A Life I Used To Know (A Hayes Grier FanFiction)

CH52 - Zach and Denial

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Chapter 52

The next day, I woke up, and for the first time in a while, I was relieved. I was relieved that Hayes and I had finally told Elisabeth about Zach. Her response was the way I wanted it to go, she wasn't angry at us, but she said that we had to tell the police about it. That part made me nervous, even though I had nothing to hide just the fact that Hayes and I were going to the police to talk to them about who murdered chase, and the fact that we knew who it was and we knew that person pretty well made me pretty nervous.

But Hayes and I agreed, reassuring with each other that it was the right thing to do. We were supposed to be driven down to the police station by Elisabeth the next morning, which is now represented as now.

I got up and got ready, getting dressed and eating breakfast. The plan was perfectly clear, we didn’t even need to talk about it. The plan was to tell the truth, which was what we obviously had in mind.

Hayes mom drove us there at around ten forty five and we got there at around eleven. She walked in with us and we walked up to what looked like the front desk. I personally had no idea what to do, so I let Elisabeth do all the talking.

“Hey, we’re here for the case of Chase.” She said. Since it was such a huge case, we didn’t even need to say his last name without the officer knowing what we were talking about.

“Oh, follow me.” He said, leading us around back to where all the officers investigated. He talked to some guy sitting down and then he nodded, then they told us to go into the room where they interview people, Hayes and I both went in the same room. About fifteen minutes later, the same officer that the previous one at the front desk talked to came in, holding a tan file. It had to have been Chase’s.

“Hello, my name is Officer Brenby. I understand you’re here under the influence that you know information about the case of Chase Stewart?” he said, looking us both strait in the eye. I nodded, and so did Hayes. “What exactly do you know?” he asked, moving the file over to the side of the table and sitting back in his chair, truly curious about what we had to say.

“We know who killed Chase.” Hayes came out, clearing his voice. I could tell the officer didn’t quite believe us.

“Do you understand that everything you say in this room, it changes everything?” Brenby said concern in his eyes.

“Yes.” I remarked, knowing fully that Hayes wouldn’t lie. Even though I still didn’t know how Hayes knew that it was Zach, he sounded very confident when he told me it was Zach.

“So, what information can you give us?” Brenby said.

“Well, what I do know is a long story, so believe me at the end of the story.” Hayes said, that made me pretty worried.

“Go on,” the officer said, impatiently.

“Okay, so… Dena and I went to this party and it was at Zach’s house. When we got there, we both hung out with the usual gang, a couple of friends of ours, including Zach and Chase. No one else knew at the moment, but Chase wasn’t exactly invited. He had jumped Zach the day before for calling him a fag or something and then it escalated. Knowing Zach, he probably didn’t want to start anything, so he let him come, not wanting anyone to know that they had beef or whatever. We played a couple of games, but then it got boring, so we went outside on the trampoline. Everyone was talking pretty loudly, so I guess no one heard their conversation except me. They started insulting each other, making it personal. And I guess that Chase brought up something about Zach making a move on him or something. I don’t know if that’s true, but it sounded like it was because right after Chase brought it up, Zach said something like, “I’m going to kill you.”… I guess Chase thought it was a joke, because he was dead later that night or morning. I know that before the party, over the summer, Zach had invited Chase over and Chase texted me that the time he had hung out with Zach was weird, without going into any detail. I had never had in mind to ask him, because I didn’t know it would extent to this point. So I guess the whole thing wasn’t in plain sight.” Hayes told the officer and me, news to both of us. I sat up, as if to hear more.

“Well, thank you, both.” He said, not so sure how to respond. “This all was recorded, so we will build up a case. You two are witnesses. If we need you, do you agree to testify in court?” he asked.

We both nodded. He thanked us again and on our way out, I remembered, “Wait, right when Hayes and I were leaving Zach’s house, he threw something down his laundry shoot in his room, I was in a black paper bag.” I said, considering that he might check in out later.

“Thank you, we will investigate his house later, we appreciate it.” He told us, we both nodded and headed home, and relieved again that it was all out in the opened.

When I got home, Hayes and I went in the basement, just to hang out and relax, now that there was nothing to worry about. I didn’t know all that stuff about Zach. It was like a new view on him, besides the fact that Hayes and I were convinced that he killed Chase.

I sat next to him on the couch. “Hey, are you okay?” I asked him, scooting over to a comfortable space between us two. He nodded, looking over at me and then looking back up at the TV, rubbing his eyes. I didn’t respond, there was nothing else to say.

I didn’t know how soon Hayes and I were going to ‘move on’, but I didn’t know when myself either. I leaned into his chest, now closer to him. He put his arm around me and I laid my head against his shoulder/chest. Closing my eyes and falling asleep, I finally felt safe again.