Edward's Dilemma (14 page)

Ben’s girlfriend, Megan, was asleep in a nearby lazy-boy chair.  She had come over to Ben’s place early that morning, at around 10:30 AM.  She was the one who had purchased the pizza, and had made the coffee.  Later in the day, she had cooked up some spaghetti, and made a salad for dinner.  For dessert, the two had sat out on the porch together and enjoyed some ice cream.  Like Ben, Megan was very concerned about Josh and his friends, and wanted to help out in any way she could.  She also just wanted to spend time with Ben.

WHEN BEN had first sat down at the computer, after dinner, he was highly motivated on account of the importance of the task which he was doing.  In their discussion a few days prior, Josh had made it very clear to him that his freedom, and the freedom of Edward and Jerry, could potentially hinge on the information Ben was able to gather.  He had also suggested that Ben begin his investigation by gathering as much information as possible about Joey Jones.   This was the victim – according to Josh – and since his murder wasn’t simply a random act of violence, he was likely tied in some way or another to the murderer.

Ben had begun his quest for information by typing the name, “Joey Jones,” into the search-field on the computer screen.  For a second or two he was discouraged because of the volume of material that had appeared on the screen.  But he quickly recognized his mistake: he hadn’t attached any parameters to the name – and since “Jones” is such a common name, the search engine had returned thousands of suggested websites.  He then narrowed down the search by typing in the phrase, “Joey Jones Turnbuckle, CO.”  This time, when he hit the “Enter” button, there were only a few dozen suggestions.

One by one, starting with those websites listed at the top of the screen, Ben had gone through the various web addresses.  Much of the material he read discussed the victim, and the events which had led to his death.  There were also a few articles about Josh and his friends, and the fact that they were home town boys who’d never gotten into trouble before.  Ben read these articles because he didn’t want to miss even the slightest detail related to the investigation, but most of it was very boring to him.

Just as he was about to call it a night and turn off the computer, however, Ben decided to look at one more website.  When he did, his weariness disappeared and he was suddenly rejuvenated. His mind came alive in an explosion of thoughts, and adrenaline surged through his veins. 
This is it!  This is what I’ve been looking for all along,
he thought. 
Now we’re gett’n somewhere!  Finally!
  He was just about to slap the palm of his hand against the desk, in celebration, but decided against it a moment before it made contact. 
Easy, Ben, don’t wake-up Megan.

The article he’d found was about a guy named Jason Lewis, the roommate of the victim.  Apparently, this guy had lived with Joey Jones for some time, and when Joey was killed he was right there with him.  For whatever reason, the news media had kept his name quiet.  Ben was exuberant when he read this bit of information.  Clearly, if Josh and his friends were not guilty, and the only other person involved in the altercation at
Lucky’s was Jason Lewis, then Jason was most likely the guy who’d killed Joey.  Ben read to the end of the article, and then reread it again.

The name “Jason Lewis” seemed vaguely familiar to Ben, but he couldn’t remember where he had heard it before.  For a few minutes, he was tormented by a vague recollection.  Ben’s mind analyzed, and categorized, and sifted, and sorted through memories both old and new:
I know I’ve heard that name.   Who is he?  Who is he?  Most likely, he went to a school here in Turnbuckle.  Was it junior high, or high school?  Grade school, perhaps?  Or was it more recently?   Perhaps I’ve heard the name mentioned somewhere, or read about Jason somewhere else.
  And then it hit him.

Throughout much of the afternoon, he and Megan had been leafing through old yearbooks from Turnbuckle
High school looking for the name “Joey Jones”– another suggestion which had come from Josh – and they had seen a group photo of the guys in Shop class.  The year was 1984.  Ben was interested in looking at the photo because an older friend of his had been in the class that year.  Since Ben didn’t immediately recognize his friend, he had read through all the names in the caption at the bottom of the photo.  In the second row, if he was remembering correctly, there was a guy named Jason.  But he wasn’t sure if the last name was “Lewis.”  Dying of curiosity, Ben rushed into his bedroom where several yearbooks lay scattered on his rumpled bed.

Though partially buried under a puffy pillow, Ben immediately identified the one from 1984.  His heart was pounding.  Grabbing the book with wild abandon, Ben flipped through the pages until he arrived at the page with the Shop class photo.  With trembling finger he counted off the individuals in the second row, while his eyes scanned the caption below the photo.  Several seconds later, when he was confident he had matched name with photo, Ben stared intently at the boy before him.  He was ecstatic, and even a little emotional. 
This is him,
he thought. 
This is Jason Lewis, the guy who killed Joey Jones!  This is the guy who’s responsible for Josh, and his friends, going to jail!

When his excitement had subsided, and his emotions had stabilized, Ben closely examined the other people in the photograph.  He thought, perhaps, that there might be some additional clues that he’d initially missed when he had zeroed in on Jason.  One of the things he noticed, right away, was that Jason had his right arm looped over the shoulder of the rather large boy standing next to him.  Both of them were smiling, broadly, and seemed to be having a grand old time posing for the photo.  Clearly, they were very good friends.  Ben looked at the caption and made a mental note of the name: 
Oscar Bonebraker.
  “I’d better remember that name,” Ben said to himself.  “This could be the same Oscar that Josh had told me about.”

A second or two later,
an idea suddenly popped into his mind:
Maybe I can look up Jason’s address on the web, somehow.  Who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky and find out where he now lives.

Possessed with this thought, Ben returned to the
squeaky chair in the computer room, and gingerly lowered himself down onto the seat cushion.  He didn’t want to wake Megan, in spite of his own excitement and enthusiasm, so he was happy when the chair didn’t immediately squeak.  But just when he thought he’d avoided creating a noisy disturbance, he swiveled in the chair and a loud squeaking sound pierced the silence of the room.  Ben froze in the chair, and slowly turned around to look at Megan.

Soon enough, however, he realized that his paranoia was completely unnecessary.  I
n response to the squeak, Megan did nothing more than let out a little sighing noise.  Ben watched her for a few seconds, smiled, and then grabbed the computer mouse.  A few clicks later he had acquired Jason’s physical address, and a few minutes after that he had the directions to his house.  Surprisingly, Ben discovered that Jason’s house wasn’t very far from the Serenity Lane apartments.

He looked at the clock,
and noted that the time as 12:35 Am.

The wheels in
Ben’s brain began to turn – and then, before he had fully thought through his plan, he decided to drive out to Jason’s place that very night and get a feel for where the slimeball was living.  Foolishly, he decided to let Megan sleep; he didn’t want her worrying about him while he was gone, and he didn’t want to worry about her. 
A note will suffice
, he thought,
and if I’m lucky I’ll be back home and in bed before she even knows I’m gone.
  He grabbed his jacket and binoculars, placed them in a knapsack, and headed out the door.

Stuart County

27 September, 1:22 AM

AFTER LEAVING the Serenity Lane apartments, Ben drove south for five or six miles before making a right turn onto SR55.  Through the windshield of his truck he observed the moon shining brightly, casting eerie shadows beneath the trees and illuminating everything in a silvery glow.  On the right side of the road, not too far away, a river flowed by in all of its sparkling glory.    Ben turned off the car radio, which he had turned on minutes earlier, and drove along in silence.  He was mesmerized by the beautiful, idyllic scene sprawled out before him, and was loath to disturb the peace.

For forty minutes or so, he drove further and further into the countryside.  Here and there he passed through forests of fir trees and aspens, and an occasional meadow.  Several times he slowed down to avoid hitting rabbits that were crossing the road, and once he even spotted a nervous deer standing in a clump of nearby bushes.  Mostly, the country through which he traveled was uninhabited by humans, but every once in a while he passed a sparsely populated area comprised of single family residences, or farm houses with barns and orchards.  Ben loved this journey into the countryside, and he vowed that he’d make it again.  “
Next time, though, I’ll bring Megan along,” he said to himself.

Ben’s mind wandered as he drove along.  Mostly, he thought about Josh and his current predicament, and the good times they’d had when they were growing up together.  For several minutes, Ben reflected on the hunting trips they had gone on with their father, while both he and his brother were still in
high school.  He had cherished those times, not only for the camaraderie, but also because he enjoyed “connecting” with nature. 
Perhaps
, he thought,
this is why I’m so happy to be driving through this beautiful countryside right here, right now.  I don’t think I could ever...

The car crested a hill, and a blinking red light suddenly interrupted Ben’s thoughts.  With a stomp of his foot, he hurriedly applied brakes and brought the truck to a screeching stop.  Ben looked around momentarily.  He was almost ashamed of himself for creating such a disturbance, and he was also a little concerned; the turn-off to Jason’s mobile home was only a short distance away, and the home itself was only six or seven hundred feet up a gravel road.  The last thing Ben wanted was for Jason, or any of his buddies, to wake up on account of the sound of squealing tires.

Ben stayed where he was for a few minutes, before proceeding any further.  Slowly he transferred his foot from the brake pedal to the gas pedal, and applied gas.  He had thought about driving up the gravel road a ways, but he was worried that the sound of the tires on the gravel road would alert Jason to his presence.  With this in mind, Ben selected a somewhat secluded spot along the road which intersected SR55 – there at the blinking light – and parked in the bushes.  After he had turned off the lights and the ignition, and put the vehicle into park, he reached over and retrieved his knapsack off the seat beside him.  He was a little scared, but mostly confident as he headed off in the direction of the gravel road.  A few minutes later, the sound of gravel crunching under his feet could be heard as he slowly walked up the road.

As he neared within sight of the home, Ben paused to analyze which avenue of approach would be safest.  He didn’t think it would be wise to go any further along the gravel road, so he climbed over a split-rail fence and advanced through the woods.  As best as he could, he tried to remain in the shadows, out of the moonlight.  He also took pains to avoid stepping on any dry sticks which might snap under his foot.

Slowly, stealthily, Ben crept closer and closer to the house.  At one point, he did in fact step on a stick, but fortunately it only created a minor cracking noise.  Still, he was briefly frightened, and his heart leaped within him.  When he’d settled down, and he was confident no one had heard the noise, he set off again in the direction of the house.  The closer he got to the house, the more of a hunter he became.

When he was within a few hundred feet of the house, on an overlooking knoll, Ben decided to settle-in behind a bush and simply observe his surroundings.  He withdrew his binoculars from the knapsack, removed the caps from the lenses, and proceeded to scan the terrain ahead of him.  He noticed that there were several outbuildings located fairly close to the house.  One of these appeared to be a garage, of some sort, surrounded by dilapidated cars.  Not too far away, on the opposite side of the house, there was another structure – which Ben surmised was a horse shed since it lacked walls, and
was built very simply.  There was also a garden-type shed about 10 feet away from the house.

Ben watched and listened.  Eventually, he pressed a button on his watch and observed that it was 2:13 AM. 
It’s gett’n pretty late,
he thought. 
A few more minutes, and I’m outa here – no use stick’n around here if there isn’t anything to see.
  He was beginning to get a little cold, so he carefully withdrew the jacket from the knapsack, and put it on.  A few minutes later, he decided to return home.   But just as he stood up to leave, he noticed two cars rapidly approaching along the gravel road.  Behind them, in the moonlight, dust billowed into the air like columns of white smoke.

Ben was mortified that he might be seen; and though he was far away from the road and behind a bush, he immediately threw himself back down on the ground.  For a good five seconds or more he made himself one with the earth, and remained completely motionless.  After a while, however, he carefully looked up from behind the bush and watched as the cars came to a halt in front of the house.  A dog could be heard barking wildly, and a light came on inside the mobile home.