The Killer Next Door: A Murder Mystery

by Nicholas Jordan

  “I’m not going to kill myself.”

  “No, but that’s what everyone is going to believe. Now get moving. We want to get this over with before your mom arrives. You’re not going to make me kill her too, are you? I would hate to do that to someone so nice.”

  Kaylee could hear Greg charging down the stairs. It wouldn’t be long before he entered the kitchen right behind her, which gave her an idea. She only had one chance to make it work, though, so she had to time it just right.

  “The only way you’re going to kill me is if you shoot me,” Kaylee said. “I refuse to go along with your twisted plan.”

  Mia laughed. “You know it’s pretty cute that you think you have a choice.”

  “I’ve already made my choice. And since you’re not willing to shoot me, I have nothing to fear.”

  “Do you really want to put that to the test?”

  “Yes. I do.”

  With Greg’s footsteps growing louder, Kaylee could tell he was right behind her and knew that now was the time. She darted to the right just before Greg entered the room, and also right before Mia proved to be as reckless as Kaylee hoped she would be by pulling the trigger.

  The timing could not have been more perfect.

  The bullet missed its mark only narrowly but found an alternative target in Greg, striking him right in the chest and sending her stumbling backwards and out the kitchen door again before falling to the floor with a loud thud.

  “No,” Mia gasped before rushing to her lover’s side.

  That was Kaylee’s chance. She bolted across the kitchen and then slipped out the doorway on the other side so she could escape the house.

  And that was exactly what she did.

  She went right out the front door with two goals.

  First, she had to find Eric and tell him what happened. And second, she had to call Detective Ferguson and tell him whatever it took to get him to come down here and arrest Mia and Greg. If Greg was even still alive. That would finally put an end to all of this the way that it should have been.

  As soon as she was out the door, Kaylee rushed across the street towards Eric’s house. She went up to the door and started to pound her fist against it, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Mia wasn’t coming after her.

  Finally, the door opened and Eric appeared. He looked at her with eyes wide.

  “Kaylee, what are you doing here? I thought you said you weren’t feeling well.”

  “It’s Mia and Greg,” Kaylee said while huffing and puffing, trying to catch her breath. “We were right. They killed Claudia, and they just tried to kill me too.”

  “Jesus.” He stepped outside. Put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright?”

  “I’m fine. But we need to call Detective Ferguson right away.”

  “Do you think he’ll believe us?”

  “I’ll make him believe us.”

  Eric nodded. “Alright. Let’s do it.” He took his phone out of his pocket. “Do you have his number?”

  Kaylee shook her head. “No, he gave my mom his card and I put the number in my phone, but I can’t remember it.”

  “Well, where’s your phone?”

  “Mia has it.”

  Just then, Kaylee’s ears were invaded by the booming sound of a gunshot a fraction of a second before Eric stumbled backwards and slumped to the ground with his back against the side of the house.

  “Eric,” she cried and started towards him, but came to a halt upon hearing Mia shout her name. She turned and saw the brunette walking up the driveway with the gun still clutched in her right hand.

  “Should have run a little faster,” Mia said.

  “Get out of here,” Eric told Kaylee through gritted teeth, holding his bleeding shoulder.

  “But I can’t—”

  “Just go.”

  Kaylee didn’t want to leave him behind, but if she stayed here, Mia would surely kill them both. And since she was the one that Mia wanted, running was probably the only way to save Eric’s life as well as her own.

  She took off running around the side of Eric’s house. She heard several more gunshots, but she didn’t slow down, she didn’t look back, and she certainly didn’t stop. She had to keep going if she wanted to get away.

  ***

  Don’t stop, Kaylee told herself despite her legs feeling like they might give out beneath her at any moment, if her lungs didn’t burst first. She was not used to running like this.

  But Mia didn’t give her choice.

  While she ran as fast as her legs would carry her, she occasionally glanced over her shoulder to see if she was being followed. She didn’t see any sign of her pursuer, though.

  Although far from feeling safe, Kaylee didn’t feel like she could keep up this pace any longer. She needed to rest, so she got off of the road and sat down on the curb to catch her breath and rest her aching lower extremities.

  Her body was able to rest, but her mind certainly couldn’t. There were just too many questions and concerns swirling around inside.

  Where was Mia right now?

  What about Eric? Was he okay? He had to be. She just refused to believe that he could be gone. Somehow, she had to get back to his house to find out. But what if Mia was still there? Maybe she was waiting for her. It could be a trap.

  But with no way to contact Detective Ferguson, she could only hope that someone called the police after hearing the gunshots. It was sure to be only a matter of time before they arrived.

  “Turn around.”

  Hearing those two words sent Kaylee’s heart straight to her throat. She recognized the voice, and knew that she was out of time. She had been found. What choice did she have but to obey?

  When she turned around, she found Mia walking along the sidewalk towards her at a slow and deliberate pace. Pistol aimed right at Kaylee. She stopped when she was about four yards away.

  “You just had to ruin everything. Didn’t you?” Mia shook her head and curled her lip into a sneer. “I just don’t understand why you couldn’t let that disgusting old man rot in prison like he deserves? Everything would have been perfect.”

  “You’re the one that wanted to get me involved,” Kaylee countered. “You brought this on yourself. And you’re right, Frank does deserve to be in prison, but so do you and Greg. That is, if Greg is even still alive after you shot him.”

  Kaylee expected Mia to be angry with her for suggesting that, but much to her surprise, Mia actually smiled.

  “Well, I guess that means both our boyfriends are dead then,” Mia said with a dismissive shrug of her shoulders.

  Kaylee’s heart skipped a beat, and apparently showed her shock and dismay on her face because Mia started to laugh.

  “On don’t give me that look. You only have yourself to blame for getting him involved. Besides, we both know how this ends. Greg was going to take me away from this place. From my mother. But none of that matters now. Which leaves me with only one thing left to do. I’m going to kill you.”

  Kaylee heard the sound of distant sirens. There was still hope if she could stall. “I thought we were friends.”

  “Friends? So what? Emma and I were friends too.”

  “What are you saying?”

  Mia just smiled.

  “Oh my God . . . You killed her?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Why?”

  “Because she found out about me and Greg. She even recorded us having sex and threatened to show the video to her mom if I didn’t end it. I couldn’t have that, but I wasn’t about to end things with Greg either, so I came up with a plan. First, I started that rumor about Eric cheating on her. It wasn’t even hard to do.”

  “Why? What does that even—”

  “Let me finish,” Mia snapped. “I hate being interrupted.”

  Kaylee figured it was probably not a good idea to piss off the girl with the gun, so she kept her mouth shut.

  “Anyway, after they broke up, I waited a week and then encouraged a mutual friend
of ours to throw a big party, making sure that Eric and Emma were both invited. The night of the party, I faked being sick, but I knew Emma would go without me so she could patch things up with Eric. I waited a few hours and then sent her a text to tell her I was ready to talk about what happened between me and her dad. I picked the meeting place. A turnout on a seldom used highway—somewhere we wouldn’t be seen—then I bashed her over the head with a tire iron, destroyed her cellphone, and forced half a handle of vodka down her throat. I put her behind the wheel, foot on the gas, and let her drive into that ravine. With her out of the way, I had Greg all to myself. The loss of his beloved daughter only created a bigger wedge between him and his wife, and drove him right into my arms. It worked out perfectly.”

  “You’re insane. How could you do that to your own best friend?” Kaylee thought about Chelsea and how much she would give to have her back in her life. How Mia could kill her own closest friend was something Kaylee couldn’t possibly wrap her head around.

  “You’d be amazed what you can do when you’re properly motivated. When everything you’ve worked so hard to achieve is about to be ruined. I didn’t want to kill Emma, but I needed Greg to get away from my mother. I had no choice. You would have done the same thing if you were in my shoes.”

  “No,” Kaylee shook her head, “I would never do that.”

  “Well, aren’t you just so noble? Unfortunately for you,” Mia raised her gun, “being noble isn’t going to save you. Say hi to Chelsea for me.”

  Kaylee held her ground. Sure that she was about to die, but there was no running from this. It was all about to come to an end.

  But before Mia could pull the trigger, Kaylee heard the roar of a car’s engine. It was coming from around the corner.

  Mia glance in that direction and her eyes grew wide before suddenly been rammed head on by the approaching car.

  Eric’s car.

  She smashed against the windshield, looking like a ragdoll. When the car came to a stop, she rolled off the hood and on to the sidewalk. Eyes staring blankly up at the sky while blood drizzled from her forehead where it smashed into the glass.

  Kaylee tore her eyes away from Mia’s lifeless body and turned to the car.

  Eric. . . .

  She hurried to the driver’s side door and threw it open to find Eric sitting in the seat. His shirt around his left shoulder soaked with blood from where Mia shot him. He looked up at her with clenched teeth. Clearly in a lot of pain as one hand gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. The other hand pressed against his shoulder.

  “You alright?” he asked.

  Relief washing over her, Kaylee couldn’t keep a smile off her face. “I feel like I should be asking you that.”

  “What are you talking about?” He started to chuckle. “I’m totally fine.” But he winced as his chuckle was soon replaced by a pained groan.

  “Take it easy. I’ll call an ambulance and get you some help. It’s over now.” She placed her hand on his cheek and gazed into his eyes. “It’s all over.”

  24

  THERE. IT’S FINALLY FINISHED. KAYLEE leaned back in her seat as a smile parted her lips.

  She glanced at the photo of Chelsea on the desk beside her sketchbook, and then back at the new picture that she had just drawn on the very first page. A sketch of her best friend smiling back at her.

  It seemed fitting. The start of something new and a bit of closure at the same time. A perfect way to remember Chelsea and also take a first step towards the future as well.

  A knock on the door.

  Kaylee turned around in her seat. “Come in.”

  The door opened and her mother poked her head into the room. “Hey, sweetie, there’s someone downstairs that wants to see you.”

  “Who is it?”

  “Come downstairs and find out.”

  “Alright. I’ll be right down.”

  “Okay.” Her mother left and shut the door.

  Kaylee looked down at the sketch again, just letting her eyes linger for a few moments before she closed the book and got to her feet, heading for the door.

  Shortly after that, she was on her way down the stairs. She glanced into the living room while descending to see her mother sitting on the couch across from Detective Ferguson in the loveseat. They both looked up at her when they noticed her coming.

  “Well, if it isn’t little miss Sherlock Holmes herself,” Detective Ferguson said with a smile. “How are you feeling?”

  “Much better since I heard that Eric is coming home from the hospital today,” Kaylee said as she reached the foot of the stairs.

  “Yeah, that boy is lucky to be alive. You both are. I guess we’re all just fortunate that you were there to do the heavy lifting on this case. I know it’s a little late now, but I figured I might as well admit that I was wrong. I’m sorry. I should have listened to you.”

  “It’s fine.” Kaylee shrugged. “Like you said, I didn’t have any evidence, so you were probably right to not believe me. At least it worked out in the end.”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s true.” The detective stuck his hands in his pockets. “Anyway, I just came down here to let you know that Greg confessed to murdering Claudia, once we told him what Mia told you about the night his daughter died. He’ll be going away for a long time.”

  “Does that mean Frank Palmer is free?” Kaylee asked.

  “Certainly not. Frank didn’t kill anyone, but the child pornography we found in his house will put him away for almost as long.”

  “So I guess you won’t be having to come around here anymore, huh?”

  “Well . . .” He glanced over his shoulder at her mom before he looked down at his feet and rubbed the back his neck. “The thing is—”

  “The detective and I were going to go out to dinner tonight,” her mother cut him off. She got up and moved to stand beside Ferguson. “And before you say anything, I want you to—”

  “Mom, it’s okay.” Kaylee smiled. “Really. Don’t worry about it. You’re both adults. There’s no problem.”

  “Are you sure you’re okay with it?”

  “Yeah.” She looked at Ferguson again and met his gaze. “He’s a good guy. I’m sure he’ll behave like a gentleman. Isn’t that right, Detective?”

  He nodded. “I’ll be sure to have her home by eleven.”

  “Eh, make it midnight. I’m not in that much of a hurry to have her back.”

  They all shared a laugh. But Kaylee stopped when she felt her cellphone buzz in her pocket. She pulled it out and checked the new text she just received. There was only one word.

  Back.

  “Is that Eric?”

  Kaylee looked up at her mom and nodded, lips curling into a smile.

  “Well, what are you waiting for then? Get out of here and go see him.”

  “Alright. Bye.” Kaylee scurried out of the room and made a mad dash through the kitchen and then the foyer on her way to the front door. She slipped her shoes on and was out the door within nanoseconds.

  She hurried to the end of the driveway. Stopped when she noticed Eric standing at the end of his own driveway. His left arm was in a sling. He waved to her.

  She waved back.

  He reached into his pocket and took out his phone. Tapped the screen and brought it to his ear.

  Suddenly, Kaylee’s phone started to ring. She took it out, rolled her eyes, and then answered. “Don’t you think it would make more sense to just cross the street and talk?”

  “I guess I was in too much of a hurry to talk to you. You look great by the way.”

  “Can you really tell from all the way over there?”

  “I can tell.”

  “Well, thanks, and you don’t look too bad yourself. How’s your shoulder?”

  “A lot better than it was.”

  “Good. Listen, Eric, there’s something that I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

  “So tell me.”

  “Not over the phone like this. Face to
face.”

  “We can see each other, can’t we?”

  “I’m serious.”

  “Alright. Alright. Come over here and we’ll talk.”

  “Why can’t you come over here?”

  “Hey, I’m the one who just got out of the hospital in case you forgot. Besides, don’t forget who saved your life.”

  “I haven’t forgotten,” Kaylee assured him, “and I never will.” She moved the phone away from her ear and then started across the street, keeping her eyes locked with his the entire way. She finally stopped when she was just a couple feet from him. “Well, I’m here.”

  “Yeah. You’re here. So what do you want to talk to me about?”

  “Feel up for a walk?”

  “Sure.” He held out his hand. “Lead the way?”

  She took his hand and then two of them started to walk down the sidewalk. Hands entwined. The heat of the sun warming them. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and a cool breeze kept the heat from becoming suffocating. It was probably the best weather Kaylee had seen since moving here.

  “I never told you why my mom and I moved here,” Kaylee said. “Well I should have already, but I guess I was afraid to. Anyway, here it is.”

  She took a deep breath to compose herself and then started to tell Eric all about Chelsea and about the day she was murdered.

  “So that’s it,” Kaylee said once she was finished. “We came here for a fresh start. I didn’t want it at first. I didn’t want to forget the past. But I realize now that it’s possible to have a fresh start without burying the past.”

  Eric came to a stop. Kaylee did the same. Looked up at him.

  “I’m sorry about Chelsea,” he said. “But you never have to be afraid to tell me anything.”

  “I know that now.”

  He smiled. Brushed her hair behind her ear. “I have something for you.”

  “What is it?”

  “Close your eyes.”

  Kaylee cocked her head to the side. “Seriously?”

  “Yes, I’m serious. Close your eyes.”

  Kaylee thought it was silly, but she did it anyway.