Fiction, Part V!

Sam woke to a pounding in her head that made her want to burrow deeper into the pillows and blankets. She could feel Ty beside her, his arm tightening around her waist as she moved closer to him, and the pounding seemed to take on a life of its own.

"Is somebody at the door?" he finally grumbled.

"Jesus!" She sat up, coming awake quickly as she realized that it was, indeed, someone knocking on the door. And they were getting insistent. "Get in the bathroom!" she hissed, nudging him. "What if it's Johnny again?!"

"Christ." He rolled off the bed and disappeared into the bathroom as she pulled on a robe and closed the bedroom door behind her. "I'm coming!" she yelled as she padded across the living room. She peeked out the door and felt her heart start slamming in her chest as she recognized two police officers.

"Samantha Weber?" the first officer asked her, his eye narrowed slightly, giving his already round face a strange, pinched look.

"Yes, is something wrong?" she breathed, pulling her robe closer around her.

"We have reason to believe there's a Ty von Etter on the premises." The officer held a badge in his hand.

"On the premises?" she questioned, suddenly feeling a twinge of fear. "What does that mean? What's going on?"

"Is he here, Miss?" the second officer stood up straighter and seemed to be trying to intimidate her.

Samantha raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a search warrant? Am I in some kind of trouble?"

"Miss, we just need to talk to him," the first officer said quietly. "We have some questions about a case we're investigating and he seems to be missing. His roommates haven't seen him and they said he's missed work the last couple of days."

"I'm here, Officers." Ty came out of the bedroom in clean jeans and a t-shirt, though his feet were still bare and his hair definitely needed brushing. "You don't need to involve Samantha--"

"Ty, hush up!" Sam glared at him and for a moment they shared a silent battle of wills, with Ty eventually relenting. "Officers, you don't have a search warrant, and you're obviously not afraid for my welfare, so either tell us what's going on, or we're going to close the door and go back to bed." Sam was totally bluffing--she'd never spoken like that to a teacher, much less an officer of the law--but they didn't know that.

"Could we come in?" the second officer asked after a glance at his partner.

"Of course." Sam stepped aside and the two men came in, looking around as though they expected to find drugs or piles of stolen DVD players.

"Mr. von Etter, we understand you're acquainted with a Ms. Lynn Stahl?"

"Yes. She's my ex-girlfriend. We dated all through high school and on and off since then." Ty looked from one to the other, suddenly edgy. "Why? What's going on? Is she okay?"

"Why would you ask that?" the first officer asked quietly, looking at him.

"Because I've been calling her for days and she hasn't called back and now you're here." Ty shoved his hands into his pockets. "Tell me what's happened to her? Did someone hurt her?"

"She's dead, Mr. von Etter."

"Oh my God." Sam gaped at them, her mouth hanging open as she stared from one to the other.

"No, no, no, no!" Ty sank onto the couch and buried his face in his hands. "Dammit, I knew it. I knew they were going to do something! I knew it! I told you, Sam! Didn't I? Didn't I tell you that they--"

"Who is they, Mr. von Etter?" Officer number two leaned down towards Ty.

"I, er, they..." His voice faultered and he looked at Sam pleadingly. Then he seemed to find his voice. "Tell me what happened," Ty whispered hoarsely, his face suddenly even more ghostly white than usual. "Just tell me what happened to her." He clenched his fists tightly at his sides, and stared off in the distance.

"She was strangled." The officer with the narrow eyes spoke with slightly more compassion.

"Was she in her apartment?" he whispered again.

"Her apartment?" Office number two blinked. "No, she was at your apartment. Your roommates found her early this morning when they got home, around 4 a.m."

"In my apartment?!" Ty stood up like a shot and glared at them. "Didn't you talk to them? Didn't you ask them what the hell she was doing there?! She lives in God damn Minnesota! She's never been to that apartment and--"

"Hang on, Mr. von Etter, now, we--" The first officer tried to talk to him, but Ty stalked to the other side of the room.

"Don't tell me to hang on!" he yelled, looking around. "Don't you understand what's happened? Those bastards killed her and I bet they told you they think I did it, right? That I'm missing, that I'm weird or some such bullshit. Johnny probably gave you his song and dance about how I'm like a brother to him, but I've always been a little strange, and how my relationship with Lynn has been on and off and that I don't treat her right. Right? Right?!" He looked at the two policemen knowingly.

They exchanged a glance that told Sam everything she needed to know and she bounded into action. "Has her family been notified?" she asked, standing beside Ty and putting a comforting hand on his forearm.

"One of your roomies gave us--"

"So what do you want from us?" Sam asked, interrupting. "Ty has been with me since Friday night. He hasn't left the house. His roommates took his rent money and then told him he must have lost it, so he's been hiding out here with me. Does he need an alibi? Do we need to make some kind of formal statement?" She looked at them calmly, waiting as though she hadn't another care in the world.

"Mr. von Etter has a history with the victim, and she was found dead in his bed, so we need to ask him some questions."

"Ask them!" Ty growled, his chest heaving with the effort it was taking for him to stay calm. "Ask me whatever you want! I didn't hurt her--I would never hurt her! I loved her most of my life! Just because we couldn't live together doesn't mean I killed her!"

"Calm down," Sam whispered, moving closer to him. "Just answer their questions."

Ty sat down then, his hand clamped tightly around Sam's, and told the officers everything that had happened in the previous weeks. Sam added her own experiences in the last few days, and the policemen wrote everything down without comment. They asked a few more questions and then slowly stood up.

"Mr. von Etter, are you planning to remain here for a while? Your apartment will be a crime scene for another 24 hours and then you'll be allowed back in."

"You're welcome to stay here," Sam whispered to him.

"Thanks." He nodded numbly. "Yeah, I guess I'll be here for a while longer."

"Don't leave town, Mr. von Etter. There will be detectives on the case with more questions."

"I'm not going anywhere," Ty said as they retreated out of the apartment.

For a while, they sat there quietly, neither speaking. Finally, Sam reached over and touched his face. "You okay?"

"I'm numb." He said after a long moment. "I'm sad, because she was my first everything and I'll always love her, but more than that I'm scared, because I know I didn't do it and that whoever did is trying to make it look like I did."

"I know." She squeezed his hand. "But we're not going to let anyone frame you. We'll figure this out. We'll make calls, we'll get a lawyer--"

"How the hell am I going to pay a lawyer?" he interrupted. "I can't even pay my own rent! My parents still send me grocery money! I'm 28 years old and I don't have a pot to piss in--how the hell am I going to get a lawyer?!"

"We'll figure it out," she said gently. "I could lend you--"

"No!" He glared at her. "You're already doing too much--I never should have involved you, but I guess it's too late for that! You're not going to give me money. I'll get a day job, or sell a few guitars, I'll do something." He got up and started to pace. "He killed her. I can't believe he killed her." He turned and stared at Sam. "Sam, I've known Johnny my whole life, and up until about a week ago, I never would have guessed he was capable of something like this. What the hell am I going to do?"

Sam didn't have any answers for him.

To be continued...