Detective Solomon is sitting behind his desk, his eyes locked on the screen of his computer, dark circles under his eyes. All around him, people move back and forth with big folders in their hands, cups of coffee, and ongoing phone calls. The whole thing resembles a beehive.
He can hear them buzzing inside his head. Probably because he hasn't slept properly since the body was found. Probably because coffee and cigarettes don't make for a very good meal. Probably because he can't stand this fucking case anymore.
He looks at the play button without clicking on it. Solomon found the police recording while doing a background check on Levi Brightly. It was dated November of last year.
That's the thing about an investigation like this one. There are all kinds of clues. The case screams obvious. It begs to be talked about and people do. Everyone has something to say, someone to blame.
After a while, he finally presses play. On the screen of his computer, Levi Brightly sits on a chair of an old, barely lit interrogation room. Everything about him makes Solomon's stomach recoil. His face's a terrible crime scene, eyes like rotten tomatoes, swollen and bloodshot, cheekbones covered in sick, bruised skin, and lips busted open.
The detective thinks of a punching bag. On the screen, Levi moves slowly and carefully as if the wrong move might open up his stiches. Solomon knows there are a lot of stitches under his ribs. He knows there are broken bones.
The officer doing the interrogation clears his throat.
"I'm sorry about what happened to you," he begins. Levi doesn't say anything to that. "My name's Clive Holland. I'll be taking over your case. If you don't mind, I would like to go over the events of Friday night with you."
Levi nods slowly, crossing his arms over his chest in protection. He's wearing a black sweatshirt with the hood pulled upwards to cover his neck. It doesn't cover enough though. Solomon can make out the hand-shaped bruises on his skin if he focuses his eyes on it for long enough.
"Your parents were out of town," the officer says.
"Cooking seminar," Levi says.
"Yes, and your brother took it upon himself to throw a house party, correct?"
Levi nods.
"He has lots of friends," he says. "They were all there. The house was a mess."
"And were you friends with these people?"
If Levi could, he would have shown the officer a bitter smile, but he can't, and so he doesn't. Only his eyes give it away. He shakes his head.
"My brother and I move in different circles," he says. "He has his friends and I have mine. Especially now that he's in the police academy."
"Still, I'm sure your brother brought his friends over enough times for you to get to know them," he says and Levi nods. The officer doesn't need to ask his questions. Levi already knows what he wants to hear.
"They never liked me," he says. "Both the old and the new ones. Most of the times they just ignored me or laughed at my expense when they thought I wasn't listening."
"And your brother?"
"Usually, he was the one throwing the punchline."
"I see," the officer says. "So why did you go to that party? You didn't really know any of them. They didn't even like you."
"Sean told me to come. He's a childhood friend of my brother, the only one who was ever nice to me. Sometimes, when the others were all busy playing video games, he would come to my bedroom and hang out with me instead."
"So you decided you would go to this party, even though Sean was the only one who actually wanted you there."
Solomon frowns. He doesn't understand why it sounds like Levi is a suspect and not a victim.
"It was my house," Levi says on the screen of Solomon's computer, "I had the right to be there just as much as everyone else. No one needed to want me there."
"Fair enough," the officer says. "So this Sean... Did you like him?"
Levi thinks about it for a while, as if studying the question. He gets it right when he finally answers, "He was nice to me. Not many people were back then."
"You had just come out as gay a few months ago, correct?" the officer asks. "People were still adapting."
Solomon frowns. Levi does too, "There was nothing to adapt to."
"Let's agree to disagree," the officer says. "So what happened that night? At the party." "I'm not sure. There was lots of alcohol, probably drugs too. The music was too loud to think. People kept walking in and out, spilling drinks all over the floor, knocking things over, burning the curtains and the couches with their cigarettes. Couples would go up the stairs to make out in whatever room they could get themselves into. I wasn't really having that much fun. I was just sitting in the living room, watching them play a drinking game no one invited me to."
"How did you end up in your bedroom with Sean Newton?"
"I was kind of done with the party, so I just climbed the stairs and locked myself in my bedroom," Levi explains slowly. Everything he says comes out in a soft, ragged tone as if to prevent the damaged skin of his lips from splitting up even more.
"After a few minutes, Sean knocked on the door. He said he had seen me go up the stairs," Levi continues. "My brother was making them all play some stupid game, and he wanted no part in it, so he thought maybe I could give him a hideout."
"And you did," the officer says.
"I did. We sat on my bed like we usually did and for a while we just talked. He said he thought I was really brave for coming out. Said it's not easy being gay in a school like ours, which is a lie. It's easy if you have the right kind of friends, even if that means having only a few."
"And then you kissed him."
Levi takes a deep breath, "Well, yes, but I didn't kiss him out of nowhere. I– I wouldn't do it if I didn't think he wanted it."
"But he didn't want it."
"But I thought he did. He kept touching my leg and leaning in and smiling at everything I said."
"Well, he was drunk, wasn't he?"
"Is that what he said?" Levi asks, surprised. "Sean didn't drink anything that night. He had work in the morning."
"Maybe he decided he would just skip it."
"Maybe, but I don't think he did."
"Tell me about the kiss," the officer says.
"I had finished a few beers myself, and he was right there, laughing with his hand on my leg, saying he wished he could be as brave as me, and I thought why not? I just leaned in and kissed him."
He closes his eyes and tells the officer the rest of it. Tells him Sean didn't pull back right away. Tells him he even put his hands on his neck. For a moment, he did kiss him back, like committing a crime.
"And then he pulled away," the officer reminds him.
"Pushed me away," Levi corrects him." I guess he realized what he was doing."
"Can you describe what he did to you," the officer asks, which in Solomon's opinion, is absolutely ridiculous. There's a medical record that says just about everything Sean did to Levi. He shouldn't have to go through this again.
But he does.
"He pushed me off the bed and pinned me to the floor and then he just started punching me. He used to always wear this big metal ring. My brother used to make fun of him for it, but I always thought it looked good on him. I don't think that anymore. He kept calling me names and spitting on my face and punching me everywhere. I thought he would never stop. I thought he was gonna kill me."
"What stopped him?" the officer asks.
"I don't know," Levi says. "I lost consciousness."
Solomon presses pause on the recording and takes a deep breath. This is why the Brightly family moved away, why they came to Northwoods.
They thought they were moving to a safer place. They were wrong.