Novella Part 3

Officer Roberts was driving his normal route in his squad car when he got a call on his radio, “Unit 45 to 1205 West 5th street for a welfare concern.” “That’s Jenna’s house. Oh no. Something must be wrong,” the Roberts mumbled to himself. “Unit 45 I’m 10-96,” he replied in his radio. Upon arrival, he knocked on the door to Jenna’s townhouse. About that time, a second patrol car pulled up. When he doesn’t get a response from the residence, Roberts removed his Glock from its holster and turned the doorknob. Immediately, he saw the broken picture frame on the floor. After clearing the first floor, he proceeded up the stairs with the other patrol unit. Roberts noticed some dark red dots in the carpet. “Oh geez,” he muttered. He paused for a moment, and pushed open the door to Jenna’s bedroom. Officer Roberts was appalled at what he saw. “Lord have mercy,” the second patrol unit said. “We need a bus, coroner, and CID,” he radioed to the dispatch center. After making sure Jenna wasn’t anywhere on the property, the officer became relieved, but also didn’t know what to make of the situation. Lauren walked into Jenna’s bedroom. “Jesus Christ. What happened in here?” “What are you doing here Lauren?” Roberts asks. “I was informed that an A.D.A.’s husband has just been found dead. What do you think I’m doing here? Go pick her up. She has to be interrogated.” Roberts sighed. He didn’t want to pick Jenna up. He knew she would never so such a horrible thing, but it was protocol and this was going to be a high priority case. Everything had to be executed to the tee. As Jenna’s day goes on, she become uneasy. Her meetings and court preps didn’t take her mind off of what she had done. It didn’t matter where she was, she felt like there was a huge target on her back. Working on the mountain of paperwork in her office, she glanced at the clock. It was finally four forty-five. Just fifteen more minutes until she could leave this place. Just then, the Officer Roberts from the twelfth precinct knocked on her office door. His usual attire consisted of a dark navy blue uniform with his badge, his Glock, his handcuffs, etc. This older man seemed disgruntled. Jenna had only seen him this way when they worked domestic violence and rape cases together. “Mrs. Ray?” “Roberts. Thank you so much for finding the murder weapon for the Hensley case. I owe you one,” Jenna said with enthusiasm. “You need to come with me. Something has happened, and well, it would be best if we talked down at the precinct. It’s very important,” he stated. She rose from her desk without hesitation, wondering if it was about her husband. She couldn’t help but wonder how they had found out. Her daily routine had been maintained as if it was any normal day. She spoke to no one about the incident. Jenna faked it out of the courthouse, treating the police presence like there was an emergency on a case. She couldn’t help but think everything was fine, but she knew it wasn’t. The only way for her to get out of this was to play the victim card. Roberts opened the passenger side door to his police car, motioning for her to get in. They drove to the precinct in silence. She was hoping that it was just a big misunderstanding and that he didn’t have any inkling of what she had done. Upon arrival, Jenna was immediately put in a dark, dingy interrogation room where she was to wait to be questioned. The room felt damp, and the light flickered as if it would burn out at any moment. Her chair wobbled only slightly, but enough to annoy. She knew this method of interrogation. It was a scare tactic, and she was most definitely a suspect. However, she was not intimidated by their efforts to scare her. If they asked, she would answer. She had nothing to hide. The D.A. would probably go easy on her anyway, especially after the new leaf her and Lauren had just turned. Jenna was a highly respected part of the D.A.’s office and it will soon become known that she was a victim of domestic abuse. Her long kept secret was about to be revealed. She knew this game better than most. They locked her in this mold infested room in hopes of getting her to snap when in all reality she was sitting here very calmly. She hums one of her favorite tunes to pass the time and study her week old manicure. Jenna knew they were behind that one-way mirror discussing her body language. She didn’t care. She had a plan anyway: be the victim. Cutting her husband’s throat had brought her so much joy and happiness. All of a sudden, the door knob began to turn and the door flung open. Some new detective walked in with his hands on his hips and slammed the door behind him, rattling the window. He gave me a look that he believed to be intimidating. Unfortunately, intimidation wasn’t something that could be taught. Jenna laughed. This had to be a joke. Before the rookie could say a word, Jenna said, “Cute. But no. I will only speak to Roberts.” The “fresh out of the academy” looking detective became startled, but nonetheless, he immediately exited the room. Jenna could faintly hear him say, “I’m sorry. I can’t do it.,’ and patiently waited for Roberts. She examined the princess cut diamond wedding ring set on her left ring finger. The big diamond was set off by smaller diamonds around the band. Her husband never told her how much he spent on it, but she knew it was close to a quarter of a million dollars. After what felt like an hour, Roberts finally let himself into the room. “Well, Jenna. Do you know why you’re here?” he asked. “Why don’t you tell me?” she replied. “We found your husband’s body?” “What do you mean ‘found his body?’” Jenna asked, choking out fake tears to hide her knowledge. “Jenna. Keith is dead. Someone killed him. Do you happen to know if he had any enemies or someone who would want to hurt him?” Jenna began to let to tears roll down her face. Maybe it was because she really did care that Keith was dead. Or maybe it was because she really wanted them to believe that she was innocent. “Roberts, I have to tell you something and I’m not proud of it.” The officer sat back in his chair and asked, “What’s that?” “I haven’t been living at home. It’s been about a month. Keith and I...well there was infidelity. On my part. He found out about it and kicked me out. I’ve been staying at my boyfriend’s apartment ever since then.” “Jenna. Why didn’t you tell me? I thought we were better friends than that,” the officer said. Jenna picked at the sleeve of her jacket. “I was ashamed. I didn’t want anyone to know that I was weak. That I had cheated on my husband.” “So you have no idea who would want to harm your husband?” “Everyone loved Keith. The only person who he would have ever had an issue with was with Jacob. And I know Jacob would never do something like this. He wouldn’t ever want to hurt me.” “Okay Jenna. We need to speak with Jacob. Where is he?” “He owns a club on 59th street. He should be there now.” She said hesitantly. Roberts nodded and exited the room. Lauren stood behind the glass contemplating whether or not she should believe Jenna. They had never been particularly close, but Jenna was a damn good prosecutor and Lauren knew it. “Roberts, how hard is this case going to be? I mean, do you think she did it? Or are we looking at the boyfriend?” Lauren asked. “I would never even dream of Jenna being able to do something like this. She is the nicest and sweetest person I know. My money is on the boyfriend. Jenna wasn’t ready to divorce Keith. Maybe that made Jacob mad and he killed Keith.” Lauren danced with the theory in her mind. Since this was such a high priority case, it was going to be up to her whether or not charges were charged on Jenna, and she definitely didn’t want to wrongfully accuse her. “Go talk to the boyfriend. See what he has to say,” Lauren said as she walked towards the elevator. She had some of her own investigating to do.