The Girl That Was Obsessed With Murder

by James Larpson

  19

  He Knows Who Killed Vivian

  Hours after they discovered the body, and police questioned them, Kate had so many unanswered questions. How the hell had Michelle’s dead body move and bury itself? If Clare had been gardening long before she got there, she would have seen someone carrying and burying the body. It was like some supernatural force had swept Michelle away. What Charlie eyed on top of all the mess was Meredith's home, which had caution tape around the front, surrounding huge chunks of broken glass. Two windows had been severally smashed. Kate grabbed his attention and pulled it towards the police officers continuing to inspect the yard, dangerously close to Mr. Jones’ body. It was like loud heartbeats every time their feet smacked the ground once more, inching closer to the discover that would put them in jail. Of course, Charlie couldn’t think of a way they could pin the murder on them, but he reminded himself how dumb that sounded. There would be nothing they could say to remedy the situation. Clare was tied up with the officers, and Kate had gone in for a moment to prevent from vomiting again. Charlie, his conscious telling him he shouldn’t, left for Meredith's house. Out of the corner of her eye, Kate could make out a figure that looked like Charlie going to Meredith's without her; but, before she could follow him, Jason appeared once more at the front door.

  Before his eyes noticed Kate, she overheard the end of the phone call he made. All she could make out was, “Those days are over, okay? People change, you know,” before he hung up and noticed her. Kate didn’t care much for what she heard, considering only Clare had actually talked to him and the image of Michelle’s dead body took up all the extra room in her brain.

  “You okay?” he asked, her red eyes staring at him.

  She wanted nothing to do with this idiot that wasn’t even sensitive enough to notice the pain she was enduring.

  “Who are you?” Kate snapped back.

  Jason didn’t move, but reached out his arm towards Kate.

  “I know what losing someone is like. I’m Vivian’s cousin,” he said with a noticeably sterner tone.

  “Oh,” Kate mumbled while looking at the ground below her.

  All in a second, she carried more respect for Jason. Maybe he had an idea of how she was feeling, but wasn’t good at expressing that.

  “Got a second?” he said while motioning for the two to sit.

  The familiar sound of squeaky wooden steps filled Charlie’s ears as he approached Meredith's door, inspecting the ground for any pieces of glass that might have made their way towards the entrance. He stared at the yellow caution tape surrounding the portion of the yard to the right of the front door enclosing fallen glass pieces. The broken windows now had bags and tape on them, and Charlie’s spine felt a tingle when the thought of sleeping without real windows when an alleged murderer was out there got to him. His gaze drifted the windows after he heard a branch snap—then footprints. At least he thought they were footprints—they sure sounded like them. The door locks loosened and Meredith pushed it open, even though Charlie had not yet knocked. She probably was looking outside even more now, since she needed to be extra careful with those windows. The tape kept the wind out, but didn’t have a chance against someone sneaking through them in the middle of the night. Charlie started to feel sorry for Meredith, and his stomach turned at the thought of something happening to her.

  “Could I come in?”

  A faint smile formed across her thin lips and she opened the wider.

  “I saw the tape and the windows, and wanted to see if you were okay. And I didn't know if they questioned you or anyone else for what happened at our place.”

  She shot him a confused look, and asked him what had happened at his house. He was surprised she didn’t know, with all the time she spent looking outside.

  “A body was buried in our backyard,” he said.

  The instant the last word rolled off of his tongue, Charlie realized how it sounded—and dreaded her response.

  “You mean the one...”

  “No. It was a girl, one of Kate’s friends,” he said, stopping her halfway.

  She did remember seeing us, Charlie thought. What other body could she have referred to other than Mr. Jones’? Why did she lie to them?

  “I'm so sorry, but that's not what the police came here for. Someone broke in.”

  Charlie apologized in return and shot her a look of sympathy.

  “Even with all the things I see I have no idea who it was. I figured it might have been him, hopefully,” she said, pointing to the house down the street belonging to the man Charlie had suspicious of at the party.

  “He might have wanted his knife back, except my clumsy self lost it,” she said.

  Charlie’s eyes bulged.

  “Which knife?”

  “Oh just something I found while he was gone, hoping he'd come over here to see if I had seen it. Kind of a dumb idea, I suppose,” she said

  Before Charlie had the chance to talk about the knife more, Meredith asked to change the subject.

  “Well, do you feel safe with only that tape covering your windows?”

  “Even if someone comes, at least I won't be so lonely,” she responded.

  She put her hand on his knee as they sat. Her touch was warm, warmer than he anticipated.

  “That’s a weird way of looking at things,” Charlie responded.

  “As far as I’m concerned, I’ll be fine, as long as that girl doesn’t come walking through those windows,” Meredith said, fear stirring in her eyes.

  “Kate?” Charlie said, questioning himself why he blurted that out.

  He knew she hadn’t been too fond of Kate, but that sounded much harsher than he thought Meredith could sound.

  “Heavens no. That little girl, whatever her name is. Story is she’s possessed, or possesses other people, I don’t know. Heard she makes people do all kinds of crazy stuff. I’ve never actually seen her, but definitely heard an earful.”

  “Do you believe ‘the story’?” he asked.

  “A rumor is a rumor, but I don’t know. Who knows what kind of evil exists in our world today,” she said.

  Meredith licked her bottom, dry lip.

  “Maybe this psychopath killing innocent people had a small encounter with her,” she continued.

  Charlie shifted awkwardly in his seat. His mind shifted, as well. On one hand, he regretted making their conversation dive this deep, but he was glad he got the information about the knife. Now he really knew who killed Vivian.

  20

  Waiting Outside Your Window

  Kate and Jason’s conversation continued, along with occasional laughs from the two.

  “Thank you,” Kate said with a flirty smile.

  “For what?” “For making my day a lot better,” she replied.

  “Glad I could help. I'm glad I met you. Sorry again about earlier, I wasn't thinking at all. Tell your mom I said hi.”

  Kate nodded and sat up.

  “I’ll see you around?”

  “Sounds good. Goodnight,” Jason said as he walked past Kate to the front door, her nose catching the sweet smell of his cologne.

  “I need to get back home. Sorry if I bothered you,” Charlie said.

  Meredith sat up and fixed her hair. As Charlie’s feet approached the door, she grabbed his shoulder, stopping him.

  “Let me tell you one more thing. Be careful about that sister of yours. You never really know the people close to you, just remember that. Okay?”

  Her grip loosened and Charlie looked at her, now walking towards her Bible on the coffee table. He tried to mumble something back, but she began reading and he just turned back, feeling more confused than ever. He shut the door behind him, perplexed at how bad of a person Kate could possibly be—in Meredith's eyes. Had she known something about Kate that Charlie didn’t? As soon as Charlie’s feet hit his driveway, he could make out Kate staring behind the front door, waiting for his explanation.

  “We need to talk,” he told her.

&nb
sp; She shut the door closed.

  “What were you over there for?”

  “She didn’t kill Vivian,” Charlie said, almost in an I-told-you manner.

  “How do you know?”

  Charlie opened his mouth, but Clare entered and interrupted.

  “It's getting late, guys. Make sure you have clothes picked out for the...funeral. Where have you been?”

  “We talked with Jason for a while.”

  “Oh, Vivian's cousin? That's good. Maybe we can sit with him tomorrow, he seems lonely and abandoned by Vivian's family.”

  They all kissed goodnight and Kate followed behind Charlie to his room.

  “The knife we found belongs to that weird guy across the street. She said she found it at his place when she was there, and took it. I know it sounds dumb, but I know she was telling the truth. We’ve been looking at the wrong person,” Charlie said, having to take several large breaths to tell Kate all of it.

  “Why would he have the knife? Mrs. Jones didn't have a puncture wound. There was no trace of any weapon...she just collapsed. But obviously someone killed her.”

  Charlie couldn’t help but think Kate was the one so convinced the knife killed her.

  “Even if she didn’t kill anyone, don’t go there alone, got it?”

  “Okay, fine. I felt sorry for her, someone tried to break in and broke her windows.”

  Kate yawned and didn’t respond.

  “The person who killed Vivian—and Michelle, for that matter—could have killed Meredith too,” Charlie said sincerely.

  Kate barely nodded her head but went for the door still.

  “I know, I know. Let’s get some sleep. It’s been a long day.”

  “Yeah, goodnight,” he said.

  Outside, the bushes shook and branches snapped. A pair of (rather small) feet ran through the night, and pounded against the pillow of grass below. Breathing became more difficult as the shadow ran in the chilly hours that easily dried up their throat and lungs. Their breath looked like the fog surrounding the neighborhood as the figure exhaled. Soon the ground went still, and the only noise came from the strong wind, which shook the tape of Meredith's windows, where the feet halted.

  21

  Tension

  Kate ran the comb through her thick hair once more before exiting the car, stepping up the church steps. Immediately she, along with Charlie and Clare, were hugging and talking with Vivian’s family, who looked miserable but attempting to hold it together. Sharon, Vivian’s mother, had her red hair put into a bun and wore a fitting, long black dress. She squeezed Clare’s shoulders and pulled her mouth closer to her right ear.

  “Thank you so much for coming,” Sharon said.

  “Of course I came, don’t be silly. How are you holding up?”

  “I’m getting there. I just can’t believe she’s...”

  The woman’s eyes started to water. Clare wrapped her arms around her once more. In the corner of Clare’s eye stood Jason in a black shirt and black dress pants. To Clare’s surprise, he was not dressed in a complete suit—a little inappropriate, in her eyes. Clare waved, shining a smile at him as well, which was something Sharon did not do. Clare only got a glance of Sharon’s reaction, but it look like she frowned when she saw him. Noticing Sharon’s disappointment, he walked awkwardly past the two.

  “Why didn't you invite him to stay with us?”

  “It's bad enough I'm at my daughters funeral, isn't it Clare?” said Sharon.

  Clare’s logic told her to shut up, so she opened the church door for them and noticed the burning candles and the flood of black suits and dresses that walked near her. As she tried to find a seat, the rest of Vivian’s family motioned for Clare, Kate, and Charlie to sit with them up front. As they sat down, Clare noticed Jason sitting by himself, looking as rejected as he said he was that night with her. Moments before the service began, Charlie turned his head to see the man from the party—and now the real owner of the engraved knife—staring right at him and Kate.

  “Who is that?” Clare whispered in Sharon’s ear.

  An older woman, dressed in all black, sat at the end of pew, tissues in hand.

  “Ashley. Nathan’s mother,” she said.

  Clare’s head lowered and she shook her head slightly.

  “Poor thing.”

  “It’s definitely hard on her, not knowing if she will see ever see her son again.”

  Clare asked if the police had any idea where he might be, but there were no leads. He had just...disappeared.

  At the end of the service, Kate caught Jason, and Charlie’s eyes fell on an icon of Jesus towards the front door. He felt different being in a church, better than usual, especially with all the chaos that happening. He had only been in a church a few times, mainly for weddings and other ceremonies, though. Kate and Clare hadn’t cared much for it. They enjoyed their extra sleep on Sunday mornings. Next, his eyes gazed on a boy struggling to get his wheelchair through the front door. He, in a second, recognized the boy, and had seen him at Vivian’s party. He glanced at the icon on the wall once more, and then approached the boy.

  “Henry?”

  The boy turned his head, but didn’t crack a smile at the sight of Charlie.

  “Hey, Charlie,” the boy said, turning his head.

  “Look, I know you aren't happy to see me. And I know you thought you would never have to see me again. But I just wanted to apologize...for everything. I’ve changed, or at least I’m changing, I think.”

  “I’m fine,” the boy mumbled.

  Charlie had an overwhelming feeling of guilt in his gut. His friends had bullied that boy so badly, making fun of everything about him. Charlie really was changing—he usually didn’t feel guilty about anything, but that had changed lately.

  “Really, Henry. No jokes, no games. I really am sorry, and shouldn't have done any of that stuff to you. My friends and I were stupid and immature, and didn't know what our jokes did to you.”

  He finally turned to Charlie, a faint smile forming with his lips.

  “Well, thank you.”

  “I know we may never be close, but I wanted you to know how sorry I was for making fun of you all this time, in case I didn't have the chance later.”

  After a second of confusion over what Charlie meant by not having the chance later, he smiled wider.

  “Thank you. It’s nice to hear you finally say that. Nobody else has.”

  Charlie smiled and helped push his chair through the door.

  “See you around,” said the boy one last time.

  Charlie walked out the front door, as it started to drizzle. Someone tapped his right shoulder.

  “Oh, hey! Did you just get here?”

  “Well, nobody would dare look at me here,” Meredith said, taking her hand off his shoulder.

  “That’s ridiculous,” he said.

  “That was nice, what you just did.”

  Charlie smiled and nodded.

  “I needed to do it. I’ve done some bad things in the past,” he said.

  “Well that's the past. You're different now. I've done things I'm not proud of, too. We all have. Sometimes our bad side gets the best of us. Except that family of yours, especially your sister. Haven't seen much of anything besides her bad side. I’m sorry I keep talking about her like that, but something pretty disturbing happened.

  Charlie’s eyes focused on her, his heartbeat rising.

  “She’s the one who broke my windows.”

  He took a small step back, and didn’t realize his mouth was hanging open.

  “What?”

  “One of the neighbor's security cameras picked her up. Saw the tape myself.”

  She sounded like someone had lied straight to her face, her voice straining and she looked like she had been betrayed. Even though she wasn’t as close to Kate, that had still been someone totally uncalled for. What had Kate been thinking?

  “That girl does nothing but bad things, then obsesses over making other people look guilt
y, probably to cover up all of her crimes.”

  “Kate wouldn’t kill her best friend.”

  “A sick way of making her look innocent, if you ask me. Now nobody would ever think of her being involved in any of this.”

  Charlie looked over at Kate talking with Jason.

  “I’m glad you could come,” he said.

  “Of course. It's the least I could do. I can't imagine how you are feeling.”

  “I could say the same to you, considering what happened to your...well you know.”

  Kate bit the inside of her lip, thinking of Michelle.

  “Why didn't you sit with us, or for your family, for that matter?”

  Jason made the lame excuse that there hadn’t been enough room, but Kate saw right through that. Maybe he hadn’t thought of her the way she began to think of him.

  “Well, did the service...help at all?” she said, sounding like an idiot in her mind.

  “A little, but it can only do so much.”

  Kate nodded.

  “If you ever need anything...”

  “Thank you,” he said, giving her a hug.

  Sharon and Clare walked out together, and Sharon noticed Jason.

  “Aren’t you worried about Kate talking with Jason?”

  “What’s there to be worried about? He’s nice.”

  “Yeah, when there’s money involved,” she said.

  “I don’t understand,” Clare said.

  Their conversation continued in patches. Sharon was greeted and supported by two or three people, then turned to Clare, and that repeated.

  “He left home, hardly cared for parents, and comes back to inherit Vivian's money? That guy's nothing but trouble.”

  “How do you know he didn’t leave because he didn't feel wanted?”

  “Please, we practically smothered him in our arms. He hit a low point in life by himself, and saw Vivian's wealth as the escape. Just thinking about it makes me sick. Vivian didn't even get the chance to change her will. Who knows what he's capable of.”

  Clare took a big breath, and looked over at Kate, who giggled and hugged Jason. After a moment, Clare waved goodbye to Sharon after one last. Charlie and Kate told Meredith and Jason bye, and walked towards each other. They noticed a woman pull a man aside and refer to him as Victor, and she greeted him with a smile. Both Kate and Charlie overheard it—the man from the voicemail. Charlie looked at the man once more, realizing he was the one who killed Vivian—in his eyes, of course. He thought harder, his stomach suddenly hurting at the thought of a killer talking, or leaving messages, with his mother.