THERE WERE A NUMBER OF THINGS RUNNING THROUGH ILARIA'S MIND. This,ofcourse, was not uncommon for her.
Infact, more often that not she would ask herself what the hell is her problem and why won't she stop thinking.
Alas, she never came up with answers. It was merely part of being human, unfortunately.
She stared at the notes she had taken down, she rolled out of bed early that morning, her mind racing too fast. She wrote notes to keep it her thoughts in check.
1) figure out why Kenna only bought drugs on the 18th of every month.
2) find her burner phone (Ilaria knew she wasn't stupid enough to contact the dealer on her normal phone)
3) Read through those morgue files with Kai
Ilaria could not understand why Kenna would do drugs. Infact, she had a hatred for that kind of thing. Kenna couldn't stand it.
So what would drive her to do it?
She huffed out a breath and stood up to call Kai, sitting around and thinking so much was not going to get her anywhere.
She quickly dialed his number and tapped on her desk, waiting for him to answer.
"if you want my soul, I find it's not very useful.you could still have it though." Kai answered with no greeting, she could hear the grin in his voice.
Ilaria pinched the bridge of her nose, Kai was the less serious one between the two of them, it either helped her out of her bad moods or made it worse "I'll remember that offer for when I need but for now I need to know if you're home?"
She heard shuffling in the background before Kai answered "I'm at home, why?"
"we need to call this guy, whatever his name is and set up a meeting with him."
"the drug dealer?"
"no, Kai. My father" she rolled her eyes "who else?"
"you're so snappy" Kai responded with a chuckle "okay, I'll come pick you up then?"
"please, my mom is home today so we can't be here."
"I'll be there in an hour"
"an hour!?"
"well, I don't know about you but me personally? I'm starving and craving sushi" he told her "and I figured I'd get the food then pick you up"
"okay, thank you. Also, you eat abnormal amounts of food." Ilaria hung up and pulled on a cardigan, she went back to her notes to ponder over some things in the hour.
She had to find that burner phone, she wasn't sure if she would find anything - but she knew people lied and whatever is on the internet? That doesn't lie.
And if, somehow, whoever this guy is, is tied to Kenna's death - that phone would be proof of it.
Ilaria bit on her pen- a habit her mother hated, she felt like her brain was working over time and at the same time not enough.
She closed her eyes, tried to think back on the days before Kenna died.
Then something hit her, the day before Kenna went missing Ilaria noticed something weird but Kenna brushed it off.
Her neck was bruised, like someone had gripped it too tight. There was some foundation over it but it wasn't covered enough for someone like Ilaria who paid attention to even the most minor details.
Now that Ilaria thought back on it, Kenna was awol the day before that and Ilaria could not get a hold of her. She tried but Kenna wasn't answering her calls, she never showed for school nor was she at home.
She remembered how worried she had been, Kennas whole demeanor had changed when she asked about it.
Ilaria's eyes snapped open. A boyfriend maybe? But why would Kenna not tell her and how would Ilaria not notice? If it were someone from school Ilaria would definitely find out even if Kenna never told her.
Someone older?
"Shit -" Ilaria muttered to herself "a college guy?"
She thought back as far as she could, Kenna had been less available. A boyfriend would make sense, a older one even more so.
She updated her list.
4) find out who Kennas boyfriend was.
"why didn't you tell me?" she whispered to herself, staring at the photos of herself and Kenna on her wall.
"talking to yourself?" A voice came from her doorway and Ilaria jumped, her heart skipping a beat.
When she turned and found her brother there she scowled at him "you scared me."
Tate shrugged "care to tell me why you're talking to pictures of Kenna?"
Ilaria pursed her lips and shook her head, subtly closing her notebook - Tate already thought she was losing it. She didn't need him knowing she was investigating this.
"you know, you have to let go eventually" Tate frowned at her.
"but why would someone do this?" her voice broke as she asked the question, searching her brothers brown eyes for answers she knew he would not have.
"you know, if you keep asking yourself why, you will find yourself stuck because sometimes there are no answers, there are no reasons. That's how life is and if there are, most of the time we don't find them" just as she opened her mouth to respond her phone rang and Tate grinned "your boyfriend?"
"not my boyfriend" Ilaria rolled her eyes "I have to go, will you tell mom I'm at the library?"
"yes mam!" Tate saluted her as she grabbed her Tote bag and brushed past him.
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"alright, ready?" Kai asked her as he began dialing the number. They were sitting at Kai's desk, the phone infront of them.
Ilaria threaded her hands together and nodded "let me do the talking."
Kai nodded, not bothering to question her. He learned earlier that disagreeing with Ilaria would only get him a slap behind the head and nothing more.
The phone rang and the both of them sat side by side, Ilaria's leg bouncing and Kai fidgeting with his hands - they stared at the ringing phone on the table, the longer it rang the more anxious they grew.
When it stopped and a rough voice answered with "hello" they both sagged with relief.
"Hello" Ilaria answered him, keeping her voice strong "I got this number from Chad -"
It was weird, considering neither of them knew how the hell to talk to a drug dealer but they had to do it. Ilaria could feel herself going cold, something that happened whenever anxiety decided to peek it's ugly head.
"Chad, you say?" the man on the otherside asked.
"yes, uhm." Ilaria bit her lip and turned to Kai and mouthed that she didn't know what to say.
Kai grabbed a pen and wrote tell him you're collecting Chad's drugs and that he won't be able to make it himself.
"hello? Hello? Don't waste my time, kid, what do you want?" the guy snapped when she took too long to continue.
"Chad told me I need to collect his drugs from you. He can't make it himself and he said he would pay extra if you got it by tonight"
There was a long pause before he responded "meet me at the gas station tonight at 9pm, no earlier, no later and don't try contacting this number again." the line went dead and Ilaria sagged back in her seat.
She stared at the phone so long it started duplicating.
"holy shit" Kai ruffled her hair "you did it!"
Ilaria glared at him and patted her hair down "no cool dude, you're ruining my curls"
Kai shrinked, still smiling "sorry." he stood up and pulled out a file. Ilaria, realized it was the autopsy file and swallowed, her throat closing. She already knew whatever was in there wasn't going to be nice "we need to go through this, Ness says she needs them back before someone notices they're gone."
Ilaria nodded "oh wait, before we do" she trailed, moving to his desk and pulling out papers to scrawl down what she discovered earlier on.
"I think, Kenna had a boyfriend." she didn't look up as she spoke, she was writing down everything she put together to string on their board "a older one. College." when she was done she spun around "a abusive one"
"how did you conclude that?" kai's brows furrowed.
"the day before she went missing, her neck was bruised. Like someone tried choking her and she tried covering it with makeup" Ilaria swallowed "I have no idea why she wouldn't tell me but I already texted Rose to tell her I'll be there again tomorrow. I think I might have missed something, I also want to find her burner phone."
Kai nodded "okay, i can get a list of guys from the town college?"
Ilaria shook her head "I think it's out of town."
"consider it done then"
"and how do you plan on doing that?"
Kai smirked at her, a mischievous glint sparked in his eye "I'm going to hack their systems"
"you can do that?" Ilaria gasped "what can't you do!?"
Kai chuckled "I'm afraid we're yet to find out" he winked "now come here and let's get through this" he patted the space next to him on the carpet, he always seemed to be sitting on the floor.
"I never opened them without you" he informed her as she sat down, he swallowed and toyed with the pages "if I'm being honest I'm terrified of what we'll find in here. It's my cousins file, Kennas is too old but if we're right about this guy, he obviously has to have a signature" his chest lifted and fell with a heavy sigh.
"Ness took the pictures out. Said I didn't have to see Ammarah that way" he said as he opened it and balanced it on his knees.
Ilaria frowned at him, he kept his eyes on the file and when she realized he wasn't going to talk more she averted her own too.
Ilaria always knew there were some sick people out there but when she began reading, she knew they weren't just dealing with someone sick. They were dealing with a monster.
Sexually assaulted
Lacerations on both wrists
Cigarette burn marks
The words swam as tears built in her eyes and it was clear Kai reached the same part she was at when he got up so abruptly the file fell off his legs and his face was drained of color.
He moved to his bathroom so fast Ilaria never even saw him move past her, she heard the lock click and then she heard the vomiting.
She muffled her crying, how could someone do something like that?
She thought of Kenna, of the fact that the same thing must have happened to her.
Ilaria swallowed down her own nausea, trying to breathe, shaking her head as her lungs closed.
"no, this isn't happening, not again" she heaved clutching at her chest. She saw white everywhere, she shut her eyes, rested her head on her knees and counted down in her head.
She needed to be strong, for Kenna, for Ammarah, for the other victims. She needed her head clear so she could find who did this.
Once her head cleared and her tears dried, she lifted her head from her knees and stood up shakily, 30 minutes must have passed and she couldn't hear anything from the bathroom anymore.
She knocked on the door "Kai?" she called "Kai, are you okay?"
She heard his throat clear and the toilet flush followed by the fourcet running-he must've been brushing his teeth, she stood there with her head resting against the door.
And then she heard the lock open and stepped back.
Kai looked like he aged 100 years in those 30 minutes he'd been locked in the bathroom, he wouldn't look at her.
"why do people do the things they do?" he finally spoke and let his eyes rest on her face, they were clouded, red, he had been crying too.
"If we had the answers to that..." Ilaria stared at the file on the floor "then life would be a thousand times easier."
Kai cleared his throat "well, we need to relax and think about things."
Ilaria wiped her tears with the sleeve of her cardigan "God, why can't we just be normal teenagers."
"it's just not who we are." he cracked a smile and she smiled back "yeah, I guess not."
Ilaria, suddenly exhausted- laid across the foot of kai's bed and he leaned against his desk.
"so now we know he's not just getting sexual release from the killing" he said.
Ilaria pressed her palms to her eyes "it's not making sense"
"what isn't?"
"Look, he had to have somehow lured these girls. There's nothing in that file that says they defended tnemsleves and the burn marks? That's pure torture, that's what he gets off of. Their pain, their fear." she went on "and for killers like this, that's all they need - they hardly ever go on to Sexually assault their victims too."
Kai's eyes widened, understanding beginning to take over his features "you think he has a partner?"
Ilaria nodded and stood up "think about it" she moved around him and pulled out a pen and paper "and he had to have help to toss the body, one man would take too long - all that dead weight? Someone would see him eventually."
"if there's a partner" Kai pondered "then one does the luring and the other does the killing. That would mean the partner is younger?"
Ilaria nodded "that's who's sexually assaulting these girls. When we first analyzed this, we ruled out that he's a sexual sadist and I still think that's true but then what if it's his partner who's the sexual one. The torture had to have been two people, you read that file. The wrist laccirations looks like someone held them down by hand"
"so that would make the older one more dominant right? 'get a girl, you can do whatever you want with her and I kill her' that's a done deal" Kai cringed at his words "so they must know each other somehow, noticed these urges in each other." Kai continued as Ilaria wrote down while he spoke, she then began listing duos she could think of.
Parent and child
Friends, possibly bestfriends
Acquaintances
Kai peered over her shoulder and tapped the paper" it's that last one "
"why do you think so?" she turned around and Kai moved back realizing he caged her.
"think about it, let's say - they met at a party or something right? And maybe one of them, probably the younger one, gets caught doing something he probably shouldn't by the older one, most likely a girl, that gives him enough power and control to get the younger one to agree to help him out. "
Ilaria's could almost feel the gears in her brain stop"blackmail."
Kai nodded "exactly"
They stood there in silence, only then realizing just exactly what they were dealing with. Ilaria's skin crawled with the realization of what they figured out. She no longer felt so hopeful as she did just hours before.