Trailer Girl (Completed)

Chapter 19 - Seeking Trouble

I couldn't help but see the irony of how the tables have turned. A moment ago, I couldn't care less about him when all his focus was on me. And now, as I was about to enter the elevator with a possible serial killer, all I wanted was for him to notice me and stop me from possibly making the worst mistake of my life.

He didn't look up.

I entered the elevator and with a ping the doors closed behind me, leaving me trapped in a steel box with a possible murderer.

I felt goosebumps form on my arms and when the elevator moved my stomach dropped. I was a mess of nerves and I was the one to blame for it - I did this to myself.

I didn't dare to glance in Mark's direction as we climbed up. However, I kept note of his movements from the corner of my eye in case I needed to duck or defend myself.

When we stopped at Mark's floor I wasn't sure if I should feel relief for getting out of the confinement of such small space, or fear for being all alone with him in his apartment.

I didn't have much time to dwell on it, however. As soon as we stepped out of the elevator Mark rounded on me. "Where did you get that picture?"

I froze. I was proving to be more stupid by the minute. How did I not realize that he was going to ask me that?

I was the one who came here to confront Mark and somehow I ended up being on the spot. "I was looking for the bathroom, the night of the party, and I went into your office by accident."

He gave me a cynical smile. "And the picture happened to fall from the shelf and your phone just happened to take a picture of it."

I gave up on lying. It wasn't doing me any good anyway. "I was looking for Jessica."

"Why?" His eyes bored into mine. "How do you know her?"

I paused for a moment, wondering if he even knew she was dead.

"I mean..." I saw his Adam's apple jump as he swallowed before he corrected himself. "How did you know her? Do you know anything about what happened to her?"

"We met one night in a club," I said, observing him closely. He appeared to be affected by her death. There were dark circles under his eyes that I didn't notice earlier and he looked really tired. "How did you know her?"

He motioned with his hand towards the couch and walked over to the bar as I took a seat. He came back with two glasses of whiskey and passed one to me. I put mine down on the coffee table, but he took a long sip before he began telling me his story.

"Even as a kid, I didn't really get along with my parents. They had a habit of pushing me and putting pressure on me that I didn't like. By the time I was in high school we had fights every day. They liked that I was our town's baseball star, but that's as far as it ever went about things they liked about me."

He paused to take a sip of his drink. "Anyways, one summer, in particular, they were planning a vacation and it wasn't until the last minute that they told me that I wasn't coming. That they were actually sending me to my grandparents to spend my summer in the country. I was a real city boy, I hated dirt, I hated bugs, and I hated my parents for sending me to that dump. As it turned out though, that happened to be the best summer I could've had. My grandparents were cool, and that's when I got into jazz. That was the summer I met Norma too."

"You mean Jess?" I asked.

He looked up with a start, fighting his way through the memories.

"Yeah," he said, finishing his drink and getting up to pour another.

"Why did she lie about her name?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he gave me a long hard look that made me uncomfortable. I was resisting the urge to shift in my seat. "Do you know anything about what happened to her?"