Cherry Bomb

This Is It

Police Station, Present Day

Anthony Lorenzo looked at Andrew sitting across from him in the interview room. Andrew sat there with the coffee cup sitting on the table right in front of him. Lorenzo held his notebook and watched as the shrunken teenager twirled his finger around the cup edge. Lorenzo cleared his throat and Andrew looked up at the police officer.

"What brings you to the police station today, Andrew?" Lorenzo questioned. Andrew sat back and placed his hands slowly on the table. Andrew had bruising and ligature marks on his wrists. There were scratches on his feet face, and the shrunken appearance meant he was held captive. Lorenzo felt more and more worried about what kind of trouble Andrew got himself into.

"I know who killed Ryan Spencer," Andrew said again. Lorenzo placed his notebook on the table and watched as Andrew sat back, sitting straight in the chair.

"Who did?" Lorenzo said. He looked over at the glass window, he knew that no one was there but he was hoping that maybe Stevenson stayed around or that the police chief was there.

"Scott Burgess," Andrew spat, "Carlos Martinez was there too, but he was mostly the ride to and from Ryan's house." Lorenzo wrote that down.

"Can you tell me how you came to know this?"

"I was captured. It's obvious who doesn't want me found."

"Was it Scott or Carlos who captured you?" Andrew stayed silent for a while, twirling the cup edge again.

"Scott lured me to his house, Carlos kept me in a shed back behind his mobile home," Andrew said.

"How did no one find out where you were?" Lorenzo asked.

"They threatened my parents, saying that they would make me look like the killer for Ryan, especially since they still had the murder weapon," Andrew gruffed from his throat. He made a little cough and reached for the cup of coffee. Lorenzo leaned in a little closer.

"I don't want this to be a false story and that you faked your kidnapping," Lorenzo said. Andrew shook his head. He got up from his seat and pulled up the shirt, bruising around his ribs and stomach showed more physical abuse from being captive.

"What made them do this to you?" Lorenzo asked taking a detailed note of every injury on Andrew's body.

"Ryan was going to transfer to a different college, start in a different year with me, Scott was mad. So he killed Ryan and he and Carlos staged the suicide."

"How do you know all this? Where is the murder weapon?" Andre got up that time and grabbed the Exacto knife that was hidden in his sleeve, the knife had fresh blood on the end, meaning he was cut while trying to run with the knife in his shirt sleeve.

"I was wearing a black and white baseball shirt, black pants, and checkered sneakers." Andrew motioned down to his clothing and Lorenzo saw rips in the jeans, the sneakers were gone, and the shirt had stains all over the front of it, red and brown dots.

"Can anyone prove your kidnapping?"

"My mother and step-sister, they were with me in the grocery store when Scott and Carlos approached us, they said they wanted to talk to me about Ryan and whether or not I have seen him. I knew something was wrong then, but I still went with them. That is when they shoved me inside Carlos' van and drove off to the mobile home Carlos lives in with his mother and grandmother." Lorenzo wrote another note down in his notebook.

"Anna Rainey and Tiffany Pearson?" Lorenzo asked. Andrew nodded. Lorenzo got up and Andrew grabbed his coffee.

"Wait here, I need to corroborate that this is the truth," Lorenzo said. He walked out of the interrogation room and Andrew sat back in the metal chair. He looked further and further into the coffee cup, watching the black liquid and cream make milky swirls and lighter brown colors.