TWO DAYS LATER
Matt Michaels stared up at the ceiling fan. The whole room was spinning. That's what a night of binge drinking would do to you. Nights like this used to be a common thing, but these days it was few and far between. He hadn't really drank to excess in two years. Matt was still young at only twenty-two, it's just that he had a lot more responsibilities than most his age. Having a four year old son would do that.
He was not the common twenty-two year old though. Matt married his high school sweetheart Amy, immediately after graduating. They quickly had a baby, a boy named Tyler, and started their life together. Matt had money, but not from earning it, he inherited it, and not the way he would have wanted to. His parents died shortly after his 18th birthday, leaving him a four million dollar life insurance policy. That helped with the decision to marry early. He and Amy were in love, and Matt was now alone. The fatal car accident that killed his parents made sure of that.
They were a happy young couple for the year after Tyler was born, surrounded by a core group of friends they had known practically their whole lives. Matt's life however, wasn't the type that would be filled with happy endings. Life would deal him another blow. The love of his life, mother of his child, would be brutally murdered, stabbed in a parking lot of the local movie theater. A robbery gone wrong the detective would tell him.
That's when Matt spiraled out of control. He would drink heavily, almost every night, mostly alone, only skipping days because he would black out and sleep for two days straight. His son, Tyler, would be in the hands of his best friend, Shannon O'Hara. They had been friends since kindergarten, and her and her parents took care of his baby. Shannon had loved Amy as well, and it was her, along with their four other friends that would finally get Matt back on the right track.
That was years ago now. Since then Matt had been the father Amy always knew he would be. He and Tyler were inseparable, last night was just a night out with the boys that got out of control. Tyler had stayed with Shannon at her parents for the night. As he laid there, Matt tried to remember the night before, and as he was thinking, he heard the shower turn on. He froze. Shit, he thought, who the hell was in his bathroom?
He scanned his bedroom. First thing he noticed was a black bra with matching panties on the floor. Nice, he thought to himself. A Gucci purse and a set of keys were on his nightstand. Still, he had no idea. Man, he hadn't been this drunk in years. He sat up and ran his hand through his neatly shaved dark brown hair. A ray of sunlight shone through the blinds, right into his eyes. He squinted and shifted his weight as he thought hard to remember the previous night.
After a couple minutes the water shut off. This should be interesting, he thought. He still had no idea who would emerge. A few seconds later he found out. Jenna Walker. She smiled as she saw him awake. The night started to come back to him. She disrobed right in front of him. She wasn't shy, and with that body who would be. Her long, straight brown hair hung wet off her shoulders, and her long tan legs, big breasts, and green eyes always made her the attention of every guy, wherever she went.
Matt had known Jenna for a while. Maple Brook was a small town, everyone pretty much knew each other, or at least about one another. The two had gone to high school and graduated together, partied together and saw each other around town often. They weren't exactly friends, acquaintances was a better word.
She was loving the fact that he didn't look away as she slid her panties back on. She climbed back on the bed and kissed him. A hard devious kiss. She pulled away, biting his lower lip.
"Umm, did we-?" Matt started to ask.
"Uh, yes, we did." She answered, with a smile.
He nodded. Okay, he thought to himself. Spending a night with Jenna Walker and not remembering was pitiful. His guy friends would never let him live it down. Jenna got up off the bed and finished getting dressed.
"Should I call you?" Matt asked awkwardly.
Jenna gave him a smile. "We had fun Matt, let's not make this weird. I've been wanting to do that with you since high school."
He smiled. Well this was easy. She gave him another kiss then headed for the door.
"I'll see you around." She called, without turning around.
He waited until he heard the front door close before he got out of bed and put on a pair of jeans. He walked downstairs and went to the window, expecting to see Jenna driving away in her cherry red Porsche she was known for. No such luck. Instead he saw his best friend Shannon, in his driveway having words with her. The two girls didn't get along, never did. It was the classic case of two beautiful girls who always competed for the same guys in high school. Always jealous of one another and always talking shit about each other. They carried on the feud even now, four years after high school had ended.
Tyler, oblivious to the two arguing, ran up the driveway. He blew past them and through the front door. Matt scooped him up, and gave him a big hug. He messed his son's brown hair, making the little guy laugh harder.
"You miss me?" Matt asked him.
"Yes." Tyler replied as he squeezed his dad's neck tighter, almost choking him.
Matt put him down as Shannon entered. Tyler bolted up to his bedroom, no doubt going to play with the toys he had missed the night before.
"Really Matt? Jenna Walker?" Shannon said, disgusted.
"Here we go." Matt said, quietly to himself.
"Of all the girls in this town, you could have chose any skank at the Lounge last night, and you sleep with Jenna?!"
He searched for the right words. Truth is, he could have said anything there and it wouldn't have mattered. When Shannon got like this any argument would not be good enough. So he just shrugged.
"Nothing to say for yourself?" She asked, her voice calming a little. She took a swig of orange juice from the carton.
"Moment of weakness, what can I say?" He replied.
"I'm gonna kill Phil and Bill." Shannon mumbled, referring to Phil Hanson and Bill Borman, their two close friends.
"Shaun was there too." Matt reminded.
"Why bother with that one." Shannon said, sarcastically.
Shaun Potter was the last of their guy friends. He never took anything seriously. He would always find a smartass comment or a joke to try to bring levity to a serious conversation. It was his way of not dealing.
As if on cue the others came bounding through the front door. Bill and Shaun were sporting their safety green t-shirts. Right out of high school they started their own landscaping business and they now dominated the area. They started with a pickup truck, now they had 5 crews that did most of the work for them with both of them acting as foreman. They made a killing.
Phil, with his moppy brown hair on top didn't look like your typical computer whiz, but he was one. He was as laid back as they came, and he could hack into anything, anywhere. He worked a government job for a corporation called Blockfeed, which focused on the country's defense.
His girlfriend Gabby Dawson was a 5'2 bubbly ball of energy. She was the shortest of the group, with long blondish brown hair that went to the middle of her back. She and Phil had been dating since sophomore year, they bickered often, but nobody could see the other with anyone else.
Matt, Shannon and Phil had been friends since kindergarten, the others, along with Amy, joined their close knit group in junior high. Ever since then they were all inseparable.
Bill grabbed a water from the fridge. He had on a backwards baseball hat, hiding his short blonde hair. He was built, hitting the gym five times a week will do that, and his bright green shirt had the sleeves cut off, showing off his tattoo sleeve that went down his right arm. Although Matt and Phil were the tightest of the guys, it was Bill and Matt's personalities that were most similar. Back in high school it was the two of them getting into trouble and getting into fights at parties, and it was Phil and Shaun breaking it up and bailing them out.
"You have a good night?" Shaun asked Matt, with a grin.
He nodded. "Yes I did."
"Can't believe you let him leave with Jenna." Shannon said, her eyes burning through all three of them.
"Free will Shan." Bill replied.
"Yeah, he's a grown ass man." Phil chimed in.
"Ew Matt, Jenna?" Gabby asked, disappointed.
"Girls stop." Shaun told them. "You both know she's hot as hell." He turned his focus back to Matt. "How was it?"
Matt hung his head in shame. "I don't remember much to be honest."
"That's pathetic, dude." Bill said, shaking his head. He grabbed the remote and turned on the t.v.
"That's one word for it." Shannon quipped.
"Hey, turn that up!" Phil said, suddenly.
The news was on. The young woman reporter was standing in front of a home in Haddon Glen. It got the group's attention because it was only two towns over and a ten minute drive. She was going on about the story that had taken over the news and social media recently. A home invasion where an entire family was murdered, well all except one.
"They find the other girl yet?" Gab asked. To her friends she was Gab, to others Gabby, although her birth name was Gabrielle.
"Nah, she's probably dead in a ditch somewhere." Phil replied.
"That's horrible." Gab said, smacking his arm.
The girl they were referring to was the eldest daughter of the family, a nineteen year old.
"What was her name again?" Bill asked.
"Casey." Matt replied.
He remembered seeing her face on t.v. She was very pretty, too pretty to forget a face like that.
"People online are saying maybe she killed her family." Shannon said, watching the television intently.
"No way." Phil said. "She's definitely dead. She'll turn up sooner or later."
As the reporter wrapped up the segment, Casey's face flashed up on the screen again as a missing person and person of interest. Matt stared at the t.v. He just couldn't believe a young beautiful girl like that could slaughter her entire family. But these days, anything was possible.