A Toast to Death

Chapter 3

We were shocked because it was no accident. Someone had set out to kill him, and they definitely succeeded. Since the cops had gotten our general statements at the restaurant on the day of the murder, they needed to get them individually. The Dean informed us that we were already excused from the rest of the classes we had that day because we might need to recuperate from everything.

The two police officers escorted the four of us out of the Dean's office to their cop car while a bunch of students stared at us. It was uncomfortable because they already had the preconceived notion that we were somewhat involved in the death of Jerry, even though they weren't yet made aware that he was poisoned.

The officers took us to the police station, where we were individually called to be interviewed. It came my turn and I was really nervous, so I kept telling myself to just tell the truth and everything will be okay. The detective turned on the recorder, read me my rights, and began by asking me some basic questions, like my name, my association with Jerry, what happened that day, and if I knew anyone who would kill him. I responded accordingly and in all honesty.

"Do you know if anyone in your group was mad at Mr. Marvins before he passed away?" That question made me think back. We were all mad at him, but that didn't mean we killed him. I was mad at him because he continued touching Steph when she told him to stop, Steph was mad at him for the same reason, Dawson was mad at him because he was constantly insulting us for no reason, and Tyler was mad at him because he was flirting with Steph the entire time. None of us actually wanted him dead.

After I was done with my interview, the detective gave me a sheet of paper to write my written statement. I wrote exactly what happened that day as I could remember it. The detective read it to me to confirm if it was as accurate as I said it was or if I had suddenly remembered something. When my statement was satisfactory, I was asked to sign, then allowed to leave.

When we were all done at the police station, the same officers that drove us to the station brought us back to campus. Everyone was staring at us the entire time. Since we didn't have to go to class for the rest of the day, the officers dropped us off at our residence hall, so we just had to go to our rooms.

Steph and I invited Dawson and Tyler to our room so we could eat together while talking about what had happened. We learned that I was the only one asked to give a written statement along with the interview, while others only had to do the interview. We found that quite strange but we just brushed it off.

The next day, everyone kept staring at us. Mostly the students, but some teachers and other staff too couldn't take their eyes off us. It got worse in English class because Velma kept running her mouth as usual. The professor even tried to get her to stop, but then she started being passive-aggressive instead, which made matters worse. For the rest of the day, we had to try our best to avoid people, which was especially difficult since we still had classes to attend.

It had been three days since Jerry's death, and the judgmental stares were already this bad. I had a strong feeling it was about to get worse, especially when people like Velma existed to make us look like suspects when we were just unfortunate witnesses.

When our classes were over, we decided to just pack our lunch at the school cafeteria and eat in our rooms. We all ate in Steph and I's room since it had become our usual hangout spot. It wasn't that we didn't want to hang out in Dawson and Tyler's room, it was just that ours was neater, so it appeared bigger.

Since we were all together, we decided to do a group call with all our parents to check in and update them on everything that had happened those past few days. My parents were really concerned, Steph's parents were worried but also glad we were there for each other, Dawson's parents were confused about the whole situation, and Tyler's parents almost pulled him out of the school. We had to convince our parents we would be okay since none of us were guilty.