[055] citizen detectives

                                                                                           Misty already managed to figure out what was going on. Well, sort of. Not only had Suki been taken but so had Natalie and the two stories were too much of a coincidence to be ignored. Courtney didn't care much about Natalie even after all of this but Misty did, and with Misty's citizen detective skills, it was only a matter of time before she tracked both of them down.

                                                                                          And so, the two women were now holed up inside of Misty's house, forced to regroup and come up with a plan despite wanting to go out there and search everywhere for the two missing women.

                                                                                         "So you mean to tell me... a group of purple wearing freaks kidnapped Natalie and Suki? Do you think it has to do with that shit with the postcard?" Courtney questioned.

                                                                                          Misty sighs, eating another one of her cookies in contemplation. "I don't know. Maybe it's all some bizarre coincidence. Regardless of the truth, we need to figure out who they are and get them back before something terrible happens to them."

                                                                                         "Alright, where do we begin?" Courtney questioned.

                                                                                         "Randy. He was there when Natalie got taken. He had to have seen something while Natalie was there. If he leads us to Natalie, we'll be led sraight to Suki," Misty replied with a smile. "You sure you don't want these? I made them myself."

                                                                                        "Maybe later. As much as I despise Randy, I suppose we have no other choice," Courtney relents, nervously twirling her necklace around as she did so. Rarely was Courtney nervous but with Suki gone, it was all she could feel.

                                                                                         "Court... there's something else," Misty adds, appearing just a little nervous as she looked up at the tall blonde.

                                                                                         "What?" Courtney narrowed her eyes. She wasn't in the mood for any bad news, especially with everything that had already happened. If something worse happened, she might just get sent over the edge.

                                                                                         "There's been this fellow Citizen Detective on Reddit who's been asking questions about Adam's disappearance. He thinks he was murdered," Misty continued.

                                                                                         "Technically, he was murdered," Courtney shrugged.

                                                                                         "Well, he doesn't need to know that! I've been trying to ward him off but he managed to track me down. He found my job and everything, and now he wants my help in Adam's case," Misty continued.

                                                                                        "You're not going to do that, are you? Misty, that'd be fucking stupid," Courtney frowned. "Just point him in my direction and I can go and take care of him."

                                                                                        "Wait!

                                                                                        "What do you mean wait? Don't tell me you developed some sort of moral code now. That'd be disappointing,

                                                                                       "Of course not! I still don't know who he is. I don't want us to do anything yet until we figure out who he is. I have no choice but to help him. And by help him, I'd obviously be pretending. I... want you to be there with me when I do meet him,

                                                                                       "Misty,

                                                                                       "Please. I can't do this without you. Think of this as... your chance to become a Citizen Detective with me. It'd be a perfect opportunity for us to bond as best friends. What do you say?"

                                                                                         Courtney rolls her eyes with a sigh, saying, "Fine. There was no way I'd let you meet with this creep alone. No matter what happens, I'm still going to do whatever I can to find Suki. And if this Citizen Detective Creep turns out to be a creep, I'll get rid of him too."

                                                                                        Misty nods, absolutely enamored by her best friend. Courtney was truly radiant when she was in her element, fully prepared to kill. That kind of loyalty was rare to find and Misty was glad to have Courtney as her best friend. What could Misty have done without her?

                                                                                     "Shit, I need a drink," Courtney remarked, running a hand through her icy blonde hair. Suki was starting to rub off on her - at least with the alcohol. "Do you have any booze here?"

                                                                                     "Does egg nog count?" Misty raised a brow.

                                                                                     "No, it doesn't count. I'll be back," Courtney declared, grabbing her purse in preparation of leaving. "I'm going to the store and getting some proper booze."

                                                                                     "Okay! I'll be... here and figuring out the rest of our plan! I'll even save some cookies for you," Misty exclaimed with a smile, watching as Courtney soon left.

                                                                                       Courtney drove to the nearest store, whistling to herself as she strolled right to the liquor department and grabbed a bottle of red wine. Although she was used to the expensive kind - completely aged to perfection, Courtney was willing to make an exception this time around. Plus, if Suki were here, she'd be more than happy to drink whatever she could get her hands on. 

                                                                                      Courtney's heart ached at the thought of Suki. She hated that the two of them were apart. And she couldn't wait to get her back (as well as kill whoever had decided to take Suki away from her in the first place).

                                                                                     "Courtney?"

                                                                                       She turns around to see David smiling over at her, making her heart sink. Great, she thought to herself. Not only was the love of her life missing but now she had to run into her ex. Things were getting even worse than before.

                                                                                      "Wow, you look good. Nancy told me you two had talked but she failed to give you proper justice," David remarked, looking Courtney up and down in a way that brought her right back to high school.

                                                                                      "Let me guess, she told you about our fight," Courtney scoffed.

                                                                                      "Yeah, she did. Are you sticking around for good?" David remarked, deciding to keep the conversation going despite the fact that Courtney was obviously not interested.

                                                                                      "Why do you care?" Courtney inquired, deciding to answer his question with another.

                                                                                      "I'm just curious. You were gone for so long, seemingly never coming back. Your disappearance was the talk of the town for a whole year. No one knew where you went," David stated.

                                                                                      "But let me guess, you all made up your fair share of rumors, right?" Courtney scoffed. That was the thing about small towns: there wasn't much the citizens had except for gossip. It's the only thing that kept them going.

                                                                                      "Some said you ran off to marry a rich billionaire after getting pregnant y him, some said you joined the circus. Oh! My favorite one was that you became some sort of wicked assassin," David recalled with a smirk.

                                                                                      "It could be a little bit of both, to be honest," Courtney replied vaguely, shaking her head afterwards.

                                                                                      "Hey, maybe we could reconnect. You know, catch up on old times," David then offered, flashing his usual charming smile as he decided to take another step closer to approach her.

                                                                                        Courtney rolled her eyes, seeing right through David's game. "Don't you think you should go back home to your wife and kid, David? Plus, in case you haven't gotten the memo yet, I'm with someone else. Another woman."

                                                                                        Did Courtney feel bad for Nancy, seeing as David was an asshole and a cheater? A part of Courtney did. But it wasn't as though she could go run and tell Nancy. Why shatter Nancy's dream of a perfect life when it was clear Nancy wanted absolutely nothing to do with Courtney? Plus, there was a chance that Nancy already knew - choosing to stick her head in the metaphorical sand and ignore all her problems.

                                                                                       "You're actually gay? I just thought Suki was the massive dyke out of the two of you. I had no clue that it rubbed off on you but I should've known. Perhaps that was the reason you two were so close. Perhaps that was the reason you dumped me all those years ago," David replied.

                                                                                       "So what? You decide to settle for my sister instead? She's your rebound that you ended up getting married to?" Courtney questioned, a sly smirk growing on her lips. "Wow, David. You haven't changed at all since high school. Well, except for the thinning hair. You should work on that."

                                                                                        David chuckles, looking away from Courtney. "And I guess you haven't really changed much either. You're still just as much of a bitch as you were back in high school."

                                                                                       "I'm glad you finally realized that. Shopping for honey? Are you craving things? Is it your time of the month?" Courtney continued to tease, causing David to roll his eyes in annoyance.

                                                                                       "Very funny. It's for Nancy. She likes having honey with her tea - so much so that she gets organic honey from a specific place. Some hippie yoga wellness retreat shit. I think it's called Sunshine Honey or whatever. If she can't get that, she'll settle for the local brand here," David explained with a shrug.

                                                                                       "Riveting information. Now, if you excuse me...," Courtney trails off, now beginning to walk away from David so she could check out and get back to Misty. She didn't have time to waste, not when Suki was still out there and possibly dealing with some lunatic.

                                                                                        "It's never going to work," David called out.

                                                                                        "What?" Courtney scoffs, turning back around to face David and see whatever the fuck he was going on about.

                                                                                        "Whatever relationship you have with your girlfriend, it won't work. You're not like Nancy. You don't have a heart. All you know how to do is ruin and destroy... and be a gigantic psycho bitch," David remarked.

                                                                                         And with that, David storms off with the honey in hand. Courtney stands there, frozen in both shock and anger, and her eyes felt glossy. A scowl paints her lips as she glances around the store, quickly wiping her eyes before anyone could have the chance to see her cry. She wouldn't allow anyone the satisfaction - especially not David fucking Welch.

                                                                                         It was bad enough that he had managed to get the very last word. Now he had basically embarrassed Courtney in public for all to see.

                                                                                        Courtney was still in a foul mood by the time she had made it back to Misty's, pouring herself a large glass of wine and drowning what little emotions she had with alcohol. Misty was a little confused, pushing her glasses further up the bridge of her nose as she stood beside Courtney.

                                                                                       "Hey, I'm a bit of a, uh, wine girly myself but do you think that drinking is the best option right now?" Misty questioned.

                                                                                       "I think it's the best idea I've had," Courtney responded. But then again, it was the only idea Courtney had since she was totally out of them. "Hey, is it alright if I stay here for a while? Just until we're able to locate the others?"

                                                                                        Courtney couldn't bare the thought of going back to the house, reminded of Suki's absence. She'd only drive herself insane and that was the last thing she needed right now. Misty, on the other hand, immediately perks up and her eyes were practically sparkling as she looked over at Courtney. She nearly pinched herself just to make sure that she wasn't dreaming, giddy with excitement.

                                                                                      "That's a wonderful idea! It's just been Caligula and I for so long but now that you're staying, it could be like a real sleepover. I've never had a sleepover before," Misty rambled on, smiling ear to ear.

                                                                                       "I figured," Courtney teased.

                                                                                        Misty squealed, jumping up and down as she began to list all of the movies they could watch for tonight. Courtney knew that if Suki were here, she'd be totally against it. Suki still thought of Misty as a weirdo but if things went well, Misty would be seen as Suki's savior.

                                                                                        But they'd need to actually find Suki and Natalie first.

( 🌲🔪🦌 )

word count: 2004
notes: this chapter's a bit on the shorter side but at least you guys are able to get a peak into courtney's mind. as well as seeing david for the human trash can he really is 🤮🤮🤮