A Criminal's Mind

Rose's Confession

We head back to the station and wait, wait for anything. For a breakthrough, a light bulb, something. Tench shakes his head, "we have to be missing something."

I sigh and cross my arms, "did you see the bruises on her arms?"

"Yeah."

Ocasek looks down, "you think Frank did that?"

"Her mother said he wouldn't let anyone else get close to her," I shrug, "I think we should search Frank's car."

"We'd need a warrant."

"Let's get one," Tench nods.

I sigh and shake my head, looking down, as a female officer comes into the room, "Mark. There's a young woman downstairs asking for you."

We all jump up and hurry downstairs. When we get there, Rose is there, bouncing her baby in her arms. Mark walks over to her, "hi, Rose."

Rose looks up to Mark then to her baby and then back to Mark, "do..." She stummers, "do you promise my baby will be okay if I tell you what happened?"

"Of course," Mark nods. Rose looks down to the little one and begins to cry, kissing him on the head. Mark places a hand on her back, "it's okay."

I walk over to the two of them, "Rose, it's alright."

"Would you mind if Nancy takes him while we talk?"

"No," Rose shakes her head, "I want to talk to her."

Mark nods, "alright, we will go get someone else to take care of him, alright."

We find another officer to take care of the baby while we talk. We get Rose into an interrogation room and the recorder set up. Rose lights up a cigarette, "Frank wasn't home the night Beverly Jean disappeared."

I nod, "do you know where he was?"

"Yes."

"Rose, I know this is hard and you are scared of him, but I promise, if you tell me everything we need to know, Frank won't be able to touch you."

Rose nods, "Benji called us that night and asked Frank to come over. So Frank left."

"How long was he gone?"

"He called after two or three hours. Asked me to come over there too."

"About what time?"

"Ten or eleven? But I told him I was tired. My back hurt. My feet. I was more than eight months pregnant."

"Did he tell you why he wanted you to come over?"

"No."

"He just said to come over?"

"He said to bring cleaning supplies. But... I forgot. Drove over, let myself in. Frank was in the living room. He told me not to get upset."

"Was he?"

"He was calm."

"Okay," I nod, "Frank told you not to get upset..."

"He told me something bad had happened. My mind started racing, I was worried something had happened to Benji. Frank said, 'he's fine, but he's done something.'"

"Benjamin did something?"

"Yes. I said, 'what's he done?' He said he got mad at Beverly Jean. and Uh... Frank said Benjamin hit her. I asked if she was okay. Frank said, 'we got to help Benjamin out of this. We gotta stick together or he's going to get in trouble.' I asked where Benjamin was. He said, 'he's in the bathroom.' I said, 'I want to see him,' he said, 'okay. But Beverly Jean is in there too.' The door was open. I saw Benji. He... He had his head in his hands, he was crying. There was blood everywhere. Splashing. And then I see Beverly Jean in the bathtub."

I take a deep breath and nod, "was she alive?"

"Dead, she had her top on, but no panties. I said, 'Benji, what have you done?' He shook his head. He didn't want to look at me."

"Was she face up or face down?"

"Face up."

"Did you see any wounds?"

"I couldn't tell, there was a lot of blood."

"Then what?"

"Then Frank brought in a trap, spread it on the floor. Then he asked me to go get cleaning supplies. When I came back, they had already rolled her up. So they look her out to Frank's truck and drove off. I washed out the tub and cleaned up the bathroom. I scrubbed the tiles, in the cracks, the grouting, the window frame. I had to wash all the blood down the sink and that seemed to... it took forever... trying to get it all to go down."

"Did you see a weapon?"

"There was a knife in the tub."

"What'd you do with it?"

"I rinsed it off. Took it to the kitchen, washed it with dish soap. Put it away. And then I went home."

"Did you see Frank or Benjamin again that night?"

"No. Frank came home early the next morning."

Ocasek, who is against the wall, walks up to Rose, "why did you help them?"

"It's just what I've always done."

"Who killed her?"

"I don't know."

"Thank you, Rose," I nod, "this will help you as well," I look over to Ocasek.

Ocasek nods and reads Rose her rights as he places her under arrest. I head out into the hallway and look down. I hear Ford call out to me, "Nancy."

I turn back to him, "I told you it was him... I..." I squeeze my fits as I lift them up beside my head.

Ford walks over to me, placing his hands on mine, lowering my hands, "I know. I'm sorry. This is the ultimate, I told you so."

Ford, Tench and Ocasek head out to arrest Benjamin, deciding it would be best for me to stay at the station, which I agree. They also think it will be best for me to stay out of the integration of Benjamin and Frank, to which I also agreed too. They don't spend a lot of time with Benjamin, grabbing the recorder and leaving the room, "what did he say?" I look over to them a bit confused as to why it was over so quickly.

"He blamed Frank," Ford sighs as they head into the room where we are holding Frank.

They do the same with Frank as they did with Benjamin, being in and out within a matter of five minutes, taking the recorder and going back to the other room. I sigh and shake my head, "it's going to be a long night." The two go back and forth for another two hours. gathering information from one man, then throwing it at the other. The two protecting each other as much as they protect themselves.

By the end of the night we have nothing. Tench ends up leaving Frank's room before Ford, "I'm calling it a night, let the two of them set in a cell overnight." Tench doesn't wait for a response, instead, he heads out to the car, Ford and I follow as quickly as we can. "I hate that fuck Frank, but it's always the boyfriend."

I nod, "I agree, when you're lost, you play the odds. It's Benjamin."

"I'm not so sure," Ford shakes his head. "You should have seen Frank after you walked out of the room. He looked at me and said, 'I didn't see Benjamin kill her.'"

"They're messing with us," Tench sighs.

"I believed him."

I chuckle, "just because he didn't see it doesn't mean Benjamin didn't do it."

Tench takes a deep breath, "I am sick and tired of this shithole."

"I know. We all are."

"Oh, Nancy made me promise to invite the two of you to dinner. She wants to see who I'm spending all this time with. Have a look at you."

Ford looks over to Tench, "I'd love to. Could I bring Debbie?"

"Of course. What about you, Nance?"

"Sure, that'd be nice," I nod.