A/N: As usual, I would recommend putting the video on loop.

Beside her was a murderer. There was no doubt in that. Lee even had admitted to it and told her accounts of some of his victims and how he had killed them. But, tears still trickled down her cheeks when she read how he was killed. Perhaps if his victims were present, they'd be calling her a fool and be disgusted with her. Maybe, she should feel the same regarding herself, but she'd be lying if she said it didn't hurt to read what he went through. To imagine it pained her even more.

They had declared themselves friends, a bond born through bizarre circumstances and mutual understanding of the pains of betrayal. That's probably why it caused her to cry. She didn't want to lose him, and she knew that he didn't wish to lose her. Both of them had lost the people they thought they trusted most, only to find each other. There was solace in that.

Finished with the note, though, she did wipe her tears, but Lee did so too, stopping her halfway. He wiped them on his pants and didn't mind the brief stain they left there. (F/n) sent him an appreciative smile before she finally spoke, "... He sealed you in too, didn't he?" Lee nodded. He relaxed his hands to write another note.

Made quick work of it. I guess that I had scared him enough. She saw him move in such a way that suggested he was chuckling, probably as a sign of payback. I woke to find myself stuck in a mannequin and surrounded by darkness, except for the small hole in the wall that he hadn't noticed.

"So, you have no idea what happened to him?" she questioned, worried. If he had been around the same age as Lee back then, he most likely wouldn't be able to do much directly now, but if he had gained money like he wanted, he probably had resources that could hurt Lee. But if Jared was alive still, he probably thought Lee to be sealed away currently; however, there remained the possibility that he could find out otherwise, and he might try something.

Perhaps, she was being overly paranoid, but she didn't want anything to happen to Lee. It didn't help that Lee shook his head at her question. A frown touched her lips. "Then, let's look him up. If he did succeed in his goal for money, he might have gotten to be well known enough to be talked about online at some point." Lee stared up to her.

Personally, he did want to request that they research him when they could since he had revealed his past. There was no reason to hide Jared's full name or any of that information anymore. But right now, they needed to focus on Tristan and Kaleb. The day at the pool wasn't far away. I appreciate it, (f/n), but we should focus on your issue now. Jared can wait until we have more time on our hands.

"I know, but this is important too." He was about to argue, but she spoke faster than he could write that time. "You've helped me, so let me help you too. We'll still have time to look up more on Kaleb and Tristan. There's tomorrow also." A light sigh parted from him, but he did smile.

Don't spend too long on looking him up, though. I want us to have something before Saturday. I'm worried about what Tristan might try next. Grateful for his concern, she nodded and picked up the dishes. Quickly, she cleaned them and put them in the drainer. When she was done, she grabbed his right hand and led him out of the kitchen back up to her room. His fingers intertwined with hers, and he continued to smile a little bit.

As they walked, he knew that he was incredibly thankful towards her. (F/n) accepted his past completely and wanted to help him now. She even was fine with the age gap between them. Though she didn't say it, he did suspect that was partly because he looked to be in his twenties still. But, he didn't mind. He just was happy to know that things might progress even more between them, and he certainly would love to be the next one to place a kiss on her lips. Tristan should've never had that honor.

Reaching her room, he broke out of his thoughts and joined her on the bed soon after. She immediately looked to him once she had the laptop ready. "Okay, what's his full name?" Once she read his note, she typed in Jared Medfil. When she did, she found an article about the closing of multiple restaurants with the same last name: Medfil, International Cuisine and Fine Dining. "Is this the restaurant?"

Yes. A smirk touched his lips. So, the restaurants didn't succeed. Good. But, where was Jared now? His eyes scanned over the article as did (f/n)'s. The restaurants closed over the course of several years in the early two thousands after a series of poor ratings. It seemed that the restaurants started to lose their touch back in the eighties but had managed to hold on for a good while due to faithful customers. Those poor performances were blamed on the new management.

Curious as to why Jared wouldn't be managing or even helping with it even as he got older, Lee continued to read. He even moved the laptop closer to him, and (f/n) didn't protest. Scrolling down more, he finally reached the last paragraph. It was short, and there was a brief mention of Jared.

After the loss of the son, Jared Medfil, of the original owners, Robert and Nancy Medfil, due to a heart attack at the early age of fifty six, the company just seemed to change too much. And since both Robert and Nancy were deceased at the time too, no one was able to get that charm back of the restaurant. Really a shame.

Glancing over to Lee, (f/n) wondered just how he looked in that moment. She was relieved that Jared wouldn't be a problem, but Lee didn't move. He just stared at the screen. Eventually, he covered his face with his hand and seemed to chuckle into it. Jared's business failed, but he wished that it had been because of Jared's mismanagement, not his death. Still, it was something even if it would've been more satisfying to kill Jared himself. That would've been hard since he couldn't leave the building annoyingly, but he could've figured something out.

"Lee?" (F/n)'s soft, questioning voice broke him out of his thoughts, and he averted his eyes over to her. He lowered his hand. But since Jared was dead and hadn't popped up yet as a mannequin or something else himself, Lee was comfortable in assuming that Jared really was gone. That also meant that he wouldn't try to come back and use (f/n) against him, which had been a troubling thought before he had discovered what had happened to Jared.

Sorry. I'm fine. Relieved even. We don't have to worry about him now. Grabbing her hands, Lee held them both in his. His thumbs ran over her knuckles. He brought them up to his lips and pressed a kiss in the middle of them. When he pulled away, he wrote a brief note. Thank you. She smiled softly and nodded.

"You're welcome." Her hands rested on her crossed legs. "Just like you've been helping me, I'm here to help you." She did pause for a moment after before she quickly added. "But not with murder." Her voice was joking but also serious, and he smirked a little bit from amusement.

No, I don't expect you to. But, I don't intend to kill anyone right now even though I do have three people in mind. She gave him a knowing look, and he chuckled a bit. I won't. I told you that already unless it's absolutely necessary to your safety. Running a hand over his hair, he looked away from her at the moment as she read. Besides, you'd take the blame, not me. I don't want that. Even if I did take the blame, you'd still bear some of it since I doubt that authorities would announce that a living mannequin killed someone. They'd cover it up, and you'd be that cover-up.

"They could deem it an accident, but I can understand that reasoning too." She sighed and sent a smile his way. "Thank you for thinking of me and again for letting me use my approach." Lee nodded and moved the laptop to be between them again.

Though now that we've researched on what happened to Jared, we should return to the current problem. Knowing that he's dead is enough. Same for my mother. She betrayed my father, and it's good to know that she's no longer around either. Lee cleared the search before he pulled up the page on Tristan again since that's where they last had stopped.

Instead of scanning over the page right away and since he brought up his father, she first asked, "Did you want to see what happened to your grandparents? See if your dad's killers ever got caught?"

Shaking his head, he wrote another note. Not right now. Maybe, later. We'll have time after Saturday. They're probably long since dead now anyway. A hand rested over her right one. I want to focus on you now.

"Okay," she answered gently. She turned her hand and held his for a moment before she let go and concentrated back on her laptop. "I'm going to change this so that we can skip right to his older posts. There might be something there since we're finding nothing in his newer ones." Lee nodded and watched as new postings appeared. Even they talked about business and vacations. Nothing strange. "I'll do the same for Kaleb's page, but we might have to start going through pages that their friends on here have. They've obviously done some cleaning up; they've had to."

Or, they've always been careful about their posts. (F/n) gave him a look that seriously doubted that. He chuckled a bit and wrote another note. Yes, I know that's unlikely given their personalities and Tristan's past posts about his flings.

"Let's hope that some of their friends are careless," (f/n) muttered before she sighed and changed the page back to Kaleb's.