Page 59 of The Perfect Marriage

It’s about an hour later when Sheriff Stevens comes down to get me. His demeanor seems a bit more closed off, but when he speaks, he’s kind. It’s as if he is fighting a battle with himself about how exactly he should behave around me, how he should treat me, how he wants me to view him.

“We’re ready for you, Sarah.” He taps me on the shoulder just as I’m taking a bite out of a stale sandwich from the vending machine. I tell him okay and wrap up the remainder of it. He’s returned to calling me “Sarah” as well. I can’t read this guy, but I feel like he’s hiding something or maybe just not sharing the full truth with me.

“We’re going to put you in the viewing room while I question Jesse Hook.”

As we walk, his hand bumps mine. He says sorry and smiles at me. I return the smile, and I don’t know why I do.

“Right this way.” He directs me into a small room with a large viewing window looking into the interrogation room, the same place Scott attacked Adam and the same room I learned of all of Adam’s infidelities and lies. In a chair where Adam once sat is Jesse Hook. I recognize him from his photo even though it was taken years ago. His face is a bit scruffy now, and he’s thin and lanky. His shaggy ash-brown hair doesn’t appear to have been brushed in days. He’s wearing an oversized zip-up hoodie and jeans. And he looks scared. That’s what stands out most of all. The fear in his eyes.

Did he do it? Does he know who did it? What is he afraid of? Who is he afraid of? He seems like the nervous type and sometimes nerves read as fear, but this seems different. Maybe I’m reading too much into it—hoping it’s more than it is, hoping he has the answers I’m looking for. I’m not one to wait around for answers. I seek them out. I hate this. I hate waiting. I hate not knowing. This little prick better know what I need him to know.

“I’ll be right in there if you need me. Just tell an officer.”

A moment or two later, Sheriff Stevens enters, taking a seat in front of Jesse. Jesse’s eyes widen. He grows uneasy, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. I can see his chest rise and fall as he inhales and exhales deeply. He glances around. Sheriff Stevens hits the record button at the end of the table and takes a seat across from Jesse. He is calm and collected, but Jesse is starting to perspire. He is looking everywhere else in the room but at Sheriff Stevens. I even catch him looking at the one-way mirror, and it feels like he is looking directly at me—almost trying to say something to whoever is on the other side. I stop myself from bursting in and asking every question I haven’t had an answer to since this case began.

“Brenda Johnson, an employee at Seth’s Coffee, informed us that you had frequently been visiting the victim, Kelly Summers, days, weeks, if not months leading up to her death. Is that true?” Sheriff Stevens asks.

Jesse seems to become more comfortable at that question. He straightens up in his seat, brushes his hair out of his eyes, and folds his hands in front of himself on the table. “Yes, I knew of Kelly Summers as I do frequent Seth’s Coffee, so that is true. I really enjoyed her service,” Jesse says calmly.

Sheriff Stevens looks him up and down, almost evaluating and sizing him up. “You enjoyed her service?”

“Yes.” Jesse nods

“What do you mean by that?”

“She was friendly. She always refilled my cup, and I left Seth’s Coffee satisfied every time.”

Sheriff Stevens gives him a dirty look, and it’s then that I wonder if Jesse is playing some sort of game with him. “What do you mean by ‘satisfied?’”

“Well served,” he answers quickly. I can hear Sheriff Steven visibly groan. Jesse appears to have taken hold of the confidence he didn’t have earlier, and I’m not sure what changed.

“Since you were at Seth’s Coffee a lot, surely you would have noticed Kelly Summers and anyone she had been frequenting there with or speaking with.” Sheriff Stevens glares at Jesse.

“I’m sure I would have.” Jesse folds his arms into his chest.

“Brenda mentioned that you may have been a bit obsessed with Kelly. That the attention was unwanted.”

Jesse once again grows uncomfortable. His confidence drains from his body like a sand hourglass timer. “That’s not true,” he says with the last bit of assurance he has.

“What’s not true?” Sheriff Stevens matches his demeanor folding his arms in front of his wide chest.

“I wasn’t obsessed with Kelly. We were friends.”

“Well, what kind of friend tells the other to leave them alone or begs their co-worker to intervene?”

“What are you trying to say?” Jesse’s eyebrows pinch together.

“From the sounds of it, Kelly wasn’t comfortable with your presence. She would ask her co-workers, specifically Brenda, to take your table whenever you came in, because quote, ‘you made her uncomfortable,’ unquote. Why do you think that is?”

Jesse’s face turns a deep red. I can see him let out a large breath of air that blows his hair out of his eyes. “She’s lying. Kelly and I were friends. She gave me her phone number and everything.” He slams his fist on the table.

“Yes, we saw you had texted her on the night of her murder ‘I’m sorry.’ What were you apologizing for?”

“I don’t know. She hadn’t been answering my phone calls. I figured she was mad at me for something.” He regains his composure and just shrugs.

“It doesn’t seem like you two were actually friends.”

“But we were.”

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