Dancing with the Dead ✔

Chapter Seventeen - Gossip Trip

"Typical Dean. Always wants to help out his family," I reply.

"Yeah..." He shakes his head lightly, sounding proud though frustrated at the same time.

"So, Mr. H, did you know the St. John girl?" I try to change the subject.

"Oh yes, of course! Is it true you were the one who found her?"

"Yes, it was awful, I'm telling you," I try to empathize. "That's why I want to go to St. John's house, to give my condolences." Obviously, it's a lie; but he doesn't need to know what I'm really going there for.

"Ahh... I see. Poor girl, she was always so nice... James went to school with her, you know? She was a smart girl, really smart. Skipped a few grades too, unlike my son," he concludes, his voice turns low and gloomy again.

James is almost 20 and still in high school. I guess some people just aren't meant for high school.

"It's such a pity, she had a bright future ahead of her," he continues.

Here you go, Alexis. Your chance. Go!

"Everyone practically says the same thing about her too. So why do you think anyone would even think of killing her?"

"Beats me!" he says as the car turns right. "She was such a sweet girl, and lucky too. Her family is literally the perfect family! If it wasn't for Principal St. John, I think James would've been kicked out of the school a long time ago!"

"Well I heard her family isn't that perfect," I say, trying to induce his curiosity.

He takes a quick glance at me as the car turns left. "What do you mean?"

"I heard she had a brother." I pause when I hear a small gasp. "Do you know anything about that?"

He gulps, probably still processing the fact that the so-called perfect family is about to hit with a scandal over their head. A gossip which I kind of started, but hey! They do want their daughter's murder to be solved, right?

"Well, I never heard about any brother before, but—don't tell anyone I told you this—Lucy, the mother? She wasn't exactly Miss Goody-Two-Shoes back in the day."

Hmm. Interesting.

I drag myself closer to the front passenger seat and lay my arm around it for balance. "What happened?"

"She used to hang out with the wrong crowd and get this"—he glances at me for a split second—"she once lit the town hall on fire."

I gasp loudly. "What?"

"Uh-huh! It was a crazy scandal back then. I heard Paul had to donate a huge amount of money to the town to get her off the charges. You know him, right? Paul Manning?"

"Wait a second, Paul Manning as in one of St. Mary Hospital's owners who is also one of the richest men in Casa Nova?" I ask, aghast.

"Yep!" he gives a firm nod.

I scoff. "Doctor Manning is a really, really, great guy." After all, he did give me a chance to work at his hospital even though I have a 'mentally ill' record, even agreed to keep it a secret. "How awful can his child be?"

He scoffs. "Lucy was far from being an angel. After that incident, Paul had to ship her off to Los Angeles to go to one of those expensive universities, just to get her back on track."

"Wow..." I mutter, still unable to believe the story I just heard. "Good thing it worked though. Now she's a perfect suburban soccer mom, right?"

"Yep!" Then, as if tragedy strikes again, he lets out a long sigh. "If only I could do the same for mine..."