and Nurse Elena Sanchez. Would each of you please identify yourself?

M
   I’m Detective Sergeant Ellis McGregor.

J
   Dakota Jenkins.

NU
   I am Elena Sanchez.

B
   Miss Jenkins, would you please state your age and your social security number?

J
   You want me to read the number?

B
   Yes, please.

J
   I am eighteen years old and my social security number is …

B
   Miss Jenkins, are you prepared to acknowledge that you have read this form and you acknowledge before myself and Detective McGregor as witnesses that you recognize this form to be your Miranda warning and waiver statement of your rights?

J
   Yes.

B
   And at this time you do in fact waive your right to an attorney and wish to speak to both myself and Detective McGregor?

J
   Yes.

B
   Can you tell me what day this is?

J
   September seventeenth.

B
   And what day of the week?

J
   I’m pretty sure it’s Wednesday.

B
   And how do you feel right now in terms of your physical condition?

J
   Tired and worn out.

B
   Are you of sound mind to speak to us?

J
   I think so. Yes.

B
   Would you please state the reason why you called us here?

J
   To tell you what happened with Katherine.

M
   When you say Katherine, do you mean Katherine Remington-Day?

J
   Yes.

B
   And when you say you want to tell us what happened, what do you mean?

J
   What I think happened the night she died.

B
   When you say “what I think happened,” is that because you’re not sure?

J
   I’m sure of some things, but not so sure of others.

B
   All right.

J
   Where should I begin?

M
   Maybe with the things you’re sure about.

J
   I’m sure that I took the knife from Katherine’s house.

M
   What knife?

J
   The knife that was used to kill her. We were in the middle of a fight and I pretended I wanted to make up. But I really just wanted the knife.

B
   Why?

J
   Why did I take it?

B
   Yes.

J
   I wanted Slade to scare her.

M
   Would that be Slade Lamont?

J
   Yes.

B
   How would he scare her?

J
   He would put a stocking on his head and wear latex gloves and act like he was going to attack her.

B
   Where?

J
   In the woods behind the baseball field.

B
   How would he get the knife?

J
   I gave it to him.

B
   Why would he agree to take it and scare her?

J
   I was having sex with him. And I got my mother to help make sure he received a medical deferment so that he wouldn’t be sent overseas with his National Guard unit.

M
   Was your mother aware of why you wanted her help?

J
   Oh God, no. I just told her that he was a friend of mine and that he was really scared
that the selective service board would deny his disability claim. She said she’d look into it. I don’t even know if she actually did more than that. He had a trick knee and might not have been allowed to go anyway.

B
   But he received the deferment?

J
   Yes.

M
   So you’re saying that he felt he owed you a favor?

J
   Yes.

B
   Why did you want to scare Katherine?

J
   Because I hated her. She was an awful person and liked to scare people and do other mean things to them. I wanted her to have a taste of her own medicine.

B
   Why did you hate her?

J
   Because I … I also loved her.

B
   Sorry?

J
   I didn’t want to love her. She wanted me to be like her and I didn’t want to.

M
   When you say “be like her,” what do you mean?

J
   Be gay. She wanted me to be a lesbian, like her.

B
   So you wanted Slade Lamont to scare her?

J
   That’s what I told him I wanted him to do. But I was really hoping he’d kill her.

B
   Why?

J
   Because I hoped that if he killed her, it would all go away.

B
   What would go away?

J
   The feelings. I mean, about loving her. About being a lesbian.

M
   What made you think that Slade Lamont would kill Katherine?

J
   Nothing. I just hoped he would. Or at least hurt her really badly. I knew she would recognize him through the stocking. And I knew Katherine would laugh at him and taunt him, because that’s the kind of person she was.

B
   And you thought laughing and taunting would be enough to make him want to kill her?

J
   He was really depressed and angry and drinking a lot. It was all because this girl, Callie Carson, had broken up with him. But what he didn’t know was that the reason she broke up with him was because Katherine had sort of forced her to do it. And I knew that given the chance, Katherine would tell him, because she loved to gloat over things like that.

M
   Why would Katherine force Callie Carson to break up with Slade?

J
   Because she had a crush on Callie. Callie was the most hetero girl ever. And she’d had the same boyfriend longer than any other girl in our grade. And Katherine felt it would be the most amazing challenge just to get Callie to try a girl. And in her mind the first step was to get her to break up with her boyfriend.

B
   Didn’t you say before that you were having sex with Slade Lamont?

J
   Uh-huh.

B
   Why?

J
   Because I wanted to. I was attracted to him and there weren’t that many boys I felt that way about. Plus, I told myself that as long as I was having sex with him, I couldn’t be gay.

M
   And since Katherine had already gotten Callie to break up with him …

J
   I’d tried once before when he was with Callie, but he wouldn’t do it. But as soon as I heard that Callie had broken up with him, I started to talk to him by e-mail and online, because he was still in Georgia. He kept saying that as soon as he got home from National Guard training, he was going to go see her, so finally I told him that she’d left him for another guy. That’s how I got him to change his mind.

B
   Just to be clear, did you ever tell Slade Lamont you wanted him to kill or hurt Katherine?

J
   No, because I knew he’d never agree to that.

M
   Did Slade Lamont ever give you any impression that he wanted to do more than just scare Katherine?

J
   No. He didn’t even want to do that, but I told him that if he didn’t, I would get my mother to rescind the deferment. Of course, I couldn’t have really done that but he didn’t know. He believed me.

B
   So from your point of view, was anything about Katherine Remington-Day’s death planned or premeditated?

J
   No, nothing.

M
   And as far as Slade Lamont’s participation, do you believe anything was planned or premeditated?

J
   Like I said, I don’t think so. I think you can rake up a pile of dry leaves and throw a lit match on them and sometimes they’ll catch fire and sometimes they won’t.

M
   What about Callie Carson?

B
   Sorry? Oh, right. Miss Jenkins, you tried to put the blame for the murder on her.

J
   I felt I had to shield Slade. If the police found out about him, he’d tell them about me.

M
   There are a few other people we’d like to ask you about.

J
   Okay.

M
   Did Mia Flom or Griffen Clemment have anything to do with your plan?

J
   No.

B
   Did they know about it?

J
   No.

M
   What about Jerry Fairman?

J
   I thought you already talked to him.

M
   We want to corroborate his story. He says he knew nothing about your plans.

J
   That’s true. When Callie’s texts came from a blocked number, I had a feeling he was involved because I’d once gotten him to help me do that.

B
   The texts you sent to Griffen Clemment?