Dangerous Liaisons [✗]

𝟏𝟓 | 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐲

Yet there was a passive voice telling me it was okay to talk about it and ask any questions if it helped me get answers and keep people safe, including her, whether she failed to realise it.

"Tia told me that Tori had been missing for over six months, but she assumed it was just her acting out. That her and her sister were very different, they were polar opposites. Perhaps she was ashamed." I sighed, and Audrey furrowed her brows. "She mentioned that she had bad friends, the type to lead her astray. She used studying farther away as a guise, so she could continue making all the wrong choices."

"Maybe. I guess that makes most sense, why she didn't feel comfortable confiding in me. Fearful that I would judge her or any of what her family did. Either way, the state of her sister was awful, and I can't figure out how she wound up in such a state that night. Though I admit, it is most strange that there was no warning sign before she jumped." She edged closer to the island.

"You didn't show up yesterday, at your workplace." I accosted, leaning into the counter-top, elbows pushed forward. "Where were you, if not at work?"

"I didn't sleep a moment." Audrey scowled and rummaged through a drawer, until her hand resurfaced with what appeared to be painkillers. "All I could see was her. You best get rid of that awfully scathing tone. I am exhausted, of everything that has happened, since you appeared. Did Kris send you here to interview me?"

"No. I'm just here on a whim, not because I want to pressurise you, to speak to me about anything you don't want to. The Detective didn't send me here. This is off the record, I just wanted to talk to you." I admitted out aloud, weary as she swallowed two pills. "I'm sorry mainly, that you were even there."

My apology had a double meaning, I wasn't only apologising for her presence at the Gala and witnessing her friends sister's deceased body, but about discovering both her parents slaughtered too. It wasn't pretty of course, bloody handprints coated the walls, and bodily fluids covered the plush grounds...and she had been the one to find them.

It was especially disturbing since the fatalities transpired in tandem, leaving son and daughter orphaned, while they both battled and suffered until their final breath, tears of defeat down their faces, fingers twitching, and pointed towards one another.

After I had spoken with the then Detective and various law enforcement, my father had whisked me away to the side. He had a particularly harrowing look on his face that I wouldn't ever forget and it was evident he didn't want me to have a part in any of the events.

"You've a flight to catch, son." Sheriff Thayer had said.

"I can fly out later." I argued immediately. "It can wait."

"The Academy won't like tardiness on the first day." He all but barked at me that night.

"This is far too important. What would Elyas say if I just got up and left, sir?" I stressed.

"He will understand. Just make sure to catch your flight, that is all. Leave this to us."

Perhaps I entrusted the Terence PD that night because I assumed they might assist in understanding what happened, how it unfolded and why. I was gravely mistaken. I overlooked that the perpetrators had fled, barely leaving any traces behind, and my best friend eventually informed me after I had already departed and it was too late.

Supposedly, an armed robbery had been conducted.

A bloody one at that too.

Never did I believe it.

I didn't have the power or precedence to do anything, but stay away and let the siblings claw for their peace and sanity and ultimately heal. Seeing the way that Audrey looked when she spotted Tori's corpse however, told me everything I needed to know. She was just as traumatised as she had been almost ten years ago.