Midnight Angel [Jenlisa FF]

~'~'~ Chapter 24 ~'~'~

"It's okay," Jennie said softly, though she was a bit jarred from hearing his blunt words.

Ryan gave a short nod and went back to his conclusions. "Then there was the fact that not a trace of her blood was apparently found at the scene. That's unusual. If she'd been having some sort of episode and lashed out like that, she would have likely hurt herself accidentally and bled in the room, but only the victims' blood was found."

"I hadn't considered that," Lisa mumbled.

"And the note," Ryan went on. "I'm not an expert, but I know a little, and to me it looks like it was written by someone who is left-handed. Only about ten percent of the population are left-handed. Which are you, Jennie?"

"I, umm, I'm right-handed."

"That's what I figured," he said knowingly. "But all that is mostly circumstantial stuff. This is the kicker. There's a report in the police files that blows the whole thing wide open. I can't imagine how they managed to keep it under wraps."

"What report?" Lisa asked sharply. If there was something that proved Jennie's innocence, she wanted to know.

"It's from the medical examiner, reports on the...," Ryan glanced at Jennie, "the umm, bodies. The ME did a tox screen which at first appears to be normal to a layman, but if you take a closer look, there was a chemical present in all three victims." Ryan was silent for a minute, allowing the news to sink in before he gave the final piece. "It was a little-known drug that, in essence, knocks a person out."

"Good God!" Lisa exclaimed, leaping off the couch. "That's how they did it!" she paced around the room, speaking more to herself than to either Jennie or Ryan. "They put the drug in the ice cream, and then when everyone was out, they snuck in and set up the perfect murder where Jennie would take the fall."

"The ice cream," Jennie whispered. Her eyelids fluttered closed before she opened them and gazed at Lisa through tear-filled eyes. "That night...I-I remember Mom bringing in ice cream. It was mint chocolate chip. We never had that kind. We always had the cookie dough, or plain vanilla. I remember Donna asking who picked out the mint kind and Mom said she thought Dad had. But he didn't, did he"

"I don't think so," Ryan responded gently, he could see the young woman was completely thrown by this new information. "It looks like they drugged the ice cream and put it in your freezer. No one thinks much about mysterious food appearing in their fridge. So, no one would have really thought it odd."

Jennie was still somewhat lost in her memories of that night. She tried to sort through it all, tried to remember anything she could have forgotten. Nothing came to her, though. Her memories were still the same. "We started eating the ice cream and watching the movies, and then it's like a big hole in my mind until Daddy found me in the closet, and even that I don't remember much of."

"That makes sense," Ryan said thoughtfully. "The drug works fairly quickly. You'd just be sitting there eating and having a good time and then you'd nod off. I have a question, though. How would someone know to drug ice cream, and to be at your house that night?"

Blinking, Jennie looked at Ryan, trying to understand what she wanted to know. Her brow furrowed in concentration. "It was a Friday night," she remembered. "We always had family night then. We'd watch movies together, and munch on ice cream and snacks."

"And other people knew this?" Ryan prodded.

"I...I think so. Probably. We'd done it for a few years. My father always made sure he didn't have to stay late at work and would be home on time...," she trailed off, her lips quivering as a new thought occurred to her.