Shred of Evidence

“That’s when I realised that if I didn’t kill her, someone else would. And I couldn’t let that happen.”

Jack’s jaw dropped. “You killed her?”

“Oh yes.” Ryan seemed completely unperturbed, picking up his burger and biting into it. His friend stared at the juice oozing from the meat and felt his stomach lurch queasily. He had to admit that Ryan had always been a little strange. There had been that incident with the frog in college, and after all nobody had been able to prove that the tank hadn’t been left accidentally unlocked, but still…

“You actually killed her.” Jack just couldn’t get his mind around this. “Stone dead. Cold. Body on the floor.”

“Oh no!” Ryan shook his head. “I didn’t leave her body on the floor. That wouldn’t have been right.”

“Oh, right. Good.”

“It’s in the freezer.”

Jack’s jaw went slack for the second time. “It’s in the freezer,” he repeated dazedly.

“Yes.” Ryan took another bite out of the burger and chewed enthusiastically for a moment or two. “I didn’t want to mar her skin. She wouldn’t have wanted to go all grey and mouldy looking like those zombies in the film the other night. Of course…” For the first time a troubled expression crept across his face. “The hammer did do a bit of damage.” His face cleared again. “But that couldn’t be helped. You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.”

“Eggs,” Jack said flatly

“Did you ever think…maybe…that she didn’t have to be killed?” he ventured cautiously.

Ryan shook his head. “I couldn’t let someone else kill her. That wouldn’t have been right. Remember what my Dad always used to say? If you want to do a job properly, do it yourself.”

Jack did remember Ryan’s Dad. The two of them had been friends since kindergarten. When he was younger he had never really understood why his mother had always seemed so unwilling to let him play around Ryan’s after school. It was only later, when he was older, that the truth had really sunk in. The reason for the bruises on Ryan’s Mum’s arms. The reason why the house was always so quiet when his Dad was around.

Then one day he had gone.

It had been quite exciting to a boy barely in his teens to see all the policemen, but nothing had ever been found. Ryan’s Dad had just walked out of work one day and never went home, it seemed. Now Jack had to wonder.

“Ryan…” He stopped.

“Yes?”

Jack sighed. “Nothing.”

Slowly, he rubbed a fingertip across the spot just between his eyebrows which always seemed to be where a headache started from. He could feel a stunner coming on now. “Perhaps,” he suggested, “we should go and see how she is…in the freezer? Just to check.”

A smile lit up his friend’s face. “Sure, why not. She might even like the company. It’s pretty quiet in there after all, and she always was a party girl.”

“Yes, she was.” And that, he suspected, was the reason why Ryan had felt she had to die. All those nights out with the girls, only the group didn’t contain just girls and sometimes there had only been her and the other guy. It had even been rumoured that she was considering leaving Ryan. He was too odd, she said, and he didn’t want to let her have any fun. Well, she certainly would have appreciated being the centre of attention anyway, and she would probably think all the policemen were exciting when they turned up too.

With a quiet sigh, he rose to his feet. “I just need to make a quick phone call,” he said.