Kari-Ann's Arrest

That evening as I was getting ready for bed, I got a text message from Sabrina, saying that she needed to talk to me about her lunch with Kari-Ann. She’d already sent me the audio recording of her conversation with Kari-Ann, and I thought she did a splendid job of digging the truth out of her and putting her entirely on the spot. In the recording, Kari-Ann told Sabrina pretty much the same thing that she’d already told me, so that was nothing new. I decided to give Sabrina a call.

“Hi, how are you, Sabrina?” I asked.

“I’m great, Erika. Are you about to head to sleep now?”

“Almost, but I don’t mind talking to you. What’s up?”

She took a deep breath before she replied, which indicated that it wasn’t something pleasant. “Erika, I just gotta say this… I shared the recording with Detective Marshall when he came over to speak with me, and Frank and Elizabeth. After thinking it through, Marshall suggested that maybe it’s better to get Kari-Ann by surprise on Monday. You know, in other words… I know you heard in the recording that I asked Kari-Ann to turn herself in first thing on Monday morning, but Marshall said that it’s not a good idea because it’ll probably give her the chance to ask for a lawyer or something. He suggested that a better way to go about it is to take her completely by surprise when she’s at school with you guys, so…”

“So, they’ll get her when she’s at school?” I asked.

“Yes. Because if she turns herself in first thing in the morning, she’ll probably lawyer up–as usual–and her defense will claim mental illness and all that other nonsense, that she had no idea what she was doing. But if the cops show up unexpectedly at school and take her into custody, then it’ll be great because she won’t try to resist or demand a lawyer right on the spot. She’ll have no choice but to come clean right away. After all, don’t you agree that it’s better for her to be taken by surprise? She should’ve known this was a long time coming. Right?”

I didn’t disagree with that; as long as she was actually taken in custody and she knew she wouldn’t get away with it anymore, that was what was most important to me. “Honestly, Sabrina, I really don’t care… Just as long as she owns up to it, at the very least. You and Frank deserve that. As long as I know that I won’t be seeing her at school in a while, I don’t mind.”

She gave a small smile. “Are you sure you’re completely okay with this, Erika? You seem to be handling this whole situation with grace, no matter the circumstances that have come your way so far. You know, the little friction you and Arthur had with each other some while ago… You’re so strong through all of this. I just want to know your secret, if you can tell me.” She chuckled.

There was no secret, actually. I believed that most of it was my acknowledgement that Kari-Ann and I were actually growing apart. All my life, I felt like I’d been blindsided by Kari-Ann’s true character until now… Doing what she did to Eric Walker, no matter the type of person that he was. “I don’t know,” I replied as I gave a little shrug. “I guess it’s just growing up and realizing that sometimes your best friends from childhood aren’t exactly who you expect them to be for the rest of your life.”

She noticed that I sounded a little down when I said that. “I’m very sorry, Erika. I know how close you and Kari-Ann used to be. You’ve known her pretty much your whole life, and it must be really devastating for you to find out this way that people are capable of changing, whether for the best or for the worst. It always completely blindsides us to know that people who we’re closest to are capable of doing bad things to other people, doesn’t it?”

“It does.” I gave a poignant sigh. “But like I just said, it doesn’t really matter anymore. As far as I can tell, Kari-Ann is dead to me.”

“You really feel that way, huh?” She had a sympathetic tone in her voice.

“Yes, Sabrina. I just want her to own up to her mistakes and sit in jail for as long as she needs to. I don’t want to see her free, getting to live her life like it’s nothing. None of us at school could stand Eric, but that doesn’t mean he deserved what happened to him. He was your son, Sabrina. He’ll always be your only child, and this isn’t fair to you.”

Sabrina was flattered that I was putting her feelings first. A terrible injustice had happened to her when she and Frank lost Eric. “Erika, you have the kindest heart ever. I know I’ve said this before, but I just want to thank you for being there for me and checking in on me during this time. I’m really grateful to have your support and your companionship. That’s all I really need right now.”

It was nothing; I just wanted to be there for her in any way that I could. “No need to keep thanking me, Sabrina. Seriously, I mean it.” I chuckled. “If you ever want to just talk, I’m open to it. I’m also open to hearing more cute, funny, or lame stories about Eric.” We both chuckled.

“I’ve got millions of them. Whenever you’re ready to hear one of them, I’ll tell you. Anyway, we’ll talk tomorrow, so I’ll leave you to it. Have a good night.”

“You too, Sabrina,” I said, then hung up.

***

The rest of that weekend flew by so fast that you couldn’t believe how quickly it came and was finally over, and now it was Monday again. Another week of school to get through, as usual. But I knew it wasn’t going to be just a normal week, though. It was the week when Kari-Ann would finally be held accountable for her actions. I couldn’t wait for that moment. I think at this point, everyone kind of knew that she was responsible for killing Eric. There was no secret about it. Word traveled fast at Jimmy Carter High, so there was no point in denying the rumors.

And speaking of the Devil… It wasn’t worse enough that our lockers were still right next to each other. No worries, though. I knew that once she was arrested, then she’d probably get expelled. I knew that Ms. Szasky would never let her back at this school again.

I wasn’t on speaking terms with Kari-Ann, but she took it upon herself to instigate unnecessary drama. “I bet you’re gloating now,” she said as she gave me a death stare after opening up her locker.

I tried to play her game. “Gloating? About what?” I scoffed.

“Convincing Sabrina to arrange a lunch date with me so that I could tell her everything that happened with Eric that night.”

I scoffed again. “Yeah, right. Like I’d ever do such a thing. And even if I did, you knew she’d still be onto you because you were literally the last person with him that night.”

She shook her head. “You think you’re such a nice person who cares about everyone, and you can try to act all sweet and understanding… But the truth is, you’re not. Far from it. You don’t even know Olivia Lansing’s history with guys. She tends to go after guys who are taken, but you just had to go ahead and assume that I was the one who stole Eric from her. Newsflash, Slatten: maybe next time, think twice about who you consider to be your ‘friends’ before you start having their backs and worshiping them.” She put air quotes around “friends.”

“Whatever.” I sighed as I slammed shut my locker after getting all the books that I needed for my first-period class. I did not have the time or energy to deal with her drama today, especially on a gloomy Monday morning. But I think she knew that.

But it wasn’t over yet. “Not to mention, you’re telling almost everyone that I’m faking a mental illness, which you’ve got a hell of a damn nerve to say, Erika, because you have no freaking idea what I’ve been through since that night. So, you’re really not as loyal a friend as you think you are, if you’re willing to spread untrue rumors about other people, especially those who have serious issues that they’re dealing with inside, like me for one. This may probably come as a shock to you, but everyone’s got something that they’re dealing with. And you have no right to make me feel like the bad guy for having a mental breakdown over what happened that night.”

Was she seriously lecturing me? “Was that why you didn’t come back to the party?” I challenged her. “Because you didn’t want anyone to see you as a killer?” I couldn’t help it if I was raising my voice; I needed everyone to know Kari-Ann Maloney for who she really was: a cold-blooded killer who killed Eric Walker.

And everyone was staring in our direction, including Arthur, Daphne, and Olivia and Karina. That’s just what I needed right now this morning: an audience.

Kari-Ann stormed off, having nothing to say. I guess calling her out as a killer in front of everyone left her speechless, because it was the truth. She was a killer. No ifs, ands, or buts. She took someone’s life. Someone we might have all despised but was still a human being at the end of the day. Someone whose parents just lost their child for good.

Pretty soon, we reported to Homeroom, where we heard Szasky’s announcement that an assembly meeting would be taking place right now, so we needed to start heading over to the gym, as usual. She noted that it was a “very important” meeting, but at the time, it didn’t actually click with me what it was going to be all about. Everyone was chatting among themselves, wondering what this assembly was going to be about this time.

One thing for sure: it definitely had nothing to do with any college recruiters. J.C. High had a notoriously tarnished reputation now, all thanks to a certain person. I wondered if that’s what the assembly was going to be about.

We all gathered at the assembly, sitting anywhere on the bleachers. Arthur and I sat next to each other, along with Daphne, Olivia and Karina, and a few of the other girls from cheerleading. Then we saw four Ryder PD officers standing there, two of which were Detective Kwong and Lieutenant Jacobsen, so at that moment, we all had a sinking feeling about what this meeting was going to be about. Detective Marshall was not present, so I assumed that he was in charge of obtaining a search warrant for Kari-Ann’s place.

Szasky cleared her throat as she spoke into the microphone. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for taking the time to be here on this pleasant Monday morning. We have an update from our fellow officers about the investigation into Eric Walker’s death. Let’s hear it from Lieutenant Jacobsen.”

Jacobsen cleared his throat before speaking. “Good morning, and I hope we’re all doing fine today. As you just heard your principal announce, we do have an update in the investigation of Eric Walker’s death. It is to our belief that someone at this school is responsible, and we are about to proceed with an arrest. So, I’d like to ask… Is there a Kari-Ann Maloney here today? Kari-Ann?”

Now that was pretty awkward. I saw her glaring at me as everyone in the crowd turned to stare at her. She had no choice but to turn herself in now. “I’m here,” she said as she raised up her hand.

“Kari-Ann?” Jacobsen said. “Would you mind stepping down here, please?”

Everyone muttered as they watched Kari-Ann step down from the bleachers and went up to Jacobsen. Jacobsen then told her, “Our department has found evidence linking you to Eric Walker’s death on the evening of Labor Day. We have a lot of evidence that points to you, physical, digital and audio. So, you can make this easy for us by turning around and putting your hands behind your back. You are formally charged with killing Eric Walker, and we’ll also be conducting a search of your residence for any additional evidence.” At that moment, Kari-Ann turned around as one of the officers came and placed handcuffs on her, and we were just fascinated audience members of this spectacle. “We’ll be conducting another search of your locker and your backpack as well.”

Then he turned to us. “Thank you, folks, for your cooperation with this investigation. I know it hasn’t been easy to have us monitoring your every move here at Jimmy Carter High, but it was worth it for this investigation. We needed to get our answers, and now we’ve finally gotten them. We will keep you posted on the next steps in the second part of this case, but other than that, you are free to go about your lives here at school without law enforcement surveillance.”

As if it were a performance, we all gave a round of applause. It was mostly to thank the cops for their very hard work and dedication to solving this case. Now we could all rest easily, knowing that we didn’t need another cop monitoring our moves in the halls. We could all give a sigh of relief. Kari-Ann was finally in custody, and there was no way she could get away with it now.

After that assembly meeting, that was all anyone could really talk about all day long. It was the subject of icebreaker conversations and rumors–as usual–at J.C. High. We all had a feeling that Kari-Ann wouldn’t get away with it, but you still couldn’t help but to speculate. What would her sentence be? What about her brother Damian and his friends?

We knew that Kari-Ann wouldn’t be coming back to school anytime soon, so that was one big relief in itself. I still felt bad for her, though, but not in a compassionate way. I felt bad for her because she was the one who’d brought it all upon herself. No one asked her to take Eric home from the party that night. I’m sure he didn’t even ask her to, either. She just volunteered herself to do it, for whatever reason that we’d never really understand.

Also, there was extensive media coverage on the whole case, making our school the center of public attention once again, and a further tarnished reputation as “the school where that murder took place.” All because of one damn person: Kari-Ann.