The Mystery of Jessica Benson (10 page)

“I am from Turkey, sir,” Feyzi responded, his voice
barely audible.
“Speak up, son, I can hardly hear you. You a little
nervous here, or what?”
Feyzi shook his head, but looked scared as hell.
“Well, you’re making me a little nervous here, son, what
with the present problems our country is facing, I gotta hope you
aren’t one of them Arab terrorists.” Will smiled. It was a cold,
scary smile, more like a threat, and it was clearly not wasted on
the Turk. Karen crossed her arms and leaned back.
He’s already
drawn blood
, Karen thought.
Vintage Will.
“Turkey, I’m from Turkey.” He looked toward Karen as
though he thought she might intercede on his behalf.
“Now why’re you looking at my partner like that, huh?
You think she’s gonna block for your sorry ass? Maybe you
think she’s gonna join your fan club like all the fancy little tricks
out there in your class? Well, get over it. She’s a cop, just like
me, and neither of us is buying into your act. And speaking of
acts, you know, the Patriot Act gives us special leeway to deal
with folks we think may be terrorists.”
Batan looked down at his lap and mumbled again that he
was Turkish and wouldn’t hurt anyone.
Karen cleared her throat and waited a minute for him to
collect himself. When he finally looked up she gave him a hard
stare. “You have any idea why we’re visiting you, Batan?”
“No—yes—I mean, I guess. Not because you think I am
terrorist, I’m thinking.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Everyone is
talking about murder of Jessica. I was personal trainer to her.
Maybe you’re thinking I am knowing something about what
happened to her?” He looked from Will to Karen pleadingly, and
then again said, “I am not terrorist.”
“All right. We won’t worry about whether or not you’re
a terrorist right now, but if you
do
know anything about what
happened to Ms. Benson, now’s a good time to talk,” Karen said.
“It would save us all a lot of time and aggravation.”
“I am sorry she is gone. She was nice lady.”
Will’s eyes went wide, feigning amazement at the
trainer’s response.
“Nice lady? Who you trying to kid, ‘
nice lady’
? We hear
maybe she wasn’t so nice. Fact is the one thing everyone we’ve
talked to can agree on is that she was
not
nice. So how about
rethinking what you just said and getting with the fucking
program, asshole.”
“Well, maybe not to every person she was nice, but
Jessica was nice to me. She wanted very much to improve her
body and is so easy to work with her. You’re understanding
me?”
“I’m understanding bullshit. We’re not here to find out
how well she flexed her butt for you. We want to know about
your relationship off the mat,” Will spat.
Feyzi wrinkled his eyebrows and asked, “Off the mat?
What is this you’re meaning, ‘the mat’?
“Outside the gym.”
“Outside of gym?”
“What’re you, Little Sir Echo? We ask the questions,
you answer them. The sooner you get that down, the sooner
we’re outta here.”
Feyzi stared at the officers, and crouched down in his
chair as though trying to make himself invisible. He swallowed a
couple of times and finally spoke up. “She was my good friend is
all. My very good friend and student, you know what I am
saying?”
Karen took a deep breath and answered, “Not exactly.
We heard she was your friend — with benefits. We were told
you were intimate with her.”
Feyzi cocked his head, obviously confused. “Friend with
benefits
?” he asked.
“Goddammit, boy!” Will bellowed. “You looking to piss
me off or what? Stop fucking around, playing twenty questions
with us. You spit one more sentence back at us and we’re gonna
have to take you down to the station to finish this up. Are you
understanding
me better now?”
Feyzi hesitated. He looked terrified. “I’m thinking
maybe I’m needing lawyer?”
“You fuckers can’t even speak our language, but you
know to lawyer-up before you answer any questions, don’t you!
You’re forgetting that suspected terrorists don’t have the same
rights as the rest of us,” Will bullied.
“If you think you need an attorney then by all means get
one,” Karen answered. “But then, of course, this moves our little
interrogation to another level. Right now we’re just looking for
some simple answers. You supply them, and like my partner told
you, we’re gone. So, it’s pretty much up to you.”
“Yeah, right. And maybe if you were to call an attorney
in, we’d think you were hiding something. Maybe something to
do with
terrorist attacks
,” Will jabbed.
“Okay, so no attorney. I can tell you about Jessica. But
please, I don’t know nothing about terror attacks. So maybe Jess,
she was not such a nice girl all the time. This is what you are
wanting to hear, yes?”
Karen smiled. “We want to hear the truth. How do you
mean
she wasn’t a nice girl
?”
“Well, I guess she liked to be with many men—even
when she is sleeping with the football hero. She was not a
faithful woman.” He raised his eyebrows as if to ask if he was on
the right track.
Karen nodded, encouraging him to continue. “Okay.
Good. Do you know any of the other men she was with?”
“No, no. She talks plenty about what she was doing with
others, but never who they were. She was with men and women
too, I’m thinking.”
“What the fuck?” Will stood and started pacing the small
office, running his hand through his hair. He stuck his head into
Feyzi’s space and the trainer shrunk back, clearly expecting to be
slugged.
“Yeah, you better be scared, you little shit-eater. If you
do know any names, male or female, better give ’em to us now.
I’m losing my patience and that’s not good for you. I don’t like
you first to begin with, and I hate being jerked around in
general.”
“No one’s going to hurt you.” Karen interrupted. “Just
tell us what we need to know.”
Something is off here
, she
thought.
He’s too squirrelly. He knows something, and even
though he’s obviously scared shitless, he’s not talking
. She
nodded to him and said, “Okay, can you do that?”
“Is good. I am good, is okay. I can do it. Jessica would
tell me how she teases people to make them do what she wanted
— sexy things.”
“So what? Every broad’s a prick tease. There’s nothing
strange about that.” Will said.
“Do you know if any of her, um, ‘partners’ ever tried to
hurt her?” Karen asked.
“That I’m not knowing anything about. She just tells me
how nobody knows about anybody else and how she is loving
playing games. She would tell me she could get any person she
wishes and she is right.” He looked toward Karen, his eyes
praying for a break.
She continued to feel that he was holding something
back, or covering something up. “I understand. So we’ve
established that you were close friends. You’re a very handsome
man, Mr. Batan. Very physical.” She felt it was time to go with
what they already knew. “Were you maybe one of Jessica’s
many men?”
He looked as though she had kicked him in the balls.
Will, apparently figuring that the Turk had been caught off
guard, went in for the kill.
“What are you, a faggot? I always heard you muscle
types were slipping it to each other.”
The Turk suddenly looked angry. “I am with women
only.”
“Okay, so you got a gorgeous chick like that hanging out
with you. Were you getting any or what?”
Karen jumped in and assured him that it was not a crime
to have had an affair with Jessica; however it would be a crime
not to tell them about it.
Reluctantly he continued. “Yes, I’m with Jessica many
times. She makes me want her every day. But I know I am no
better than all the others to her. She would tell me about what
she is doing with others when we were together. She makes me
crazy to know if she cares for me, but I believe the truth is she
does not. She respects no one. She sleeps with many mens and
then laughs on them. And still, knowing who she is, I am
wanting her. I tell her I am even in love with her, but she thinks I
am a funny fellow.” He seemed to deflate as he confessed.
Karen pulled her chair closer to the witness. She reached
out and put her hand on his arm. He jerked away from her.
“It’s okay, Feyzi. You’re doing fine. Now tell me one
more thing. When was the last time you were with Jessica?”
His eyes got big and he shook his head. “I’m swearing, I
did not kill her. I’m swearing it.”
Will slammed his fist down on the desk and shouted,
“Just answer the goddamned question!”
Feyzi looked toward Karen and she nodded
encouragingly back at him. She feared Will had screwed the
pooch with his last outburst. “Go ahead, Feyzi. We don’t think
you killed her, but it’s important that we piece together the last
days of her life.”
Finally he spoke. “I was with her at the beach the day
before she is killed. We did not have sex, but we were having,
uh, I don’t know how you call it, um — we were very close.
Making kisses, touching. Nothing more, I’m swearing to you.”
Karen felt sure he was telling the truth, but something
continued to gnaw at her. She made a mental note to run his
name through the computers to check him out more thoroughly.
It was possible he was hiding something that had nothing to do
with this case. Maybe an INS issue. Or there was always the
possibility that he was guilty of more than he was admitting.
“I believe you, Feyzi. We have no reason not to at this
point. But if you remember anything more, I expect to hear from
you immediately. Is that clear?”
“I know nothing more, but if I should learn anything, I
will call police at once. My word is good.”
“Okay.” She pulled her card and a pen from the pouch
around her waist. She scribbled something and handed it to
Feyzi. He stared at it for a moment and then looked up at her.
Karen gave him an encouraging smile and continued.
“That’s my cell number. You call me direct if you need me.
Even if it’s something that doesn’t seem significant, it could be
useful to us.”
She stood and walked toward the door. Feyzi followed
her with his eyes, but made no attempt to get out of his chair.
Will was right behind her, but when he got to the door he turned
back and mocked, “Go take a bath asshole. You smell like shit.”
The trainer’s mouth dropped open. Will gave him a look
of disgust, and the detectives left the room.

When they reached the car, Will indicated he was
driving and Karen walked to the passenger door. Once they were
in, Karen opened fire on Will.

“What the fuck’s the matter with you, for God’s sake?
You had that poor schmuck pissing himself. You don’t have to
kick a witness incontinent to get what we need!”

“Oh there you go again, Miss Bleeding Heart Liberal.
Whose side are you on anyway? Or what, you got the hots for
this one too? You want we should drop the whole case because
you think all the suspects are just too good looking to have
committed homicide, huh?”

“Stop it, Will. Cut the crap already. You’re out of
control over this case. You almost shut that guy down
completely. He would have brought in counsel and then what?
Take another step back, how about?”

“So what’s this compulsion you’ve developed for
coddling our wits? I almost shut the guy down? Fuck no. I didn’t
do anything that didn’t need to be done. You’re the one dragging
your feet. What is it with you?”

“Once in a while you gotta give them some leeway. Do
you need me to give you a lesson in Discovery 101? You’re so
busy shaking this guy down that you couldn’t see you were
driving him further into himself and away from us. He clearly
related better to me.

“And
so what
about that. God,
really
, so goddamn
what
?
Are you afraid he would have told us something that might take
the heat off Kyle Sands? Is that what this is all about, Will—
Kyle Sands?”

Will looked over at his partner for a moment and then
back at the road. “I thought we were backing off the Sands shit,
huh? I didn’t bring him up here. You did.” He absently stroked
the wheel with his right hand. After a short silence he continued.
“Listen. We gotta get past this. You don’t think I’m acting like
myself and I sure as shit can’t figure where you’re coming from.
Are we at an impasse or do you think we can get back on the
trail? Talk to me.”

Karen looked down at her hands and then out the
window. She knew any further arguing would be futile. But the
thing was, she knew he was right. It all kept coming back to
Kyle Sands.

Perhaps she had lost her objectivity. She did want to
clear Kyle’s name, but no more than she wanted to find the
killer. And she was sure the two things were mutually exclusive.
If she and Will were not at an impasse, they were certainly at a
crossroad. Kyle’s fate hung on the path they chose to take. Right
now his future looked dim.

P
ractice was running late, but Kyle was not complaining. Today
he was in The Zone. His passes, thrown with laser accuracy, flew
into his receivers’ open hands. His teammates were also focused,
and if this kept up through Sunday, the New York Rockets might
just as well stay home. This game belonged to the Demons.

James came running in from the sidelines and smacked
Kyle on his ass. “You on tonight, dude! What’d you do, man?
Slop the receivers’ hands with glue?”

Kyle grinned at his friend and called the play. “Round,
right, twenty-two trap delay!” The team broke huddle and moved
into formation. The center snapped the ball. Kyle dropped back
as though he was going to pass. He then pivoted toward James
and neatly placed the ball into his stomach. That froze the
defense for just an instant and drew the ends out a few steps. The
line was then allowed to do its job — to open a hole for James to
carry the ball through. He moved so swiftly that the defense
looked like it was working in slow motion. It all ended quickly
with James spiking the ball in the end zone and raising his arms
to indicate the touchdown.

Players were slapping each other high and low, and a
few were even doing the dances that had been outlawed by the
league. Elated, Kyle took off down the field to share in the
excitement.