If I hadn't known where to look for, I would've spent hours searching for a needle in a haystack. But thanks to the memory flash I had when Jill tried to kill me, I know exactly where to find her diary. The small black book is still hidden in plain sight, next to The Ugly Duckling in the vast library.
I waste no time and open the diary immediately. Since I'm searching for her most recent thoughts, I decide to start with the last entry. A sigh of disappointment comes out of me as I see her last entry is dated December 30th, 2017. In it, she wrote how her parents gave her a new Polaroid camera and a photo album for her birthday.
The diary still has about 100 pages left, so I doubt she had a new one. The most possible option was she moved on to write in her album, like June and Jude mentioned. But the two little children are still nowhere to be found, leaving me and Will to search for the photo album by ourselves. We spend almost an hour searching for the album with no luck.
"Lexi, come here!" Will calls. "I think I've found something."
I approach him quickly with the hope that what he found can be our answer. After all, we don't have that much time.
"What is it?" I ask.
The 12-inch by 12-inch hard-covered book he's holding has "Jill's Scrapbook #1" handwritten on its cover.
I stare at Will. "This must be it!"
Will nods, his green eyes are filled with hope before he proceeds to open the scrapbook.
The first two photos on the scrapbook are photos of Annie. Next to each picture, Jill wrote some notes about when and where she took it. Will continues to flip the page to look for any clues that may help us. Each page of the scrapbook has two to four photos taped using small paper tapes on each corner and some notes written next to them. Most of the notes only contain the dates and places, while some have greater details such as what happened and how she felt. All the pages are black in color while the notes were handwritten using silver, and sometimes gold, ink.
Jill took a lot of photos, most of them are of her friends and Annie. Starting from February 14th, 2018, the face that pops out a lot is none other than Stephen. Based on her notes, that was when they first became a couple, which was quite romantic, to be honest. Of all his photos, I find him ridiculously photogenic. Considering Jill's hobby of photography, this might be one of the reasons she was attracted to him in the first place.
Will continues to flip the pages until the last one. Unfortunately, the last photo dated back to July 2018.
"That's it?" Will asks. "I don't know about you, but the way I see it, this doesn't really help!" he continues, frustration fills his voice.
I find it rather annoying how easily he gives up in just about everything. "Calm down," I say as I close the album. When I read the title again, I notice something important.
"Look." I point to the title. "If there's a 'number one', there might be more."
He exhales sharply. Then, with determination on his face, he says, "Okay, let's keep looking then."
It takes us fifteen minutes to find the second album since it looks identical to the previous one. We waste no time and continue to observe the photos inside it. We can't find any clues that help with our murder investigation since the mystery man is still not yet photographed.
If the photos tell us anything, it's that Jonah's story proves to be true. Some of the entries detailed about her make-ups with Stephen, such as a photo of a strawberry ice cream and a huge teddy bear given by him as apologies. It seems their relationship started to have issues since their 'make-ups' happened weeks apart of each other and sometimes even days!
The last page dated back to October 27th, 2018; which leads me to believe there must be a third album.
I glance at my watch, it's already 3.35 p.m. I have to finish this sooner or I might be too late.
Will and I hurriedly search the room for the third album. Luckily, it's not far from where we found the second one.
"This has to be it," Will says.
Looking at him, I say, "Let's hope so."
The first few pages are useless for our investigation, it's not until the tenth page that we find an interesting picture. Will's bar is photographed from the outside. Dated 28th December 2018, it states, 'My first trip to LA. Met my brother and he hated me. I hope he'll change his mind though.' She also drew a sad face next to her writings.
I glance at Will, whose expression turns rather gloomy. When I place a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, he tries to give a polite smile, but it comes out as a sad one instead. He pulls his gaze to the photo and reminisces for a while.
"I remembered, Lexi," he says, his eyes are still fixated to the photo. "Our first meeting. I remembered it earlier when she attacked you."
I stare at him quizzically. Hold on, could it be...
"I'm sorry I didn't help you sooner, but I couldn't," he continues. "I was having memory flashes at that time and I," there's a shot of guilt in his eyes when he turns to look at me, "I couldn't move."
"It's okay," I assure him. That's when I realize something important. "Did you happen to remember the part where you went to her house?"
"Yeah." He looks surprised, "How did you know?"
"I was having the same memory flash. Jill's memory and yours must be connected somehow," I conclude.
Sensing an opportunity, I continue to ask, "Did you remember dropping her off here too?" It would be nice to see the event from his point of view. Maybe he can point out something I couldn't see.
"Yeah!" he replies, his eyes widen in surprise.
"What did you see?"
"After I dropped her off, I was driving back to the city when a cab passed me by from the opposite direction."
"The cab," I interrupt. "It had a logo on its sides, right? An oval with some text in it?"
"Yes!" he replies, excited. "Do you recognize it?"
I nod a few times. "It was Harrison's Taxi's." After a short while, I ask, "So, what happened next?"
"The cab was heading this way, so my first thought was, it probably was the house's owner," he explains. "But then, I notice something weird."
"What was it?" I ask curiously.
"No one was in the passenger seat," he recounts. "The driver was the only one in the cab and I don't think a cabbie would own a place like this. So, I thought, why would a cabbie want to go to a haunted house?" He gives a short dramatic pause. "Anyway, I thought Jill could be in trouble so I head back here."
"Whoever drove the cab must've been Jill's killer," I mutter under my breath. "What else did you see?"
"Not much." He shakes his head. "But, he seemed like a great driver. I remember when I followed him, I had to slow down when I was at the sharp turns, but he was much faster than me and I lost him halfway here."
He lets out a sigh. I try to comfort him by giving a soft smile before we continue to look at the rest of the picture.
Two weeks after their first meeting, Jill visited Will in LA again. This time, they took a picture of themselves while smiling widely and happily. Judging by their clothes, the picture must've been taken at the same time as the one I saw hanging on the board at Will's bar. Now that I have a closer look at the picture, I notice they have a similar kind of smile; carefree, infatuating, and contagious. On the corner of my eyes, I can see a sad smile on Will's face.
After a while, he wipes his sadness off his face and refocuses himself on the book. As he continues to turn the pages, one of the writings grabs my attention.
"Will, wait." I stop him from turning the page.
"What is it?" He stares at me quizzically.
I point at the photo of a landscape, taken from behind an opened window. Perhaps, it was her bedroom window.
Then, I read the notes under the photo out loud, "'When one door closes, a small window opens. Things might be over for good between Stephen and me, but I've got someone much better now. I've always had a crush on him ever since I can remember. But, I still can't believe what happened last night!'"
The date shows February 4th, 2019, roughly five months ago, which further confirms Jonah's story about Jill and Stephen's last break-up.
"You don't think she's still talking about me, do you?" Will asks, narrowing his eyes in the process.
"I don't think so," because that would be more than just weird, "She barely knew you a couple of weeks before this, and yet she wrote how she had had a crush on this guy for a long time. So, I think she's talking about the mystery guy she had been seeing."
"Oh, good. Otherwise, it'd be downright creepy," he mutters as his face turns relieved.
"He must've comforted her after the big fight between her and Stephen. Perhaps, they kissed or even ended up spending the night together." I glance at Will, whose expression turns serious. "Whatever happened, that could be the start of her secret relationship."
I keep turning the pages until one photo in particular grabs our attention. Will and I gasp at the same time when we see the photo. It's a photo of a half-naked guy lying on a bed. His lean upper body is bare while the rest of him is covered with a white blanket. Unfortunately, the photo doesn't show his entire face as it cuts off just above his lips. The clean-shaven man has a prominent jawline and a dimple on his chin.
"That's definitely not me, right?" Will asks. A look of shock and horror masks his face.
I feel bad, but I can't help but let out a few small chuckles. "No, that's definitely not you." I shake my head lightly. "His skin tone is a bit lighter than yours and, for what it's worth, your abs are much better." I flash a teasing half-smile at him.
"Thanks," he replies shyly. My words make him blush uncontrollably and I don't even regret saying that.
I continue to read the notes out loud, "'He hates it when I take photos of him even though he's the most handsome guy I've ever seen. So, I took a photo of him while he was sleeping instead.'" She drew a happy face at the end of the note.
"Who the heck is this guy?" Will cries out his frustration.
"We'll find out soon, Will." I pretend to give a few pats on his back to comfort him even though I can't really touch him. He takes a deep breath, trying to control his anger.
Just when Will's about to turn the page, I notice a scar on the mystery man's lower right waist. "Hold on a second," I say as I grab the book and bring the photo closer to my eyes. The surgical scar is approximately 2.5 inches in reality, which gives me an idea of what could've caused it.
"What is it?" Will asks with a voice full of hope. Suddenly, he gasps. "Do you recognize him?"
"What sort of girl do you think I am?" I throw him a killing glare.
Honestly, if Claire hasn't been seeing anyone, I think Will and her would be a perfect match.
"Oh, no," he blushes, "Of course not. I didn't mean to—"
"See this?" I point at the scar, "I think he had an open appendectomy." On my peripheral vision, I can see Will staring at me with absolutely no clue of what I'm talking about. "The scar is still quite clear, so I'd say he had the surgery in less than a year ago."
"Can you find out who it is then?"
"I suppose so." My lips make a straight line. "It'll be another crime, but... yeah, I can check the records in St. Mary's later. For now, let's see if we can find something else."
The second photo on that page is a handmade birthday card.
February 28th, 2019. He had dinner plans with his family tonight, but he promised we'll celebrate together tomorrow!
"Look." I point at her writings. "Whoever this guy is, his birthday is on February 28th."
"Yeah, this is good." Will nods a few times. "Is there any chance you can ask that detective to look into this?"
"Sure." I take out my phone from my pocket and start dialing Lucas' number. Unfortunately, the call goes straight to voice mail. I try calling him a few more times, but the same thing happens every time.
"No answer?" Will asks.
I shake my head. "Let's just continue looking, shall we?"
Will shrugs and refocuses himself on the album once again.
Jill seems to be head over heels for the mystery guy since the caption on almost every photo after that relates to him. One particular caption draws my attention.
March 28th, 2019. I just found out I'm pregnant. I'm scared and I still haven't told him. I wonder what he'll say?
I'm surprised she didn't actually photograph her test result but put a photo of the sunset instead. But, I notice the date is about two weeks before her death.
I turn to the next page and observe the next picture. In the photo, a bouquet of dead flowers, the same flowers I saw a few pages ago, are thrown inside a trash bin.
April 7th, 2019. I can't believe he told me to lose the baby and never to see him again. He even told me he's been seeing someone else all along! He's been lying to me all this time! He's absolute trash, like these flowers he gave me!
The photo on the next page details her final makeup with Stephen, one week before her death. In the photo, she and Stephen are taking a selfie. The boy looks purely joyous while Jill's smile looks forced instead.
April 10th, 2019. I still can't get him off my mind, but I should forget him and move on. Stephen is willing to do anything for me, I feel much safer with him by my side.
Ah. This must be taken after Jonah's accident. Slowly, I begin to understand why she decided to get back together with Stephen.
That is the last entry in the album. I figure, during her last week alive, she must've been busy with her newly found evidence of Stephen's drug issue that she wouldn't have the time to take any other photographs.
Will shakes his head when he closes the book. "I still have no idea who this guy is."
"Well"—I take a deep breath—"whoever this guy is, he had an appendectomy between the last 6 to 12 months, was born on 28th February, and has another girlfriend."
Will lets out a long frustrated sigh.
"Also," I continue, trying to keep his hopes up, "whoever it was, was driving a cab with Harrison's Taxi's logo which must have a dented front bumper as a result of bumping into your car. The problem is, I've never seen a cab driver here who could possibly have a body like..." my voice trails away as I remember what Lucas and Mr. Harrison said.
James Harrison wrecked one of his father's cab, specifically, the one his father usually drives.
It gets me thinking, what if James is behind all the murders?
James surely fits the profile. One, he has access to his father's wrecked cab. Two, he has a history of breaking the law so it won't be surprising if he was involved in the illegal prescription sales. Three, despite his hobo appearance, he is actually quite good looking. His strong jawline and dimpled chin that run in his family make it possible for James to be the mystery man in the photo. He seems to be physically fit too, although it's hard to tell what's underneath his loose t-shirt and oversized hoodie he's always wearing. Plus, he seems to be quite infatuated with Jill, judging by the mural he made.
The only problem is, he's not an Eagle and I see no reason for him to wear an Eagle's jacket on the night of the murder.
Unlike his brother.
That's when it hits me. James isn't the only one who has access to his father's car, Dean does too.
The last time I see James, he was strongly against the idea that he was the one who wrecked his father's car. What if he was telling the truth? What if Dean was the one who wrecked the car?
Considering Mr. H's favoritism towards Dean, he could be prejudiced against James, therefore accusing his younger son to be the culprit instead of his older, more perfect son.
Dean also has a similar face structure to his younger brother, making it possible for him to be the mystery man in the photo.
I wreck my brain trying to remember Dean's birthday, but I can't remember the exact date. All I remember is, Claire refused my offer to go to a clothing sale - something that she never does - at Mary's Boutique to celebrate Dean's birthday that day. Now, if it's an end-of-season sale, it could happen sometime around February or March, so there's a possibility that Dean celebrates his birthday in February. Of course, I have to ask Claire about it to be sure.
Or you can just check their medical records.
Yeah, there's that.
That way, if neither Dean nor James turns out to be the killer, I can still check for other people who were born on February 28th and had an appendectomy.
Well, looks like we have another crime to commit.
***
When I arrive at the hospital, the clock already shows 4.45 p.m. Wasting no time, I go straight to the records room. Fortunately for me, there aren't any people in the room now. I take my seat in front of the computer and type in my passcode immediately. Then, I begin to search for the patient's name.
Since my suspicion against James is stronger, I decide to access his medical records first. When I type in James' name, three names show up.
Harrison, James
Harrison, James Albert
Harrison, James Edward
When I check the first James Harrison, I find out that the man was born in 1950, obviously not who I'm looking for. The second boy was born in 2010, hence too young to be the James Harrison that I know. That can only mean the person I'm looking for is the third one.
Harrison, James Edward
D.O.B: November 30th, 2000
November 30th? That means he can't be Jill's mystery boyfriend.
But, just to be sure, I also check his past visits to the hospital. His last visit to the hospital is in 2017 when he was hospitalized for pneumonia. There are no records of him ever having an appendectomy or any other stomach surgery, which means he can't be Jill's mystery boyfriend.
With a long sigh, I return to the search page and type in the next name: Dean Harrison. This time, the search result only shows one person. I take a deep breath before I click on the name.
Harrison, Dean Robert
D.O.B: February 28th, 1990
Uh oh. This is not good.
My heart continues to pound loudly in anticipation as I continue to read the record. His last visit to the hospital was on April 20th, 2019; which was two days after Jill's murder. The record shows that he visited the ER because of an infection on his right leg caused by a dog bite.
Oh, no.
I continue to read the rest of Dean's medical record and find that 10 months ago, he was brought to the ER and had an emergency appendectomy.
At that moment, I become convinced that I've found Jill's mystery boyfriend and killer. All the pieces of evidence I've found point to the one and only Dean Harrison. Everything starts to make sense now.
The other day when I met Dean and my allergy acted up, I thought it was because of the flowers but I was wrong. I didn't notice it then because my allergy had dulled my senses, but it must've been because of his lavender-scented perfume!
Then, I start to put two and two together. With Dean's good looks and superstar status in this town, it's highly likely that Jill would have a crush on him. According to Jonah, Jill was tutoring the basketball team members so she must've interacted with Dean a lot too. It's highly possible Dean was comforting her about her last breakup with Stephen when things turned into something else entirely.
Dean is also loved and looked up to by many - if not all - of his students, including Sheila, who must've concealed the fact that Dean was involved in the drug trade to protect him. Of course, she couldn't have known that Dean was Jill's secret boyfriend, moreover her killer. Perhaps, she thought Dean was actually helping her by giving her access to Adderall so she can get better grades and stay in the basketball team.
No one could have known that behind that good guy persona is a cold-blooded murderer. No one, not even his parents; and certainly not a gullible person like Claire.
Oh, no. Claire.
At that exact moment, I realize that my discovery also means my best friend is in grave danger.
Author's Note:
Ta-da! The killer is finally revealed!
What do you think? Did you guess correctly?
Only two more chapters remain, so stay tuned ;)
Hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for reading!