Betty and Jughead decided to investigate the crime scene in Fox Forest. The authorities had it blocked off in yellow tape, wrapped around the trunks of pine trees so tall they seemed to touch the grey sky above.
Betty crouched down to get a closer look at where the bodies were found. With the picture in hand, she compared the scene both in real life and in the photograph, hoping to see something or get a clue as to who or what might've done this.
"Hey Betty, look at this." Jughead said with an ushered tone in his voice as he gestured towards a tree trunk close to where the girls had been found.
Betty stood up and appeared by his side, more confused than ever as she inspected the exact same carvings on the tree trunk that were on the girls.
On the right, was a circle with a vertical line through its center. The second symbol was a square with an X in the middle, and the third shape was triangle that looked exactly like the Deathly Hallows symbol from the Harry Potter series.
"I only know the third one, I would've had to have lived under a rock to not know that's the Deathly Hallows." Jughead said, with a tinge of humor in his voice.
Betty half smiled at his comment, they'd had their Harry Potter obsession for about a year when they were ten years old. Memories of them running around in the woods pretending to cast spells with sticks they'd found and cloaks they'd scraped together was something she'd never forget.
"Yeah, but the other two. That doesn't make any sense. Why would the killer have a symbol from a children's book then two anonymous ones?"
"Maybe he was a Harry Potter fan, the other two could be his own he created." Jughead said.
"I guess, but the square with the X, I used to draw that in my notebook. Everyone did at some point. It's just something I did when I was bored. It's a simple and generic design everyone knows, therefore—"
"It's not easy to track at all." Jughead finished her thought.
"Exactly. The circle with the line though, makes no sense at all. That has to have some kind of meaning behind it. Either way, they are somehow connected to each other with the identity of the killer. It could be a code or something. Like what the Blackhood did to me all those years ago." Betty's voice trailed off.
Jughead touched her shoulder, "just to clarify, none of them are from your Nancy Drew code breaker book right?" Jughead tried to lighten her mood. He knew her father was a very touchy and emotional part of her past and he tried to keep her from slipping away from him and into that darkness that he knew was still lurking inside her.
"Ha, no not that I can recall." Betty chuckled, feeling the muggy forest air dampen her clothes, causing them to stick to her body.
"I've got pictures of the symbols," Jughead mentioned, knowing that she'd ask him about them later.
"Ok, thanks. Jug, what were the girls' names again?" Betty asked, trying to decipher whether or not there might be a pattern.
"Uh," Jughead opened the file. "Both were sixteen, their names were, Alison Perkins and Becky Bickenstein." Jughead answered, snorting as he said Becky's last name.
Betty ignored his laugh and paced back and forth and rocked on her heels. "What did they do in high school?"
"Alison was a River Vixen, and Becky was a vixen as well, but also part of the science club."
"Do you think this person could be targeting high school cheerleaders?" Betty thought aloud.
"That seems kinda strange, even for a murderer, but it could be a possibility. We could look into it, but we don't even know how old this person is or if it's a he or a she." Jughead added.
"I want to talk to the coach and to some of the girls who knew Becky and Alison, I want more information about these two and why they might have been...desirable targets." Betty chewed on her lip, trying to piece together the basic facts of the case.
"Let's get back to the office and make some calls, the sooner we figure this out, the better."
"I agree, and Jug? There was one more wasn't there?" Betty questioned as they returned her car.
"Yeah, her name was Colleen Meriweather."
"Age? Was she a vixen too?"
Jughead flipped through the file he had with him, "yes, she was. She was also on the debate team."
"Where was she found again?"
"She was found in the woods behind her family's estate, about a week after these two were found." Jughead answered, his eyes grazing over the little information he had with him on file.
"At least there's a pattern." Betty observed, scratching her chin and narrowing her eyes at the symbols on the tree.
"What? You mean that this person kills sixteen year old girls in the woods?" Jughead stood beside her, connecting her wild green eyes with his.
Betty sighed, "yeah. The killer has a way how he lures his victims into the woods. It's more private and secluded, less likely he or she will get caught."
---
"Alright, I got it. We're going to meet Patricia Fellows tomorrow morning at 9:00. She said she's going to talk to the Vixens and the friends of the three girls to see if they want to talk to us about them. Any information about any of the three that might possibly link them together would be ideal. Besides them all being River Vixens, they have nothing in common. At least not on file." Betty leaned back in her swivel chair, exasperated after looking at these files for the third straight hour.
"Okay, sounds good to me. And I want to see their past records too, police, school, phone, anything; even camps and shit. Anything that might link them together, like you said that may help us." Jughead scratched his chin as he squinted his eyes at the murder board with pictures, sticky notes and red string that had yet to attach and fill in the holes and gaps of the case.
"What about boyfriends? Current and past, it may sound stupid, but maybe he had a motive as to why he targeted these three specifically."
"Jealousy, it's a motive." Jughead kept his arms folded across his chest.
"Especially for underdeveloped high school brains. And there's always four motives behind every murder: revenge, jealousy, money and love." Betty said as a matter of fact.
"Money wouldn't make sense at all, they're in high school. Maybe their families, what's their history?" Jughead turned to face Betty, still sitting in her chair.
"According to this, Alison wasn't too wealthy, there's nothing that sticks out financially for her and her family. As for Becky, she's about the same, I mean, she had money, but wasn't loaded or anything. As for Colleen, she was loaded. The Meriweathers seem like the modern day Blossoms." Betty observed.
"Oh good lord, we don't need more modern Blossom drama." Jughead groaned.
"She's an only child, parents Cordelia and Fitzgerald Meriweather."
"Even their names scream high society. Go on," Jughead said, slowly pacing the length of the room.
"Her father struck oil big out west. He's a wealthy man, his wife Cordelia attended Oxford, they moved here before Colleen was born. Fitzgerald is in charge of the whole oil production in town and in parts of New York."
"This sounds like the Lodges and the Blossom families smashed into one." Jughead interrupted, earning a small smile from Betty as she continued on.
"That would add the money incentive. There could've been ransom for the parents if the killer kidnapped Colleen." Betty suggested.
"Yes, but what about the other two? If they don't come from money like that, why take them and kill them all at once?"
"Ugh, I don't know!" Betty rubbed her eyes, she hated that they didn't even have a lead or any clue for a suspect.
"Ok, calm down. Look, it's already 5:30, I say we call it a day. And after some time away from this for a few hours, we should have a lead tomorrow." Jughead said, his eyes falling on the picture of Juliet in the snow on Betty's desk.
"She's waiting for you at home. Go see her, enjoy the fact you have someone who wants to see you after work." Jughead got up and put on his black coat. "Get some sleep tonight Betts. See you at 9 a.m., tomorrow." With that, Jughead pushed open the door and left without another word.
Betty sat alone in her chair for a few minutes, the only sound was the ticking of the grandfather clock at the end of the hall. What was that about? Did he know? He must've figured it out, he almost sounded saddened at the fact that she had someone who loved her waiting for her at home.
Suddenly, Betty ached to see her daughter. The desire stabbed her stomach and made it flip at the prospect of seeing her little girl smile and race into her arms the second she walked through the door.
Betty pulled on her black rain coat, it was beginning to drizzle and she was ready to head home.
As she stepped into her little white Toyota Corolla, she could hardly wait to see Juliet and in the back of her mind, was Jughead's lonesome and saddened expression on his face he'd left her with only minutes ago.