(AN: Before I start, I want to say thank you to all my readers that helped me reach 4K and 100 chapters. You kittens rock and I hope you all support me and my stories in the future! Thank you very much😊)
A few days later after the Quails game, Marie returning to her desk after she delivered some papers when she heard Jones groaning out loud. As soon as she heard it, Marie thought, I wonder what got David so upset? And she decided to go to his desk and ask what was wrong. Once she got there, Marie looked at Jones and saw that he was surfing through Friendnet and she asked out of curiosity, "Hey Jones, what's up?"
Jones looked up from his computer and towards Marie and said to her, "It's a good thing you're here Marie! You won't believe what I found! There's this Friendnet group that's posting pictures of me and I don't even know how they even managed to take them!"
Looking closely at the computer, Marie saw that he was right when she saw pictures of Jones eating, Jones wearing an eyepatch and even one of him wearing his scuba suit. Marie smirked and said, "They can't be that bad. I mean those are times from our previous cases."
"Are you kidding me?! I look stupid on half of them! And the people are looking at them are calling me; you don't even want to know," Jones complained and then looked down sad,y while Marie rubbed his back consoling him.
Just then, Ramirez showed up and told Marie that Chief King wanted to see her in his office. After he heard that, Jones looked up and thought that the chief probably heard about the infamy of his pictures and he hopes that Friendnet will take them down once Jones tells the chief. After they entered the chief's office, King was about to greet Marie when Jones interrupted him and said, "Chief, what are we going to do about Friendnet? Can we legally shut it down?"
Curious about what he was talking about, the chief asked, "What the devil are you blabbering about Jones?"
"The group on Friendnet that's been posting embarrassing pictures of me! Surely that's why you called us yo your office right?" Jones said, but King slapped his hand on his forehead and thought, sometimes I get so tired of all of this.
King then looked at Marie and said to her, "Major, I've called you here because something has happened at the university. A student has committed suicide in the library." And after she heard the news, Marie eyes went wide with shock.
Jones also got shocked, but he straightened his face and asked, "But, what does a suicide have to do with us?"
King then stood up and shouted at the male officer, "Inspector Jones, when student commits suicide on college grounds, I will make damn sure that it's not the beginning of a series of unfortunate events! I want the both of you to investigate this like you're solving a murder! Now go!" And after they saluted the two officers left to check out the library.
As soon as they got there, they looked up and saw the girl hanging from the rafters. Jones looked at the victim sadly and said, "I've never seen a suicide victim like this before. I didn't think it would be so unsettling considering some of the gruesome crime scenes we've worked on so far, but it's in a place I hate the most. I really hate libraries cause they're so eerily quiet."
Marie then picked up an ID that was underneath the victim's feet and when she looked at it, she said to her partner, "Shake it off David, we have a mystery to solve. According to this ID, our victim is named Lisa Edwards and she's a freshman here. From the looks of it, she has a withdrawn personality and she spent a lot of time in this library."
Jones then found a planner and flipped through it until it stopped at a certain date and he said, "Apparently, she asked her best friend Penelope Rivera to meet up with her this morning. Whenever you're ready, we can go and talk to her Marie."
Suddenly, Marie found a tablet and suggested that they look through it first before they talk to Penelope and Jones agreed and soon she started to figure out the tablet's password. After a few seconds, Marie figured it out and the tablet unlocked. Jones then hugged Marie from behind and said to her lovingly, "You know Marie, sometimes I think you should replace Alex cause you seem more tech savvy then him. But then again, I would miss you having you help me out on the field."
Marie chuckled at his comment and said to him, "Anyway, now that I've unlocked this bad boy, let's keep Alex busy and send it to the lab."
Son, Marie and Jones met up with Penelope to tell her the news about Lisa's death. Once they were in front of the girl and they told her the news, Jones told her in a consoling voice, "Miss Rivera, we understand that you were the victim's best friend. Could you tell us a little bit about Lisa?"
Penelope shook her head and told them that she couldn't. Curious and confused, Marie asked, "What do you mean? Surely you know her better than anyone else."
"That's what I thought too, but now I'm not so sure. The Lisa I know would never do something so stupid," Penelope exclaimed.
Jones looked away sadly remembering his own father's suicide and how he did it without consoling anyone. Jones was just about to tell the girl that sometimes people would commit suicide without talking to anyone. But then, the girl exclaimed angrily, "Not that! I mean Lisa and I told each other everything! The two of us have been best friends since second grade! A best friend doesn't keep things to herself and leave her other best friend in the dark! She never mentioned about having a problem at all! How could she do this to me?! How could she be so selfish?!" And then Penelope broke down on her knees and started to cry.
On their way to the station, Jones looked at Marie and asked her, "Your best friend from Duluth Minnesota, do you still keep in touch with her?"
"Everyday. April and I have been best friends since we were kids too just like Lisa and Penelope. If anything were to happen to her, I would also be devastated," Marie said.
Jones smirked and said, "Well I think I would feel the same thing if anything were to happen to you. You're my best friend too Marie." And Marie smiled kindly and thanked Jones for the comment.
As soon as they got back and entered the tech lab and Marie asked what he found out, Alex explained to them, "The tablet you found in the library belongs to your victim Marie! I was even able to check her Friendnet account and what I found on it was quite disturbing. Her last public post was a quote from Shakespeare and it says, 'To die, to sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream.' This is a quote from Hamlet's soliloquy when he was contemplating suicide."
Shocked and surprised, Jones exclaimed, "So Lisa was actually warning people about her suicide?!"
"It's not a clear cry for help, but considering what happened afterwards I found there was something more on the tablet. As usual there were a lot of games, but I also found a single phone number. And you know me well, I always get to the bottom of things. So I called the phone number and I was surprised by who answered. You guys remember that hacker who helped you investigate that musician's death? Well, big surprise, the phone number belongs to them," Alex explained.
Marie then asked the tech guy, "What did they say Alex?! Did they know the victim?!"
"Now keep your shirt on Marie, you can talk to them yourself cause they agreed to talk you through video chat whenever you're ready," Alex told Marie and gave her a wink.
After Alex gave Marie his tablet, she connected to the video chat and once she did the @rtist's masked face appeared on the screen. As soon as the @rtist saw her, they said to Marie in their digital voice, "Hello there Major, nice to chat with you again. Your tech guy asked me if I could help concerning the "suicide" of Lisa Edwards. What exactly do you need from me?"
"Anything that could help us make sense of her suicide; if it was a suicide. But first, we want to know why the victim had your phone number?" Marie asked.
The @rtist smirked behind their mask and explained, "Because I gave it to her of course. Girls have to stick together of course. The other day when I saw people were leaving bullying messages on her Friendnet wall, I..."
Getting curious, Jones asked, "Wait a second, Lisa was being bullied on Friendnet?"
The @rtist nodded and told the officers, "She was, by a bunch of anonymous cowards. I got into contact with her and asked if she wanted any help to build a case against those cowards, but she refused. However, I decided to keep a copy of every threatening message she got. I saved the data on one of my hard drives, but my cat pushed it off the shelf and it shattered to pieces. Everyone in town knows that Marie can fix the unfixable. If you want to take a look at it, here's the address where you can find it." And the @rtist gave them the address to their residence.
Confused, Jones leaned in and asked, "You're giving us your address? Aren't you afraid that we'll figure out you're real identity?"
The @rtist chuckled and Jones' question and said, "It's just a hideout I'm using these days. There's nothing in there that I don't want you to look at detectives. Well I must go now so good luck!" And after that @rtist logged off of the video chat.
Once the @rtist logged off, Alex came into the office to get his tablet back and he asked, "So Marie, what did the @rtist tell you?"
"Apparently she gave us directions to her secret hideout and she also said that we'll find useful information about our victim there. I hope she wasn't lying," Marie told the tech guy who was standing there wide-eyed in disbelief.
Alex then exclaimed, "Wait a minute, the @rtist is a girl?!" And then he went into la-la land after hearing that.
Concerned, Marie asked, "Are you gonna be okay there buddy?"
Jones then grabbed Marie's hand and said, "Sorry Alex, but we're in a bit of a hurry here." And he walked towards the exit while pulling Marie behind him.
After Jones and Marie left, Alex was left standing there with one thought in his mind and he said to himself, "I wonder what the @rtist really looks like behind that mask. I hope she's cute!"
As soon as they got to the hideout, Marie found the brown hard drive that the @rtist told them about. After getting one look at it, the two officers knew that the hacker wasn't lying when she said it was broken. Marie then got started to put it back together to prove that she can fix the unfixable. In a matter of seconds, Marie put the broken hard drive back together in a snap. All that's left is to sift through the data to find the info they need so they decided to give the hard drive to Alex.
Soon, Alex was doing sifting through the data and he called Jones and Marie to the lab to tell them what he found. When Marie asked him what he found, Alex explained, "It seems that the @rtist didn't lead you on to good Marie cause the hard drive you found at her place was chock full of data on your victim's bullying."
"So Lisa really was being bullied online?" Jones asked curiously and Alex nodded sadly.
He the told them sadly, "Unfortunately yes. These anonymous users would leave horrible messages on her Friendnet page; stuff that would say that the world would be a better place if she just offed herself."
Getting angry, Marie exclaimed, "Why would anyone do that?!"
"That's the joy of how the Internet works Marie. People can become pretty horrible when they're hiding behind their screens and fake names," Alex told her.
Jones got curious and asked, "And did the @rtist find out who these bullies were?"
Alex shook his head and said, "There was no info about it on the hard drive, so I'm guessing that she didn't manage to find it."
It was then that Jones began to think that if Lisa was being bullied online, the maybe it wouldn't be the first time that bullying ends in tragedy. While they were waiting for the autopsy, Jones looked at Marie from his desk and asked her, "You told me before that you were bullied when you were growing up. How bad was it?"
Marie then took a deep breath, looked at Jones and said to him, "If I tell you, will you promise to keep it with you always."
Jones nodded his head and told Marie that he will. She then went on to explain everything that happened after her parents were killed and when she went to live with her grandmother.
Flashback:
It all started after Marie turned six and she started her first day of first grade. As soon as she entered the classroom, she placed her coat, backpack and lunch box in her cubby hole and went to play with the other children until class started. As soon as she approached a few kids who were playing with some blocks, Marie asked quietly, "Can I play too?"
But as soon as she asked that, one of the kids threw a block at her, but it nearly missed her head and he said to her, "Go away! We don't play with monsters!"
Another one of the kids said, "Yeah! Who would want to play with a monster who hid while their parents were dying!"
Marie was about to protest that it was her mother who hid her because she wanted Marie to be safe, but then the third kid said, "Maybe these "cloaked" figures didn't kill them but you did with those different colored eyes of yours! If that's true then we will die too!" And then they ran away pretending to be scared and Marie stood there while her eyes started to tear up.
Over the years, it was always the same. Marie was constantly bullied and treated like an outcast cause if her two different colored eyes, the kids always thought that it was her eyes that made her kill her parents and whenever she asked a teacher or another adult for help they would ignore her and let it continue. There were even times when Marie would return to her grandmother's house covered in dirt, blood and bruises and her nice clothes were always torn up. Marie's grandmother would always look at her granddaughter in sadness knowing that Marie was suffering from the torture the people were putting her through.
One day during fourth grade, Marie was being cornered by a group of girls and they were looking at her with evil eyes and they started to put glue in her hair and formed it into horns and then one of them kicked her to the ground and sneered, "Now you even look like a monster with that pathetic hairdo!"
Marie was just about to cry again, when a voice shouted, "You guys leave her alone already! Can't you see she's suffered enough!"
The group of girls and even Marie looked and saw a girl their age with curly brown hair and green eyes looking at them angrily. One of the girls scoffed and said, "What are you talking about April? Are you defending this freak? This monster?"
April then strode up to them and stood between the girl group and Marie and shouted at them, "She's not a monster! The only monsters here are the ones who made her suffer since first grade! Now get out of here before I get the teachers!" And soon the girls dispersed not wanting to get in trouble.
April looked down at Marie and asked in concern, "Are you okay? They didn't hurt you or anything right?"
Once she pulled Marie off the floor, she shook her head and said, "I'll be fine, but I think I might get another haircut again. This wasn't the first time I got something out in my hair."
April nodded understanding what she meant cause she witnessed all the harsh bullying Marie had to endure through the past few years. She then suggested that she can wash it out for her that way she wouldn't have to get it cut and Marie agreed to let her do it. It was after that day that April stuck by Marie's side whenever anyone was bullying her and afterwards the bullying ceased.
Marie then leaned back in her chair after she told Jones her story and said to him, "If April didn't take me under her wing that day, people would still be bullying me. It was her that suggested that I hide my green eye with a blue colored contact lens. Ever since then, she's been my best friend and I thank her everyday for protecting me."
Jones smiled knowing that Marie had someone to protect and take care of her throughout her childhood and school days. Just then, he got a thought and looked at Marie and said, "You know Marie, your story reminds me of something. You know Julian Ramis from that one case we had during our night shift right?"
"What about him?" Marie asked in curiosity.
Jones then went in to explain, "Well apparently when he got to the juvenile detention center, a bunch of the kids were bullying him too for killing Freddy Stewart. It went on for a few months until one of the prisoners stepped in and stopped them from hurting him. Now Julian is under that kid's wing until he gets out at the end of the year."
Curious about who the kid is, Marie asked, "What's his name?"
Jones looked through his computer files until he found the prisoner that's taking care of Julian and beckoned Marie over. Once she slid her chair to his desk, he told her, "The kid's name is Lucas Graham and he'll be sixteen this year. It looks like he's spending a few years in juvie for shoplifting, peeping on girls while they were undressing, panty theft and vandalism on abandoned properties that are privately owned."
Marie let out a low whistle and said, "That's a lot for one kid to do. And I thought Julian and Freddy's burglaries were bad."
Jones leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head and said, "No kidding."
After a while, Nathan was done examining the victim's body and he called Jones and Marie to the lab to tell them the results. When Marie asked Nathan what he found, he responded, "Seeing a young person on my autopsy table is always a bit heartbreaking. But knowing that she took her own life makes this even more tragic. I've examined her body and paid special attention to the wounds on her neck. But I can't find anything that points towards an attacker. She has a bump on her head, but she could've easily bumped it against the ceiling when she stood up on the railing to jump to her death. The rope is what killed her and very cleanly at that. Her neck snapped and she died in seconds. However, something's been bothering me though, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I guess f anyone can figure it out, it's you Marie."
A while later, Grace approached Marie in the office with Luke by her side and she said to her, "Hey Marie, I'm glad I found you. Do you remember my fiancé Luke Harris? You met him while you were investigating that horrible painting."
Luke smiled and both he and Marie shook hands. After they exchanged greetings, Marie asked, "What are you doing here Luke?"
Grace responded, "Luke here says he has something he wants to tell you about your investigation. Would you have the time to talk to him now?"
Marie and Jones agreed to talk to Luke and they lead him to the interrogation room. Once they were in the interrogation room, Luke thanked Jones and Marie for taking the time to talk to him and Grace told him to come forward with the truth. Luke then took a deep breath and said, "I have something to say about Lisa's death."
Jones asked the man curiously, "Did you know her personally?"
Luke nodded and explained, "Lisa was in one of my movie history 101 classes. She was very shy and very withdrawn, however..."
Luke paused for a couple minutes, when he took another deep breath and said, "Listen, I know you found her hanging in the library and I know it may look like a suicide, but there's one thing I'm sure of; Lisa didn't commit suicide! It was murder!"
"WHAT?!" Jones and Marie exclaimed together.