Franks had to fight rolling his eyes because they were far from done. They had a lot more questions to ask once this kid was done telling his fabricated story. Franks had no problem believing everything up to the point where the father went to get the gun. His gut told him it had been Avery who got the gun. They just needed to find a way to get him to admit it.
"What did you do after your father shot himself?" Amy asked. Her words were not quite as gentle as they would have been had they really thought Avery was an innocent victim.
"Nothing for a moment. I just stared. I was in shock. Then I heard the girls' door open. I hurried to them. I made them promise to stay in their room. I think they knew something was wrong, but I couldn't let them see our parents like that. I went and got my cell phone from the kitchen and called 911, then waited with my sisters for the police to arrive. They showed up, and I guess you know the rest." Avery sighed. "Maybe I should have made sure they were dead, but I didn't want to touch them. All the blood freaked me out. The whole thing freaked me out."
"It would bother anyone," Amy said softly. "We have a slight problem with your story though." She opened a folder and acted as if she were reading something. "See, we have a team that comes in and investigates shootings like these. They are well trained. They know exactly what to look for. They know how to read blood spatter, research bullet trajectory, and tell if everything matches up with what we were told happened. In this case, there are several things that don't match up."
"Like?" Avery leaned forward.
"Like the bullet trajectory doesn't support your father shooting himself. Your father was right-handed. The bullet wound was on the left. Now, it's not impossible that he might have used his left hand, but it is unlikely. Even so, the bullet came from several feet away. It's clear to us that your father didn't shoot himself." Amy sat back, staring at Avery.
"Another issue…" Franks sat up straighter, putting his folded hands on the table. "There are no fingerprints on the gun. None. That's not normal. Someone had to load those bullets, and someone had to hold the gun to pull that trigger."
Avery shifted nervously.
"How about you tell us what really happened?" Amy took a sip of her coffee.
The room was silent for several seconds as they waited for Avery to say something. He kept his eyes lowered, never looking up to meet their eyes.
"Were you involved in the fight? Was it about something more than their marriage?" Franks asked.
Avery shook his head. "It was about them. Not me. Not really."
"What do you mean not really?" Amy pushed gently for him to tell them more.
"I guess in a way it was about me and my sisters. I mean, if they got divorced, it would hurt us."
Franks glanced over at Amy as he tried to understand.
"Divorce is hard on the children. Sometimes when parents divorce, they forget how horrible it is for the kids." Amy's voice was gentle. "Was that what upset you?"
Avery shrugged.
Franks was losing patience, but he had to remain calm. The last thing he wanted was to get aggressive and have Avery stop talking to them. "This will go easier if you just tell us the truth about what happened. Your father didn't shoot your mother, did he?"
Avery looked down again, but Franks caught the tears in the boy's eyes as he looked away.
"If you don't tell us what happened, we're going to have to question your sisters on what they saw and heard," Amy said softly. "You don't want to put them through that, do you?"
"They didn't see anything. They were in their room the whole time." Avery's hands gripped the edge of the table as he looked at Amy. "Leave them out of this."
Amy sighed. "We have to get the truth one way or another, Avery. We know things didn't happen how you said they did. What really happened?"
Avery didn't answer and they sat in silence for several minutes. Franks had seen this before. Avery was hoping if he waited things out, they'd change the subject or take the pressure off him, but it never worked that way. Franks could sit here all day if he had to.
The pressure finally seemed to be too much and Avery sighed. "Okay, so I shot them. They were going to divorce and split up our family. Dad told Mom she could have custody and we could visit him whenever we wanted. They were deciding everything without even asking what we thought about things. Acting like making life changing decisions didn't even matter to me or my sisters. All they cared about was getting away from each other so they could go on with their lives, happy with their new lovers." Tears rolled down Avery's cheeks, but the anger was still very visible in his eyes. "They didn't care about us at all."
Franks took a deep breath, glad they had their confession, but hated that this young man's life would be over because of the decisions that had been made. "Tell us what really happened."
Avery's shoulders slumped. "It was like I said. They were fighting. Acting like I wasn't even there. My sisters came out, I got them back in their room, then when I went back to the kitchen, I tried to get them to stop fighting. I told them the girls were upset, but it was like they didn't even hear me. They just kept spitting hate at each other, bringing up things that happened years ago. Then they both agreed their marriage was over and like it was that easy, they started discussing how the divorce would go. Who would get what and all that shit. I screamed at them that they couldn't do this, but Dad just told me we'd discuss everything later and went right back into talking about who would get the house, the cars, and all that stuff. I was so mad. They were ruining everything. If neither of them cared to try to work things out, if neither cared what a divorce would do to me and my sisters, I figured we'd be better off withoutthem. I went into their bedroom, got the gun out from the lockbox in Dad's nightstand, and walked back out just in time to hear Dad say that the kids would be better off with mom. I didn't think about what I was doing. I just shot Dad in the head." Avery reached for a tissue, wiping his eyes as he continued to speak. "Mom screamed, and I shot her. The girls were coming down the hall then, so I dropped the gun and got them back in their room before they saw anything. It was then I really thought about what I'd done. It was almost like I was two people. The one who shot them and was so angry, then the one who realized what he'd done and was shocked I'd done it. Does that make sense?"
Amy nodded. "Completely. Anger can sometimes feel like it's taken over."
"What happened next?" Franks needed the full story.
"I made the girls promise to stay in their room. I went back out and didn't know what to do. There was so much blood. I couldn't believe what I'd done. Realized I'd really fucked up. I started to panic, but in the back of my mind, I knew I had to do something because I couldn't let the girls see any of this. I knew they wouldn't stay in their room forever while I tried to clean up the mess and get rid of the bodies. I mean, how would I do that? And eventually I'd have to come up with something about where my parents were. So many things were going through my mind right then. I was so freaked out. Honestly, still am." Avery took a deep breath, tears still streaming down his cheeks. "I finally decided on the story I gave you. I hadn't thought ahead enough to think about bullet angles." He arched his head back and stared at the ceiling. "It all happened so fast. I wasn't thinking. I was just so mad they could end things and not consider what that would do to my sisters and me. That they could throw it all away without even trying to work it out. That their lovers were more important than our family, more important than us."
Franks exchanged a look with Amy and at her nod, he stood. "Avery Corpus, you're under arrest for the murder of your parents." He pulled out the handcuffs he had in his back pocket. "Please stand and put your hands behind your back."
