Chapter 3
Gwyneth's house, however, was a piece of shit.
"I love the interior," I complemented, slowly making my way around what was going to be my new house for the next few weeks, taking in the mugs and discarded quilts. Gwyneth bustled around us, trying to fix everything up as much as she could.
She'd greeted us very enthusiastically before, tightly embracing the brother she'd long left behind her, before coming over and embracing me as well.
"You must be Renee," she stated, smiling warmly with her golden hair in soft waves. I smiled back, tugging at my own ponytail with self-consciousness.
"It's lovely to meet you."
"Sorry for barging in like this, Gwen," Daddy apologised for the millionth time. "It's just until the house has been furnished-"
"Oh, nonsense, Teddy. Come right in."
As soon as we were settled down, and our entire weight in luggage had been dumped into our temporary bedrooms, Daddy had left straight away to check on the progress of our house. I still didn't know what it looked like, but I trusted Daddy's sense of style.
And if I didn't like anything, I knew I was more than capable of convincing him otherwise.
"I'm sorry," she apologised breathlessly. "It's not usually this messy. Jess and Nate are visiting, so the place has been a wreck for a while..."
I nodded thoughtfully, taking note of all the photographs hanging on the walls. There were plenty of the infamous Jessabel, smiling and frowning and laughing, with her unnaturally long hair framing her face. I felt a twitch of envy at the sight of all her locks, but knew that I was being silly.
To some degree.
"Who's that?" I asked curiously, my gaze on the very attractive, and very happy redhead holding Jessabel in his arms.
"Oh, that's Nathan," she somehow found something funny about the photo, because she laughed quietly to herself.
I turned to her. "What's so funny?"
"That's photo was taken while Jess's leg was still in its brace," she explained. "She kept stepping on Nathan's toe for about an hour. Had to get it bandaged up afterwards."
I laughed along, though I didn't think it was that funny, seeing as I didn't know who Nathan or Jessabel were.
But I would soon.
"And who's he?" I asked, pointing to the photo of her standing with a stern man in police uniform.
"That's Glen. The man I'm engaged to."
Interesting. "Oh?"
She grinned. "We agreed not to get married until Jess has completely moved out."
"Isn't she in the process of moving out?"
"She pretty much moved out the day she met Nathan," she joked. "She's almost never home, and I try not to think of what they could be doing at his house every night."
"Playing Scrabble?" A voice said from the doorway.
She laughed. "Ah, that's it. Playing Scrabble."
I turned sharply, my face already posed for a smile. Jessabel was taller than I thought she would be, but it was nothing compared to her boyfriend, whose head grazed the ceiling. They both looked on curiously.
"Jess, this is your cousin Renee. We visited your uncle Ted when you were little. Do you remember her?" Gwen asked.
Those blue, blue eyes grazed at me. "No, I don't think so."
I waved cheerily. "Hello."
"Hi," she nodded. I tried to seem chipper on the outside, but inside I was seething. This wasn't supposed to be awkward. This was supposed to be natural and light, as we were supposed to become best friends immediately.
Maybe it was just me. To try to smooth things over, I took those extra steps and hugged her tightly. "It's so nice to meet you."
"Oh," she blinked a bit. But to my relief, her smile became a little more natural. "You too. It's odd to think that I have a cousin."
I breathed a small breath of relief. So that was why she was being reserved. Or maybe she was one of those naturally timid people – that was fine too. My eyes shone up to hers. "I... I read all about what happened last year. You were very brave, Jessabel-"
Now she looked mildly uncomfortable. "Just Jess. And Nate was pretty brave, too."
"Nope," Nathan smiled impishly. "The compliment's all yours, Angel."
I gazed at him with that childlike admiration, too, noting just how hot he was in person. "And you – you were Alfred's son?"
That was apparently the wrong thing to say, and I promised myself a scolding later on. His smile dried up immediately. "Apparently."
Nonetheless, I shook his hand. I could have gone for a hug, but I was attacking this from a fan girl angle, and maybe being too formal would make me look dorky but likeable. His hand was large and warm. "It's nice to meet you."
"You too."
"The poor girl needs to eat," Gwen scolded, gently taking my arm and pulling me to the kitchen. "You two make yourself comfortable. Jess, Renee's taking your room, okay?"
"I know, Mom," she nodded. "I need to get a couple of things from here, then Nate and I are going."
"Movies," Nathan stated.
"No," she threw him a sharp look. "Studying."
"Strip club?" he asked.
She smacked him. "Shut up about the strip club!"
"What about strip clubs?" Gwen asked sternly.
"There is no strip club!" cried Jess.
I giggled, watching the way both of them manoeuvred and spoke, like they were one whole. Their love was palpable. Yet another thing to add to the envy list. But that wasn't important right now. "Bye!" I waved enthusiastically.
Nathan nodded, sending a friendly wink my way. My stomach clenched tight.
I made myself comfortable in the little kitchen, nibbling on cheese and crackers, studying the lime green tiles.
"Are you sure you don't want anything more substantial?" Gwen asked from behind the kitchen counter. She was a great hostess, but I knew that it wouldn't be difficult to get around her if it was what I wanted. Her long skirt grazed the floor whenever she moved.
"No, it's okay."
"Help yourself to anything in the kitchen," she kindly offered. She then grabbed a set of keys from several hooks above the wired telephone, tore a scribbled page from the notepad, and stated, "I need to pick up a couple of things for dinner tonight. If you want to tour the town a little bit, I'm sure Jess would be more than happy to help."
"Thank you, but I think I'll stay and un-pack," I declined, giving her a sweet smile. "You know, it feels great to have a motherly figure – if that's what I can call you now."
Judging by her bright flush and brilliant smile, I'd hit the jackpot. From her flightiness and over-bearing nature, I could tell that she really missed being a mother. She missed fussing over a child that was now in college, and now that I was here, I was going to be her Jessabel surrogate.
Which was fine by me.
I could make it work to my advantage.
"Oh, it must be so lonely, living up there with only your father," she sighed, pulling out a chair to sit on. "Sometimes I think Ted forgets that he can't be both a father and a mother at the same time. I know exactly the feeling."
"Really?" I inquired.
She hesitated a little, before giving me a small smile. Up close, her eyes looked greener than ever. "Goodness knows how much trouble I had raising Jess."
"Why?"
"I didn't know what to do with her. She had a habit of... telling lies, I guess. Big lies." She hastily corrected herself. "But she's grown out of it, definitely. And I'm glad."
"Wow," I breathed. "You'd never guess."
"Well, that is true. I'm just glad that it's out of her system now." She stood up abruptly, shaking herself a little. "Right – groceries. I'll be back in a couple of hours." After reading the doorframe, she smiled at me over her shoulder. "You're a fantastic listener, Renee."
I smiled.
Waiting patiently in the kitchen, I listened hard as the door slammed shut, and the car engine revved to life. The tires squealed a little behind her, before trailing away into the street.
Now I was alone.
The first thing I did was search the bunch of papers on top of the kitchen counter. Methodically, and with practice, I sifted through various letters and notes, putting aside anything that might be interesting or useful. I found several unimportant notices, but I kept them aside, only to tear off a sheet from the notepad and carefully trace Gwyneth and Jessabel's signatures and handwriting.
Practice makes perfect.
I tucked the paper into my pocket. Then, I made my way slowly around the house, checking every cupboard in the living room, every shelf in the bedrooms, and every nook and cranny that could be used as a hiding place.
The things that I found were, to say the least, interesting.
Apparently, Jessabel had left an extremely exciting life. Her mother wasn't lying before, but Jessabel certainly had. Several times, in fact.
Letters upon letters of hate mail had been stashed rather harshly into the back corner of Jess's closet. My eyebrows shot up in surprise. Seizing the opportunity, I grabbed all the opened letters I could, and shoved them into a nearby bag of mine. In my haste, I received a long paper cut.
If I was going to be living with these people, and if I was going to be Jessabel's new best friend, I had to know every single detail – both good and bad. People had a habit of sugar coating all the regrets and mistakes they've made, and something as vicious as hate mail would give me all the first-hand information I needed.
I wonder what Jess could have done to receive so many.
The next thing I found gave me the answer to that question. In the deep recesses of a forgotten drawer were several worn-out newspapers. I flicked through them uninterestedly, until I saw one that made me stop short.
'Local Girl Confesses, "I Saw Jenny Do It."'
After several agonizing weeks, the Alistair Police Department has finally found a clue that could lead them to the death of two of the most influential teenagers in Alistair...
I flipped through the paper greedily, my wide eyes soaking in every word and photograph. Pieces and pieces of a giant, mysterious puzzle clicked together in my head, and there was no stopping the savage excitement I felt. I had all the information that I could possibly need.
"Hey- what are you doing?" a voice asked behind me. I turned around blindly, damning everything to hell.
Nathan Ericson had me cornered.
***
Author's Note: I'm almost completely certain that I made a couple of errors here, so please point them out. :)
NEXT UPDATE: in 2 days...