A Jewel Whodunnit...
SADIE'S SCANDAL
PART TWO:  DEATH TO THE OLD LIFE

Chapter Six: The Net Closes

"Sadie?"
Copper put a gentle hand on her friend's shoulder, carefully shaking her awake. "Sadie, wake up...that detective is here, and he wants to speak to you."
"What?" Sadie stirred, rubbing her eyes and blinking at the drummer uncomprehendingly. "Detective?"
"DI Fields." Copper nodded. "I guess you'd better see what he wants." As Sadie groaned, going to bury herself once more beneath the duvet. "He seems pretty insistant about seeing you."
"It's half seven in the morning." Sadie muttered, reluctantly slipping out of bed. "Last night is the first night I've slept at all since this all began and now he's preying on my sleep time too? He's never going to pin this crime on me, why doesn't he just give up?"
She grabbed her dressing gown and her cigarettes, sliding her feet into her slippers and following her friend out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Noone else was up and the suite was quiet as they took their seats. Sadie noticed with some apprehension that Jetta had not been awoken. Clearly the detective wanted to speak to her alone.
"Miss Monahue." DI Fields seemed in a good mood. "I apologise for coming so early in the morning - but my colleague and I, well, we've been up a while already, digging through some evidence and reading over reports. In light of some new information we've received, I think we need to speak again."
"I don't have to say anything to you without my lawyer present." Sadie spoke coldly.
"No, you don't." The detective agreed. "But I would appreciate your assistance. A second body has come to light, and..."
"Another body?" Copper stared at the policemen in shock. "But...how? What do you mean?"
"I haven't left the hotel, if that's what you mean." Sadie said quietly. "I'm not some kind of psychotic serial killer."
"I didn't ask that. This body...has been dead a while." DI Fields pursed his lips. "Roden?"
"Miss Monahue, what do you know about the disappearance of a girl named Marsha Robinson?" The DS pushed a photograph across the coffee table, but Sadie was not even looking at it. Her face pale and her hand shaking, she pushed it aside, getting to her feet.
"I didn't do anything to her." She muttered. "It's nothing to do with me, you hear?"
"Miss..."
"I told you. I don't have to say anything to you without my lawyer." Sadie's voice was hard and unfamiliar. "So I'm going to my room. And unless you have a warrant to arrest me, that's all I have to say to you."
"Sadie, wait." Copper said softly. "The sooner you tell them what you know, the sooner they'll leave you alone. If you keep pulling back they'll think that you did it even more."
Sadie stared at her friend, then she sank back down onto the sofa, burying her head in her hands.
"I didn't kill Marsha Robinson." She whispered.
"But you knew that she was dead, didn't you?" DI Fields asked, his tone unusually soft. Sadie nodded.
"It wasn't my fault." She said slowly. "I mean, I...I shouldn't have seen. Noone ever...ever knew I did."
Copper reached to take her friend's hand in hers, squeezing it reassuringly.
"One of the girls at the Ridley place suggested that perhaps you were jealous of Marsha...that you saw her as competition in your pursuit of Mr Ridley." DS Roden put in.
"Competition?" Sadie stared. "Who told you that? I liked Marsha!" Her eyes narrowed. "I bet it was that bimbo Simone Strachan, she's always stirring stuff and she doesn't know the truth from a lie. I never hurt Marsha and I never would have."
"So who did?"
"Neal." Sadie's voice was barely more than a whisper. Copper stared at her.
"Neal killed someone?" She demanded. "Sadie, you never told us that!"
"Why do you damn think I was so scared of him?" Sadie exploded at this, her blue eyes flashing with fear and anger. "Why do you think I came all the way across the bloody atlantic to get away from him? He knew I knew! Why do you think it bothered him where I went or what I did? Why do you suppose he wanted to nail me!"
With this she burst into frightened tears and Copper hugged her tightly.
"Shh." She soothed.
"Miss Monahue...can you tell us exactly what happened to Miss Robinson, in your own words?" DI Fields was all professionalism, but it was clear Sadie's outburst had shaken him also.
Sadie swallowed hard.
"I'd been hanging around with that group for a while, perhaps a year, no more." She murmured. "Marsha...she was kinda sweet, I guess, for that crowd. She didn't pick on me or anything. I didn't hate her. She was seeing Neal, but she told me onetime that she had another boyfriend outside of Kent and that she was gonna sneak out one night. It wasn't common knowledge, but I think Simone and Amber knew that she was going to go, too."
"Amber?" DI Fields looked quizzical. Sadie blushed.
"A..Amanda Whatson." She murmured. "She...she used to know Neal even longer ago than I did."
"Go on." The Detective made a note of the name, gesturing for her to continue. "What happened?"
"She and Neal had a huge row one night." Sadie admitted. "I...well, he and I had...kinda gotten together behind her back and she'd told me she didn't care anyhow, so I didn't really feel bad about...you know. But she told him she wasn't going to stick around, that she had a better offer. He...he pushed her and she fell...like, against the wall, really hard. She fell kinda odd...I knew she was dead."
"How did you come to see this, Miss?" DI Fields seemed intent on the discussion.
"I..it's kinda fuzzy, to be honest. I think I must...must have been coming out of a drug stupor or something and the noise disturbed me. I do remember that I had been helping her sort her stuff earlier that day, but not much else between that and...well...this." Sadie bit her lip. "I heard the raised voices and I kinda peeked round the door - it wasn't shut. And I saw..."
"Miss Strachan said the girl had been strangled."
"She fell." Sadie shook her head. "And hit her head. She wasn't strangled. That was for cover...Neal wanted it to look like suicide. He...he saw me peeking round the door and I ran but he grabbed a hold of me. He told me it was an accident and that I wasn't to say anything to the others." She swallowed hard. "I felt bad but, well, it was an accident and I...I guess I loved him. I didn't want him in trouble, I would've done anything for him. So I promised...I said nothing. And besides, I needed him. I didn't know anywhere else to get smack and by that time I had...well...I was building a habit."
"So what happened?"
"I don't know exactly." Sadie admitted. "I didn't see her body again and the story went that she'd run away someplace. I didn't know Simone knew anything about it." She eyed the detective anxiously. "Do...you believe me?"
"Yes, funnily enough I do." DI Fields admitted. "Besides, the body of Miss Robinson showed evidence of head trauma to the back of the skull and the break of the neck wasn't consistant with simple strangulation. Your story seems far more plausible...however I only have your word that Neal Ridley was the one to push her. He's not here to defend himself."
"He hit girls. All the time." Sadie retorted. "Me included. And why would I say it was an accident if I wanted to push a murder off on Neal? I told it how it happened, dammit! I was seventeen, I pushed it out of my mind and drowned it in drugs and that's the truth. It was only after I got out of that life and moved to Birmingham that he started to lay into me about it, phonecalls or letters, and I started dreaming about it! One time he even threatened me personally. So I left England."
"Your elder sister said that you were frightened of him, and that you left England because of his threats." DI Fields acknowledged.
"You spoke to Alyssa?" Sadie demanded.
"This is a murder investigation, Miss. I'm talking to everyone I can find." DI Fields replied simply. "I intend on finding this Miss Whatson you mentioned, also. See what she knows about Neal Ridley and Marsha Robinson. Which brings me back to Mr Ridley himself."
"I don't have anything to say. I didn't kill him." Sadie said quietly. "Okay?"
"So you tell us." DI Fields responded. "But...Miss, would you tell me what blood type you are?"
"AB." Sadie looked startled. "What has that to do with anything?"
"You are aware how rare that blood type is?"
"Yes." Sadie nodded, her expression confused. "I inherited it from Mom. She used to give blood all the time and when I found out I was AB too, I did the same."
"Miss Monahue, would you please tell me how type AB blood got onto the clothing of Mr Ridley?"
"What?" Sadie stared, her face draining of colour. "But..."
"Could Neal have been AB?" Copper asked.
"Mr Ridley's blood type was O." DS Roden cast her a smile. Sadie shook her head slowly.
"It's impossible." She murmured.
"I'mn going to get Jetta." Copper got to her feet. "I think we need her."
There was no response from either detective, for they were intent on their prey, and the drummer left the room, secretly glad to be out of the confusing atmosphere.
Where did that leave things now? Sadie's blood was on Neal's body...was she guilty after all? Or was this all part of some complex frame up that none of them had figured out yet?
"I don't think she should've spoken to the cops without Jetta. I hope I'm not going to get a yelling at for that." She mused as she knocked on the executive's hotel room door. "This whole business is a mess and Im amazed we havent woken Syl or Nancy with the noise. I hoped that this was going to resolve it...but instead it's made it worse!"

Back in the hotel suite, Sadie was biting her lip, unsure as to how to react now she was alone with the policemen. She had always feared police, more since the unsolved death of her mother and her own negative experiences..
"Miss Monahue, I have a question to put to you." DI Fields spoke quietly. "And if there is anything at all you feel you should tell me, I will do my best to take it into account. The coroner has intimated that Mr Ridley's death appears to have been caused by a blow lashed out in self defence. Tell me, did you hit him?"
"I didn't kill him." Sadie murmured in low tones, her voice shaking as she spoke.
"I dare say it wasn't intentional." Now the detective's voice was enticing and soothing, almost encouraging her to confess to him. "I have no doubt that it was a horrible accident. If you'd only tell me what happened, I'm sure that a jury would be merciful, if you were to confess that you hit him in self defence..."
"I didn't damn well hit anyone!" Sadie exclaimed, her head shooting up at this. "I don't care if Neal was killed in self defence or by a hitman or by any other damn means! I didn't do it! Okay? You can take your blood types and your witnesses and shove them in the bin because they mean nothing. I never spoke to Neal that night and that's the bloody truth! I don't know who killed him but whoever it is is doing a damn good job of framing me and it's just not true!"

Chapter One: An Uncertain Reputation
Chapter Two: Reaction
Chapter Three: Questions
Chapter Four:  Back Home
Chapter Five: Complications
Chapter Six: The Net Closes
Chapter Seven: Jetta Demands
Chapter Eight: Startling News
Chapter Nine: An Unlikely Suspect
Chapter Ten: The Truth
Chapter Eleven: Amber
Chapter Twelve: Final Verdict
DISCLAIMER: PLEASE NOTE
Copper, Nancy, Sylva, Anna, Blade, Raesha, Sirena, Topaz, Aaron, Sophie, Justin, Elliot, Rosita, Luis and any other characters in this fiction which do not appear in the animated Jem series are copyrighted to me (E.A Woolley) as of January 2002 <unless otherwise specified> and are not to be reproduced without permission ANYWHERE. Jetta, Pizzazz, Stormer, Roxy, Raya and all other original Jem characters are the copyright of Hasbro Inc, Sunbow, Christy Marx and the other writers of the Jem series. The future world of Pizzazz, Raya, Jetta, Roxy, Stormer, Clash, Synergy, the fate of Jem and her memorial are all copyrighted to me. The future world of Kimber and Shana is copyrighted jointly to myself and Gemma Dawn.
The concept of 'Jewel' is entirely my own, and any apparent link with any fictional or actual person or persons of this name is entirely coincidental. Equally the characters in this fiction are not based on any real life individual.
The concept behind the future world of Danse, Aja and Craig, the idea behind Jerrica's futureworld and the split of the Holograms is copyrighted to Gemma Dawn, whose Teenangel Outsiders fiction is directly twinned with Just a Dream. The character Sammi and any of the other Teenangel Outsider characters mentioned in this fiction are entirely copyright to Gemma Dawn and appear here only with her permission.
Pay her page a visit!