Goodbye Earl(90)

CB: What he allegedly did to his poor wife. Either way, Reverend Bell wouldn’t feel comfortable doing the funeral if the Foxberrys asked, although I doubt they would. And I heard Mr. Foxberry was raised Episcopalian, not Baptist. I figured they wouldn’t have a big funeral anyway, maybe just a little memorial service later…after this is settled. I won’t take up any more of your time, but all I’m saying is that God has His own way of making things right, even if we don’t like how He does it.



*





Naomi Brooks


Officer Duncan: Naomi, why have you decided to come down to the station today?

Naomi Brooks: Because I heard people were giving statements about Trey Foxberry. Is this a murder investigation?

OD: No, it’s not. It’s simply a death investigation at this point.

NB: Oh. So, can I tell you what he did to me when we were in college since he’s dead now? I never pressed charges back then because he said he’d ruin my life if I did. His mom and dad told me that too. Can you believe that? I was only nineteen and here were these…parents…these adults…with a lot of money telling me they’d take joy in ruining my life if I lied about their son, but I wouldn’t have had to lie. I would have been telling the truth. They gave me fifty thousand dollars to keep quiet, and I’m not really allowed to talk about that to anyone, but I can tell y’all, can’t I? You won’t tell?

OD: Correct. We won’t disclose that information to anyone.

NB: I was at a frat party with my friends and I know…I know how generic it is to start this story off at a frat party…but that’s where we were, and Trey was a big shot in the frat—I mean, of course he was. So, that night, I drank too much and my friend Sparrow was in town, and she took me upstairs to lie down and I fell asleep. When I woke up, Trey was on the bed with me and he was putting his hand up my skirt. I screamed because he scared me and…I’d never talked to him or anything…I went to South Goldie and he went to Goldie…I saw him around, but I didn’t know him. None of that has anything to do with what he did, but do you know what I mean?

OD: I understand, yes.

NB: So, when I screamed, he asked why I screamed…he asked what was wrong with me. He said he saw how I was looking at him downstairs, but I wasn’t looking at him in any way downstairs when I saw him…I was only looking around because it was so packed. Then, he told me he loved how short my skirt was…but it wasn’t that short and that’s not the point.

OD: It’s definitely not the point. He had no right to touch you without your consent.

NB: I pushed him off, but not before he kissed me and…touched me…he sexually assaulted me, and later when he was gone, Sparrow came back and she was drunk too, and I told her what happened, but I made her swear not to tell. I didn’t tell anyone else, but the next day, Trey found me and said he barely remembered what happened since he was pretty drunk, but I was a slut and that’s what he’d tell everyone. The day after that I saw his mom at the grocery store and she basically said the same thing to me. A week later, his dad came to my dorm and asked me to sign a form and said he’d get me fifty thousand dollars, so I did it because my parents barely had money to afford the books I needed, let alone the classes. I lied to my parents and told them I got a scholarship. I never told anyone but Sparrow until this morning when I told my parents and my great-aunt Myrtle.

OD: I’m sorry this happened to you. Please tell Miss Myrtle and your parents hello for me.

NB: Thank you, Officer Duncan. I will.



*





Sparrow Kim


Officer Duncan: Hey, Sparrow. I talked to your dad yesterday at the restaurant, by the way. Had to shake his hand. He made me the best spicy kimchi tofu stew I’ve ever had in my life. I had a dream about it last night—I’m serious.

Sparrow Kim: Ha! I’ll tell him you said that. He’ll love it.

OD: What brings you down to the station?

SK: Oh, I thought everyone who knew Trey Foxberry was supposed to come down and talk about him because someone killed him?

OD: We haven’t determined the manner of death or if a crime has even been committed.

SK: Well, specifically, I told my friend Naomi I’d come here and corroborate her story. She didn’t ask me to, but I wanted to.

OD: Okay. Go ahead.

SK: When we were in college, Trey sexually assaulted her, and I saw him as he was coming out of the bedroom. I was with Naomi right afterward…she was a wreck and kept blaming herself, and I told her to stop. I told her it wasn’t her fault. How could it be her fault? She was sleeping. And y’know, it’s not like Trey was one hundred percent terrible one hundred percent of the time…that wouldn’t be realistic, right? He was charming enough sometimes—that’s how he worked. Like, in elementary school, he helped me get gum out of my hair one time. Also, early senior year of high school, I went on one date with him, but when I said no to another one because I thought we’d be better off as friends, he called me a lesbian in front of everyone. His wife, Caroline…she’s best friends with Rosemarie Kingston, who used to be…well, she used to be one of my best friends in high school…but I screwed that up. I owe her an apology, actually…but yeah, from what I know of Caroline, she’s a sweet person and I keep thinking about what everyone’s saying he did to her. A lot of people would’ve wanted to kill Trey for doing that to Caroline. I mean, if someone killed him.