Jonathan Langly is one of Jackson's lawyers. I've seen him on the news, talking about the case.
Mr. Langly comes inside. "I didn't want to wait until tomorrow."
"Shit," Jackson says as his dad shuts the door. "Now what? They found something else?"
"No." He looks at Jackson. "This is regarding the evidence they already have, specifically what was found around her neck."
"The tie," Jackson says. "So whose is it? What'd they tell you?"
Mr. Langly takes a photo from his suit jacket and shows it to Jackson.
"No fucking way," Jackson says, staring at the photo.
I lean over to see the photo. It's a green and black plaid tie with initials stitched in black thread at the bottom.
J.D.N.
Jackson's middle name is Donovan.
J.D.N. Jackson Donovan Novak.
Chapter Twenty-Two
"What is it?" Roman asks, taking the photo from Mr. Langly. He looks at the photo, then over at Jackson, his jaw tightening. "What the hell does this mean? Did you—"
"No!" Jackson yells. "Dad, what the fuck? You seriously think I did this?"
Roman shoves the photo at him. "Then why do they have your tie? How the hell would anyone even get it from your room? You never have anyone here except—" He looks at me.
"I didn't do it," I say, backing away. "I've never even seen that tie."
"My parents gave it to me when I started at Twisted Pine," Jackson explains. He turns to his dad. "Accuse her again and you're out of here. I'm never speaking to you again."
Roman's eyes go to me, then back to Jackson. "Is there anyone else with your initials who goes there?"
"No. No one."
Looking at the photo again I see it's just like the ones they sell at the Twisted Pine bookstore. I saw them the day I went there with Maria.
"I didn't even know I still had it," Jackson says. "It was probably stuffed in the back of one of my drawers."
"Who else came over here who might've been in your room?" Mr. Langly asks.
"Kristen. She was always in my room."
"Why would she take it?"
"I don't know. Just to have something of mine? We told each other we wouldn't let things go past a physical relationship but she started to want more. She'd wear my t-shirts or take home one of my sweatshirts. Things a girlfriend would do. I told her to stop but I wasn't always here to see what she was doing. She could've easily taken that tie and I never would've known. Like I said, I didn't even know I still had it."
"So now what?" Roman says. "What's our next move?"
"We tell the police what we just heard from Jackson," Mr. Langly says. "That Kristen would often take things of his and bring them back to her house. Or perhaps she left it in her car. Either way, if it left the premises, anyone could've used it to kill her."
"We can't prove that she took it," Roman says.
"No, but a jury isn't likely to believe Jackson would be stupid enough to leave the tie he used to kill her hanging around her neck, especially a tie with his initials."
"The jury could think he panicked and didn't think to get rid of it."
