Chapter 12 - Disturbing Revelation

12.

Her eyes shot open with those words and the phone went dead.

“What’s wrong?” Greysen whispered in the same groggy voice to her ear. He was curled behind her; their naked bodies spooned as one in a perfect curled ball.

“They’ve found something.”

Greysen sat up quickly. “He’s at the station?”

“I guess, he said ‘get down here’, so I assume so,” she said as she sat up.

“Let’s go.”

They jumped from the bed and quickly got dressed, brushed their teeth, and hopped into Greysen’s Navigator.

Sutton came bursting through the all glass door leading into the small square police station. The mixture of uniformed officers and plain clothes detectives all turned to look her way. The open room had twelve office-sized desks set strategically in three rows of four with just enough room between each for a person to fit. Though there was not much room today; the room was packed tight like something major was going on.

Sutton smiled at everyone, took the waiting hand of Greysen who was steadfastly standing by her side, and they walked straight to Paul’s open door at the very back of the small building.

“Sutton, Greysen, come on in.” Paul leaned over his large dark wooden desk for a quick hand shake with each of them. “Please sit; boy, do I have some news.”

Sutton looked over at Greysen, whose intrigued eyes matched hers.

“What is it, Paul?” she asked anxiously.

“Ok,” he got up, shut the door and drew the blinds that covered the glass wall, “I’ve already sent officers out for the arrest, but I thought you deserved to know firsthand from me.”

He sat back down and opened a thick manila envelope on his desk, exposing a picture that made Sutton’s breath pause and forced goose bumps to erupt over her body.

“Sutton, uhm, does Greysen know about…”

Looking at the picture of the man she watched shoot Ethen in the head that night, she knew exactly what Paul was talking about. It would’ve been something to give a small ironic giggle to – his asking if Greysen knew, not the incident of that night – but she was so taken aback by the picture that her words came out in a strained whisper.

“Yeah, he knows.”

She looked at Greysen with torment in her eyes. His face was blank, but she could see the faint tightening lines around his eyes. She took his hand which was extending towards her, and pressed it against her chest – holding it over her heart.

Greysen looked up from the picture and met her eyes, gave her a half-hearted smile and took a deep breath. She knew he recognized him also. She leaned in and gave him a soft kiss which made his smile spread just a bit, but it didn’t make his eyes glow. As unnerving as it was for her to see the face of this man, she couldn’t imagine how it felt for Greysen to look upon the man that took his life.

“So, it’s ok to talk about this in front of him?” Paul continued.

“Of course, like I said, I have nothing to hide from him.”

“Well, you know the three responsible for Ethen’s murder,” Greysen’s hand twitched beneath hers, “were arrested and have already gone through trial and conviction. They’re all serving life up in the state pen. Well, this guy,” he pointed to the picture, “Morris Baxter, well, his little brother was picked up the other day on a B and E, uhm, breaking and entering. He was caught with a couple more ID’s from some of the unsolved murders that I’d told you about?”

It was meant to be a statement but it came out more as a question – making sure he and Sutton were on the same page. She nodded, and looked back down to the picture then to Paul.

He saw the unease in her stature and closed the file before he continued.

“Well, anyway, young kid, scared, new to the game. We knew he wasn’t involved with the murders, but of course once we mentioned what we knew about the guys on those ID’s he started talking like a parrot in a pet shop. He started talking ‘bout how it wasn’t his brother’s fault; that the man and woman paid him so much money how was he supposed to say no; their parents had left them and Morris had to take care of his little brother; he only did it for the money; they’re the real monsters. Blah, blah, blah. Once we calmed him down he told us that the first murder was arranged by a man and a woman who’d approached Morris. Morris already had a rap sheet and mile and a half long, known criminal in and out of jail constantly. Anyway, they’d approached him and offered him fifty thousand dollars to ‘do this man’ as Greg, that’s the little brother, put it. We asked him if we showed him some pictures would he know who the first victim was and he said yeah ‘cause he remembered his brother studying the picture the man and woman gave him. We’d only laid out a few pics when he immediately pointed to Ethen.”

Sutton and Greysen were both frozen before him, hearts fluttering in time with one another’s. They breathed in shallow pants and stared blankly straight ahead with slow blinks of disbelief. Their eyes were in Paul’s direction but they weren’t “looking” at him. Their palms both grew sweaty, pressed together, holding each other like they were each the last piece of driftwood in the ocean they were drowning in.

“You guys ok? I’m sorry, I know this is a lot to take in but I just knew you’d want to know, Sutton.”

She relaxed a tad, releasing Greysen’s hand just a bit but not letting go. “Yes, Paul. We’re fine, thanks. We do want to know. So…what happened?”

They were interrupted by a woman’s voice, loud, yelling belligerently.

“You’re out of your God damned mind touching me like this. I’ll have all your fucking jobs, get your fucking hands off of me you worthless fucking pig shit motherfucker…”

Sutton and Greysen both recognized that voice immediately and jumped from their seats and out of Paul’s office before he could say another word.

“Mom?” Sutton’s voice came out in a whisper, but Mrs. Grey – Helen – heard her just fine.

“Sutton! Oh, Sutton, dear! Help us. They came into our home and just starting pulling us out in handcuffs…”

Mr. Grey – Sam – came in just then, handcuffed and being pushed forward by two officers. He was not yelling but he walked with his chest puffed out and arrogance in his step. He looked over at Sutton immediately.

“Sutton? What are you doing here, young lady? You come into town and don’t bother to call your mother…” He was silenced by a poke from behind by one the officers.

“Shut it up, Sam.”

Greysen stepped around Sutton in full view of both of them, causing them both to stagger with an audible gasp at the same time.

“What is he doing here?” Helen demanded.

Sutton stood quietly just staring out amongst the chaos as it all unfolded around her in slow motion. Her chest tightened with the reality that sunk in all too quickly watching her mom and dad being brought in in handcuffs. Paul said a man and woman had paid this Morris person to murder the first guy – to murder Ethen. And he’d already sent officers out to make the arrest. To arrest her parents…for Ethen’s murder.

The tightness in her chest squeezed like vice grips cutting off all of her air. She knew voices were raised as officers frantically joined in to contain the defiant woman. She saw her mom bucking and fighting but she couldn’t hear anything anymore; the noise was muffled in a high ear-piercing siren. The blackness washed in first with shades of shimmering gray then quickly engulfed the world around her until she was cloaked in a blanket of darkness.

Noises became coherent first – people talking, footsteps, papers rustling. She felt something wet and cold across her forehead and a hand on her face. Greysen. She knew that touch anywhere. Her eyes fluttered a few times as she tried to open them.

“Sutton. Sutton, baby. You awake?”

She heard Greysen’s voice, and she wanted to speak but she couldn’t seem to form the words. Her eye lids were heavy, like someone kept pushing them down as she tried to pull up. Greysen stroked one large, soft hand over her cheek, and she felt the other one in a tight grip on both of her hands resting on her chest.

“Sutton…love?”

She finally forced her eyelids to crack and saw Greysen’s face over hers in a hazy shape. He was smiling at her, and without thinking, she smiled back. She realized her head was resting on his lap as he leaned down and touched her lips softly with his.

“My, baby, how do you feel?”

Sutton swallowed and cleared her throat a couple of times before she squeaked out, “Fine, I guess.”

Greysen helped her to sit up straight, removing the rag from her forehead. She looked around and found Paul and two other officers standing in Paul’s small office. She and Greysen were sitting on the small, faded black leather couch against the back wall.

The male officer was older, shiny bald with one skinny strip of silver hair circling his head like an out of place halo. His face was worn like leather that’d seen the sun too long. His eyes were hard, black and beady. It was the face of a man who’d seen too much working the beat his whole life. He was dressed in his deep navy blue officer’s uniform which was doing its best to not burst apart at the pulling buttons over his round tubby mid-section. He stood with one hand tucked in the top of his black holster, the other uncomfortably close to his gun. It was securely latched in place and he didn’t look like he was ready to pull it, it was more that was his natural stance he’d developed over the years – always ready to be the first draw when necessary.

The woman was younger, probably around Sutton’s age. Her short blond hair was pulled in a tight bun at the nape of her neck. Her athletic build was even obvious under the uniform that was made for a man. Seriously, can’t they at least cut them to fit a woman’s body? She was a bit shorter than Sutton but had the same tight leather look to her skin. Her large blue eyes stood out dramatically against her deeply bronzed skin even without a lick of make-up on her angular face.

The woman, Officer Anderson, was the first to speak. “Hey, Sutton, how you feeling?”

Her recognition of Sutton’s sudden aware state made Paul and the male officer turn abruptly to face her.

“Sutton, hon, you ok?” Paul asked as he took one step closer to her.

Gosh, she could’ve sworn she’d heard that a couple of times already. Her throat was so dry the words came out in a hoarse whisper. “I’m fine.”

Greysen kissed her hand and stood. “Let me go get you something to drink, baby.”

“I’ll get it,” Officer Roberts said quickly in a thick husky voice. “Would you like some water, Ms. Grey?”

“Please.”

He stepped out of the room and Officer Anderson quickly followed. She turned as she got to the door and said, “I do hope you are ok and…by the way, sorry for the timing but, my daughter just loves you!”

“Theresa!” Paul scolded.

“Sorry,” she said earnestly.

“It’s ok.” Sutton smiled. “Tell her I said ‘thanks’. Maybe I could give you an autograph for her later.”

Officer Anderson’s face lit up. “Really?! That would be great! Thank you, Sutton.” And she walked out of the room closing the door behind her.

Greysen took his seat next to Sutton again and smiled softly. “Adoring fans.” Sutton smiled back and then looked at Paul.

“What is going on, Paul? Are my parents being arrested for what I think they’re being arrested for?”

He turned one of the wooden chairs around from his desk and sat upon it facing Sutton and Greysen. He took a deep breath, settling his shoulders and lacing his fingers together as he leaned forward and rested his forearms on his thighs.

“I’d wanted to tell you everything. I didn’t want you to find out that way.”

Greysen wrapped his arm around her and she snuggled into the warm familiar circle of his strong embrace. She could feel the watery sting in the backs of her eyes.

“I don’t understand…why…how…”

Paul cleared his throat. “The kid, Greg…after we’d finished questioning him, we were walking him back up front for booking when he passed my office. I’d left the TV on and paused on some footage from the hospital. He looked over and shouted, ‘That’s them!’ I looked around but there was no one unusual in the precinct, that’s when I noticed him looking in my office at the TV. I asked him who and he nodded towards my office and said, ‘Those are the two that paid Morris to kill that man. He’d brought me with him once, when he went to meet them. He’d told me to stay in the car but I didn’t. I crept up to the house and looked through the window and saw them arguing and giving Morris so much money. Dude, it was a lota money…but that’s them, I’d recognize them anywhere.’ We asked him if he’d remember the house and he said ‘yes’. So we drove him through a few subdivisions and then down your parents’ street; he pointed out your parents’ house immediately.”

Sutton sat quietly. The tears had stopped forming but still slowly crept down her face like those last little drips after you turn the faucet off.

“Why?” was all she could choke out while shaking her head slowly back and forth.

“Don’t know yet. But we plan to find out.”

“I want to see them.”

Greysen and Paul flinched simultaneously. Greysen looked at her and she turned to face him. He placed her face tenderly between his palms. “Love, are you sure you want to see them now?”

She stared back into his loving, worried eyes and spoke with a steady and confident voice. “Yes. I have to.”