“Is this the car?” The police commander asked, as he stood next to a silver Mercedes parked on the side of the road. The once ivory leather interior was splattered with crimson droplets – blood – and what once was a blonde haired woman, sat in the seat with her forehead against the steering wheel.
“Yeah, her neighbor said that she’s been in California for a week. She was due back tonight.”
“I guess someone was expecting her …” The commander said, his head hung low.
This was no ordinary call for him. The woman in front of this suburban homewas not simply another victim. The blonde haired woman behind the steering wheel was Dr. Marlena Evans. A friend since the day she first came to Salem, shy and innocent. The bullets had entered her body and created the casualty. Commander Abraham Carver made a vow that this killer would be brought to justice.
The police officers that knew Marlena were caught off-guard to be called to her home for a homicide. The entire force knew there would be one officer particularly shocked.
“ABE!”
The called upon man looked up to see his best friend rushing towards him. Captain John Black had barely managed to get his vehicle into park before jumping out to survey the crime scene. When he heard Marlena’s address over the police scanner he left his wife in bed without explanation and took off like a bat out of hell. Marlena and John had been divorced for five years, and John had remarried two months earlier. The gossip around the hospital had been that the wedding is what drove Marlena to California for eight weeks. Abe’s heart dropped when he saw his best friend racing over.
“John … I’m sorry,” Abe managed to get out before John grabbed him roughly by the collar.
“Abe! It’s not her!”
Part One
“John? What on Earth are you talking about? Of course it’s Marlena …” Abe started, shrugging John away.
“No way, partner. It’s not Doc. She’s in California …”
“John, she’s been in contact with a neighbor. She was coming hometonight.”
“No …” John stated, barely above a whisper.
“Hey … buddy … I’m sorry. I know how much she meant to you,” Abe said gently placing his arm around John’s shoulders.
“Yeah … I don’t think she knew though,” he replied, sitting on the street curb.
The crime scene had been surrounded by yellow tape and several officers were securing the scene. Other members of the Salem PD were interviewing Marlena’s neighbors who had come outside in their bathrobes, slippers, and various other states of undress.
“Marlena was such a sweet girl … always willing to help someone, you know? Always coming over to see if I needed anything, helping me bring my groceries in from the car. Why is it always the good people? I remember when she first moved into that house. Such a sunny smile and every time she saw me, she’d have a happy greeting. It’s so sad …” A neighbor stated to the policeman. John heard her statement, taking each word to heart. She had truly just described Marlena.
Marlena had bought that house a little over five years ago, right after their divorce. It was such a hard time for both of them. Rather than trying to go through their changing and stressful careerstogether, they had drifted apart. Until one day, they’d realized they hadn’t spoken in a week. That was no way to have a marriage, they’d decided. It wasn’t for lack of love, but simply lack of time to commit to each other. As they drifted away before the divorce, they had continued to drift away after. Farther and farther until one day, they’d walked right past each other at the grocery store and it took an hour to realize that they’d seen each other.
John sat still, memories flooding his mind’s eye. He remembered after they were first married, having one of those discussions Marlena loved so much, about the what-if’s and shoulda-been’s of life.
“You always want what you can’t have, John. And you never truly appreciate what you DO have, until it’s gone …” Her voice was as clear as if she were sitting next to him.
He had her, but he lost her. Now, she was gone and there was no chance at all. He couldn’t have her, and he wanted her more than ever.
An hour had past since John had arrived on the scene. The body had been transported away from the crime scene and Captain Black still sat in the same position on the curb as he had when he’d sat down. Abe looked over at him and placed his hand on his shoulder.
“Buddy, we’re all getting ready to just get down to the nitty-gritty,” Abe spoke and winced as he realized the insensitive tone of which is voice had spoken. The only way he was able to get through this crime scene was by detaching himself from Marlena. There would be time for mourning later. “Why don’t you go on home and get some sleep?”
“I’d rather stay. Has anyone gone inside yet?”
“Yeah … we had a few officers already look around. She never made it inside by the looks of it.”
“She never would have gone to California if it wasn’t for me, Abe …” John said softly.
Abe sighed before replying. “John … I’m going to admit that it was undoubtedly you that sent Marlena across the country, but to think this is your fault is absurd. C’mon … you know that. We’re gonna find out who the hell did this.”
“I keep thinking that I would feel her gone, Abe. We were so close for so long … we always had such a connection. But now it feels … it feels like she’s still in California. Like she’ll be home in a few weeks, ya know?”
“Yeah, I know how you mean, man,” Abe agreed. He finally took a seat next to him on the cold concrete.
“Who would do this to Doc? Why her?”
“I don’t know, John … I simply don’t know …”
“Commander Carver?” A young cop asked walking up to the duo.
“Yeah, B?’’ He answered, barely looking up.
“We’re done with the prelims … there’s not much else we can do without daylight.”
“Alright then. Why don’t you start to pack up and we’ll finish tomorrow. I want some officers here tonight to keep an eye on things.”
“Yes, sir,” the young man replied before going off to relay the directions to the other officers.
“Head home, John. Kristen is probably worried sick,” Abe said getting up and dusting off the back of his jeans.
John nodded and got up as well. “Call me if you … call me for anything. I mean anything.”
“You got it, partner … g’night.”
Part Two
John laid in bed next to his wife, staring at the ceiling. Where the hell did he screw up? Was it so long ago that it was Marlena laying in bed beside him? It seemed like a lifetime ago. The fact of the matter was, he wasn’t over Marlena. Nor did he believe he ever would be; it was just a matter of movingon with his life. Kristen had been there. It made him feel terrible to think of his wife as a poor, lacking and simply inadequate replacement for the woman who had stolen his heart the first time their eyes met. He let out a sigh and tossed onto his side facing the wall. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep. Nothing could have prepared him for the facts that were uncovered hours before. Marlena was dead, but his love for her was not.
He stared off into nothingness as his mind played back their years together, and when that was done, his imagination went to work fabricating what their lives could have been … should have been. Before he knew it, night was over and he hadn’t slept a wink. The suns rays were drifting in lazily through the vertical blinds covering the windows. He crawled out of bed, something pulling him back to Marlena’s house.
When he arrived on the scene, he was anxious to see Abe and if anything had been uncovered from the night before. The answer was pessimistic that anything would be found that they hadn’t already discovered. The car was at the lab being dusted, vacuumed and gone over with a fine toothed comb. John walked up the front walk, Abe following barely three steps behind as John opened the door and walked in. There were a few investigators already looking around, and John had no idea where he was going.
“Abe?” John asked turning around suddenly.
“Yeah?”
“Did you … did you feel that?” John questioned.
“Feel, what?” Abe asked, his brow furrowing as he looked around. John stopped at the question.
“I … I can’t explain it. It’s like the pit of my stomach that something’s different. Something isn’t right, Abe.” His voice was getting louder and more urgent with each word.
“John … calm down. I don’t know what you’re talking about, buddy.”
“Abe …” John started to talk when he paused, his attention trained fully on the door. The doorknob was turning slowly and they heard a female sigh, then fiddle with something and finally the door swung open, almost hitting one of the investigators.
John’s hands started to shake as he saw the vision before him. In a pair of blue jeans and a pink cable knit sweater was Marlena …
The Jarlena Journal 