In Our Darkness - 21. Chapter 21: The Confession

David couldn’t believe it. All those years, all this time, and finally he had found the answer in a drabby place full of alcoholics and addicts, whom he now belonged to. The irony of it all was that he had stopped looking. And now, mystery solved. It was his friend. It was the young kid who he enjoyed eating glazed donuts with and cracking dumb jokes. It was the kid whose life he saved just the other day. The anger built within him like a crescendo, and when he saw Andy walk out he grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the alley behind the building without even thinking.

“David,” Andy said, confused at first. David had to force himself to breathe, he was too angry to even make out a sentence.

“You little piece of shit,” he finally managed. Andy’s face fell. He was expecting harsh judgment, but he wasn’t expecting it from David. With a defeated voice he said, “I know, I’m going to the police station now. I’m not going to run away.”

“Like hell you won’t. I will personally escort you.” Andy looked taken aback by David’s attack.

“Do you know how many lives you’ve ruined, Andy? Do you fucking have any idea!?”

“I realize, man,” Andy said, trying to weakly push the bigger man off of him.

“Then why did it take you so long, huh?” he yelled, the anger violent within him now. But before Andy could answer, David was already dragging him to his car.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Where do you think? To the police station.”

Andy stopped fighting and slumped back in the passenger seat, defeated. David was fuming with personal outrage, but most of all he wanted to deliver this kid to Kat, because he felt at a loss for words. He imagined this moment so many times, but now that it was here he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to beat Andy to a pulp. More importantly, he wanted to find the other person, the stepfather. He didn’t want to fuck this whole thing up like he had fucked everything else up so far, so he decided to put it all in Kat’s hands.

He drove to the police station, adrenaline rushing through his veins. He dragged Andy through the building, having known it almost as well as he knew his own house by now.

As he approached her door, he noticed that she was busy talking to someone inside of her office. When he got closer, he realized it was Elisabeth.

“Elisabeth?” he asked, walking in. She turned towards him, she had tears in her eyes.

“David…Andy, what are you doing here?” Kat asked. David felt enraged upon hearing that she knew Andy’s name.

“You know this little shit?”

“Yes, now what in the world is going on?” she asked noticing how David was holding Andy.

“Why don’t you start, why is Elisabeth here?”

“Elisabeth just brought in a crucial piece of evidence.”

“What? Why would you come here instead of calling me?”

“I called you a hundred times on my way here, David.” He realized that in his state of rage he must have missed the calls.

“How long have you known him, Kat?” he asked, shaking Andy.

“A few years, why does it matter?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe it matters because he’s the one who killed my son,” David said viciously as Andy’s face changed from defeat to shock.

“What,” Kat replied, looking between both men. Andy was still stupidly gazing at David.

“Confess!” David hollered at Andy with such force that the young man slumped into a chair. Elisabeth followed his lead and slumped into the other chair, overwhelmed by everything taking place.

“Andy?” Kat asked, more gently, “what happened?”

Andy took a big gulp of air, and slowly repeated the story he had just shared with his AA group. When he was done Kat sat there with an unreadable face.

David felt annoyed with how slow she was handling this. He asked Elisabeth about the new piece of evidence she brought in, and she told him all about Celia and the letter from Andy. And though he wanted to go and choke the last breath from Celia’s mouth, he knew he had to focus on finding the real perpetrator for the time being.

Then all of a sudden it was like Kat kicked into high gear. She grabbed a pen and notebook and asked.

“So, you were 6-years old, and your stepfather drove the car drunk, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And he drove into the Andrews’ on purpose?”

“Yes,” Andy said, embarrassed.

“And then he made you torch the Honda, two days later in the woods?”

“Yes,” Andy replied for the third time.

“What’s your stepfather’s name?”

“Paul Miller,” Andy replied. Kat’s face looked puzzled.

“Paul Miller, that name sounds familiar.” All of a sudden something clicked, and Kat’s face became paralyzed with fear. She looked at David and Andy, who both appeared confused.

“Listen, it’s imperative that we go to your stepfather’s place right this second, do you know where he lives?”

“Yes, it’s still the same place,” Andy replied.

“Let’s go!” she yelled and the two men and Elisabeth followed her into the car.