CHAPTER 18: SUSPECTING
I woke up exhausted the next morning. I had spent the whole night tossing and turning between nightmares. I guess that figures when you're in the middle of a murder investigation. I checked my Facebook before getting ready for school, but there was no response from Jenna and definitely no voicemails or texts from Troy. I had practically slept with my cell phone waiting for him to call me back. Then again, I didn't blame him. Ethan had made a terrible enough impression on him for the both of us.
It was going to be a long day at school. I was so tired and the day seemed endless even as I got off the bus at eight in the morning. Still, I was surprised to find Ariel waiting for me at my locker. It wasn't a good surprise by any means, but since I needed a book for my Spanish class out of my locker, I was going to have to face her.
"So, what's going on with you and Ethan?" Ariel asked before I had even reached my locker.
Hadn't we gone through this, days ago? "Nothing."
"Uh-huh," Ariel watched as I turned my locker combination. "Is that why he practically tore that guy Troy's head off for making a move on you?"
I turned to look at her, incredulous, "Ariel, if you're suggesting that Ethan likes me, you're nuts. You have a way better chance with him."
"Oh, is that why as soon as you left with Troy and I was making my move, Ethan practically pushed me out of the booth to run after you? I told him you were in the bathroom. And, he assumed with Troy. Do you know that he busted into the women's bathroom looking for you? He scared the shit out of some old lady peeing in a stall before he decided to check the arcade," Ariel was looking at me matter of factly.
That was interesting. It was kind of fun thinking over what it might mean that Ethan was so frantic to find me that he burst in on an old lady peeing.
"Hi, Kait!" Dave Rickerson said, walking by, making me remember where I was.
Even Mike Finnegan, who was walking with him, waved. That was surreal, but I waved back anyway. Ariel looked at me incredulously.
"So, Ethan's friends are saying hi to you for no reason at all?" Ariel asked.
"Why are you telling me all this, Ariel?" I asked, ignoring her question.
"Because I think you're both idiots," Ariel started and I knew there was more. "And, if there's something going on with you and Ethan, I wondered if you might be interested in hooking me up with Troy?"
"What?" I was incredulous. Twenty-four hours ago she had been all about Ethan.
"What? He's cute," Ariel shrugged. "He's in college and he has super huge muscles. Hot."
"But you don't even like art," I managed.
Ariel looked at me like I was an idiot, "When you look like me, art is the last thing on any boy's mind."
I didn't know what to say. As much as Ariel had gone from being my best friend to becoming my arch enemy, I could not in all honesty set her up with Troy at this very moment. Troy was not clear of murder suspicion, despite what I thought of him. And, even if he wasn't murdering the girls himself, he most likely had some part in all of it. I could not have my ex-bff's murder on my hands, arch enemy or not, so I just said, "Gotta go to Spanish. Bye..."
Then I sprinted for my Spanish class. I took off at a full run and everything. Otherwise, I knew Ariel would have followed me, asking a barrage of Troy questions and annoying me until I had to give her his number. I was only delaying it, since I knew this wouldn't be the end of it. Once Ariel set her mind on someone, she would not let up, especially if that someone was a hot guy.
I managed to avoid Ariel all morning after our bizarre run in, so it was a good day. I hadn't seen Ethan either, so it wasn't a great day (even if we were still in a fight), but all in all, I was in an okay mood by the time I made it to Chemistry class, fourth period.
I was one of the first ones to walk into class, but I noticed Suzie was already at her desk reading the end of Pride and Prejudice. She was so engrossed in it that she didn't even notice me walk in. I went to my lab table and set my books down. That's when my mind did a double take. I looked back at Suzie again, who still hadn't looked up from her book. Yes, it was definitely Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen that she was reading. That was an odd coincidence.
Don't get me wrong. Jane Austen is a great writer and I'm sure many people enjoy her books (I know I do), but come on, this is high school. What are the odds of Suzie Whitsett reading that book at the same time that I got a harassing email from its long dead author? Was it a coincidence or was there more to it? And, Suzie had admitted to also reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley around the time of the first murder, not to mention that Suzie was one of the last people to see Liz O'Reilly alive at the Palos Animal Shelter Adoption Fair in the park.
Now, I couldn't imagine Suzie having anything to do with the murders, but there were a lot of weird coincidences. I also couldn't ignore the idea that sometimes the quietest ones could be the most deadly. I looked back at her. I knew that Suzie had known at least two of the victims. Did she know Troy? Suzie mentioned that Liz had talked about him, but I hadn't asked her if she knew him. Did Suzie have any sort of a motive to try and murder those girls? I thought for a moment and then before I could convince myself not to, I walked toward Suzie.
"Hey Suzie," I said, walking up to her lab table.
Suzie looked up from her book. "What's up?"
"Did you know Troy at all? Liz's boyfriend?" I asked.
"Wha-a-t?" Suzie stammered nervously and put down her book.
"Did you ever meet Troy Matthews?" I asked again.
"Once," Suzie admitted after a moment.
"When?" I asked.
"At the animal shelter," Suzie offered.
"What was he doing there?" I sat down next to her.
Suzie shifted her chair a fraction of an inch away from me. "He was there visiting Liz."
I pressed on, "What did you think of him?"
Suzie shrugged, "He was cute, but I know he wouldn't go for me or anything."
I raised my eyebrows, "Why not?"
"Most guys don't," Suzie admitted, looking sad. "I'm too quiet and shy people say, but they just usually don't."
I knew how Suzie felt on that account. Guys didn't normally fall all over themselves for me either. At least, not until last night, when they got into a fight over me. That was an anomaly, though.
"I hear you," I said, trying to think of my next question.
Suzie seemed suddenly anxious. Was I getting to her? I wasn't even sure what I was getting at. Was she crazy over Troy too? Were all girls? What was it about him? I felt like I was in that movie There's Something About Mary except Troy was Mary. Although, even I had to admit...Troy was pretty cute.
And then Suzie suddenly blurted it out, "So, I was talking to the girls at the Animal Shelter yesterday and Jenna kept telling me I should just ask Kyle to Homecoming. She was really crazy adamant about going after a guy if you liked him. Anyway, so I thought I'd ask you since you talk to him every day."
Finally! I thought. I was right about her and Kyle. But what if Suzie was a murderer? I couldn't let Kyle date her then. I could barely believe I was saying Suzie and murderer in the same sentence.
And then something dawned on me, "Suzie, the girl you work with at the animal shelter, Jenna? What's her last name?"
Suzie looked confused for a moment. "Jenna Martin. Do you know her?"
Yes, I knew her, but I only had a few minutes until the bell was going to ring or before Kyle showed up, and took up all Suzie's attention, "She knew Liz too?"
"Yeah," Suzie said, wondering where I was going.
Funny, Jenna hadn't mentioned that. Although, Ethan and I hadn't thought to ask her either, mostly because we had just assumed she didn't.
"And she introduced you to Olivia Reynolds?" I continued.
"Well, yeah, for the sewing class," Suzie was getting distracted, looking toward the doorway for Kyle. "Why?"
My brain was spinning. Jenna knew at least three of the victims. She had been around Suzie and her books. And, now the most important question...
"Do you know if she knew Troy Matthews?" I had to ask.
Suzie frowned, "Liz's boyfriend? I don't know. He was at the shelter that one day. Jenna might have been there. Uh..."
Suzie thought for a moment. My mind was racing. This was the most important detail.
Suzie nodded, "You know, now that I think about it, Jenna didn't meet him that day because she had a girl emergency or something. You know, her period. I leant her a tampon."
I still couldn't be sure Jenna didn't know Troy. Maybe she faked the emergency so she didn't have to see him because she did know him. I couldn't be sure. Then again, to be fair, even Suzie knew a fair amount of the people involved in all of this and I really doubted she was a murderer despite the coincidence in books. It was all so involved and confusing. Why couldn't investigating a murder be simple and straightforward?
Still, it sure sounded like Jenna, in addition to Troy, knew all of the murder victims – from Liz to Vanessa to Olivia. The only person I couldn't be sure that Jenna knew was Melissa Kent. Jenna knew about just as many people as Troy did. Jenna was easily up for grabs as the murderer now. But what was her motive? Why would she kill her sister or any of the other girls? Was it about Troy? Was she just crazy?
Suzie was looking at me, puzzled. "Why do you want to know about Jenna?"
I shook my head, "I just realized I know her too."
"Oh. Do you think she has something to do with..." Suzie left the question open ended.
I smiled, "I don't know, but there's some weird coincidences."
Suzie thought for a moment, "Uh, well, I don't know if this is important, but Jenna was there that day too, at the Animal Shelter Adoption in the park."
I felt my blood run cold, "She was?"
Suzie nodded. That put Jenna in the right place to have gone after Liz.
I thought for a moment and then said, "But you said Liz left alone? And, that she was going to see Troy?"
"Yeah," Suzie said.
"Where was Jenna at that time?" I asked.
"I don't know. Wait, she left early. She said she had to go home," Suzie said and then added, "She and Liz did talk before that, though. I saw them, but Liz seemed totally fine. I saw them hug and Liz was smiling, so I don't think they had a fight or anything."
"But Liz definitely got in her car alone?" I asked again.
"Yes," Suzie replied.
I thought about what I knew. Troy and Jenna both had potential access to Liz within the hour that she died. Troy claimed not to have seen Liz for a few days, much less the night of her death, although if he was guilty, he was lying. Still, what if Liz just never made it to Troy's because Jenna killed her? Even if they had gotten along at the park, she could have followed Liz, forced her to pull over, and killed her. It had to be one of them.
I saw Kyle walk into the room and head for our lab table. Suzie saw him too. Her gaze followed his every step. She was so innocent. There was no way that she could be the killer.
I nodded at Suzie, "Please ask Kyle to the dance. He's dying to ask you, but for whatever reason he thinks you'll say no."
Suzie looked horrified, "I wouldn't say no. I swear. You really think he'd say yes?"
I smiled at her, "Definitely. Go ask him."
Suzie looked at me hopefully. I gave her a playful push and she got up and walked toward my lab table, where Kyle was trying not to look at us.
Suzie walked over to Kyle and stood there awkwardly. How could I have thought even for a moment that Suzie was a killer? She couldn't even say anything to Kyle about the dance and Kyle was gazing up at her like she was a goddess.
"Hey, Suzie," was all Kyle managed to say.
Suzie pounced on it as a good sign and said, in the most rapid way possible, "Kyle, do you want to go to Homecoming with me?"
Kyle looked like he had been shot, but in a good way. It took him a moment, but suddenly he had a huge grin, "Yes!"
Then they just stood there grinning at each other awkwardly. It was so cute! I sighed. At least they were getting their happily ever after. I still didn't have a date for the Homecoming Dance and I was neck deep involved in a rapidly confusing and potentially deadly murder investigation. At least I had narrowed it down – Troy or Jenna, Jenna or Troy. My mind was going over and over all the details. I was going to figure this out if it killed me. I hoped it didn't.
I checked my Facebook email in the library quickly before lunch, but there was still no response from Jenna. Maybe because she is the murderer, I couldn't help thinking. Then again, I had to be fair, there was no voicemail from Troy yet either, calling me back. They could both have actual lives to deal with. I looked again at the email from Jane Austen. I printed it. Just in case.
I sat down at my usual lunch table, alone, wondering if Ethan was going to join me. We had parted on such awful terms the night before that I thought things might go back to the way they were before, where he stopped remembering I existed. Even though I still thought I was right, I kind of missed Ethan. I opened up my bag lunch of peanut butter and jelly, a Coke, pretzels, and an apple. It was going to be lonely today at lunch.
And, then suddenly there was Ethan, sitting down across from me with his own paper bag lunch, "Jenna just left me a message, all freaked out."
I almost spit my Coke out all over him, "She did?"
"Yeah, she did. What did you email her? She just kept saying, 'What did Kait say to Troy?'" Ethan looked annoyed with me.
I felt defensive, "I didn't say anything bad in the email. I only asked her if she was the one who dated Troy."
"Well, maybe you should just leave her alone. Troy freaks her out," Ethan warned.
Why was Ethan suddenly soooo protective of Jenna? I was mad and wanted to shock him, "Well, maybe that's because Jenna is the murderer!"
Ethan started laughing instead. "Jenna? You think Jenna?"
He couldn't stop laughing and I was getting super annoyed. "Yes, I do."
"But she's so tiny!" Ethan wiped a tear from his eye.
I wanted to kill him. "So? She knew everyone, just like Troy. I mean, I don't know about Melissa Kent, but still."
Ethan looked suddenly serious, "How do you know that?"
"Suzie Whitsett knows Jenna. I hadn't thought about it before, but I asked her about Jenna today and Jenna knows everyone!" I wanted to go over the evidence again. I was sure the pieces would fit.
"Except Melissa Kent," Ethan said stubbornly.
"Okay, well, I just don't know about Melissa Kent. She might have known her. Maybe she had her as a math tutor too," I rationalized. "Or maybe she stalked Troy and saw them together. I don't know."
Ethan opened his lunch bag, "But until you find out, you're right, you don't know. It's a hole in your logic."
"A little one," I was getting angry again.
Ethan sighed, "Come on, Kait. Jenna is a teeny tiny girl. How in the world could she force a heroin needle into the arms of four girls? Troy is the one with the muscle."
"But Jenna's lying!" I whined.
Ethan thought for a moment. "Maybe she is lying about Troy. One of the two sisters dated him. We know that. Like I said before, maybe she's just scared he'll come after her too. Have you really thought about that?"
I had thought about it and dismissed it. Although, I guess if I thought my sister had been murdered by my ex-boyfriend, I may not want him to think about murdering me too.
Ethan continued. "Maybe Troy killed the wrong sister. Maybe he thought he was killing Jenna, but killed Vanessa instead. Have you thought of that? Poor girl. No wonder she's so freaked out."
I sighed.
Ethan took that as a sign to go on, "And, I mean her sister just died. Do you know how that feels? Give her a break."
Ethan was making me feel bad, playing that card. He was right. I didn't know how it felt to lose a sister. I had no siblings, but I had lost a mother. So, I did know how it felt to lose someone you really cared about and knew for your entire life. I looked at the table still not wanting to be dissuaded from my suspicions.
Ethan looked at me, "Oh come on, you can be wrong sometimes."
I frowned. "I haven't decided yet if I'm wrong or not. We haven't cleared anyone."
Ethan nodded, "And, that's something I wanted to talk to you about. I think this is getting dangerous. I mean, you almost kissed a..."
I looked at him with warning.
Ethan continued, "...an alleged murderer last night."
I snorted, "Please."
"Hey, I'm giving you Jenna as a suspect," Ethan reminded me.
"Fine," I said reluctantly. "Then what do you make of this?"
I pulled the printout of the email from Jane Austen out of my History book and handed it to Ethan. He read it quickly and looked up at me, instantly alarmed.
"When did you get this?" he asked.
"Last night after I got home," I said.
"This is getting dangerous," Ethan raked a hand through his hair and read the letter again. I almost forgot to notice how sexy his hair was. Almost.
"Yeah. I'm totally freaked out," I said, seriously. "And, see, Jenna doesn't look so innocent anymore, does she?"
Ethan smirked at me, "Troy could be totally psychotic too."
We were at an impasse on the issue. I voted for Jenna as the suspect and Ethan was still gunning for Troy. Either of us could be right. Or, the murderer could totally blindside both of us and turn out to be Suzie, but I had already dismissed that. Besides, I didn't need to confuse Ethan any more, so I wasn't even going to bring Suzie up as a suspect.
"I'm scared," I admitted instead.
Ethan nodded and looked up from his third time reading the letter, "I think we need to get ourselves out of this and hand it over to the people who know what they're doing."
"But, Ethan, the police wouldn't even listen to us last time!" I pleaded.
"Well, we have to make them listen," Ethan looked at me intently, "Come with me after school. Help me convince Detective Dixon that he at least needs to look into Troy Matthews."
"And, Jenna Martin," I reminded him.
Ethan frowned, "Fine, if you give me Troy, I'll give you Jenna."
"But what proof do we have of anything?" I asked, frustrated.
Ethan looked at me, "We have proof that Troy and Jenna knew most of the victims. Suzie can place them both potentially there within Liz's last hour alive."
I smirked at him, "But they just think these are overdoses, remember?"
"Well, then, we'll have to convince them they're not. There are plenty of people who would say that Liz was totally unlikely to overdose on heroin," Ethan offered.
"Probably not good enough for Detective Dixon," I said.
"We have to do something and now we have proof of two letters - one to Liz from Mary Shelley and one to you from Jane Austen. Even Detective Dixon will have to admit that it's weird. What if the other girls got something like that? This is getting dangerous. So, are you in for coming to the police station with me or what?"
I frowned at Ethan, torn. "I can't. I have to work."