Riverside

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Ronnie was over at my house today so we could study for a test tomorrow. I always found it easier to study with her because she was serious about studying, whereas I could procrastinate up to the point where I end up not studying. With her here, she always made sure I was paying attention.

Unfortunately, I still wasn't able to pay attention this time. I wasn't procrastinating and constantly going on my phone. I was just too busy thinking about River and who could have done this.

I snapped out of my thoughts when Ronnie sighed and closed her textbook. "I'm guessing you're not going to be able to study?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No, I can't. Not when River is still in prison and the only lead we have is how Emerson is really River's half-brother. If we can even count it as a lead."

"I talked to Marilyn last night," Ronnie said. "She's starting to doubt River and she doesn't think she can win this case. You and I will just have to figure things out ourselves."

"How?" I asked. "We're only seniors in high school. She's a lawyer and went to law school. She actually has experience."

"So?" Ronnie asked. "We just have to start thinking outside the box. I think I'm ready for the test tomorrow and I know you're not going to be able to focus on studying, so how about we go do some more sleuthing?"

"Where?" I asked. "Marilyn questioned everyone who knows the Gillespie."

"Did River's mom work anywhere?" she asked and I nodded. "Did Marilyn go to that workplace?"

"No, I actually think she hasn't," I said before reaching for my small notebook sitting on my nightstand. I brought it with me whenever I went with Marilyn to talk to River. "She worked as a secretary for some kind of CEO. The office is in the city beside this town."

"Then come on, that's where we're going," Ronnie said as she stood up from the computer chair.

"Are you serious?" I asked. "We're not actual lawyers, so I'm pretty sure some of the workers there will refuse to talk to two seventeen-year-olds."

"Well, we might as well give it a try," Ronnie said. "Besides, I'm certain I can get at least one person to talk to us."

"Fine, but only because I'm desperate here," I said, getting off of my bed.

Ronnie and I headed downstairs and when Mom asked where we were going, Ronnie quickly said we needed a break from studying so we were going to get some frozen yoghurt.

We left the house and decided that Ronnie will drive the both of us to the office instead of having to take both cars. I still wasn't sure if Ronnie would actually be able to get someone to talk to us about River's mom.

When we got inside the building, Ronnie looked around at all the people sitting at the desks. Her eyes then landed on a young woman who was filing her nails instead of typing away on the computer like everyone else.

Ronnie then led me to the desk and the young woman looked up. "Do you have an appointment?" she asked.

"No, we're actually here to talk about...." Ronnie looked at me. "What's her name?"

"Enid," I said. "Enid Gillespie."

The young woman stared at us for a bit before placing the nail filer down on her desk. "Well, we were told we're not supposed to talk about her, but I really hate this job so I couldn't care less," she said. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Basically anything," Ronnie said. "Why are you not supposed to talk about her?"

She shrugged. "Beats me. We were just told not to. Why do you two want to talk about it?"

"River's my friend," I said. "He didn't kill his family so I hired a lawyer for him, but the lawyer is starting to doubt that River is innocent, so we're trying to see if we can figure things out."

"River....That's Enid's oldest son, right?" she asked and I nodded. "I didn't even know she had an older son. None of us here did. We only knew about the youngest because months after she started working here, she got pregnant and had to go on maternity leave near the end of the pregnancy and a few months after."

"Wait," Ronnie said. "None of you knew that Enid had an older son?"

"Yeah, we were all shocked when the news said her oldest son killed all three of them," she said. "She never talked about him. Only Emerson. Boy, did she talk about Emerson a lot. It's so sad what happened to them, especially Emerson. He had his whole life ahead of him."

"Yeah," I agreed, my voice softening. "River's devastated. He would never kill Emerson, let alone hurt him."

"Was Enid hated by anyone here?" Ronnie asked.

The young woman snorted. "Hated? Yeah, right. She was Edmund's favorite."

"Edmund?"

"Oh, the owner of this company. Our boss. Between you and me, he loved her a bit too much if you know what I mean."

Ronnie and I looked at each other before looking back at the woman. "You're saying they had an affair?"

The woman shrugged. "I mean, I assume they did and so does some other people. It was never really confirmed, but I always saw some sort of affection between the two. Gently touching each other, standing too close, talking in low voices."

"Does Edmund have brown eyes?" Ronnie asked.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "That's a....weird question. But yeah, he does."

"Interesting...."

I knew exactly what Ronnie was getting at. If the woman was right about Enid and Edmund, then that meant Emerson was possibly Edmund's son.

"I think that's good enough for now," Ronnie said. "Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem."

After Ronnie and I left the building, Ronnie looked at me. "I think we should talk to Marilyn about it," she said. "She'll actually be able to talk people without them refusing. I think we're actually getting somewhere."

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Lol, I never really know what to put in my author's notes for Riverside because this was written four weeks ago and I don't even read what I'm copying and pasting, so I forgot what's going on. cx I'm way ahead of this story.

Apart from the story, I'm sad because I'm poor and I'm craving Pringles. :/ I have no money right now AND I JUST WANT PRINGLES.