Little White Lie
Chapter 7
By: Jenn
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Benji’s POV
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Joel probably made everything worse for us when he tried to run. As soon as he heard the police at the door, he took off, trying to get out through the back. The rest of us knew it was over, and went peacefully. After all, it was just for questioning. They hadn’t accused us of being responsible for Aaron’s death yet. I shook my head in disappointment as I saw Joel being half-dragged to the police car in handcuffs. They took us, Billy and I in one car and Joel and Paul in another, down to the station. Once there, they sequestered the four of us into separate rooms for the actual questioning. It was obvious what they were trying to do. They had to get us alone so we all had to give our versions of the story, and they could find holes. So they could find out what really happened.
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Billy’s POV
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I felt my heart racing as they sat me down in a chair in the small interrogation room. I knew what they wanted. I wanted so badly to tell them the truth, but still wanted to protect Joel and the others. And myself. After all, they were my friends and we were in this together.
“What do you know about Aaron Escolopio’s death?” the officer, Detective Samson asked me.
“Nothing,” I said without looking at him.
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Joel’s POV
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The detective interrogating me was Detective Roberts. He kept giving me dirty looks, and I knew he already thought I had killed Aaron myself. Whatever though, lies came so easily to me now that I knew I could lie my way out of this.
“What do you know about the death of Aaron Escolopio?” Roberts asked.
“Nothing,” I answered. “He quit the band and we never heard from him after that.”
“You’re sure about that?” Roberts asked.
“Yes,” I replied firmly, looking him right in the eye.
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Paul’s POV
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“So you have absolutely no idea how Aaron ended up in that lake?” the detective interrogating me asked.
“No,” I answered after a short pause in which I contemplated telling him everything. But ever since Aaron’s death, I’d been so caught up with Joel in the lie that it seemed a shame to end it now. We were so close to getting away with it.
“When was the last time you spoke with Aaron?” the detective asked.
“The night before he disappeared, when he said he was quitting the band,” I answered calmly.
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Billy’s POV
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“I last talked to him the morning… the morning that he left. We all did, that was when… when he told… told us he was quitting,” I stuttered.
“Billy, come on now, you can tell us the truth,” Samson said in a kind tone. “Is it Joel?” Did Joel put you up to this? Are you covering for him?”
“No!” I practically yelled. I had to literally bite my tongue until I could taste the blood to stop myself from blurting out that I was covering for all of us.
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Benji’s POV
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“This has gone far enough,” I muttered to myself. I’d made up my mind. I was ending this.
“What’s that?” asked the detective who’d been interrogating me for over an hour now.
“I said it’s gone on far enough. I’ll tell you everything. I know what happened to Aaron,” I said.
“Really…” the detective asked as he sat in the chair across from me. He looked intrigued. Well of course he was, I was about to confess.
“It was all an accident,” I started. “We were bored, so we stopped by the lake to go swimming. Aaron started doing this whole drowning bit he usually did and we thought it was funny. We didn’t realize he really was drowning.”
“So why didn’t you tell anyone as soon as it happened?”
“We were all afraid, I guess,” I said with a shrug. Really, it didn’t make any sense. We should have told. “It was Joel’s idea first, to lie.”
“Thank you very much Benjamin, you did the right thing,” the detective said. He stood up and left the room, leaving me there staring at my own reflection in the mirror that I imagined was two-way like in the movies. My eyes met my reflection’s eyes and I realized what I’d just done. I’d just completely sold out my own twin brother.
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Billy’s POV
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My detective left the room suddenly, and I didn’t know what was going on. I guessed maybe they found something out. About ten minutes later he came back in.
“William Martin,” he said. “You are under arrest on charges of voluntary manslaughter and conspiracy to obstruct justice.”
My mouth went dry. I guess I had been secretly expecting – or at least hoping that they’d let us go. Now, they thought we actually might have let Aaron die on purpose. I wanted to scream, but no sound came out. I stayed silent as I was handcuffed and led to the jail cell with my bandmates.
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Benji’s POV
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We had to stay in a cell in the police station over night. We would appear in court the next day to be formally charged and give our plea. When we were all put in the cell, it was the first time I’d seen my bandmates since we were brought in. Billy looked positively distraught. Paul looked pensive. Joel was the last to come in, having insisted on using his ‘one phone call’ to contact a lawyer. When he came into the cell, I knew I couldn’t look him in the eye. After all, I was the reason we’d just been arrested anyway.
“Alright, which one of you cracked? Who sold us out?” Joel hissed as soon as the cell door was locked behind him and the guard was safely out of ear shot. He turned towards Billy. “It was you, wasn’t it? You cracked!”
Billy looked like he was about to completely break down. He’d been under enough stress already and didn’t need this.
“Stop it Joel, it wasn’t Billy,” I broke in. Joel whirled around to face me. His eyes seemed to be on fire. “It was me,” I added softly.
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Joel’s POV
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“You?” I asked. I couldn’t really believe it. My brother, my own fucking twin, had stabbed me in the back. But Benji would never do that to me. Was he covering for poor, frail little Billy?
“Don’t fucking lie to me,” I hissed. “Don’t cover for him.”
“I’m not,” Benji answered. “The whole thing had gone on long enough, so I came clean.”
“Well, good fucking job, ‘brother.’ Now because of you we’re all going to land our asses in jail!” I almost yelled.
“Not if you shut the hell up,” Paul said. “We might still get off if you just stop blurting out that we did lie. After all, we didn’t actually kill Aaron. We didn’t know he was in trouble.”
I stared at Paul, speechless. Maybe he was right. Maybe I didn’t need to worry. Maybe we’d still get off. But I didn’t want to risk it…
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Benji’s POV
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The next morning, we had to go to court where we were formally charged with the ‘crimes.’ They set a trial date and released us all on bail. All except Joel, that is. They were afraid he would flee the country, and he probably would have. A week later, I was called down to the courthouse by the District Attorney. They had a plea bargain for me. They would lower my charges to involuntary manslaughter if I ratted out Joel and told them everything was his fault, that he coerced us into it. Billy told me later that he’d been offered the same plea bargain. In a last attempt at loyalty to my brother, I turned it down. Billy, however, cracked under the pressure and gave in. He told them everything, all the threats Joel made, and even how he and I had both wanted to come forward weeks ago but had been afraid of Joel. Once I learned that, I knew the trial didn’t matter – it was over for Joel.
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Paul’s POV
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We were all charged with voluntary manslaughter and conspiracy to obstruct justice. It was a while before the trial actually started, but the trial itself didn’t last very long. They didn’t need much evidence; Benji and Billy had already told them everything that happened. What they had to find out was to what degree Joel and I were involved in the whole thing. We were the only people there when Aaron died, and therefore the only witnesses. I’d decided to actually tell the truth on the witness stand – no use making it worse. Our trials were conducted simultaneously, so we were all there. Joel gave me the look of death when I ‘sold him out too’ as he put it. I didn’t care though. We all knew it was over. All of us except for Joel.
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Billy’s POV
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I was scared as hell testifying against my band mates, and ultimately myself. I was afraid of ending up in jail, but somehow I also felt relieved. I knew all the months of covering it up, being afraid of Joel, and feeling like I was going to break were finally over. I felt so much relief once I stepped down from the stand. I knew there was nothing else I could do now but wait. I felt strangely calm, even though I could tell that Joel was seething. I just tried not to look at him.
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Joel’s POV
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I couldn’t believe how everyone, even my own brother, was selling me out. By the time it was my turn on the stand, I knew there was no point lying anymore either. I had to do damage control now and try to save my own ass. We were going to jail, that was certain. I just had to make sure we didn’t get put away forever.
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Benji’s POV
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I was surprised that Joel finally told the truth. At least he had enough sense to not make things worse for himself. He wasn’t completely insane, so I took that as a good thing. We all just wanted it to end as soon as possible. The say we got the verdict, I think we were all really tense. It seemed to take forever for the jury to actually get to it, and when they finally did, I could barely hear over the sound of my heart pounding so much.
“On the charges of voluntary manslaughter, we find the defendants Benjamin Madden, Joel Madden, William Martin and Paul Thomas not guilty,” the jury foreman said. We all breathed an audible sigh of relief.
“On the charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice, we find the defendants Benjamin Madden and William Martin not guilty. We find the defendants Joel Madden and Paul Thomas guilty.”
I felt my heart stop when I heard that. On one hand, I was relieved; I’d just gotten off scot-free. On the other, my brother and best friend were probably going to jail. I looked over in their direction. Paul’s face was completely expressionless; Joel looked downright angry.
“Thank you ladies and gentlemen of the jury,” the judge said. “The defendants Benjamin Madden and William Martin are free to go; the defendants Joel Madden and Paul Thomas will remain in custody until sentencing at a later date. Court is adjourned.”
Once we finally made it out of the courthouse after working our way through the pack of reporters waiting outside, I was finally able to speak with Joel. I knew it would be one of the last times I was able to speak with my brother for a long time, yet I couldn’t think of a single thing to say. He looked as if he didn’t want to speak with me anyway. I didn’t have long, however, as he and Paul were quickly whisked away by police officers into waiting squad cars. Billy and I watched as they were taken away, wondering how much jail time they’d get.
And all because of a single lie…
The End.