Chapter Twelve
Victims & Suspects
Karla's father was waiting for them outside Emily's house, he was surprised to see Skylar, Karla and Cassia exiting from the forest. They sat in the car, which smelt so much like Lavender perfume that Skylar felt like the seats were soaked in it. Andrew West Jr was appalled by the girl's decision to enter the forest in the middle of the night, he lectured Karla saying that she should've known better but all three of them did not mutter a single word, especially not about Emily Brown.
Mr West promised the girl's he would not mention their outing to his wife, but as every husband would deny acknowledging, women know everything.
Claire was waiting for her husband, Skylar and Karla in the living room, sitting on a sofa, expecting them to turn up.
Skylar knew she had to own up and confess part of the night detour was her idea, but Claire was soft to her in between her shrieking disputes. Skylar felt like a burden and wanted to make it up to her by offering to help cook lunch.
Although it was a rowdy night, the death of Emily Brown haunted her mind, her contorted dead body implanted an image in her head that she failed to sleep that night. The flashbacks disturbed her, the silent figure in the corner of the darkroom kept staring at her and every time she closed her eyes, a white flash exploded with ominous ringing sounds echoing in her ears.
Catherine Damore, as known as Kat, guaranteed that Emily would have a proper funeral, she called the police the next morning and they handled things from there. However, the M.M.D was going to continue investigating and Skylar was going to join in and be a part of it.
The next morning was Christmas Eve and Karla had a lot on her mind since last night. She had mentioned that investigating a murder was a 'risky move', it was clear that Karla and Cassia disapproved Skylar joining the M.M.D, however, Skylar was none the wiser for expecting them to join as a sign of support.
"Remember what Blaze did to you?" Karla said quietly, while Skylar prepped up lunch. Claire went out early to a nearby library for a book signing.
"Yeah, I remember every morning when I look at myself in the mirror," Skylar replied.
"Then why are you on his side?"
"I'm not on his side." Skylar protested.
"Getting yourself involved with a murder is too risky, what if you get hurt?"
"Listen, I'll be fine." Said Skylar, confidently, "I don't trust Blaze with anything, don't worry. I just want Emily to be avenged, if the police don't give her justice then I will."
"What if the murderer is right under your nose?" Said Karla, "If Blaze had been stalling the investigation by pinning it on Jade, meanwhile had no evidence against her, then don't you think he's trying to hide something?"
"Like his own tracks…"
"He's suspicious and you can't trust him. This would be a problem if he manages to find your secret, which I believe he's already cracked."
"No, he hasn't."
But Skylar couldn't truly deny it, part of her joined the society so that she could get closer to him, to determine whether or not he was jade's dog all along.
"Still, you need to be careful," Said Karla, "I know I can't get you out of this, but if you're gonna investigate a murder, you need r be mentally stable."
"And you think I'm not?"
"Yes, you can't even sleep at night and not to mention what Blaze said about you getting triggered-"
"Enough." Said Skylar firmly, "let's not talk about it. I gotta go. Kat called." Skylar picked up her coat and put her boots on before heading out the door.
Skylar made it to Headquarters, she brought her bag full of essentials and a notebook just in case she had to interrogate someone. When she reached the bottom of the hill, she heard yelling through the unconstructive, unbuilt walls.
"I've tried, OK? Look where that got me!" Blaze yelled.
"If you did then maybe we would've caught the guy responsible, but no, they're the only suspects we've got left," Kat shouted.
"Yeah, and you think that bitch is gonna succeed any better? 'Coz if they can fucking me up, how bad do you think they're gonna fucking her up?"
"I don't care. As long as I get results, I'm happy." Said Kat.
Blaze cursed once more by the time Skylar reached the living room, she walked her way slowly to overhear them.
"Hey, what's going on?" She said.
"Oh, Skylar. Good thing you're here. I've already written a list, last night, of what you needed to know before we proceed." Kat said.
Blaze sat grumpily on his chair behind the desk and lowered his cap down to his eye length.
"Sure. But what were you two arguing about?" Skylar asked timidly.
"Oh, it's nothing important. It's just that Blaze isn't being reasonable." Kat replied while Blaze scoffed.
"OK…"
"Let's start from the beginning," said Kat, "the first two people who died from this drug were Ken Garcia and Andy Moore. What we believe is this, also because Andy confessed the whole story before he died."
Skylar was confused.
"Don't worry, I'll explain everything. Ken and Andy were in the forest at night-"
"Banging." Said Blaze, though Skylar didn't understand his foul use of language.
"Yes, they were a gay couple." Kat clarified. "Anyway, they were already high and drunk, when a third party offered them drugs, which was wrapped in straw wrappings. Ken was the first to die because he instantly swallowed the drug. Andy kept it in his pocket for later, but ran for it when Ken dropped dead."
"OK, but what kind of drug does that? If it can kill you instantly then it's not a drug, it's poison." Said Skylar.
"Which is also true," Said Blaze, "though drugs make you high, it's intoxicating. Bencylatics makes the person high but as long as they take a limited amount of it. I even tried the drug-"
"Which was such a risky move-" Kat sighed.
"But I didn't die. I just got a bit too high." Said Blaze.
"How much will it take for you to die?" Asked Skylar. "And what is the safe amount?"
"Probably, a few micrograms, five, ten?" Blaze replied uncertainly, "even half the straw is too much."
"We found Ken's body in the morning and found out on the day of his funeral that Andy was there when he died," Said Kat, "we asked him a few questions but he was reluctant to do so since the police had already been pestering him about how Ken died. However, Andy never mentioned the drug to the police but confessed to us. He was unstable and refused to show us the drug he had with him. I believe he was afraid that he was going to be blamed as the killer."
"and what did he say to the police?" Skylar asked.
"Just that Ken overdosed on cocaine," Said Blaze, "which is another drug-running wild on the streets."
"And we managed to convince him to show us the drug, but…" Kat's voice weakened as she lowered her eyes, staring at what was engraved in her mind.
"But he took the drug and killed himself in front of our eyes." Said Blaze calmly.
"What?" Skylar gasped.
"Yeah, but he only managed to swallow half of it before I stopped him. It was too late…" Said blaze. There was guilt hidden behind those dark eyes of his.
"Yeah…" Said Kat, "both victims died, in the first week of August, this year. And according to the police, Ken died by accidental overdose and Andy died by suicide."
"Then, there was a victim which you know about," Said Blaze, "after eavesdropping on me and Alex."
"It was a girl this time. I found her dead beside the bushes of this house, with this note attached to her." Kat slammed a piece of paper on the desk, it was written in black, bold ink.
'I know you love games, find the truth and you win. Catch me if you can!'
"Sounds something Jade would do." Said Skylar.
"Exactly why I think she's responsible for this." Said Blaze.
"But I don't think she knows about us unless you mentioned it to her." Said Kat.
"I did not. And the last thing we need to do is accuse each other."
"Wow. I've never heard truer words spoken out of your mouth," Skylar remarked. "Was the girl drugged?"
"We believe so." Said Kat.
"So, do we have a list of suspects?" Skylar asked.
"Apart from Jade, 'Coz there's no way she would've done it. Es Verdad!" Said Kat, looking at Blaze's rebelling scowl. "We've checked every other gang around town except the one most accessible to us." She glared at Blaze. "The Shadows."
"My gang…" Said Blaze.
"We haven't gotten the chance to investigate them, but I was hoping if you could get an interview with their leader-"
"Ain't gonna happen."
"Then we could at least get a lead," Kat spoke as if Blaze had not interrupted her. "You in?"
"Yeah, sure." Said Skylar.
"Great. I'm gonna call Alex, me and him are gonna talk about what he's investigated so far, he's on a little side mission. Whereas, you and Blaze can meet up with the King of Shadows." Kat exclaimed, she was excited and thrilled that she was restraining for jumping up and down before running out of the door.
Skylar, however, was not impressed by Kat's reaction and sudden order to make her work with Blaze. Now she had to deal with HIM.
"What's the little side mission?" Skylar asked.
"I'm sure you heard when you were snooping and round," Blaze sighed while avoiding eye contact, "He was hired by Jade to be her… fuck buddy. At the same time, he'll be keeping a closer eye on her."
Skylar groaned in irritation, she was under the impression that both Jade and Blaze were nymphomaniacs. Blaze muttered about getting his bag from upstairs, so he climbed up the ladder to get to the upper platform.
In his absence, Skylar looked at the wall behind the desk, she glanced at the newspaper articles concerning Ken Garcia's death. It seemed that the media reported everything the police had stated and that no drug dealer was involved or in any way, caused the deaths. Skylar noticed that nothing on the wall mentioned the drug Blaze had mentioned, it must've been a newer drug because she had not heard of it.
Skylar's eyes diverted from the wall to the messy desk, dusty old newspapers and photographs were covering every inch of the table. She noticed one newspaper article which was titled, 'Innocent Birthday Party Gone Wrong'. In Skylar's opinion, it was a terrible headline for the front page but the name of the paper was not one Skylar recognised, it was called, 'The Meadow'.
Skylar realised that this was the school paper, but why would they report about something so irrelevant?
'In Sunnydale Street at 8:57 pm, a couple had reported to the police that their daughter had not been spotted, after packing things up at Lily-Rose's sixth birthday party.'
"That has nothing to do with you."Said Blaze, who had almost made Skylar's heart pound hard enough that it would have escaped from her chest.
Blaze immediately grabbed the fragile old paper and shoved it in his bag.
"Why do you have it here, it has nothing to do with the investigation? Is it another case you're working on?" Skylar asked curiously.
"Let's get outta here. We got work to do. And I don't think it'll be easy." Blaze said.
"Why? Is that where you got that black eye from?"
"Exactly, now would you please keep up? I've got other things to do."
"Like what?"
"Like smashing your face in if you don't stop asking questions."
"That paper…" Said Skylar, "a girl was filed missing, it's been ten years, did they find her?"
"That paper is the school paper. However, the school shut it down after they published this scandal, but it was the most honest paper, it was wholesome not even the media could be so true."
"You didn't answer my question."
"Some questions are never to be answered and some mysteries are never to be solved." Said Blaze as they exited the forest.
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