The Killer Next Door: A Murder Mystery

by Nicholas Jordan

  Well, Kaylee brushed her hair behind her ears and smoothed out the folds in her shirt while looking at herself in the bathroom mirror, I shouldn’t keep him waiting.

  She left her bedroom and hurried down the stairs. Didn’t stop until she reached the front door. She took a deep breath before opening the door.

  “I guess you couldn’t wait to see—” Kaylee started to say, but then cut her sentence short when she saw that it wasn’t Eric standing on the doorstep.

  “Were you expecting someone else?” Mia asked, smirking and placing her hands on her hips.

  “Yeah, uh, I was. But never mind. What are you doing here?”

  “I actually wanted to talk to you if that’s okay.”

  “Now is really not a great time for—”

  “Please. It won’t take long. I promise. I just want to explain why I lied to you. I feel terrible about it, and the way I acted when you confronted me about it. Even though I know I don’t deserve it, all I’m asking for is a chance to explain. I still want us to be friends.”

  Kaylee frowned. She wasn’t interested in being friends with Mia anymore, but she was interested in the explanation Mia would give, even if there was a good chance that it would be nothing but more lies. Since she still had a half hour before Eric was supposed to arrive, she figured she could spare a few minutes. Maybe Mia would even prove her wrong by telling her something she would actually believe.

  “Alright. Come on in.” Kaylee opened the door wider and then stepped aside.

  “Thanks.” Mia entered. “So what are you all dressed up for?”

  Kaylee’s cheeks flushed as she shut the door behind Mia. She was hoping that Mia wouldn’t notice. She figured she might as well admit the truth now, though.

  “I have a date.”

  “A date. Wow. Look at you. I would ask who with, but I guess I already know.”

  Kaylee just nodded.

  “I know I told you to stay away from him, but you didn’t listen to me, and I’m honestly not surprised. One thing I know for sure is that a girl knows when a guy is right for her, and there’s nothing anyone can say to change her mind. Don’t you agree?”

  “I guess. I never really thought about it.”

  “Well, I have.” Mia stared at Kaylee with a smile teasing her lips.

  “Okay . . . so you said that you wanted to explain why you lied about Emma.”

  “Oh, right, of course. But before that, can I get a glass of water?” She rubbed her throat. “It’s so hot. I feel totally dehydrated.”

  “Yeah, sure, that’s fine. I’ll get you one.”

  “Thanks.”

  Kaylee crossed the foyer and entered the kitchen. She made her way to the cupboard beside the fridge to grab a glass for Mia, or at least she tried to.

  She never made it there.

  An arm suddenly wrapped around her waist before a rag was placed over her mouth, stifling the startled scream that tried to come out. A powerful and pungent odor filled her nostrils. Mere seconds before her whole world went dark.

  22

  WHEN KAYLEE CAME TO, SHE was back in her bedroom, sitting at her desk. Had it all been a dream? Was she sleeping this whole time and only just now waking up? She wanted to believe that, and actually did for half a second, until she noticed that she was wearing the outfit she put on for her date.

  “Ah, good. You’re awake.”

  Kaylee turned to find Mia sitting on her bed, leaning back with her weight resting on her hands and her legs crossed.

  “What . . . happened?” Kaylee asked, holding her head in her hand. She had a killer headache.

  “Well, you forced my hand, Kaylee. That’s what happened.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Mia sighed. “I never wanted to do this. I liked you. You seemed like a sweet girl, but you’ve left me with no choice. All of that snooping around. That’s a real problem for me. You couldn’t just let that old bastard go to prison and be done with it. You had to be so curious . . . didn’t you?”

  “I don’t know what this is all—”

  “Oh, drop the innocent act already. We both know what this is about. You wanted to play the detective, and look where that got you. Well it’s over now. This is one case that you won’t be solving.” Mia turned towards the bedroom door. “Isn’t that right, babe?”

  Kaylee looked. Saw Greg standing in the doorway, leaning against the door frame.

  “How did you get in here?” Kaylee demanded.

  “I had to let myself in. Sorry about that.”

  “You broke into my house?”

  “That’s right. You broke into my house, and I broke into yours. I’d say that makes us even.”

  Kaylee glanced back and forth between the two of them. “So I was right. You were in on this together.”

  Mia laughed. “I’ve got to give you credit, Kaylee. I really thought we had the perfect plan. I didn’t think there was any chance we would get caught. But you’re a lot smarter than I expected you to be.”

  “Gee thanks.”

  “We should really be thanking you, though.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because this plan was only possible because of you.” Mia got to her feet and took a step closer. “You see, Greg and I had been trying for months to think of a way to kill that bitch and pin it on Frank, but we couldn’t figure out a way to do it while ensuring that it could never be traced back to us. Until you moved in next-door to Frank. It was like a dream come true. A perky teenage girl like you is practically crack to a pedophile like Frank. All I had to do was plant the seed by telling you about what he did to Emma, and then there was camera.”

  “The camera? What about it?”

  “I knew Frank would try to film you. Emma and I caught him trying to do the same thing to us. All we had to do was make sure that you caught him doing it.”

  “So you set up that camera?”

  “Actually, I did,” Greg spoke up, taking a few steps into the room. “I designed every one of these houses. I know exactly how to get in and out without being noticed. So I set up the camera in the window, and then snuck inside your house while you were taking a bath and made sure the blinds in your room were open. It worked like a charm.”

  “And when you were there, you stole his gun and used it to kill your wife.”

  “That’s right. It was almost too easy. I just had to get inside, grab the gun, and then put it right back where I found it once I was done with it. All without Frank ever knowing it was missing.”

  “How did you even know he owns a gun?”

  “Because I saw it. After what that son of bitch did to my little girl, I went to his house to beat the hell out of him like he deserved, but when he opened the door, he made sure I saw that he was armed. He must have bought it to protect himself from me and all the fathers of the girls he violated. Well, it certainly came back to bite him in the ass, didn’t it?”

  Kaylee shook her head. “Oh like you’re any better? You killed your wife and pinned it on someone else just so you could continue to screw Mia. By the way, you know she’s only seventeen, don’t you?”

  “That’s not the same at all,” Mia said. “What we have is love. Real love. That’s why Claudia had to die. So that we can be together. Greg is going to sell his house and buy something far away. And once I’ve turned eighteen and graduated high school, I’ll move in with him. Then I’ll be free from my bitch mother forever and we can finally start the life together we’ve been dreaming of for years.”

  “That’s right, babe.” Greg wrapped his arms around Mia from behind and planted a kiss on her neck. “And once I have access to all of the money that Claudia was trying to keep from me, well let’s just say that we’ll never have to worry about anything again.”

  “She found out about you two, didn’t she? That’s why she was planning to divorce you.”

  “She suspected me of cheating, but she had no idea who I was with. I convinced her to change her mind, promising that I would
be faithful to her.”

  “So you just lied to her then.”

  “I needed more time to put our plan into action.”

  “So when exactly did you start sleeping with your daughter’s best friend? Did you wait until after you buried Emma or were you getting some during sleepovers after Emma fell asleep?”

  “Shut your mouth,” Greg barked. “Don’t you dare try to turn what Mia and I have into something it’s not. Emma never knew anything about it.”

  “It’s okay.” Mia patted him on the arm. “It doesn’t matter what she says. We’ve already won. Unfortunately for you, Kaylee, you know too much, so we’re going to have to do something about that.”

  “What do you mean?” Kaylee asked, even though she already knew exactly what Mia meant.

  “Oh, don’t make me spell it out for you. I think it’s pretty easy to figure out. After all, you’re the only one who can ruin this for us now. So you know what has to be done.”

  “You can’t just kill me. That will ruin your perfect plan. There will be an investigation, and the cops are sure to look at you as a suspect.”

  “We’ve already thought about that. And you’re actually the one who provided us with the perfect solution.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You were so grief-stricken after the loss of your best friend, you just couldn’t go on anymore.” Mia stepped closer. Grabbed the empty sketchbook from the top of the pile with the others on Kaylee’s desk. Opened it to the very first page and placed it in front of Kaylee. The same blank page that had been Kaylee’s nemesis for months. “So you decided to take your own life. All you have to do now is write your suicide note and Greg will handle the messy details.”

  Right on cue, Greg produced a large knife from behind his back. Kaylee recognized it. Her mom used it often to chop vegetables.

  “What if I refuse?”

  “I don’t think you want to do that.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Well, because if you do then we’ll be forced to bring your mother into this. Greg will kill her and make it look like you did it.”

  “I would never—”

  “Oh, I think I can convince anyone that you would. See, I know how upset you were with her for moving you here. How you hated her and wanted to live with your dad instead of her. Trust me, take it from someone who’s thought about killing their own mother many times, it won’t be hard for me to make it convincing.”

  Kaylee was at a loss. She had nothing to say. Couldn’t think of any way out of this or any excuse to stall.

  “Pick up the pencil,” Mia placed her hand on the back of Kaylee’s chair, “and start writing that note. Oh, and make it believable. Like you mean it.”

  “And do it quickly,” Greg added. “We don’t have all day.”

  Kaylee reached out and picked up the pencil. Her heart racing. Hand trembling. Her mind searching for any possible way to get out of this . . . only to come up empty.

  Was this it?

  Was it really all about to be over?

  Would all of her efforts to find out the truth only result in her get herself killed?

  She slowly brought the pencil closer and closer to the blank page. It truly felt as if she were signing away her own life. She didn’t want to die here, but that wasn’t even what bothered her the most.

  She couldn’t stop thinking about her mom finding her dead in her bedroom with the fake suicide note on her desk, and about everyone she knew believing that she actually took her own life, leaving them all to wonder why she did it and what they might have done differently to prevent it from happening.

  That led her to think about Mia and Greg slipping away to live their dreams, never facing the consequences for the lives that they took and the lives they destroyed.

  No . . . The pencil suddenly moved away from the paper as she drew her hand back. I can’t do this . . . I won’t.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Mia demanded. “Did you not hear what I said? Do you really want your mom to die too?”

  “Just let me kill her now,” Greg said. “You can forge the note. No one will tell the difference.”

  “No,” Mia snapped. “No, we have to stick to the plan. We can’t have any more mistakes. Not when we’re so close. This has to be done right or we—”

  She was cut off by the sound of the doorbell from downstairs. And this time, Kaylee didn’t have to wonder who it could be.

  “Who the hell is that?” Greg asked. “I thought you said her mom wouldn’t be home until five thirty.”

  “It’s not her mom,” Mia said. “It’s her boyfriend.”

  “Boyfriend?”

  “Eric from across the street.”

  “That little prick? Figures. So what do you want to do about him? He’ll probably just leave if no one comes to the door.”

  “Maybe, but I don’t want to take any chances. Stay here with her and make sure she behaves. I’ll make sure our unwanted guest takes the hint and leaves.”

  “Don’t forget that you can’t be seen. If anyone knows that you were here, it could ruin everything.”

  “I know that. And don’t worry. Everything is going to work out exactly the way we want it to. Trust me.”

  “I do trust you. Always will.”

  “That’s what I like to hear.” She planted a quick, but deep kiss on Greg’s lips before she hurried out the door and shut it behind her, leaving Kaylee alone with the man who killed his own wife. And the man that fully intended to kill her as well.

  “Alright, hurry up and write that damn thing,” Greg barked before he started to pace the room, looking like a restless caged animal in the zoo.

  Kaylee looked down at her hand, still clutching the pencil. Then she glanced over her shoulder at the door, wondering what was going on downstairs. She couldn’t imagine that Eric could possibly know she was in danger, and she wasn’t sure if she even wanted him to. If he tried to save her then there was a good chance he would only end up getting hurt.

  “What the hell are you looking at?” Greg barked at her yet again. “Do what you were told to do. I would hate to disappoint Mia by killing you before you write that note, but I’m not afraid to do it either if that’s what I have to do.”

  “Is that why you killed Claudia? Because it needed to be done?”

  “I killed my wife because she deserved it. She made my life miserable for years, and she treated Emma like shit. I’m just glad that Mia opened my eyes to what had to be done. Maybe if Claudia hadn’t been so hard on Emma, she never would have gone to that party and gotten herself drunk.”

  “Emma wasn’t drunk.”

  “What are you talking about? You weren’t there. You don’t know anything.”

  “You’re right. I wasn’t there that night, but Eric was. He was with Emma the whole time, and he told me that she wasn’t drinking.”

  “He’s lying then.”

  “Why would he lie?”

  “Because he’s probably the one who pressured her into drinking in the first place and doesn’t want to admit that she would still be alive if he hadn’t. She should have stayed home that night. I never should have allowed her to go.”

  “Did your wife know where Emma was going to be that night?”

  “No. I promised Emma I wouldn’t tell her. Although I wish that I had. She probably would have stopped her.”

  “And what about Mia?”

  “What about her?”

  “Where was she that night?”

  “She was with me. She came over after Claudia went to bed.” Greg’s brow creased. “Why?”

  “All night?”

  “Yes. Of course.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I’m sure.” But the look in his eyes told her that he wasn’t as sure as he wanted her to believe. “Now cut it out with all these damn questions and write something already.” Greg came closer. Grabbed Kaylee by the back of her neck and forced her to look at the sketchbook in front of her. “I
don’t even care what it is. Just write.”

  Kaylee wasn’t sure why she was even thinking about Emma right now when she was on the verge of being murdered. She again brought the pencil towards the sketchbook, but she hesitated when she noticed that Greg’s other hand was on the desk.

  Then an idea formed.

  It could very well get her killed, but since that would happen anyway if she did what Greg wanted her to, she figured she would rather go down with a fight.

  Moving as quickly as she could, Kaylee stabbed the pencil right into Greg’s hand. He cried out in pain and drew back, releasing his hold on Kaylee’s neck and grasping his now bleeding hand.

  That was Kaylee’s chance. She shot to her feet and darted for the door. Just managing to grasp the doorknob when she felt Greg’s arm wrap around her waist and hold her in place.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” he growled.

  “Let go of me.” Kaylee threw an elbow right into the side of Greg’s face.

  That did the trick.

  Now free from his grasp, she pulled the door open and rushed out of the room.

  When she reached the foot of the stairs, she rounded the corner and bolted for the kitchen. She was sure that Greg would be on her heels any moment now. Even with the blow that he took to the head, she didn’t believe for a second that he would be out of commission for long.

  As she entered the kitchen, her feet skidded to a sudden halt at the sight of Mia standing on the other side. She was holding a pistol in her right hand, and it was trained right on Kaylee.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Mia asked with a smile on her lips. “We’re not finished here. Not even close.”

  23

  “I REALLY NEED TO STOP underestimating you, Kaylee,” Mia said, “but your little escape attempt failed so now it’s time for you to march right back upstairs.”

  “Where’s Eric?” Kaylee asked.

  “He went back home after you told him that you wanted nothing to do with him.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Well, of course you didn’t, but . . .” she pulled Kaylee’s phone out of her pocket, “I took the liberty of letting him know for you. After all, seeing as you’re going to be killing yourself soon, there really won’t be any opportunity for the two of you to be together.”