It Started With a Murder

Chapter Three

Cathie:

I'm sitting on a sofa at Annabelle's old house, in-between Millie (Annabelle's gran) and Mrs Dickson. Millie is crying softly as she tells me stories about Annabelle as a little girl, about her first school play, the time Annabelle nearly fell in a water fall, Annabelle's first birthday.

Mrs Dickson is silent, her whole body hunched over, her eyes staring ahead, lost and confused.

There's a commotion outside, someone shouting. The living room falls quiet, everyone except Millie stopping their conversations.

"I'll check it out," a women says, taking only one step towards the door before stopping as it flies open.

I watch in shock as Adrian Humphrey runs into the room, his eyes wild as he stops and looks around at everyone.

No one dares to speak, I feel Mrs Dickson's arms and legs tense. I glance over at her but most of her hair is shielding her face so I'm unsure of her reaction to seeing Adrian.

A few seconds later, Adrian's dad runs in wiping his face, he stops behind Adrian, his face pinched up in humiliation. "I'm so sorry... I tried to stop him."

All of a sudden it's like a switch has been turned on, everyone starts screaming at Adrian. Some try to make a grab at him but he manages to move faster than them.

The only people not speaking are Mrs Dickson, Millie and me. I can't think of a single thing to say. Slowly Adrian makes his way towards us. I study his face, wondering if he really has murdered Annabelle, I know this doesn't mean anything but he doesn't have the eyes of a killer. They're a soft, green colour, they kind of remind me of spring time.

Adrian's voice snaps me out of the little trance that my brain has fallen into. "Belle was a beautiful girl, I will dearly miss her and I'll never forget her."

He stands still whilst the whole room falls silent, waiting for Mrs Dickson to speak; even I feel myself anticipating the comeback, wondering why Adrian bothered to come, surely he knew it was a stupid and cruel idea.

After an age of silence, Mrs Dickson retaliates with just one word. "Murderer," she hisses.

I look around at the reactions from the onlookers, most look disappointed, they were expecting a rant and a rave with lots of screaming and threats. Instead they got one word.

Adrian nods once before leaving the room. After a few seconds of silence, everyone begins talking again as though nothing had happened. I watch Adrian's father, he stands still for a few seconds with his eyes closed before a pained expression crosses his face and he follows his son out of the room.

I'm sitting with Pearl, curled up on the sofa, watching reruns of F.R.I.E.N.D.S episode's. I don't know why we put a comedy on, neither of us are laughing, we're both just staring blankly at the screen.

Mum and dad are still round Annabelle's... No, not Annabelle's, Mr and Mrs Dickson's house, Annabelle doesn't live there anymore, I need to get that into my head.

The whole way through the wake I just kept expecting Annabelle to skip into the room, do one of her signature, three-note giggles, then tell us that it was just a joke, that she wasn't really dead.

She didn't skip through the door, in fact the only unexpected visit we got was from Adrian.

"Pearl?" I murmur, dragging my eyes away from the Television.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think... Do you think that Adrian is the murderer?" I ask, watching closely for Pearl's reaction.

At first Pearl doesn't move at all, she just sits still, staring at the TV. I'm about to repeat the question when all of a sudden Pearl jumps out of her seat and stares down at me angrily, "Of course he is! How dare you even question that. Do you think Annabelle just dropped dead by herself or something?"

"Well no, I just thought..." I start to say, startled by Pearl's melodramatic reaction.

"No, of course she didn't. Don't be so fucking stupid, Cathie!" Pearl shouts, leaning her face so close to mine that I can feel her breath tickling my nose.

As quickly as she got wound up, Pearl calms down. Her whole body just sags onto the floor, her face pressed into her hands.

I know a lot of people at our school are terrified of Pearl, she scares me sometimes too, but I always love her because I know this side of her, the soft side of her, the side that no one else gets to see.

I slide myself off the sofa and put my arms around my sister. "It'll get better," I say, trying to make myself believe those words.

Pearl looks up at me, unshed tears glossing over her eyes. "It's got to be him, right? It's got to be Adrian." I smile sadly but don't answer, I'm not going to lie to Pearl, nobody knows enough about Annabelle's death to find the murderer. Pearl sighs. "He's the only one with a motive. I mean she split up with him like a day before she was murdered. Can't the police just arrest him already?"

I bite my lip, Annabelle had broken up with Adrian shortly before her murder, though it had been more like two weeks before, not a day, and she'd told me that they were still friends. It just didn't add up.

"They just need some more evidence, Pearl, it'll all be sorted out in a few weeks," I say, pushing myself to my feet and rubbing my eyes. "I'm feeling kind of tired, I'll think I'll turn in for the night." Pearl stays on the floor, not saying anything just staring at her hands. "Night," I mutter before leaving the room.

I get no response.

Lying in bed that night I mull over Pearl's words; she's probably right, Adrian is more than likely the murderer. I just can't imagine why he would kill her, they were so close, even after breaking up.

Adrian's probably just some psycho, a psycho who's really good at covering up his true feelings. The annoying thing is, even though I keep telling myself that, whenever I close my eyes, I see Adrian's springtime-green eyes and can't help but think that they're the eyes of an innocent.