BBDW 69 [Black Butterfly] - Nevereverland

Section 76.2 & 77 (UNEDITED)

"Marilyn's friends are complimenting you a lot. They said you are a good mother."

Marilyn nodded with a bewildered look as Jude grinned and said that. Glancing at the calmly seated Tim, trying to hide her uneasiness, Jude said lightly at Marilyn.

"Well, can you name the teachers at Joshua's school?"

"......what?"

The woman asked back blankly. Tim also unwittingly looked back at his partner. Jude shrugged and repeated.

"Joshua's school teachers. I'm sure you know some of them. He should’ve told you this and that."

"Oh, it's..... Miller, Teacher Brandon Miller. He cares about him the most."

Marilyn replied in a hurry. And there’s a few seconds of silence. Jude pressed for Marilyn, who had stiffened with a bewildered face.

"And? Don't tell me he only tells his mother about one teacher. Tell me more."

"It's... I... I'm usually busy, so I don't talk to my kid that often. But I'm always trying to do what's best for my kid, and I'm a single mother, and it's natural to get stuck with work."

The shaky voice soon became confident. Jude asked the next question without giving it a break.

"Well, let's say so. Do you know how Joshua's grades are?"

"Grades...... just average......"

"What's Joshua's favourite subject?"

"It's ..."

"What's his favourite sport? Did he do club activities? What's his hobby?"

"Hey, what is up with you for a while now!"

Marilyn's voice went up. The smile faded from Jude's face. Joshua, who was clutching his thick clothes on his thigh tightly, looked at Jude with weary eyes. The large, round eyes were oddly empty. It’s not the smell of sunflowers; it smells like blood from the grass in the dark. It's from people who have lost something. Recalling the words of the little girl who had recently visited him in the hospital room, Jude looked into his expressionless eyes. The child's gaze was watering as if pleading. Jude, who soon turned his eyes, cut his word shortly at Marilyn.

"Get out."

"What?"

"I said get out."

"Wh, what are you talking about? He's having a hard time without me. He can't even talk without me!"

"All right, get out, Mother of the Year. I think there's something he can't say when his mother is around. So get out of here, you should go to the bathroom. Your face is crazy right now. Did you remove your makeup? If you don't remove your makeup for a long time, you'll get old quickly."

Marilyn's face was filled with a light of anger and there was a glimmer of surprise on Tim's face at the plain hostility and sarcastic tone. As a matter of course, he has seen his partner drooping, being lazy, annoying and whining on a daily basis, but he rarely sees him expressing anger. Staring straight at Marilyn whose lips were trembling, Jude grinned. His finger pointing at the door was firm. The woman soon bit her lips and got herself up. Her hands holding Joshua’s hand were gentle.

"Joshua, I'm gonna go out for a minute, so stay here, okay? Don't answer any questions from the detectives."

"Do you want to be charged with obstruction of justice? Stop nagging and get out of here."

Marilyn's eyes jerked back at Jude. At his beck and call, she swings her head and soon opened the door roughly and left the interrogation room. Jude quickly pulled Tim's shoulder, looking at her attitude with questionable eyes, and whispered in his ear.

"Follow her."

"What, Marilyn?"

"Yeah, watch what she’s doing. You really shouldn't miss it even if she goes to the bathroom."

"......okay, don't be so hard on the kid, Jude."

Tim nodded and got up from his seat. The glance at Joshua was full of pitiful light. As soon as Tim left the room, Jude turned his head and headed toward Joshua. The child’s shoulders cowered. Joshua’s legs were shaking spasmodically as he bites his lips. Jude, who turned around the chair he was sitting in, asked briskly.

"Now, it's time for Truth or Dare game, Joshua."  

"Uh, Mom, if she’s not here, won't talk, I won't talk…."

The child stuttered. Jude shook his head excitedly and clasps his hands together.

"Joshua, Joshua. There are many reasons why people lie, but there are only two reasons they lie when they abandon themselves. They want to protect someone or they're threatened by someone. Well, I don't know. Which one are you? The latter, of course?"

"Oh, Mom, if she’s not here, if she’s not here..."

"How did your mom know Mr Brandon? Mr Brandon was oddly familiar with you guys. Is he a patron of your mother's?"

"Uh, my, my, my mom..."

"Who killed Tyler?"

Joshua closed his mouth when was asked the sudden question. The little face glistened with sweat. It was good enough that he’s not bleeding from how hard he’s biting his lips.  

"The bullies in my memory are children with their own aggressive tendencies. But you're way out of that category. A boy who doesn't even talk without his mother around beats a friend to death? Do you think that makes sense?"

"I, I did that..."

His eyeballs turned around and avoided Jude's gaze. Jude, who was looking at his behaviour with his chin on his palm, spoke out as if he was stabbing the balloon with an awl.

"Didn't you think the person who killed Tyler could kill you someday?"

"That's not gonna happen...!"

Uneasiness came to the face of the child who was shouting reflexively. Jude grinned.

"That's not gonna happen? Who said that? I'd tell you not to believe it. I'd bet you'd be in the same boat in a month."

"No, it's not..."

The child's voice was mixed with feebleness. He sounded like he would break if I pushed him any more than this. You shouldn't agitate him before you get an answer. Jude lowered the tone of his voice a little.

"Joshua, you don't even have your mother looking at you right now. You can say what you want to say. And there's no need to feel guilty about it. You're still young, too young to put your life in the mud. There's no more need to be pushed around like that."

"Ha, but, uh, I'm still 12 years old…."

"You're not going to be punished? Yes, that's right. You won't go to jail. But you know what? People are surprisingly good at wearing tinted glasses. Do you know the situation you're in right now? Your name is known throughout the United States. As a murderer of a friend. A kid who beat another kid in the same school to death and put him in a trash can. Do you think your life will be easier in the future? You can just tell your name at a part-time job and they’ll say that there's no room for you right away. Of course, dating goes out of the window. Why do you have to live with that? Because of who?"

"S, still, but, uh...."

"This is the police station, Joshua. It's a place where there's no mercy for the guilty. But it's a place where innocent people are protected one way or another. If you're innocent, we'll protect you in any way. So relax, I'll never let anyone do you any harm."

The child's silent eyes were directed at Jude. What was in his eye was a colour that was rubbed together with various colours of despair, and Jude faced his gaze squarely. Soon when his eyes were filled with tears, Jude barely managed to swallow his voice trying to shout bingo.

"I'm going to die..."

"I won't let you, Joshua. We're cops, are we that weak?"

"But….in the alley where I lived, there were a lot of cases where people died, they called the police, but they wouldn't come soon enough…."

"Well, that's another matter, and this is another matter. Besides, you're a kid, you're number one on the list of our protection. So you don't have to worry. You can be honest with me if you want help. It's okay."

The child's face was strangely distorted.  The lips, as he was hesitating several times, were swollen red with bites.

*        *        *

The blonde woman really headed to the bathroom with nervous steps. Tim hesitated for a moment before quietly follow suit. Fortunately, there was no one in the bathroom. Marilyn, who quickly entered the far corner, slammed the door shut. Button-pressing mechanical sound can be heard as if she was calling somewhere. Tim stood still near the sink and listened. The small voice whispered low.

"Hello? It's me, Marilyn. Oh, I don't know. I'm going to screw this up because of that bloody detective! I told you it's too much from the beginning. Of course, he listens to me. Still, he's a kid. Why are you mad at me? I worked so hard, I've been sitting next to him all this time! Then the detective told me to get out. What else should I do?"

It was an impatient and facetious tone, not like the voice of a mother filled with sadness and grief at all. Tim narrowed his eyebrows with suspicion and took a step closer to the door. He could hear the high heels crackling on the bathroom floor.

"I don't know! But I told him not to tell them, so it'll be okay. Why am I getting involved? You're the one who did the job in the first place. I'm wiping out your asshole. How can you say that? Why are you so harsh on him that you're making things worse? It's hard to go out for business these days because of the crackdown. Do you think you'll be safe if things go wrong because of this? You came here yesterday? That's funny. You think it'll make you look like a great teacher if you do something like that?"

The voice vulgarly cursing at her foul dissenter. The sharply sarcastic woman soon sighed for a long time. It looks like she was lighting a cigarette when he heard a click sound. Tim, who almost reflexively said that this is a no-smoking area, quickly shut up.

"It's all f*cked up.......and next time you do that, I'll tell you what, I’ll really send away anyone. That's why everyone is angry right now. Okay, I'll call you back if anything happens, so leave it on. What, in class, do I look like I'm gonna argue about that? I'm hanging up."

Tak, he heard the flip phone closed. In a low voice, the woman mumbled profanity that Tim could hardly imagine. Tim backed away from the door in silence. Almost at the same time, the door opened violently. The woman's eyes opened wide. Her mouth, which had been puffing for a long time like a dying carp, soon burst into anger.

"Wha, wha, what are you? This is the ladies' room!"

Tim didn't answer. He was too upset to answer. Even in times like this, he wished he could resemble his partner's blasé character. Instead of speaking immediately, Tim quietly reached out and took away the cigarette in the woman's hand. His voice was rather calm, perhaps because of restraining his anger.

"No smoking here. And... you can come with me and tell me a little bit more about what you just said."

The woman's face drained of colour. A female colleague, who had just entered the bathroom, glanced at Tim, but he didn't mind it and shot a look at Marilyn.

 

"Kids like me...... there were a few."

*        *        *

Take a deep breath.