by Milda Harris
I interrupted Ethan before he could go on talking about why I wouldn’t want to get involved. It was best not to think about the down side of getting involved in a murder investigation, “I want to help you find out what happened to Liz. I’m in.”
“Really?” Ethan’s eyebrows rose.
“Really,” I said seriously. “And, I know just where to start.”
“Where?” Ethan was looking at me intently.
A zillion thoughts were going through my brain, but I knew that one thing was crucial to our investigation and we had to start there, “Vanessa Martin’s funeral.”
Chapter 9: Inquiring
I had a hard time sleeping on Sunday night after I left Ethan’s. We stayed up until almost midnight talking. Yes, I’m serious. Still, it’s not like we were making out or anything. Not that my dad cared. He was a little mad that I had gotten home so late.
“Kait Lenox, where have you been?” My dad said as soon as I walked in the door at 12:15 am on a school night.
I never did that. I think we were both shocked, so I said, “Out.”
I went to my room and that was the end of it. I wasn’t about to tell him I was with a boy. If I told him that he wouldn’t have believed me that nothing happened even though it’s totally true. Now that I think about it, it was a little weird of my dad to let it go that I was out so late with no good reason. He definitely wasn’t as mad as he should have been. He should have followed me back to my room and demanded an answer. Then he should have yelled at me and grounded me. He didn’t, though. Maybe he thought I had made a friend or something and was happy about it. Parents are weird like that.
Any disapproval on my dad’s part was worth it, though. Ethan and I had spent the night making plans for attending Vanessa Martin’s funeral. There was an online obituary already up and the wake was Monday night from 3 pm to 9 pm. Ethan and I were going to go right after school. I coached Ethan a little on funeral crashing, since I had been to so many. He had only ever been to his sister’s and except for remembering talking to me, the whole thing was a big blank for him. We were going to pretend to have known Vanessa through Liz, if anyone asked. We were hoping Troy Matthews would make an appearance. We were really, really hoping for more good leads.
There were definitely other leads that I wanted to follow too. I had a list. I still wanted to talk to Suzie about Liz and Olivia Reynolds. I was going to do that during school on Monday. Maybe I could get Kyle to join me and at least introduce him to Suzie. It would be like multi-tasking. Hey, if Ethan and I could be semi-friends, Kyle had an awesome as hell chance with Suzie.
The other lead we had to follow up on was definitely Troy Matthews. And, if he didn’t show up to Vanessa’s funeral, Ethan and I needed to find a way to talk to him. The trick there would be not to spook him, especially if he was the killer. Neither Ethan or I wanted to end up dead just because we said the wrong thing.
And, then there was the thought of having set plans with Ethan for a third day in a row. I was starting to get cocky about it. I mean, if Ariel was going to Homecoming with him, maybe Ethan was just taking her to the dance. Maybe it didn’t mean that they were dating too. When did he have time? You know? I mean, Ethan had spent almost the entire weekend with me. And, okay, a dance is way more romantic than investigating a murder together, but still, the amount of time spent with someone counts for something, right?
The first lead, I was going to follow, though, was reading Liz’s journal. I opened it to the first page dated about four months ago.
May 23
Today’s my birthday. Happy birthday to me! For this year, I want to: save money to go to Paris, get into a good college, see my first Cubs game, teach Paws five cool tricks, and find a job working with a vet. It’s going to be an awesome year, starting today!
I felt exceedingly sad as I finished that first journal entry. It was a short one on her birthday and Liz had so much hope for her future and only a few months later it was gone. I hope she had gotten to do at least a few of the things she had wanted to do. I kept reading. I learned more about Liz and her dreams, the mundane things in her life, volunteering at the animal shelter, her job, about some of her friends and her dog Paws, but there was nothing helpful, in terms of the investigation (and no mention of drugs!), until I got to the last three entries.
August 10
I just met this great guy in my English class. His name is Troy Matthews. Hot, right? Liz Matthews, I can see it. Anyway, getting ahead of myself, he’s an art major and he’s probably as into art as I am into animals. And, he’s cute! He asked me out and we’re supposed to go have coffee on Friday. I can’t wait!!!! Wait, that is a date, right? Even though it’s just coffee?
August 14
So, my date with Troy was amazing! We met up at Wired. He bought me a coffee, so it’s officially a date since he paid. I even offered, but he said no. We talked all about his art classes and my work at the shelter and Paws. We had so much to talk about. He is the most amazing guy. He even showed me some of his artwork on his phone. He is really talented. I hope he asks me out again. I had the greatest time. We didn’t kiss or anything, though. I did give him a hug when we walked outside, but he didn’t try to kiss me. I hope he likes me.
September 1
I know I haven’t written anything in the last two weeks, but things have been so great with Troy that I haven’t even felt like writing. And, we’ve hung out almost every day. He’s been so amazing. Now I do have something to write about, though. I don’t know what to do. I have nobody to talk to. I got this email from a girl claiming to be Troy’s girlfriend. She was really angry. He says that I’m the only one he’s dating. She claims that he’s her boyfriend. I don’t even know who she is. She called herself Mary Shelly, like the writer of Frankenstein. I obviously don’t think that’s her real name. I don’t know what to do. I want to believe Troy, but I don’t know. I was so happy. Is he cheating on me?
The last entry was dated a little over a week before her death. Was Troy cheating on Liz? Who was the other girl? I thought back to what we already knew and my mind stuck on one thing. Vanessa Martin’s email to Liz. Had that been about the other girl? Is that what she wanted to talk to Liz about? Was Vanessa Martin the other girl that Troy was dating and cheating on Liz with? Or did she know her? Regardless, it seemed that Troy was not the perfect person Liz had thought he was and to myself I thought, he’s also not the person you’d want to be dating if you actually wanted to survive college.
I fell asleep after 4 am. So, I know I had bags under my eyes from lack of sleep when I rode the bus to school on Monday morning. I had spent ten minutes trying to cover them up. I had, in fact, dragged myself out of bed early despite my lack of sleep to try and look super cute for school. Usually I rolled out of bed and just went, with my hair still damp from a morning shower. Today, I pulled out my mom’s old blow dryer and her curling iron and tried to do my hair in a style other than its usual boring straightness. I mean, I was knowingly going to spend part of the day hanging out with Ethan. It couldn’t hurt for him to actually think I looked cute, right? Hopefully he wouldn’t be too egotistical and think I was doing it just for him. I mean, maybe I was, but it’s not like I really wanted him to know that. I wanted him to think I looked cute all the time, even if I had spent the last two plus years going to school with wet hair because I hated getting up early to actually try and do something with it.
Sadly, after all that prep time, I’m not really sure that my hair looked any different on the bus this morning. Sure it was dry for once and maybe it was slightly wavy from the curling iron, but not all that different. Maybe I should have straightened it instead. And, I had bags under my eyes despite my attempts with cover-up. Maybe I could get a nap in during some point of the school day. Lectures could be excellent for putting one’s mind to sleep.
I wasn’t even going to see Ethan until after school, when I was meeting him at his car. Well, I mean, we might pass one another in the halls. We did also have the sa
me lunch hour, but I don’t think Ethan even knew that. He usually sat with his friends Dave and Mike and the whole popular crowd.
Would he say hi to me if he saw me? Or, at school, will I have reverted back to the weird girl that nobody who wants to be popular can talk to unless they’re harassing her like Ariel?
I tried not to think about Ethan too much, even though my brain wanted to go there. Besides staying awake, my focus this morning was Chemistry class, fourth period. I wanted to get there early, so I could spend a few minutes talking to Suzie. The morning flew by and I don’t think I heard a word the teachers in my classes said. I spent the time in my head planning out what I was going to say to Suzie. I didn’t see Ethan at all, or thank goodness, Ariel. And, I didn’t see them together hand in hand either. I hoped he wasn’t dating her. He deserved better. Like me, I wanted to add, but come on, that’s still just wishful thinking on my part.
The bell rang signaling the end of third period and I raced to Chemistry class, making it there in such record time that nobody else had even arrived yet. I sat down at my lab table and waited for people to filter in. It felt like eons, but was probably more like seconds before Suzie walked in and toward her lab table.
“Suzie!” I called, as she was about to walk past me.
Suzie turned and looked at me, paused, and then walked toward me, stopping near the chair Kyle would be sitting in, when he arrived. That is, if he didn’t have a heart attack first, that Suzie was standing next to his lab table.
“What’s up?” Suzie asked softly, hesitatingly.
I had decided that it was best to be straightforward, “How did you know Liz O’Reilly and Olivia Reynolds?”
Suzie’s eyebrows shot up and she stammered, “W-w-why?”
I didn’t mean to scare her, so I whispered, “I’m helping Ethan Ripley look into his half sister’s death. He wants to understand what happened.”
Suzie sat down in Kyle’s empty chair and stared at me, wide-eyed, “But…”
I nodded, “I know. Weird, huh? But I’m just trying to help. He’s really distraught and we started talking, long story, but Liz seemed like a nice girl and I’m sure Olivia was too. So, I’m just trying to help.”
Suzie wasn’t a gossip, but I didn’t really want to get into my long story with Ethan because then I might also have to explain the whole funeral crashing thing...again. I didn’t really want more people to think I was a total freak. And, I liked Suzie. Maybe one day we could be friends or something.
Suzie nodded back, “Liz was great. We volunteered at the same animal shelter. She was always telling me that I needed to talk more and not to be afraid of the popular people like her brother. That some of them, like him, were nice. Not like I was going to talk to him or anything. You really talked to Ethan Ripley?”
I smiled, there was nothing like an unpopular girl talking to a popular guy that helped two unpopular girls to bond, “Yeah. So, did you see anything to indicate that Liz was on drugs?”
Suzie shook her head, “No way. It was so weird and sad to hear that she overdosed. It was so not like her. She was really nice and she totally loved animals too.”
It would figure that Suzie loved animals. She was completely the sweet girl. Just like Liz.
“Wait, you said you worked at the animal shelter?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Suzie said.
I felt suddenly excited, “You weren’t by any chance at the animal adoption for the Palos Animal Shelter at the park on the corner of 135th street and Moorpark a week ago Sunday, were you?”
Suzie thought about it for a moment, “Yeah, I was there.”
This was huge. Suzie Whitsett was one of the last people to see Liz alive. Not that I thought Suzie had killed her, but she might have seen something. That last hour or so of Liz’s life held the key to the whole mystery.
“Do you remember Liz being there?” I asked and held my breath.
Suzie nodded, “Yeah, I do. We talked between showing people our dogs.”
I tried to contain my excitement, “What did you talk about?”
“Just stuff. Kind of about guys. She was telling me about her boyfriend Troy,” Suzie said.
“What did she say about him?” I asked.
“Just that he had seemed so great and she still really liked him, but she thought that he might be dating someone else too,” Suzie said. “Liz was really upset about it and not sure what to do. She really liked him.”
“Did she say who she thought he was dating?” I asked.
“No,” Suzie shook her head and then added, “She was asking me about Mary Shelly and the book Frankenstein, though.”
“Oh?” I asked, my interest piqued.
“Yeah, I had been reading it like a month ago at the animal shelter and she wanted to know about it,” Suzie said.
“What did you say?” I asked.
“I told her about it,” Suzie said.
That was a dead end. I took a different direction, “Did you see her leave that night?”
Suzie frowned, “Are you asking me if I’m the last person who saw her alive?”
I thought for a moment, “I don’t think you are, but you’re one of them. I’m just trying to help Ethan piece together the last day of his sister’s life.”
Suzie seemed to accept that, “Yeah, I saw her leave. We loaded our dogs back into the shelter’s vans and walked to the parking lot together. I said bye and we got in our cars and drove away.”
“And, she seemed totally fine?” I asked again.
“Yeah,” Suzie said.
“And, there was nobody in the car with her?” I asked.
“No,” Suzie said. “Why would there have been?”
“Just asking,” I said, not wanting to tell Suzie that I was looking for a murderer and that she might have seen something important. Suzie seemed like the easily scared type, but maybe that was just because she was shy and known as the quiet girl.
“How about Olivia Reynolds? Did Liz know her too?” I asked, trying to connect any sort of dots between the victims.
“No, Jenna knew her,” Suzie said.
“Who’s Jenna?” I asked.
“Jenna volunteers at the animal shelter too, but only once a week. She introduced me to Olivia because I had mentioned wanting to learn how to sew. Olivia was teaching a sewing class from her apartment on Tuesday nights. She was a good teacher,” Suzie smiled, sadly.
“Was it a big class?” I asked, since that would give a large group of people easy access to Olivia’s apartment.
Suzie thought for a moment, “About ten of us. Not super big.”
“Any guys in the class?” I asked.
“No. It was all girls,” Suzie said.
I tried again, “Anybody talk about Mary Shelley or Frankenstein?”
Suzie looked at me quizzically, “No.”
I changed topics, “Random question, but would you say Olivia was the drug addict type either?”
“Not at all,” Suzie said.
There was an obvious question that I had to ask, “So, were you in Olivia’s class the week she died?”
Suzie seemed uncomfortable again, “Maybe.”
“Suzie,” I said.
Suzie gave in, “Fine. Yes, I was. Now that you’re pointing this stuff out it just makes me feel like you think I had something to do with Liz’s and Olivia’s deaths. I mean, I was at those places, but so were a lot of other people.”
“I don’t think you had anything to do with their deaths. I promise,” I offered. “I’m just trying to piece things together. Was there anything at all weird that happened in Olivia’s class that week?”
Suzie thought about it. “It was awhile ago, but I don’t remember any fights or anything if you’re asking. As to weird, well, there were definitely a wide mix of people in the class, but that’s about it.”
“So, nobody with a grudge or anything against Olivia, though?” I asked.
Suzie shrugged, “Not that I know of. Then again, if they hated her, why
would they pay to take her class, you know? Still, I didn’t know Olivia super well. I’d only taken a few classes with her.”
“Okay,” I contemplated all this. There weren’t really any new leads from Suzie. I was disappointed.
“Wait,” Suzie said, “There is one other thing I remember Liz saying.”
“What?” I asked.
“Well, it was right at the end of the day, but she said that she was going to meet up with Troy to talk,” Suzie looked suddenly worried.
I felt a sudden surge of energy. Bingo! Troy was very easily the last person to see Liz alive. Now, that was finally a lead.
“She said that?” I asked, wanting to make sure.
“Yeah, I guess she changed her mind and didn’t think he was cheating anymore. She said things had changed. I don’t know how, but they texted a few times while we were at the park,” Suzie said.
If only Liz had saved those texts! It was frustrating. They could have proved Troy was the murderer or at least placed him with Liz at the time of her death.
Kyle interrupted us. I would have been mad at him, except that he looked so happy. His cheeks were flushed and he only had eyes for Suzie, “Hi Suzie.”
Suzie looked up at him, smiling shyly. “Hi Kyle. I’m sorry, I’m in your seat.”
I just looked between them, unsure what to do. I wanted to keep questioning Suzie, but the awkwardness of potential romance was getting in the way. Plus, I was kind of rooting for the romance. Kyle and Suzie seemed like they’d make a pretty cute couple.
Suzie started to get up and scramble for her things, as Kyle tried to keep her from running away, “It’s okay. The bell hasn’t rung yet.”
They looked at each other awkwardly, each not knowing what to say next. I decided to save them from themselves. Suzie and I were pretty much done talking anyway. Maybe I was feeling brave for Kyle, being on speaking terms with Ethan Ripley now and everything, so I said, “Hey Suzie, going to the Homecoming Dance?”