The Unmurder

Mia Huerta

She washed up on the riverbank about two miles away from where she was dropped. And thank goodness for that; if it had been much longer, the body could’ve been ruined or, perhaps, never found. The investigation would’ve been exponentially harder. And thus, this process would’ve proven impossible.

“The Beginning of the Unmurder of Ava Park,” Kathy announces. Jason feels shivers go through his spine and feels lightly surprised at the evenness of her tone. Feeling a sense of crudeness and disrespect, he begins dragging the body against the current with a lead. It’s uncomfortable, but they have to get her back to where she was dumped.

“Lastly, the body washed ashore two miles away, where it was found and reported by Claire Lamont.”

This is all that Kathy will say for the entire sojourn. Jason isn’t meant to say anything, either. So he mentally repeats every word he can ever remember Ava saying to him. Every phone call, every text, every whisper. Soon. I’ll get you back soon.

In the faintest peripheries of her perception, she can feel a tugging motion— a sweeping motion— as her body is led against the current— pulled along with the current. Jason and Kathy are right there beside her— nobody is around to help, nobody saw anything, she is alone. Her soul is at once disappearing from her body and being beckoned back to it.

After the walk, Jason pulls Ava back onto dry land. “He threw back the blanket and removed her from the back of his pickup truck,” Kathy continues. Once the trial concluded, the cherry red Ford Focus was turned over to them, for the purposes of the unmurder. Shuddering, Jason cradles Ava’s damp corpse and places it into the trunk, wrapping her up. It’s like when she used to pick him up and take him to bed when he’d fall asleep on road trips.

“Upon checking her heartbeat and realizing that she was dead, Ralph Park wrapped her in a blanket, placed her into his truck, and drove to the riverbank from their residence in the dead of night.” Kathy gets into the passenger seat and Jason shakily starts the car. Kathy grips his clammy palm and nods, eyebrows furrowed. He drives, being careful not to blow past the speed limit. Kathy taps her fingers on the clipboard she’s reading from in a strictly rhythmic pattern. He pulls into the garage and carries Ava inside, all the way to the kitchen. She is completely dry when he retrieves her from the trunk— the first good sign. He feels like he might drop her. His arms keep trembling.

He sets her against the bottom of the sink, where her head had crashed into the metal handle. His breaths shudder. Fortunately, this is the journey of Ava’s death and disposal, so they don’t have to cover Ralph cleaning the house and his clothes. The thought of scattering the kitchen with blood makes Jason queasy.

Kathy gives him a look— “C’mon. I know you don’t want to, but we need to keep going”— so he presses his fingers to her neck to feel for a nonexistent pulse and leans in close to listen for her extinguished breaths. 

Gushing blood, staring at it on her hands, Ava tries to reach for Ralph. Maybe it’s to bloody his clothes or maybe it’s to plead for him to save her or maybe it’s just to ask him to hold her one more time. But he’s realized what’s happening now and is shouting a string of curses and pacing around the house. She breathes her last breath at twenty-nine years old, an exhausted exhalation.

Jason doesn’t want to. He doesn’t want to, he can’t. Kathy closes her eyes. “Ralph grabbed a kitchen knife from the block and plunged into her right breast a total of five times from above. Upon doing so, he dropped the knife to the floor.”

“Kathy!”

She shakes her head disapprovingly. He knows that she can only narrate. Otherwise they risk this failing, and she refuses to let him keep her from saving her sister. The force of her scowl makes him pick up the knife and place it into the entrance wound. He then has to yank it out and pierce it back in. And again. And again. And again.

Jason’s tear-filled eyes— Ralph’s wild eyes— flash in Ava’s vision. She can hear her own screams. She remembers that the first time he did it, she just gasped; the screaming came during the rest, along with her desperate kicking. Fiery agony blooming in her chest. How could Jason do this?

No, wait. That’s not right.

Jason is taking it all back, like slowly and systematically unbraiding a thread. He slots the knife back into place with the others.

Her eyelashes are fluttering now. Jason and Kathy flash gobsmacked glances at one another.

“He threw her to the floor, and in the process, her head smacked against the handle of her kitchen sink. It was enough to leave bruising, but not to render her unconscious or cause hemorrhaging in the brain.” Jason isn’t entirely sure how to “undo” that, but he settles on grabbing her collar and lightly pulling her back to her feet. Kathy takes out the stand they had prepared, and they use it to keep her propped up.

Jason’s whole body nearly crumples in on itself. They’re turning Ava into a mannequin. Kathy doesn’t waver. Her shoulders are straight and her head is level. Man. He should’ve been the one narrating. She can do the dirty work.

Okay… stop complaining. This is important.

“When Ralph opened the bag, their arguing turned into a shouting match, with Ralph drawing physically closer and Ava subconsciously retreating until she was cornered in the kitchen.”

Kathy starts to inch Ava further from the sink while Jason backs up. How does one un-argue? How does one un-shout?

Whispers part his lips. “Avs, remember when I told you you were being stuck-up about your grades and accomplishments back when you were in college? When that professor recommended you for that special program? I shouldn’t have ever said it. I was being stupid and jealous.”

Ralph is glaring. “I’ve told you over and over again that your siblings make me uncomfortable. You’re not listening to my boundaries, and that shows that don’t care about my feelings. Just stay home with me. Please?”

“I’m not forcing you to come with me. You don’t have to see either of them if you don’t want to. But they’re a fifteen-minute drive away and I haven’t seen them in months. I miss my family.”

“And remember when I ratted on you to Mom and Dad when you said you couldn’t have lunch with us because you were sick? And you were actually on a date with Ralph? I did that because I was petty and I missed hanging out with you. I should’ve realized that he was doing it on purpose. That he made you feel bad for being around us. I’m sorry, Avs. I’m sorry I didn’t know. I’m sorry we ignored the red flags.” Jason’s voice quivers.

“Isn’t the point of marriage that we’re all the other needs? Am I not enough?”

“You know that’s not it. I love you. I’m happy to be with you. But we’re not supposed to only spend time with one person. You have lots of friends!”

“And you spend time with them, too! Why do you need to bother Jason and Kathy? They probably don’t even want to host you right now anyway.”

“Your work friends aren’t the same. I need people of my own. We don’t need every single part of our lives to be shared.”

“What, so you feel the need to keep things secret from me? What are you getting up to?”

“You’re twisting my words.”

“No! That’s what you’re telling me! You’re telling me that you need to go places and speak to people without me being there!”

“I’m sorry you felt like you needed to hide how you were feeling. I wish you had known that we would’ve believed you,” Jason tells her.

Ralph grabs the bag with the intent to unpack it and realizes how full it is. “Where are you going? Are you lying to me?!”

“Hey, no! That was just in case of an emergency!”

“Remember, when we got married, we gave everything to each other! You’re breaking our vows!”

“I’m not! You’re so controlling!”

“Because I love you!”

“I don’t feel loved!”

“We love you so much, Ava.” Jason finds the duffel bag— which she had told Ralph was for overnight, but was actually filled enough for a handful of days— and silently zips it up.

“The case began at 9:22 PM on October 7th, when Ralph Park walked in on Ava Park having a phone call with Katherine Owens. In the call, she requested to come over and spend a few days with her and their younger brother, Jason Owens, stating that she had a lot to catch them up on.”

Jason raises a phone to Ava’s ear and Kathy pulls out her own. After only a few moments, the hand twitches and rises and grips the phone of its own volition. “Kath? I need you.”

Kathy drops her phone, hands shaking. “Avs, that must be so uncomfortable! Hold on!” she cries out, working with Ava to take her off of the stand. She can balance on her own feet again.

Though, Jason’s out to prove that she can’t, given that he hugs her with such force and speed that she nearly topples over again. She shushes him gently, running a soothing hand through his hair, and beckons to Kathy.

Finally, Kathy wails, throwing herself into the hug.

“You were both so strong,” Ava praises.

“You were strong. You were crazy strong for trying to leave. He won’t ever touch you again,” Jason vows.

“Thank you both. For loving me enough to try and take it back.”

“Can we undo the whole marriage?” Kath asks, choking on her tear-filled laughter.

Ava’s expression falls and she raises her hand to her chest. Part of her, somewhere, is locked in that final argument. Over and over. Another part is locked in the older ones, the ones left to fester. She hears his rotted words in that honeyed tone stretching out for her attention.

“Some things can never be undone.”