(unedited)
I think I know,
There is something,
I see in you.
It might kill me;
I want it to be true.
"Decode" –Paramore
Since I didn't have an exam on Monday, I went to the police station to see Ashton. Without Kaden's permission, admittedly. He had been watching me like a hawk all throughout Sunday. The fact that I had gone out Saturday and came back knowing that they had let Keira go seemed to only strengthen his resolve to keep me locked inside the house.
But on Monday, there had apparently been an emergency in the office that he needed to go in to solve. So he had left at nine in the morning after giving me strict instructions to not even think about going to visit Ashton.
I, of course, didn't listen.
Sorry, Kaden.
He would probably be pretty angry when he found out, and I'd be grounded until I left, or even longer, but I wanted to see Ashton at least one more time before I left. I'd be gone by Friday, the day my last exam was on, and who knew how long they'd have Ashton for? I wasn't sure what I'd say to Ashton, since I wasn't allowed to tell him about LA, but I still wanted to see him. Besides, I could prepare for Kaden's anger, I was expecting it.
What I wasn't expecting was for him to be at the police station, talking to Ashton.
They had told me Ashton was talking to someone already, since he was allowed to see visitors, but they hadn't said who, only that that person was okay with me being there too. That should've been my first clue.
"You know," Kaden said when I walked into the room. They were both seated at a metal table in matching chairs. One of Ashton's wrists was chained to the table. There weren't guards, but I knew the wall behind Kaden was actually a window from the other side and I could see a video camera in the corner. "I feel like I should be surprised or betrayed, but I expected this."
I stared at him. Okay, maybe not sorry, Kaden.
"What are you doing here, Elena?" Ashton asked.
I gave him a flat look. "Looking for the Loch Ness Monster."
"Those things are seen in lakes, Lena," Kaden retorted. I rolled my eyes. "By the way," he added. "You're grounded."
"I feel like I should be surprised, but I expected that," I said, throwing his words from earlier back at him. "Why are you here, anyway?" I asked, changing the subject before he could reply.
It wasn't like I expected him to not talk to Ashton, since they were probably still working on the case, but I didn't expect him to do it so openly. In a police station with cameras, too- Kaden had told me that the police wasn't letting Ashton stay in a private room like Keira since they didn't want him doing some sort of unofficial confession. I wasn't sure how else Kaden could've talked to Ashton, but it was Kaden, he could probably find a way.
"I, too, am looking for the Loch Ness Monster," he said.
I stared at him. "Act your age."
"Because he's my lawyer," Ashton replied for him.
I glanced between them both. "What?"
Kaden nodded. "Yeah, I'm helping bail your boyfriend out of jail."
I blinked. Well, technically he's not really my boyfriend, since I didn't get the chance to reply when he asked. The police are a bit of a mood killer. I didn't voice my thoughts, of course, since that would be a pretty awkward conversation, especially in front of Kaden.
"You can get him out, right?" I asked, instead. "You've never failed before."
Kaden glanced at me. "Hopefully, Lena, hopefully."
I turned to Ashton. "Are they just going to hold you here? What about your exams and stuff?"
Ashton chuckled, smiling the first time since I had entered the room. "I'm being accused for murder, and you're worried about me taking my exams?"
Bad priority listing, Lena.
"Well, yeah," I muttered. "They're important."
His smiled widened. "You're cute, Elle."
Kaden cleared his throat. "Still here."
I opened my mouth to reply, but before I could speak, there was a knock at the door. Nathan walked in with a police officer, but froze when he saw us. Ashton leaned back in his chair. "Hey Nate."
"Sorry, am I interrupting?" Nathan asked, looking between all of us. "I have my Calc exam in an hour and I wanted to check in before, but if you're busy..."
Kaden shook his head and stood up. "He's all yours, I'll come back later. Come on, Lena."
I glanced at Ashton, who flashed me a quick, small smile, then followed Kaden out the door and down to the main lobby. "Do you really think you won't be able to get him out?" I asked Kaden quietly.
He sighed, dragging a hand through his hair. "It's not looking so good right now. The way to get him out would be to find evidence on someone else, prove that Ashton was framed, but right now the only person the police are suspecting is..." he trailed off, but I already knew what he had been about to say.
"Me," I finished for him. Because I had stupidly touched the fucking syringe. Still an idiotic move, Lena.
Kaden nodded reluctantly. "And if it comes down to it, I'm saving you, not him."
"Kaden..." That wasn't fair to Ashton, if Kaden was working as his lawyer.
He shook his head, stopping me before I could say anything. "Ashton knows."
"And he's okay with it?" It wasn't like I believed Ashton was a bad person or anything like that, but if you were getting accused for something as serious as murder, you'd want a lawyer who was only focused on getting you out. Any normal person would.
Except Ashton Sinclair, apparently.
"It's why he asked me to be his lawyer, actually. Because he knows any other one his parents might hire will probably try to pin it on you," Kaden explained. "We agreed that it'd be better because he has more time."
It took me a moment to understand what he was saying. "Ashton knows about LA?" Well, hard part done for me then... But Ashton hadn't acted any different. Did he not care, or had it maybe been because Kaden had been-
Kaden shook his head, stopping my hopeful thoughts mid-process. "He's not stupid, though. He knows it's getting close to the end of three months and that I won't just sit around and let you get killed. I'm sure he suspects I'm going to do something."
"There's no way to get him out without blaming it on me?" I asked. There had to be something, I mean, what happened to the idea of Keira being involved? Or anyone else from the Elite? They couldn't center all the blame on me and Ashton.
"I'm trying, Lena, I'm trying," Kaden replied. "But for now, I want to make sure you don't get any more involved than you already are." he glanced around and dropped his voice, even though there was only, like, one other person in the lobby. "I don't want it to be bad enough that they won't let you go to LA. I want to get you out of here."
I gulped. "Okay. But what about..."My fingerprints on the syringe? They were probably going to take me in for questioning, as soon as they finished with Ashton, and I wasn't sure what angle Kaden was telling Ashton to play, and how I was supposed to follow along with it.
He seemed to understand what I meant even without me finishing. "Tell as much of the truth as possible. Ashton's saying he didn't know about the syringe, which is true, but you won't' be getting any help from him."
"I wasn't supposed to know what killed Olivia, right? That it was a syringe of Methanonel?" I asked, lowering my voice to just slightly above a whisper. "A syringe wouldn't have looked so suspicious to me if I'm clueless."
Kaden nodded. "Just say you found it, but didn't think much of it, you can play dumb. They can't test how much you know."
"Kaden!" A booming voice called, making me jump. I looked up to see Mr. Sinclair making his way towards us. Right, Ashton's parents had flown back from their business trip.
Kaden stood up, giving him small but genuine smile. "Sebastian."
They shook hands, then Mr. Sinclair glanced over at me. "Nice to see you again, Elena, though I wish it were under different circumstances."
"You too, Mr. Sinclair," I said, pasting on a weak smile.
He glanced behind Kaden, to the hall leading to the holding rooms. "Have you seen Ashton yet?" he asked Kaden.
Kaden nodded. "Nathan's talking to him now."
"Thanks for doing this," Mr. Sinclair said. "I believe we have a couple things to discuss..." They drifted away to the other side of the room, talking quietly.
I glanced down at my lap, tangling and untangling my fingers as I mulled over what I knew. I had found the syringe about two weeks ago, in Ashton's car. The two people who had the most access to Ashton's car, besides Ashton himself, were Nathan and Skylar. I wasn't sure what to think about either of them.
They had both been pretty uninvolved in everything. Skylar had gotten attacked, and Nathan was trying to figure out what was really going on, but neither of them seemed to actually know everything. Not to mention, I couldn't see Ashton trying to get either of them arrested, or vice versa.
Another thing was their parents. I wasn't sure about the Blaires, but Kaden was pretty good friends with Mr. Sinclair. I glanced at up at them, heads bent together as they discussed something- probably Ashton's case. That being said though, Kaden had never specifically told me that the killer's parents had killed Blake and Avril.
I sighed, wringing my hands together. There was still a bunch of stuff I didn't know about the Elite, and their families that I'd probably never be able to figure it out. I glanced up when a shadow fell over me to see Nathan standing over me.
"Hey, Ash wants to talk to you," he told me.
I stood up. "Oh, thanks for telling me. Uh, your dad's here."
"Yeah, I should probably say hi before I leave," he said. "See you later, Elena."
I waved goodbye to him, then made my way over to the door. There was a policeman waiting there who led me through the station, back to Ashton's room.
"Hey," Ashton said, giving me a small grin when I walked in. How is he so cheery when he's sitting in an interrogation room with his wrist chained to the table?
"Hi," I replied, pasting on a weak smile.
He raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"
"You're chained to a metal table and you're asking me what's wrong?" I asked, shaking my head. "I'm worried about you." And the killer, and the case, and what could happen if they don't caught and it doesn't get solved. I probably wouldn't be there to see it, or if I did find out, it would be from the news, or Kaden, but it still worried me that things wouldn't work out for Ashton and the rest of the Elite who might actually be uninvolved.
"I'm going to be fine, Elle," he told me. "I'm not going to let them win." Them being the killer? The one who planted the syringe in his car?
Before I could even so much as to open my mouth to reply, we were interrupted by a knock on the door. Kaden, Mr. Sinclair and a policeman walked in... With Jacen.
I blinked. What the hell was Jacen doing here? He and Ashton weren't exactly close, definitely not close enough that Jacen would visit Ashton while Ashton was being held as a suspect for murder.
Jacen raised an eyebrow when he saw us. "What is this? Group bonding session I wasn't invited to?"
"Why are you here?" Ashton demanded.
I watched Jacen, expecting some kind of twisted smirk or messed up reply. But surprisingly, when he answered, he didn't sound cruel, or arrogant, he didn't make it sound like a taunt.
He was dead serious when he said, "I made a confession."
♡ the trouble with love ♡
I didn't get to hear what the confession was all about.
Yeah.
I know.
But according to the police, it was some confidential stuff that only involved Jacen and Ashton. Since Kaden was Ashton's lawyer, and Mr. Sinclair was related to Ashton (obviously), I was the only one who got kicked out. Which sucked since I wanted to know what Jacen could've said that prompted an immediate interruption.
I probably should've taken getting kicked out as good news, since it -most likely, hopefully- meant that it didn't involve me. Which, I think was a good thing. At this point I wasn't really sure of anything anymore, given everything I didn't know and everything that I wasn't sure whether or not was real.
It was just me in the house, since Raine was at a doctor's appointment and Kaden was, obviously, at the police station dealing with the case. I probably should've started packing for LA, and I tried, but it was hard to focus on trying to decide how many shirts and pairs of socks I needed to bring when there were bigger problems.
Like my almost, sort of not, really, Facebook status it's complicated boyfriend being accused for murder.
Or a pyschotic killer that I've talked to in the past week who wants to cut me into pieces. Oh, and not to mention one of their parents probably killed my parents.
Er, one set of my parents.
I still wasn't quite sure what to make of that. Especially since Kaden wouldn't give me any answers.
I froze.
I was home alone today. I had never really had a reason to snoop in his office before all this, even as curious as I had been about his job. The idea of looking for information in his office had crossed my mind before, but not seriously. When I was home, either Kaden or Raine was also home. And while Raine wasn't the disciplinary type, I definitely would get a firm scolding if she caught me going through Kaden's files.
The one time I had tried it, the door had been locked.
I drummed my fingers against the edge of my desk, debating whether or not I should try it. I was going to LA anyway, so it's not like I really cared about being grounded if I somehow got caught. What was there to lose?
I stood up.
If it's locked, I'll leave it alone.
If it's not, it's fair game.
Chances were it was locked.
I raced downstairs -who knew how long Kaden would be at the police station for?- then slowed when I got closer to his office. It was kind of absurd, since I was the only one home, and I was pretty sure Kaden only had camera's outside the house, but I felt like I had to sneak around. I shook off the feeling and twisted the knob.
The door swung open.
Colour me surprised.
Had he been in such a rush to the police station that he had forgotten to lock the door? That didn't sound like Kaden. It was possible that he just didn't expect me to go into his office, but he probably wouldn't locked it anyway, just in case. He knew I would be home today-
He had expected me to go to the police station.
He wouldn't have known that Jacen would confess all of sudden,s o he had probably expected that I'd be getting home at the same time as him. There wasn't really a reason to lock the office.
Well, my gain, his loss.
I crept into his office- then stopped and stared. His desk was a bit of a mess of papers.
How fun.
Kaden was usually a neat person, so the current mess had to be a result of the case. On one hand, that meant most of the papers would probably have the information I was looking for. On the other, I wasn't sure I'd be able to make everything looked untouched.
There was a thick, unmarked file on the main area of the desk. Inside it, were smaller files, though they were decently thick as well. I flipped open the cover and checked the smaller files. The first one was labelled David Fallon. The second Ashton Sinclair. Then Shawn & Devon.
What?
I knew it was related to the case, Detective Fallon and Ashton being in there would be a bit of a weird coincende for anything else, but how? It couldn't be possible suspects- Shawn and Devon were there, not to mention the only member of the Elite there was Ashton. Kaden couldn't have only suspected Ashton, right?
I figured it out after quickly leafing through the documents. Detective Fallon's folder mostly held reports and scribbled notes in what I recognized as Kaden's quick, almost illegible scrawl. Ashton's was the thickest, containing files on the Elite, not unlike the ones Kaden had given me. Shawn and Devon's had more scribbled notes and a couple highlighted print-outs that had to do with psychology.
It was organized in who had given him what information. Which was actually pretty smart, since he probably had varying degrees of trust in all of them. He'd know what information was the most reliable that way.
Now...what to investigate first?
I wanted to see what the articles Devon had given him were about, they could possibly give me a hint on what the mental illness the killer had. Though, that wouldn't be helpful in figuring out who it was, since evidently whoever it was hid it pretty well.
I wanted to check some of Ashton's files, see if I could find the information that was missing from mine. That information probably meant something if Kaden had kept it hidden from me. Unless, Ashton had kept it from Kaden as well.
Detective Fallon was the detective Nathan had hired, though. He had contact with the police, and probably had more official things, maybe some of their records? The first thing I saw when I opened his file was a transcript of an interview. A quick scan told me that it was the one with the receptionist at the hospital, the one who had said Keira was last to see her.
The next papers were hospital records. Skylar and Olivia's, to be exact. I had seen Olivia's record, from when Jacen had tried to give it to me, but these seemed more detailed, containing with information like who had found them, where they had been injected, the dosage, how long-
I stopped halfway through Skylar's record and flipped back to Olivia's.
They were the same- twenty millilitres. Just a little over how much was apparently used to knock out patients for the most painful surgeries.
The only difference was- Skylar had lived, while Olivia hadn't.
So had the killer wanted Skylar to die or Olivia to live?
Skylar had been first, and since hers hadn't worked, then the killer must've known that they would need to up the doseage to kill. Maybe they had intended to kill Skylar, but hadn't gotten another chance? I had a feeling they wouldn't need a Methanonel syringe to do it, though, and given that it was someone who was part of the Elite, they would've had plenty of chances.
So the killer wanted Olivia to live?
I wasn't sure how that changed things- if they changed things. Olivia had lost the game, did losing mean living? Or had there been some other reason to keep her alive?
Jacen, maybe?
The front door opened, making me jump. I quickly closed the file and slipped out of Kaden's office, shutting the door quietly behind me. Not quiet enough, though. Devon appeared down the hall, raising an eyebrow at my slightly frazzled appearance.
"You shouldn't snoop," he scolded me.
I just stared at him. "What are you doing here?"
He sighed. "Problem at the police station, I'm here to take you there."
"What happened?" I asked, my breath catching. I had forgotten to consider exactly what Jacen had confessed, stupidly enough. I had selfishly thought it was okay, since it didn't involve me, but what if he had 'confessed' something like him knowing Ashton had killed Olivia? "Did Jacen say something?"
Devon shook his head. "It's not about Jacen." Wait, what? What happened now? "The police went to find Skylar Blaire, Keira Winston and Vanessa Merrick to interrogate-"
"If they suspect me," I interrupted. "Why would they interrogate any of them first?"
He grimaced. "They probably wanted one of them to confess something."
I blinked at his tone. It was almost dreading, like something bad had happened. Had it? "Did they?" I asked.
He shook his head again. "They can't find them. Any of them."
-- ♡ --
i love leaving you guys on cliffhangers. in case you haven't noticed. *cackles*
QotC: Who do you want to make it out unharmed?