Summer Daze

Chapter Twelve

Bobby woke with a tune swirling in his head and the feel of summer steam on his skin. He slapped his alarm clock and the music stopped. Rolling over to smile at Summer, he found an envelope on the pillow where her head should have been. He traced his own name written on the front and opened it with trepidation. ‘Here it comes’ he thought resignedly, ‘ I like you, Bobby, but you’re too…smart, intense, weird…for me.’ He slid the note from its wrapping and a slow smile of joy and relief spread across his face as he read her words.

Bobby,

Has anyone ever told you that you are amazing? I’ll bet they have…How about fantastic? Probably so…I’m going to have to work on increasing my vocabulary!

You’re beautiful when you’re sleeping. I didn’t want to wake you, but I had to get going. I’ve already missed the prime spot at Tompkins Square once this season because of you and I can’t afford to do that too many times when the tourists are out there. Baby’s got rent to pay!

We’ve got gigs for the next three days, so I won’t be able to come by. Call me if you want. I’ll see you as soon as I can.

Kisses,
Summer


Bobby returned the note to its envelope and placed it on his night table next to the alarm clock. He hopped out of bed and went about his morning ritual with a spring in his step.
In the kitchen, he poured his morning coffee into a travel mug and noticed a blue and white gum wrapper lying on the counter. His smile widened with the knowledge that his whirlwind had left it there and swept it into the garbage before heading out the door.

In an interrogation room on the eleventh floor of One Police Plaza, Detective Eames was slamming her head against a wall that looked a lot like a green haired female musician.

“Look,” Alex sighed, “No one would blame you. I saw the evidence…What he did to your pillow…I’d want to kill him..;”

“I didn’t kill him.” Summer returned angrily, “I wasn’t even there.”

“Where were you?” Eames asked for what seemed like the hundredth time, hoping she would get a different answer…She didn’t.

“With a friend.”

“All night?”

“Yes.”

“What’s your friend’s name?”

“None of your business.”

The detective put her hands behind her head and looked down for a moment, resisting the urge to scream.

“Summer.” She said firmly, raising her head to look the suspect in the eye, “If you didn’t do it, fine…Great...But, right now, all the evidence is pointing straight to you. You hated Andrew and everyone knows it. Your fingerprints are all over the apartment…”

Summer started to object and remind Alex that she lived there, but Eames stopped her with a raised hand. “If you want me to help you, you’ve got to help yourself. You have to give me something…anything…so I can clear you. Come on, your friend’s name … a DNA sample …anything.”

Summer glared at the detective and muttered, “Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty…Dad was right…I don’t have to give you anything. There is no way you have any proof. You couldn’t possibly have…I DIDN’T DO IT!”

A slight tapping from behind the glass caught Eames’ attention. She glanced back to see her own reflection and had to wonder why she always did that…did she honestly expect that someday she would see the person signaling her?

“I’ll be right back.” She said with a terse nod to her suspect and went to the observation room.

Captain Danny Ross started speaking before Alex had fully entered the small, dark room, “You’re getting nowhere. Let’s give it a rest and go see how Logan is doing with the brother.”

They walked across the hall to another observation room and Ross held the door for his detective. He looked up just in time to see Goren walk around the corner. He closed the door behind Eames and marched up to Bobby.

“Where have you been? Why couldn’t your partner reach you?”

The big detective looked taken aback and immediately began fishing in his pocket for his cell phone. “What?” he asked, genuinely confused when he found the device wasn’t on. “It’s off, I don’t know how that happened, I’m sorry…”

“No time.” The captain gave his curt reply, “There’s been another murder, possible connection to the Morgan girl. Your partner could use some help with the suspects. Come on, I’ll brief you.”

Bobby emerged from the captain’s office a short time later looking calm and contemplative to all the outside world even though his heart was threatening to pound right out of his chest.

He entered the observation room and was mildly surprised to find Logan watching Eames as she attempted to glean some piece of information from Jarv Davis.

“What are you retarded or something? I already told you. Summer wouldn’t kill anybody.”

Logan switched off the speaker and turned to the opposite window where his partner; that girl with the red hair, they changed so often Goren could never keep their names straight; was conducting a similarly unsuccessful interrogation with Kai Hamlett.

“…I mean, just look at her!” the bassist said emphatically, “Summer’s…what? Three feet tall and weighs twelve pounds…Whose ass could she really kick anyway?”

“These kids are nuts.” Logan droned, “None of them is going to talk…It would be so much easier if we could just throw them all in one room and smack them around until somebody confesses.”

“I need to talk to Eames,” was Bobby’s only response as he signaled his partner by tapping on the glass.

He escorted his partner to a quiet corner of the break room and took a little too much time getting their coffees as he mentally prepared himself for what he knew he had to do.

Bobby told her everything and listened patiently to her whispered rant about the idiocy of his actions.

With her lecture complete and no other suspect in the case, Alex had to ask, “Are you sure she was with you all night? You didn’t sleep? No details, please.”

“Yes, we slept.” He answered quietly, “She woke me at about two a.m. and this morning there was a note…”

“What time did you fall asleep the first time?” Eames pressed.

“I’m not sure…I think around ten or eleven.”

Alex gave him a stony look, “The victim was killed sometime between midnight and one a.m. She could have left and come back, Bobby. You would be the perfect alibi.”

Bobby slowly shook his head, “I don’t believe that.”

“You don’t want to believe it.” Eames retorted.

“Ross said you had DNA.” He continued, “A sample would clear her.”

“She won’t give us a sample…What does that tell you?”

He knew his partner was angry and that she had every right to be. She thought his judgment was clouded and he could see her point, but he honestly could not connect the free-spirited, fun loving Summer with the heinous, cold-blooded, bludgeoning murder of someone she knew. That kind of violence didn’t fit her personality.

Sure, he’d seen Summer hit, kick, and trip her band mates in fits of anger. But it had always seemed good natured; more like a wake-up call than an actual intent to do harm.

“Let me talk to her.” He sighed.

“You’d better do more than talk. We need that sample. And, whatever you do, don’t tell Ross what you just told me.”
Alex called Ross away from the observation room, where he stood watching Summer glare at the two way mirror with her arms folded across her chest, under the pretext of needing his help with John Newsom. That was Bobby’s cue to take advantage of a few unmonitored moments with Summer.

Summer brightened when she saw him enter the room. “Get me out of here.” She whispered as he sat down across from her.

“I want to.” He answered, “but you have to give a DNA sample so we can clear you.”

“No.” she answered, “I don’t want my genetic material on file.”

“Spoken like a true conspiracy theorist. Your parents really are hippies, aren’t they?” he cocked his head to the side as he looked at her with soft, pleading eyes. “If you don’t do this, I am going to have to tell my boss about us and then I will be out of a job.”

“There has to be another way.” Her eyes begged as strongly as his, “You know I didn’t do this.”


Bobby sighed heavily and looked at his hands folded on the cold steel table, hating himself for what he was about to do.

“I can’t be certain…” he began.

“What!?!” Summer’s voice echoed and her eyes flashed like lightening as storm clouds gathered around her in the tiny gray room.

“I was sleeping,” he went on, forcing his voice to remain strong, “You could have left and come back…”

“I didn’t.” she growled.

“How can I be sure?” he asked simply, “Let me do a DNA test.”

Summers face glowed red with anger and tears welled in her eyes, “FINE!”

Eames cringed at yet another tap on interrogation room glass. She knew she couldn’t hold Ross back any longer. He wanted to see what was happening with Summer. Fortunately, she saw the lab technician headed for Bobby at the door to interrogation room two. When she and Ross were in position and switched on the speaker, the tech began putting on her latex gloves.

Summer slammed her fist on the table. “NO!” she yelled and pointed at Bobby, “You do it…Since you’re so unsure.”

Her voice was soft and dripping with venom. Goren motioned for a pair of gloves while green fire flew from Summer’s hard eyes and engulfed his soul. He cupped her chin and, as he brought the swab toward her waiting mouth, she began to hum.

Ross turned to Eames and asked, “Why is she humming the tune to ‘Bobby’s Girl’?”