Chapter 15: The Investigative Girl.

Chloe pushed open the door to Jake's room. She tried to repress the sudden urge she had to run back to her room and hide for the rest of the semester. She had to ignore it. Chloe walked into the room and looked around, wondering where to start. It looked much easier and more methodical in the movies. She also had to make it look like she had never been in Jake's room. It wouldn't be a good thing if Jake found out that she had been looking through his stuff. Chloe needed his friendship and support, not his animosity and she knew he'd be upset if he found out that she had been looking through his things. She had to do it, she told herself again.

Chloe decided to start with the closet. That was where she would put remembrances of an ex. She just hoped that Jake hadn't tossed everything out in a fit of anger at their breakup. Chloe took a deep breath and pulled open the sliding door. A large pile of dirty clothes fell out, littering the ground at her feet.

"Gross," Chloe said, as she pushed the intermixed pile of shirts, boxers, and workout clothes, away from the closet.

Jake obviously stuffed his closet full of junk, Chloe thought as she pulled more dirty clothes out of the closet and added them to the rapidly growing pile near her feet. At least, she felt certain, he wouldn't notice that she had been looking through his things. The closet was a mess.

It occurred to Chloe, as she was knee deep in Jake's laundry, that she could just ask Jake if he had anything from the time he had dated Lora, but she immediately tossed that thought aside. He had been totally standoffish when she even asked about Lora. She doubted that he would be eager to share the mementos from their broken relationship if he did still have them. No, this was the only way, she said to herself as she threw more clothes into the pile. She had cleared out the bottom half of the closet at this point, but nothing had been there except for the clothes and a few pairs of shoes.

Chloe stuffed everything back into the floor of the closet. It looked just as messy as when she had opened it. She glanced at the clothes that were actually hanging in the closet, but nothing looked overly interesting. She turned her attention to the shelf above the clothes. It was lined with boxes, stacked one on top of the other, neatly labeled in what had to be Jeanette's handwriting. It was loopy and girlish and not at all like Jake's messy scribble.

Chloe turned on the closet's overhead lamp. Light spilled out over the boxes, better illuminating the handwriting.

Chloe ignored the ones that said things like: baby shoes, baptism, and favorite toys. Those were boxes from his childhood and she didn't need to look through them, even if she was a little tempted by curiosity.

Chloe grabbed a box that said "remembrances" and pulled it off the shelf. She opened it and found a picture of herself and Jake in Chicago. They were both dressed in Halloween costumes. She was a cowgirl, smiling innocently into the camera and he was a devil, dressed completely in red, with the accompanying horns and make-up, almost grimacing. Chloe held back a giggle when she noticed that his fingers were crossed in the universal sign of protecting oneself from cooties. There were a few more pictures of them in the box along with some of Jake's early schoolwork and drawings, but Chloe closed the box before she could peruse them more closely. She didn't have time to get caught up in reminiscing about the past.

She looked at Jake's bedside clock. It was almost one o'clock. Jeanette and possibly Jake would be home by three. That gave her a good two hours to search Jake's room and the rest of the house. It seemed like a lot of time, but Chloe was already afraid that it wouldn't be enough.

Chloe put the box back on the shelf and craned her neck to look at some of the other labels on the boxes. She reached for another one, marked as: "Soph.o.m.ore Year."

Jake would have started dating Lora around that time. The box was high on the shelf, but Chloe managed to pull it down by standing on her tiptoes and extending her reach. It was heavy and she immediately put it on the floor. Chloe opened the lid to reveal a mixture of items. There was a football jersey, slightly torn and stained from use. Chloe took that out and put it aside. There was also a photo alb.u.m.

Jackpot! Chloe thought, sitting back, with the photo alb.u.m on her lap. She opened it, flipping over the cover to look at the first page. The first few pages were of Jake at football games, mostly from a distance, with only a few close up. Then, a few pages in, the pictures of Jake and Lora together started.

The first page was from a winter dance. Jake was dressed in a suit and tie and Lora was leaning into him, wearing a bright red, long strapless dress that suited her figure perfectly. They were both smiling into the camera, a happy couple. There were other pictures of them, with other people. Chloe recognized Elizabeth Hill with a guy she didn't recognize and there was even a picture of Kate with a guy. So, Kate knew Jake when he was dating Lora, Chloe thought. Not that she wouldn't have known Jake then, Chloe considered, but Kate had been in their friend group. That must have created a rift between the girls, Chloe thought. She wondered who the other two dates were. Did either of them have an opinion about the date swapping that had later occurred or the deaths of two of the girls in their group?

Chloe needed a yearbook. She needed to match the guys' names with some faces. She put the photo alb.u.m down and walked out to the living room. She had noticed some of Jake's PV High School yearbooks on the bookshelf near the living room television.

Chloe perused the books on the shelves, quickly finding what she was looking for. She pulled off the most recent yearbook from the shelf and brought it back into Jake's bedroom. Chloe flipped through to the junior cla.s.s, which they would have been that year, and started looking through the cla.s.s photos, hoping to match some faces to some names. Chloe was three pages into the junior cla.s.s when she found the first name. He had sandy blonde hair that was falling into his green eyes and if Chloe had to guess she would have betted on his being a surfer. He looked like the epitome of what one would say was a California surfer. His name was Mike Donahue.

Chloe ran into her room and pulled her notebook out of her backpack, jotting the name down on a blank page. He had been Elizabeth Hill's date. Chloe wrote that down too.

She looked at the other guy in the picture. He had been Kate's date to this particular dance, almost two years ago. He had reddish brown hair, cut to make it spiky. He also had a grin that most girls would remember. Chloe continued to look through the yearbook, suddenly feeling like a private investigator researching a case.

Toward the middle of the alphabet, Chloe found him. His name was Ted Kelly. He was Lora's brother. Chloe looked at the pictures of the two of them next to each other. n.o.body had mentioned Lora's brother, Ted. She hadn't known Lora had any siblings. Ted was her twin brother. That was a close bond. Why hadn't anyone mentioned him to her?

Chloe pondered this and wrote down his name next to Kate's. Had the six of them been good friends, doing everything together? What had broken them apart? And, why had two of them been murdered?

Chloe flipped through the rest of the pictures in the alb.u.m. There were numerous photos of the same group of six, at games, at the beach, and at parties. They were definitely the "in" popular crowd people envied and loved to love so much that they despised them. It's funny, Chloe thought, she had never thought about Jake as the popular jock. He was just Jake. Still, he obviously had a lot of pull at the high school if he had been in this elite crowd. There were other people in the pictures and Chloe recognized Emma in the background of one, but she was definitely not a part of that crowd. She was walking behind the group as someone else took a picture of them at a football game. Grey appeared in a number of photographs, though. He always had a camera on hand. Chloe noted that. He did like photography. That, at least, wasn't a lie. Maybe he had some more pictures to look at. It was possible that he had pictures that Jake didn't if he made it a habit to snap them at all times. Grey looked like he could definitely be a part of the same crowd, even if he wasn't in the more closely knit group of six. He was a frequent add-on to the group shots.

Chloe closed the photo alb.u.m and put it off to the side of the box. She already had some things to research, but she wanted to make sure there wasn't anything else in the box before she put it back.

Chloe rummaged further into the box and found a birthday card. It was from Lora, Chloe saw, upon opening it. She read the message Lora had scrawled in bubbly letters below the card's greeting: Hey babe! It's your birthday! Woo-hoo! We should have a little private party on the fifty-yard line! I love you more than words can say. You know it. I know it. Everyone knows it. And, they are so jealous! How can I prove it to you more than I already have? I love you. Remember that. Love always and forever and ever, Lora Chloe wasn't sure what to make of the message. She wondered what Lora meant by the phrase "how can I prove it to you more than I already have?" Why did Lora have to prove her love to Jake? What had happened between them? Chloe looked at the date on the card. It was Jake's birthday, right at the end of their soph.o.m.ore year on June eighth. They had already been together at least six or seven months. It had definitely been enough time for something substantial to happen between them. Maybe they had already been having problems.

Chloe dug through the rest of the box, but there was nothing much else in it besides a few newspaper clippings about the football team. Chloe put everything back in the box and stuffed it as best as she could, back on the shelf.

There was one more box that she wanted to look at a Jake's junior year box. Chloe wasn't sure when Jake and Lora had broken up. She hoped it was during his junior year and prayed for some evidence of what had happened between them. Chloe felt that Jake and Lora's couple status was important. It was a gut instinct, but that was really all she had to go on.

She pulled down the box marked "Jake's Junior Year" and opened it, pulling out another folded football jersey that was at the top and throwing it aside. There was another photo alb.u.m too and Chloe eagerly reached for it. It was obvious Jeanette had made the alb.u.ms for Jake, to remember his high school years by.

The first page of photos seemed to have been taken on the first day of school. Chloe had spent many a year as a child taking first day of school photos and this had the complete look of Jeanette stopping Jake before he went off to school to take some pictures. Lora was still with him. They had still been dating. They didn't look as happy as they once were, though. They both looked annoyed and ready to get to school. Chloe noticed immediately that Jake's blue convertible wasn't in the driveway. Lora was driving them to school in a red Mercedes convertible. She was the epitome of the spoiled rich girl. In the back seat, looking amused, even in the distance, was Ted Kelly. He and Lora must have been close if she was driving him to school. Chloe didn't think Lora Kelly would have done anyone favors, even her brother, if she didn't like them. Again, Chloe found herself wondering why n.o.body had mentioned him in connection with Lora.

Chloe flipped through a couple of pages. There were more photos of Jake playing football his junior year against teams that could have been the same ones as he played the year before. Chloe flipped pages until she came to that year's Homecoming Dance pictures. The group had grown. Jake was not posed with Lora anymore. He was with another girl. They were standing slightly apart from each other, which made Chloe wonder if Jake had been set up for the dance or if he just barely knew her. Chloe didn't recognize her either and picked up the yearbook again to find out her name. It was Jana Walker. Chloe added that name to her list of rapidly growing notes. She looked back to the other people in the picture. Lora was standing next to Grey in this one, arms visibly all over him. She had quickly moved on from the break-up with Jake. Chloe looked back at Jake's unhappy face in the photo. They had only potentially been broken up about a month or a month and a half max at this point, if they had still been together at the beginning of the school year. Had Lora cheated on Jake? Did she cheat on him with Grey? Still, Grey had sworn that he and Lora had never exactly been an item. She looked like she was all about Grey Meyer, here, though.

Chloe moved on, just noting the new junior year couples that had cropped up. Ted Kelly was still there, posing with Kate. That meant Kate had outlasted Lora and Jake in her relationship with Ted. It must have been a really serious relationship. How had they broken up? Chloe immediately wondered if Kate had been as jealous about Ted as she was with Jake or did Ted somehow plant the seed of jealousy in Kate by doing something horrible to her?

The last couple in the photo was Elizabeth Hill and a guy that Chloe actually recognized from her fifth period English cla.s.s, Sam Jameson. He was a cla.s.s clown and Chloe tried to think back to the day Elizabeth's body had been found. She didn't think they had still been dating. She couldn't remember him being overly distressed at the news. Well, any more than anyone else was at least.

Chloe shut the photo alb.u.m, feeling like it had done its duty in providing useful information. She looked at the list of names and notes she had made. There was something there. Was the murderer on this list? They do say that most murder victims are killed by someone they know. Was one of the people who had been good friends, maybe even best friends with the others, a murderer? And what had driven them to it?

There was nothing else of interest in the junior year box, save for a simple gold bracelet that Chloe instinctively knew Jake had given to Lora and either taken back or had been thrown back at him. It seemed really sad to see such a physical aspect of a relationship that had long been over and done.

Chloe put the box back on Jake's closet shelf and tried to arrange everything to give the appearance that nothing had been disturbed. Chloe took a step back, looking at the closet. It looked messy. It was perfect.

Chloe shut the closet door and glanced around the rest of the room. She still had about forty-five minutes before Jeannette or Jake was due home. There wasn't much more for her to look through in Jake's room. He had a nightstand littered with old magazines and a dresser that was probably filled with clothes. She looked around, considering if there was anything else that she should look for in his room before she ended her search.

Chloe decided against it, picking up the two yearbooks she had taken into the bedroom with her and her notebook of notes. She walked silently out of the room, closing the door behind her softly, even though n.o.body was home. The door clicked into place and Chloe took the yearbooks and her notes into her bedroom. Even if Jake or Jeanette saw her with the yearbooks Chloe figured that she could say that she was trying to find the name of someone in one of her cla.s.ses who kept talking to her. She was sure that she could make up a convincing story if she really needed to, but she didn't think Jake or Jeanette would be that concerned with her looking through Jake's old yearbooks.

Chloe sat down on the bed, setting the yearbooks aside and looking instead at her notes. She was positive the killer was one of the people on the page of paper.

Chloe leaned back against her pillows, setting the pad of notes down next to her. She was ready for a nap. Instead of a relaxing day, it had been a stressful one. She fell asleep thinking about her list and vowing to learn more about the people she didn't yet know: Mike, Ted, and Jana.

Chapter 16: The Inquiring Girl.

Chloe was awoken an hour later by her phone vibrating. Chloe reached for it, half awake, fumbling to look at the caller id. It was a local number that she didn't recognize. She had only given her number out to Emma and Jake.

Chloe answered cautiously, "h.e.l.lo?"

"Chloe?" Grey's voice was full of static on the other end of the line.

"Grey? How did you get my number?" Chloe asked looking at the caller id again, a little more awake.

"I got it from Kate. She is not a fan of yours, let me tell you," Grey said.

"Yeah, I know. She thinks I broke her and Jake up. Whatever. So, what's going on?" Chloe asked, wondering if Jake had given Kate her phone number, although she wouldn't put it past Kate to have stolen her number out of his cell phone address book on the sly one night.

"I heard you were in an accident last night..." Grey started.

"Oh geez. Is the whole school talking about it?" Chloe asked, not relishing being the center of attention at school again, so soon after the last time. She was starting to become popular by default of constant gossip worthiness.

"Kind of," Grey said reluctantly.

Chloe felt a twinge of anxiety course down her body, "What do you mean?"

"Well..." Grey was being hesitant.

"Well what?" Chloe said. "Just tell me. I'm sure I'll hear it at school tomorrow anyway."

"Well, the rumor is that you and Emma faked the crash for attention. That maybe you guys. .h.i.t something, but it was on purpose and all to get the attention focused back on you," Grey sounded reluctant to go on.

"Are you serious?" Chloe was incredulous.

"Yeah. I was only calling to see if you were okay. I was worried about you. I know it wasn't an accident. Do you have any idea who you guys ran into?" Grey asked.

"No idea," Chloe said absently. "Someone followed us out of the mall. Kate was acting insane that day. It could have been her or it could have been the killer, especially after that last note I got, but we didn't see who it was behind the wheel. So, it could have been anyone. The police think it was random, though."

Grey was silent on the other end of the line for a moment, "At least you're okay. I wish there was more to go on. Too bad you guys didn't see the person."

"I know," Chloe said, leaning back against the pillows, with her cell phone cupped in her hand. "Any idea who started the bogus rumor?"

"Nope," Grey replied, "But I'm guessing Kate's all for it. She wanted to tell me all about you, trying to ruin any relationship before we had one, I'd bet."

"She's just jealous and vindictive," Chloe retorted without thinking.

She was finally getting really mad at Kate. Still, her mind definitely picked up on Grey's use of the term "relationship," but she wasn't going to say anything about it. Chloe didn't want to draw too much attention to her noticing, just in case.

"Wow, someone doesn't like someone else," Grey joked.

"Yeah, well, she keeps doing and saying really mean and hurtful things. What do you expect?" Chloe asked.

She didn't want to think about Kate anymore. The topic just made her really irritable, especially if it turned out that Kate had been the one trying to run them off the road the night before. If only the police would just go to her house and interrogate her.

"It's totally understandable," Grey said soothingly.

Chloe noticed her list, lying next to her on the bed and picked it up, putting it on her lap, in the dimming room. "Hey, I have a question for you."

"Shoot," Grey said.

Chloe paused and then just asked the question in a big rush, "Am I missing something here? Why hasn't anybody been mentioning Lora's brother, Ted? I mean, if anybody would be really upset about her death, it would be him and n.o.body has even talked about him since she died. I'm positive he hasn't been in school. He would have been more popular than I was on the first day, I'd guess, although I suppose he wouldn't have even gone to school the day after his twin sister was murdered..."

It took Chloe a second to realize that Grey had become completely silent. He wasn't even murmuring acknowledgments to what she was saying. Something was wrong.

"What is it?" Chloe asked. "What did I say?"

"Well..." Grey started.

"Not with the well's again," Chloe said, exasperated.

"It's a crazy story. There is a lot to Lora and Ted that you don't know," Grey said, trying to explain.

"Well, start telling me then," Chloe replied.

"You should come over," Grey said simply.

Chloe moved the phone from her ear to look at it. Was he inviting her over to his house? Was this a date? Chloe wanted to smack herself on the head. She couldn't believe she was thinking about dating when someone was probably trying to murder her. And, she reasoned, she couldn't believe she really wanted to say yes to going to the person accused of murders' house.

"I don't have a car right now," Chloe was disappointed in this, but it was true. She had no way to get to Grey's house as much as she wanted to go, which was in the long run probably for the better of things.

"I'll come pick you up," Grey said, sounding as if that was the end of it.

"Wait! Don't hang up!" Chloe yelled into the phone. "You can't pick me up here. Jake is going to be home any minute and he'll freak out if he sees you. Why don't I meet you at the park down the street by the swings in about half an hour?"

"Okay," Grey said, hanging up before anything more could be said.

Chloe knew she shouldn't have agreed to the meeting, but she really didn't think Grey killed the two girls. In fact, she was sure he was innocent. What bothered her more was that she knew that Jake was going to kill her if he found out that she had purposely gone to Grey's house, alone.

Chloe pushed the regrets out of her mind and focused on getting out of the house before Jake and Jeanette got home. She changed her clothes quickly. Chloe pulled on her favorite pair of jeans. They clung to her hips and flared out flatteringly over feet. She opened her closet and grabbed her favorite going out shirt a a blue patterned shirt that she felt really looked great on her. She touched up her make-up quickly, hoping to leave without Jake catching her.

Chloe hadn't ventured out of her room, so she wasn't sure if Jake or Jeanette were actually home yet. In theory, they shouldn't be, but it was close enough to the correct time that they might have gotten home early. Chloe cracked open her door, purse on her shoulder, and crime notebook in her hand. The house was dim and silent. Chloe was relatively certain that n.o.body had come home yet. She rushed through the house, quickly scrawled a note saying, "Back around eight. Love, Chloe" on the table and walked out of the house.

The walk to the park was a quick one and she was there a few minutes early by the count on her watch. Grey hadn't arrived yet and Chloe sat on the swings, swinging back and forth while she waited for him to show up. There were usually a lot of kids in the park, but only a few children were playing on the slide and the jungle gym.

Grey showed up about ten minutes later in a sleek black sports car, honking for Chloe to join him. She jumped off the swing and ran toward his car.

"Nice car," Chloe said appreciatively, running her hands along the leather seats as she got in.

"It even has seat warmers," Grey said, hitting a b.u.t.ton.

Chloe felt her seat start to get slowly warm, "And you need these in California because?"

Grey laughed, "It gets cold in California! I mean, at night it can get to like forty degrees!"