Marcia is seventeen, and along with Darryl, has moved south in Alaska to attend the Anchorage campus of the Alaska State University. She wants to pursue her dream, but will it pursue her instead?

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I'd like to apologize for the 2 month delay from chapter 11 being posted and this one.
As is always the case, I'd like to thank Malady for his help checking through this story for the many errors I frequently insert, as well as listening to my sometimes completely crazy ideas about the direction of the story and telling me how crazy they are!

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Chapter 3.12

Wednesday, May 12^th, 2023

7PM

It had been a long day for Marcia. She was briefing Darryl, Mage, and Chet on what she’d found out from the two men. When she told them that Kirk was Wanda Gregory’s nephew, and Stephen’s cousin, Darryl just shook his head.

In contrast, Mage exclaimed, “I can’t believe how many people are related to each other in this case!”

“Kinda like North Pole, isn’t it?” Chet said to her.

“Well, you know what they say,” Darryl said. “There’s six degrees of separation between any two people.”

“I read that they’ve dropped that number to around 4 degrees,” Marcia commented.

“But we’re not talking about just knowing people,” Mage pointed out. “These people are related!”

“Do you think that’s relevant?” Darryl asked.

“I’ve got no idea,” Mage responded. “But it drives me crazy.”

“Kinda feel like an outsider,” Chet said.

“I feel like that all the time,” Marcia told him.

Mage wondered about that statement. Is Marsh feeling down about her gender again? Kinda sounds like it. I’ll talk to her later.

“I’m not sure,” Marcia continued, “Just how Wanda Gregory figures into this.”

“Do you think she does?” Darryl asked.

“I’m not discounting anything,” she responded. “Considering what her husband is like, who knows.”

“It doesn’t sound like she’s that way, though.”

“No, but is anything the way it seems?”

Darryl nodded. “Good point, Foxy.”

“So you think our list of suspects just increased?” Chet asked.

“Our list of suspects, sure. Whoever is the guilty person, I’ve no idea.”

Mage looked at Marcia strangely, then asked, “What makes you think it’s only one?”

Marcia shook her head. “Do you have any reason to believe it’s more than one?”

“I don’t know,” Mage said. “We’re assuming that Bruce isn’t responsible. So why would things look so bad for him?”

“They look horrible,” Darryl agreed. “Lisa left a letter saying that she was leaving with Gerald. Her body is found not far from here, and Gerald’s is found buried on the farm.”

“And,” Chet added, “we know that Bruce was extremely in love with Lisa. I can see him getting rid of Gerald.”

Marcia gave Chet a disgusted look, but thinking about it, she knew how mad she’d be at anyone who came between her and Darryl.

“But would he get rid of Lisa?” Mage wondered. “What would turn that love into strong enough hate?”

“I can understand getting rid of Gerald,” Darryl said. “For me to get rid of Foxy… If I had gotten rid of a hypothetical lover of hers, I’d see how things went between her and me with him gone.”

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Marcia told him.

“Of course not, but if it did happen, if I thought you might be in love with someone else, I might be tempted.”

“You’d be tempted to kill me?!” Marcia asked, shocked.

“I said I might be tempted. That may sound crazy to you, Foxy, but I know I’d be dealing with depression.”

“Any guy,” Chet said, coming to Darryl’s rescue, “would find something like that hard to deal with.”

“The ones who are actually in love with her,” Darryl put in. “There are some people who don’t understand love.”

“You’d be tempted to kill me, and you understand love?” Marcia said, folding her arms and glaring.

“Might!” Darryl said again. “And that would be contingent on several things. How the depression affected me. How our relationship had been.” He paused for a moment, then added, “I suppose how I’d been treated in school, and through my formative years.”

“But you’ve not had a problem with any of those things. At least, I don’t think so.”

“Nope,” Darryl confirmed.

“We know Bruce and Lisa were very much in love,” Marcia said, then sighed. “At least we think they were.”

“I think that’s a pretty accurate assessment,” Mage agreed. “From what I saw, I can’t imagine that they weren’t.”

“So why would she leave?” Marcia asked.

“Did she?” Chet wondered. “Did she really write that letter? Did she voluntarily leave?”

“You think she was killed rather than left on her own?” Mage asked her husband.

“So the note was fake? Forged?” Darryl asked.

“No, I don’t think it was forged. Bruce would probably have noticed that,” Chet said.

“So maybe she was forced to write it?” asked Darryl.

“Let’s run with that supposition for a bit,” Marcia said.

“We should get Ron and Brad here,” Mage said. “They’re more experienced in that type of thing.”

Chet took out his phone and called Ron. “Hey, we were wondering if you could swing by. We’ve got a scenario we’d like to explore.”

He paused then asked, “How long?”

“Two minutes?!” Another pause, then Chet said, “Okay. Sounds good.”

Chet hung up, then said to the group, “They’re turning into the driveway as we speak.”

“Well, that was good timing,” Marcia told her brother.

“No doubt!”

Mage went into the kitchen and a moment later, they could hear the coffee grinder running. There was a knock on the door, then they heard it open. Brad and Ron came into the living room and Chet motioned for them to sit down.

They made small talk until Mage came into the room with two carafes of coffee. Chet asked her, “How are we supposed to drink that without mugs?”

“Pass ‘em around and everyone take a drink,” Mage told him easily. She then went back to the kitchen and returned with a tray of mugs and a carton of cream and bowl of sugar.

“Better?” she asked Chet.

“I think so,” he answered. “This isn’t the Last Supper, you know.”

Marcia gave a little snerk, then got herself and Darryl some coffee.

Ron gave a smile, then asked, “What’s your scenario?”

Chet looked at Marcia as if to defer to her, but she waved her hand to brush off the invitation. “Go ahead, Big Brother,” she said.

He gave her a dirty look, but turned to Ron and Brad. “We know Bruce didn’t have anything to do with Lisa’s death, and we’re certain their relationship was good. I don’t think the note was forged however. So was Lisa forced to write it? That seems to indicate that someone was wanting to pin her murder on Bruce.”

“I’m thinking the same thing,” Ron said, “but why would someone kill her?”

“What if we look at Gerald Parks as the target,” Brad offered.

“Then why kill Lisa?” Darryl asked.

“Well, she could simply be a red herring,” Marcia speculated.

“That makes more sense than anything else,” Mage said, “except Bruce killing her. From the physical evidence, I’d have to say it makes sense, but that really doesn’t make sense at all, when you consider how much they loved each other.”

“That’s still something we have to consider,” Ron said, reluctantly. “I know Bruce, and I don’t see it as possible, but there may be circumstances I’m not aware of.”

“From the physical evidence, Bruce being the killer makes sense,” Chet agreed.

“Is it possible that things were reversed?” Brad wondered. “Maybe Lisa was the intended target, and Gerald was the red herring.”

“Why would someone want to kill Lisa?” Darryl asked.

“Maybe they were interested in her and she wouldn’t have anything to do with them.” Brad thought about his suggestion, then said, “No. I don’t see why Gerald would be killed then. Just the simple fact of her being killed would be enough to point the finger at Bruce.”

“What if there was a different reason to kill her? A firing maybe?” Darryl asked. “I know Bruce would be the one to do that, but framing him for murder, knowing he’d spend the rest of his life in prison for the deaths of two people would certainly be revenge.”

“Oh great!” Mage groused. “Now we’ve got three victims to examine!”

“Bruce has been a victim all along,” Chet said to her.

“But why?” Mage asked. “Was it using him as a scapegoat, or because whoever wanted revenge?”

“This is getting more complex the more we think about it,” Marcia complained.

“This kind of case always does,” Ron told her commiseratedly.

Before Ron could continue, there was a knock on the door. Brad started to get up, but then stopped. Chet grinned, and said, “Go ahead, Brad. Just make sure they’re not selling anything before you let them in.”

Brad laughed then stood. A couple of moments later, Coleridge and French entered, followed by Brad. This time, however, it was clear that they were not on the clock. French was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and Coleridge was similarly casual.

Chet stood, as did Fraiser, and bid them to sit. Marcia and Darryl were seated on the love seat, and she stood, gently pulling at Darryl’s hand. He glanced at her and saw the look on her face. He stood without offering any argument, and told the two, “Take the love seat… uh couch.”

Brandy’s face got very red as she stepped to the small couch. Sitting down, she flashed a bit of a smirk at Greg. He raised an eyebrow, and with a bit of a smile on his face, joined her.

Marcia sat down cross legged on the floor, and pulled Darryl down beside her.

Fraiser eyed the two newcomers skeptically. “Are you here in an official capacity?” he asked.

“Yes and no,” French told them.

“We’ve found something out that we think you should know,” Coleridge continued.

Fraiser nodded, and motioned for them to continue.

“Something very disturbing was found in the examination of the bones of Gerald Parks,” Brandy continued. All the lightheartedness of a minute before had left both her and French’s demeanor. Now, they both appeared angry.

“Gerald Parks was stabbed multiple times,” French explained. “It seems the ME missed that initially. There was clear evidence of strangulation – hyoid fracture – and she kinda focused there.”

“But there was evidence of stabbing found later?” Brad asked for clarification.

Coleridge nodded. “Why she gave us the cause of death as strangulation before she was done, I’ll never understand.”

“So stabbing was the cause of death?” Mage asked.

“That’s the problem,” French said. “We don’t know. Strangling could have been, but some of the stabs could have been as well. Others…” His voice trailed off.

“What’s a hyoid fracture?” Darryl asked.

“The hyoid bone is a bone that is at the base of the skull. It helps in swallowing, speaking… You name it,” Marcia explained. “It fractures about half the time when someone is strangled. Or hung.”

“Oh,” Darryl said. “Kinda sorry I asked.”

“I looked up the evidence of strangling when I heard that Gerald had been strangled. What’d they find indicating stabbing?”

“Well,” Coleridge said. “Several marks on bones.”

“Multiple stabbing is something the DA will love to add into the case,” Brad said. “That will fit in with the idea that this was a crime of passion.”

Fraiser looked ill. “You’re right.”

“There’s something else you need to know,” Brandy said, causing Ron to look at her quizzically.

“Several of the marks appear to go in and out for several inches.”

“Like a saw, but using the knife,” French added.

“Why…” Mage said, then got the implication. “Someone tortured him, didn’t they?”

Wordlessly, French nodded.

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