Only The Trees Know, page 16
Zoe tripped. Her body careened forward, arms and legs pumping every which way trying to catch her balance. Squealing as she went down into a face plant.
Liam leapt forward, attempting to reach her in time to stop her fall. He wasn’t successful and ended up crouching over her prone body. “Are you okay?”
“What was that?” Zoe asked.
“Probably a tree branch.” Liam scanned the ground with his flashlight. He offered his other arm to Zoe helping her to get back onto her feet.
I shone my light over the ground as well, catching sight of what had sent Zoe flying. It wasn’t a branch.
Both Zoe and Liam turned still as statues seeing it at the same time I did. They swayed into one another.
Zoe whimpered.
Liam gasped.
She’d tripped over an arm. The palm was open and facing down so that its dirty fingers clawed into the ground. I followed with the light up to the shoulder. Zoe’s and Liam’s flashlights joined mine.
“Oh, my God,” Zoe gasped and screamed. The wail felt as if it went on forever in the darkness. And then she began to sob. She fell on the ground still some distance from the body. Her face crumpled in her hands. She shook as her flashlight dropped and rolled away. It’s light blinking on and off a couple of times as it settled, before turning off completely.
“Is it Parker?” she asked between sobs, rocking back and forth.
“Pretty sure.” Liam breathed out. He sounded unsteady and his body swayed.
I stepped closer, one foot, then another. Slowly shuffling my way forward until my boots were pressed against the side of the body.
Facedown in the dirt only the unmistakable fuzz of red hair growing back in was visible. The clothes were badly caked with mud. It was difficult to tell the color of the jacket, let alone the pattern. It could be anyone.
But we all knew that it was Parker.
Swallowing, I pressed my eyes closed. A tightness in my chest kept me from breathing. I forced air through my lungs, gasping for a deep breath.
I set my flashlight down so that my hands were free but the light still shown on the body. “Help me flip him over.”
“Should we touch him?” Liam asked. He shook his head over and over, probably not aware he did it. His hands had come up to fend off an imaginary something as his feet slid backwards. “It’s a crime scene.”
“What if he’s not dead?” Zoe cried. “Check his pulse. Oh, God. What are we gonna do?”
“Stop freaking out and help me,” I yelled, done with their bullshit. I placed my hands under one of Parker’s shoulders and pushed. His body came halfway up before he got stuck by the other arm. I pushed again, while Liam rearranged Parker’s arm.
Parker fell over onto his back. His head lolled to the side, falling toward my flashlight. His blank face stared up at me with his eyes open, unblinking.
I couldn’t look away. The whites of his eyes were streaked with red veins. Foam coated the corner of his mouth: white bubbles dripping over the sides of his lips. There weren’t many clean patches of skin visible, but even with all the dirt it was evident his coloring was an unnatural white. I didn’t need to touch him to know that he was dead. It was obvious he wasn’t breathing. His chest didn’t move and no sound whistled from his mouth.
Bile stung the back of my throat, sour and bitter. My mouth hung open as I heavy breathed trying to suck in air as best I could. Reaching down, I picked up my flashlight, moving the arc of light off Parker’s body. I didn’t want to look at him anymore and instead turned away.
“Help him. Help him,” Zoe screamed.
I heard her like a peripheral buzzing. A sound that annoyed, but could otherwise be ignored. Neither Liam nor I answered her or moved to do as she asked. We simply let her scream. Her blubbering became a backdrop as Liam stepped over Parker, coming up beside me.
“What do you think happened to him?” he asked. Liam sounded weird, strained, not quite there.
The image of the white foam that coated Parker’s mouth played in my head. I blew out a breath, shaking off my feelings of disassociation. Turning, I studied Liam. He didn’t look much better than he sounded. Like he’d aged ten years in the span of the last few hours.
“Overdose,” I said.
Liam nodded. He seemed to be having as much difficulty breathing as I was. His chest hitched with each inhale. The sound was dry and rattling. “We should have looked for him sooner.”
“What do you think you could have done?” I asked. “He was dead before we had dinner.”
“What are we going to do?” Zoe whined.
That was a good question. I walked away from the body, thinking it over. “We can’t carry him out.”
“Well, we can’t leave him here,” she screamed.
“What else do you suggest?” I pulled my phone from my pocket and held it up. “My battery is dead and there wouldn’t be any bars even if it wasn’t. We’ll have to hike out several days to get help. We can’t possibly carry a body the whole way.”
“Josiah’s right,” Liam said. He didn’t sound happy about it.
Zoe threw her arms out, gesturing wildly. “We have to take him. We can’t leave him here.”
I shook my head. “Think of the smell and the weight. It would be impossible.”
Zoe wasn’t having it though. “What if the animals eat him?”
“He’s already dead, Zoe,” Liam said. “He won’t feel it. Let’s get out of here and send someone back for Parker.”
“I agree,” I said.
Zoe broke, turning away with a sob.
Chapter Twenty-Four
NOW…
The medical examiner adjusted her glasses while she verified her notes. “Mr. Crandall was found deceased. The body had been moved between the time of death and his discovery. Notes on scene reflect a white foam dried on his mouth.”
Another day of twisted testimony. It had become more and more difficult to sit through the bullshit without making faces or yelling out. Now they were accusing me of moving the body? I shook my head and rolled my eyes. We’d rolled him over. Which yes, was technically moving the body. How else were we supposed to confirm he was dead?
“What did you determine to be Mr. Crandall’s cause of death?” Ms. Johnson asked.
“A drug overdose. Toxicology reports indicated he ingested a mix of controlled substances.”
“Which drugs did you find?” Ms. Johnson asked.
The medical examiner flipped a few pages of her report. She looked up. “The testing indicated there was moderate levels of marijuana, along with high levels of Xanax, Oxycodone, and Diazepam.”
“What would occur when ingesting this mix of pharmaceuticals?”
“His breathing would have slowed and eventually stopped.”
Ms. Johnson placed her hands on either side of the podium. This was a sign that I had begun to associate with her “here comes the big bang” question during a witness’s testimony. “You say that Mr. Crandall died of a drug overdose, and we’ve stated he was a drug user. Why did you list his cause of death as ‘undetermined?’”
I could tell the jury had been waiting for the answer to this question. Now that it had been asked, they paused in their fidgety movements, sitting up straight and not looking as exhausted as they’d been five minutes prior.
“I felt that there were extenuating circumstances, and that needed to be further investigated,” the medical examiner said.
Ms. Johnson walked over to a computer that sat to the side of the courtroom. She clicked several times, bringing up the body slide from the medical report onto the big screen. It was an outline drawing of the front and back of a male with handwritten labels indicating where the visible trauma had been notated. “Let’s go over the contusions and abrasions that you’ve documented in your report.”
The medical examiner flipped through her notes, finding the page in question. “There was slight bruising around Mr. Crandall’s jaw as well as marks to his throat. We also notated petechial hemorrhaging.”
“Describe petechial hemorrhaging. What does that mean?” Ms. Johnson asked.
“It’s when the capillaries in the eyes rupture due to strangulation or obstructed airways.”
“With the marks and the petechial hemorrhaging, what would that indicate?”
“It suggests there was some duress,” the medical examiner explained. “In my opinion there is a possibility that someone forced Mr. Crandall to swallow the pills, or he was strangled at some point.”
“You’re giving testimony that Mr. Crandall was forced to ingest the fatal cocktail of drugs?” Ms. Johnson asked.
The medical examiner shook her head. “No, I can’t determine what was done. I can’t draw a conclusion. I can only indicate what the evidence suggests.”
They were going to convict me on a “could have.” Parker sold drugs, for fuck’s sake. They had evidence of that. Wouldn’t it make more sense that he swallowed them himself? I shook my head, frustrated, only to earn a stern look from Number Two.
“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered.
It did little to bolster my confidence.
Chapter Twenty-Five
THEN…
IN THE FOREST
“What are we going to do?” Zoe was crying unchecked now. Snot leaked from her nose and she sucked and blew it as she walked. It was completely disgusting and made me gag.
I tried to tune her out as much as I could. Walking ahead of her, I kept my flashlight pointed forward. “We’re going to find the campsite and then figure it out.”
“Who put you in charge?” She wasn’t yelling, exactly, though it sounded loud in the dark. That along with the way she stomped on the underbrush and sniffled every few seconds, even the bears would know we were coming.
“You’re not capable of making decisions,” I pointed out. Neither of them were acting rational.
“Josiah’s right,” Liam agreed. “Let’s get back to camp before we decide anything.”
Zoe sputtered. “We can’t leave Parker. We need to go back.”
“He’s dead,” I said, sick of repeating it. “He won’t miss us.”
She sobbed and gasped. “Stop saying that.”
“Shut up, Zoe,” Liam said with exasperation. He stepped forward, distancing himself from her, bringing him in line with me. He crunched in the undergrowth beside me, his shoulder bumping mine.
It surprised me that he spoke to her harshly. Especially after defending her this whole trip and knowing that she’d just seen Parker dead and now she was freaking out. He should have cut her some slack. The crack between them had widened. It didn’t look like they’d be able to kiss and make up this time.
All it took to make that happen was a dead body.
Zoe muttered unintelligible things to herself. Her hiccupping sobs garbled her words, making them sound puffy and distorted. There was no use trying to figure out what she said, so I ignored her.
It seemed that Liam had the same thought. “How are we going to tell the authorities where Parker is? We don’t even know where we are. I doubt we’ll be able to find him again.”
“Not our problem,” I said.
We found the first tree I’d marked easy enough.
“Which way?” Liam asked when we got there.
“This way.” I took off in the direction I had indicated camp was in when I’d been asked before. I didn’t pause or second guess, not giving either of them an opportunity to disagree. This wasn’t a debate anymore. I needed sleep. The faster we got back to camp, the faster that could happen.
Liam followed after. “Are you sure?”
It was dark, I wasn’t worried about Liam seeing my eye roll. “Yes.”
Zoe stayed behind us. Her light bounced every which way, letting me know she was still there and hadn’t dropped off. I wasn’t worried about her. If she decided to turn back on her own that was her decision. I wouldn’t stop her, and I wasn’t going to babysit her. She was Liam’s problem, not mine.
Liam joined in with Zoe’s habit of nervous muttering. They were mostly angry words directed at Zoe. While I agreed with the majority of it—Zoe was useless—the whole thing was super annoying. This was not the time to be fighting.
I was stuck in the woods with idiots.
“We are going to be in so much trouble.” Liam’s voice shook on the edge of hysterical.
“What trouble could we possibly be in?” I asked. “He’s a druggie.”
“You don’t think they’ll give us a drug test too? You’ll never pass one.”
Thinking back to the conversation I’d overheard between Liam and Parker, I wanted to turn the question around and ask Liam if he could pass a test screen. Was he doing drugs and not telling me? Why? I reminded myself that it didn’t matter anymore. Parker was dead. Whatever the problem had been between them was moot at this point.
“All I wanted was a fun week,” Liam said, still whining and oblivious. “One last hurrah before college. And look what happened.”
“You won’t be blamed for this. It was an accident. Everyone will know that.” I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to reassure Liam. He wasn’t listening, so what was the point? I shut my mouth, pressing my lips together hard as if doing so would seal them.
I couldn’t forgive him for the crap he’d put me through. How could I pretend it never happened and willingly offer him comfort? Especially after he’d knifed me at every opportunity. Liam hadn’t shown me loyalty. Just because Parker was dead, that didn’t mean that the circumstances had changed.
He stepped closer to me, then exhaled when our bodies touched. “Have you ever seen someone OD like that? His mouth was full of foam. That can’t be normal.”
“There’s nothing normal about an overdose,” I pointed out.
Liam reached out. He grabbed my arm, tightening his grip. Not letting me go. “But that was not right. Tell me that’s not right.”
“I’ve never seen an overdose.” It was a lie, I’d called the ambulance for my mom a time or two. I knew what an overdose looked like and foam was normal.
“Maybe Zoe was right. Maybe it was murder.”
“Dude.” I let the sarcasm drip from my mouth. “Who could have murdered him? We’re the only ones out here.” I paused. “Unless you’re accusing me of something?”
“You went into the woods with him.”
I stopped walking. Pushing Liam’s hand off my arm, I turned to confront him. My hand clenched around my flashlight, the muscles in my arms corded with tension. I growled when I asked, “So you’re suggesting I murdered Parker?”
This was a serious accusation yet Liam acted surprised at my anger. He gave me a lost look. Then began to wring his hands, the skin around his mouth pale. He stepped forward so that he was once again in my space. His hands reached out to pull my jacket. He swayed, using me as an anchor. “No, I’m asking what happened. Maybe you saw someone.”
“I didn’t see anyone.”
“So maybe Parker ran into someone?”
“And what?” I asked. “This random person offered him pills and Parker took them?”
“That’s not as crazy as it sounds,” Liam insisted.
“It’s easier to believe he overdosed.”
Liam shook his head, then changed direction and nodded. His eyes were red and he looked away. “Okay.”
“No, not ‘okay,’ that’s what happened,” I insisted.
“Okay,” Liam agreed again.
Chapter Twenty-Six
NOW…
It was winding into the late morning and I was still in my cell dressed in my bland slacks, button down, and pullover for court. Lunch hadn’t been served yet, so I suspected it had to be somewhere near eleven. Usually a guard would come to escort me to the holding room just after breakfast. And then I’d be taken into the courtroom shortly thereafter. I’d never been left in my cell this long.
There was no one around to ask what the holdup was. Every so often I heard the clank of the metal cell doors, or the occasional shout of a prisoner, but other than that it was quiet. Leaving me to my spiraling thoughts on what had happened in the courtroom and how it would adversely affect me.
I paced along the short section of bars in front of my cell unable to calm myself. It was getting harder to rein in these episodes of frustration.
“That won’t make the time go faster,” imaginary Liam said, sitting behind me on the thin foam mattress of my bunk. “It just makes you look nuts.”
The room was tiny so he wasn’t too far away from me. There wasn’t much in the cell: my bed, a toilet, and a shelf where I could put toiletries and a few of my things. Everything was made with a shiny metal. Even the seatless toilet was silver.
If I looked at him or acknowledged him in any way, he’d never shut up. Just like when he was alive, he took over my whole world and forced me to pay attention to him whether I wanted to or not.
“You can’t ignore me forever,” he said, knowing that was exactly what I was trying to do.
I wanted to tell him to mind his own fucking business. His opinion wasn’t wanted. I didn’t need him to help me sort this out.
It was important that I learn not to speak with him. Once I was in general population I wouldn’t be able to talk to him as easily as I could now. He was a crutch and I needed to deal with things on my own.
“Why do you shut me out?” he asked. “You know it doesn’t make me go away.”
I sighed. He was right. Liam was a stubborn shit—alive or dead, it didn’t matter. Sometimes I wondered if he’d be able to come to me if I hadn’t always heard voices.
Before Liam the voices had never been friendly. When I’d fought them, they’d only become more aggressive. They gleefully told me how awful I was, how I’d never live up to what my father wanted. Confirming that others saw me the exact same way as I saw myself. I didn’t trust them and they didn’t trust me. It had always felt as if they wanted to tear me apart.
That all changed with Liam. The others had disappeared and he’d taken their place. For the first time it had made sense that I could see things other people couldn’t. Maybe it was all because I was meant to have him in my life forever, like he had promised.
