Blood on My Hands

Lamont to scare her?
J    That’s what I told him I wanted him to do. But I was really hoping he’d kill her.
B    Why?
J    Because I hoped that if he killed her, it would all go away.
B    What would go away?
J    The feelings. I mean, about loving her. About being a lesbian.
M    What made you think that Slade Lamont would kill Katherine?
J    Nothing. I just hoped he would. Or at least hurt her really badly. I knew she would recognize him through the stocking. And I knew Katherine would laugh at him and taunt him, because that’s the kind of person she was.
B    And you thought laughing and taunting would be enough to make him want to kill her?
J    He was really depressed and angry and drinking a lot. It was all because this girl, Callie Carson, had broken up with him. But what he didn’t know was that the reason she broke up with him was because Katherine had sort of forced her to do it. And I knew that given the chance, Katherine would tell him, because she loved to gloat over things like that.
M    Why would Katherine force Callie Carson to break up with Slade?
J    Because she had a crush on Callie. Callie was the most hetero girl ever. And she’d had the same boyfriend longer than any other girl in our grade. And Katherine felt it would be the most amazing challenge just to get Callie to try a girl. And in her mind the first step was to get her to break up with her boyfriend.
B    Didn’t you say before that you were having sex with Slade Lamont?
J    Uh-huh.
B    Why?
J    Because I wanted to. I was attracted to him and there weren’t that many boys I felt that way about. Plus, I told myself that as long as I was having sex with him, I couldn’t be gay.
M    And since Katherine had already gotten Callie to break up with him …
J    I’d tried once before when he was with Callie, but he wouldn’t do it. But as soon as I heard that Callie had broken up with him, I started to talk to him by e-mail and online, because he was still in Georgia. He kept saying that as soon as he got home from National Guard training, he was going to go see her, so finally I told him that she’d left him for another guy. That’s how I got him to change his mind.
B    Just to be clear, did you ever tell Slade Lamont you wanted him to kill or hurt Katherine?
J    No, because I knew he’d never agree to that.
M    Did Slade Lamont ever give you any impression that he wanted to do more than just scare Katherine?
J    No. He didn’t even want to do that, but I told him that if he didn’t, I would get my mother to rescind the deferment. Of course, I couldn’t have really done that but he didn’t know. He believed me.
B    So from your point of view, was anything about Katherine Remington-Day’s death planned or premeditated?
J    No, nothing.
M    And as far as Slade Lamont’s participation, do you believe anything was planned or premeditated?
J    Like I said, I don’t think so. I think you can rake up a pile of dry leaves and throw a lit match on them and sometimes they’ll catch fire and sometimes they won’t.
M    What about Callie Carson?
B    Sorry? Oh, right. Miss Jenkins, you tried to put the blame for the murder on her.
J    I felt I had to shield Slade. If the police found out about him, he’d tell them about me.
M    There are a few other people we’d like to ask you about.
J    Okay.
M    Did Mia Flom or Griffen Clemment have anything to do with your plan?
J    No.
B    Did they know about it?
J    No.
M    What about Jerry Fairman?
J    I thought you already talked to him.
M    We want to corroborate his story. He says he knew nothing about your plans.
J    That’s true. When Callie’s texts came from a blocked number, I had a feeling he was involved because I’d once gotten him to help me do that.
B    The texts you sent to Griffen Clemment?
J    Yes. Everyone knows he can do things like that. So I called the anonymous tip line and said he might be involved.
B    All right, Miss Jenkins, I just want you to know that I really appreciate this and I just have a few more questions. Would you please state for the record how this interview came to take place?
J    After Katherine was killed, I knew I was at least partly to blame, or maybe worse. I felt like I couldn’t live with myself … with the idea that I was partly responsible. And that because of me, Callie Carson