Police Chief Samuel Upton studied the man standing in front of him.

Marty Kulik had just admitted to killing his daughter’s babysitter, Genesee Fallows. But there were no witnesses to challenge or corroborate his version of events. So, Upton did not know if the death was accidental, as Marty claimed, or if he deliberately had murdered a twelve-year-old girl.

And that was how matters stood from Sunday morning, July 5th until the following morning, when Marty’s wife Vivian walked into the police station and gave Chief Upton her version of what really had occurred at the party on July 4th.

In addition to alcohol, she stated, her husband had consumed significant quantities of cocaine. He was loud, offensive, and belligerent the entire time he was there. It was true that when baby Bethany started to cry and fidget, Marty had brought her home. But Vivian never had intended to remain at the party without them, so shortly after they departed, she left, too.

Vivian also imparted the very interesting information that for the past three months, she had suspected Marty of having an extramarital affair. Wanting to find out where he had been, she purchased a Global Positioning System tracking device from a Spy Store on the Internet, and had hidden the transmitter in the wheel well of her husband’s truck.

Before Vivian Kulik left the police station, Chief Upton had her sign a sworn statement affirming everything that she had said. Then he contacted her GPS provider, issued a subpoena, analyzed printouts, and began to build a case. During a press conference at the courthouse following the trial, the chief told reporters that “Data provided by the Global Positioning System, allied with witness statements and physical evidence, told a terrible tale.”

Marty Kulik, indeed, had left his residence with Genesee Fallows after putting his daughter to bed. But he did not drive the babysitter halfway to her family’s home on Blackthorn Lane before turning the truck around. Instead, upon returning to his vehicle, he proceeded directly from the front of his house to the dirt road leading to Melting Moon Lake.

Nor, after arriving there, had he accidentally backed his pickup into Genesee Fallows, who’d been standing behind the rear bumper, silently admiring the view. What really happened was that at 9:10 p.m., Marty pulled up his truck to the front porch of his cabin, a mere 300 feet from Melting Moon Lake. Based upon data obtained from the GPS provider, the truck remained outside the cabin until 11:57 p.m., at which time Marty drove it to the water’s edge.

Also, contrary to his statement, the vehicle had not been in REVERSE gear at the time. It was in DRIVE.

Further analysis of GPS data led Chief Upton to conclude that Marty Kulik’s call to Genesee Fallow’s parents asking if their daughter could babysit was a ruse. He never intended to drive Genesee home the next morning, but had planned to abduct and forcibly detain her in his cabin from the instant that she entered his truck.

Marty kept Genesee prisoner in his cabin for two hours and 47 minutes before the brave little girl escaped. What he had done to her during those three hours could never be determined, but the police chief thought it likely that, overcome by the effects of alcohol and cocaine, Genesee’s abductor, for a time at least, had passed out.

When he regained consciousness, Kulik frantically searched the area around the cabin. Within minutes, he was able to follow the babysitter’s footprints to the edge of the lake, where he found her cowering among the cattails. At which time, Marty Kulik calmly climbed into his truck, aimed his vehicle at her, and … accelerated.

Impact with his front bumper propelled Genesee’s small body into Melting Moon Lake, inflicting the injuries that caused her death.

After Marty Kulik’s trial, TV reporter Gillian Pond interviewed jurors about their deliberations. Surprisingly, his guilty” verdict had been far from a sure thing, because all twelve had been swayed by the testimony of his seventeen-year-old mistress, Olivia Olmstead, who insisted that she had been with her lover on the 4th of July. All night.

Olivia was an odd duck. Slight, sad, pretty, and naive. She had pale blond hair and mismatched eyes, one blue and one green: both huge and soulful. Technically, Olivia was the seductress who had lured a middle-aged man away from his middle-aged wife. But it didn’t play out that way with the jury. Instead, Olivia had appeared to be so pathetic and credulous that it was difficult for them to disregard her tearful testimony.

Until the GPS evidence was introduced. After that, it took a “panel of Marty Kulik’s peers” only 15 minutes to bring in a unanimous verdict against him.

The trial and accompanying media brouhaha greatly disrupted the lives of the people living in Madison Heights. When it was over, the only thing Chief Upton wanted to do was return to the traffic violations, burglaries, and drug arrests that made up the normal routine of a law enforcement officer’s day.

Life calmed down.

Life went on.

Continued next Friday …

Chapter 3 of 8. See previous chapters, beginning on Friday, April 12.

Copyright © Shelly Reuben, 2024. Shelly Reuben’s books have been nominated for Edgar, Prometheus, and Falcon awards. For more about her writing, visit www.shellyreuben.com