“We’ll talk about this later, that’s not the reason I was trying to get a hold of you,” she said, and my eyes widened. “Have you heard from Jaelyn?”
“No, why?” I asked.
I was walking up the steps at the dorm when Zoe ran outside, and we almost crashed into each other. Our difference in momentum made her bounce back and land on her rear end with a thump. She winced as she sat up, brushing herself off. Hanging up my phone, I helped her to her feet.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Why are you in such a hurry?”
“I was coming to find you!” she yelled. “We have a situation here.”
“What are you talking about?”
Her eyes were wild, arms flailing as she said, “Jaelyn is missing.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked again, not sure I’d heard her correctly.
She frowned, slowing her words. “I said, Jaelyn is missing. Nobody can find her anywhere. She isn’t in your room, she didn’t show up for any of her exams today, and she isn’t answering her phone.”
“How do you know she’s missing? Maybe she just had an emergency and her phone died,” I tried to reason.
Zoe rolled her eyes. “Are you listening to me? She is nowhere to be found. You don’t think I’ve called her family? Her cousin came to visit her today. They were supposed to meet up and go do something, I don’t know. I found him outside your room, knocking on the door, said they had agreed to meet there between her exams, but she never came back. When I talked to her professors, they said that she never showed up.”
“Her cousin?” I asked, confused.
Huffing, Zoe ran her hands through her hair and pulled on the ends. “You are not taking this seriously!”
“I am, really! It’s just taking a minute for my brain to catch up,” I said.
Zoe was right, it didn’t make sense for Jaelyn to just leave without telling anyone. Even if it was an emergency, she would have found a way to let somebody know where she was, especially her parents. They were a close, tight-knit family who she talked to almost every night. If anyone knew where she was, it would be them.
“Well tell it to hurry and catch up because we need to find her,” she said. “Jordan is going to check with everyone in her family to make sure no one has heard from her and go to all of her favorite local spots just in case. I’m going to look around campus and just hope she fell asleep somewhere.”
“Jordan?” I asked.
“Her cousin,” she answered.
“That’s me,” a man said, walking down the steps of the dorm. I could see the resemblance. He had Jaelyn’s dark, curly hair and pale physique, but he was extremely tall, taller than any person - man or otherwise - should be.
“Nice to meet you. It’s unfortunate it had to be under these circumstances though,” I said as he approached, and he shrugged as if saying it is what it is.
“Why don’t you two go together. If both of you are there, you’ll be more likely to see her,” Zoe said, jumping in.
I couldn’t figure out why she was so mission oriented. I understood that Jaelyn being missing was worrisome, but it wasn’t like they had any information that something bad had happened to her. For all they knew, she really had just fallen asleep somewhere and had forgotten to bring her phone with her. The way Zoe was acting, it was like she knew something we didn’t.
“That’s fine with me,” Jordan said. “My car is in the parking lot. We can take that if you don’t mind riding with me, that is.”
“Um sure. Give me just a minute and I’ll meet you there,” I said, grabbing Zoe’s arm when she started to walk away. Waiting until he was out of earshot, I pulled her to the side and forced her to look me in the eyes. “What’s going on? There’s something you’re not telling me.”
She lowered her gaze and sighed before pulling something out of her pocket. “I’m sorry I read it. I was curious and let it get the better of me. I know I should have told you about it, but I was worried you would hate me for it.”
Without saying anything, I took the paper from her hand. I had a feeling I knew what it was going to say, or at least what type of letter it was going to be, and it wasn’t a good one.
Dear Calla,
I hope you now understand that I am serious. You shouldn’t have gone against my wishes, but now that I have proven to you how important it is to listen to my instructions, I am sure that will no longer be an issue. I am sorry it had to be this way, but it is my hope that things will turn out for the better. Now that she is gone, your temptation to trust someone other than me is gone as well. You have no one else to turn to. Your mother is dead, your sister has left you, and now your friend is gone as well. I feel that you now fully understand the importance of doing as I say. As long as you listen to me, everything will turn out for the better. You will learn to trust me and know that I only speak the truth.
P.S. I understand that asking you to trust me before we have even met is a difficult task, so as a gift to you, I am showing you the truth. Make sure to read it carefully for it reveals the true evils of this world.
“What does this mean?” I asked. “Was there something else with the note?”
Zoe nodded and pulled a large yellow envelope out of her backpack. Inside the envelope was something that looked like a police report. That’s when I saw the name at the top, Violet Carmichael.
“This is-”
“The report of your mother’s death,” she said. “It’s pretty bad.”
“You read it?” I asked, feeling a little angry and violated. I forced myself to shove the thoughts aside, however, because there were more important things we should be worrying about than my petty emotions.
Zoe nodded. “It says…” she stopped, shaking her head. “You should read it for yourself.”
Glancing away, I looked down at the report and flipped to the next page. There was a written transcript of my 911 call the night of the fire, as well as a detailed account of what the police found once they got there.
The fire had overtaken the first floor and had moved up to the second floor. An accelerant must have been used in order for the fire to grow that fast. The fire department was able to put out the flames, but it took almost an hour for the house to become safe for them to enter. By that time, the residents had all been accounted for. Calla Carmichael, daughter of the victim, was woken by the smell of smoke and climbed out of her bedroom window on the second floor. It appears that the family’s fire detection system wasn’t working. Lily Carmichael, daughter of the victim, was not in the house. She had gone to visit a friend at the time of the fire. Violet Carmichael, victim, was the only one to not make it out. It appears she may have died of smoke inhalation prior to being consumed by the flames. More information to come after a full investigation has been completed.
My heart pounded in my ears as I read the report. I didn’t think it would be this difficult, but it felt like I was reliving the experience all over again. I remembered the police questioning me for hours after the fire. They wanted to know where I was, why the smoke alarm hadn’t gone off, why Lily wasn’t there, why I didn’t call the police sooner, why I didn’t try to warn my mom, and so many more things that I didn’t have the answers to. I skipped the third page that had a transcript of my interview. Flipping to the next page, I continued reading.
Forensic Findings
Date: July 27, 2020
Name: Violet Carmichael
Gender: Female
Age: 42
TOD: Approx. 2:30am
Pre-Autopsy Findings
The victim has severe burns covering 90% of her body, consistent with being in a fire. The burn patterns on the victim's skin suggest she was lying in a prone position when the fire consumed her. There is tissue damage in her mouth and throat, consistent with smoke inhalation. However, there is not enough to suggest the cause of death. It appears that she was barely breathing when the fire started, otherwise the damage to her mouth and throat would be more severe. Furthermore, there
appears to be some sort of puncture wounds in her chest and upper abdomen. They could be caused by shrapnel from the fire, but the wounds are similar in size and shape.
Autopsy Findings
Upon further inspection, her lungs do not suggest smoke inhalation was severe enough to cause permanent damage. The fire makes it nearly impossible to tell TOD by liver temperature, but the pooling of the blood suggests she was dead before the fire burned her skin. The puncture wounds in her chest appear to be from some sort of knife or sharp instrument. One of the puncture wounds pierced her heart causing her to bleed out - likely COD.
A chill shot down my spine as I read the final conclusion of the coroner’s report. My mother was stabbed in the heart before the fire even started. She was bleeding to death when the smoke entered her lungs. Did this mean what I think it meant? My mom didn’t die in the fire; she was killed before the fire began. No, this had to be a lie. My hands were shaking as I put the report back inside the envelope, unable to look at it any longer for fear of having a nervous breakdown.
“I’m sorry,” Zoe said, and I shook my head. I couldn’t think about that right now.
“You think whoever wrote this letter has something to do with Jaelyn being missing I asked, turning the focus to something other than the report.
Zoe watched me hesitantly for a moment before slowly nodding. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. Plus, I found it lying on Jaelyn’s bed. I figured it was left for when you returned to look for her,” she explained.
“Yeah,” I sighed, feeling a headache forming. “I guess I should tell you about the other notes, maybe it will help find her.”
Her eyes widened as I recounted the other letters, giving her the reader’s digest version. She’d read one and knew about the others, but I never actually told her what was in them until now. We didn’t have time for me to try to remember what they said word for word anyway. I did include all the weird stuff that kept happening though. When I was finished, she swallowed hard, licking dry lips.
“Someone really has it out for you,” she said. “But it makes sense why you thought it was a prank at first. I even thought it was probably Veronica and her posse when you showed me the first one, but I didn’t know you were going through all that other stuff. I’m sorry you had to go through that alone. Unless someone has a really sick, twisted sense of humor, I have a feeling this isn’t just a joke.”
I swallowed hard, nodding.
“We probably shouldn’t jump to conclusions, but I do think we should start looking for Jaelyn. Even if we’re completely wrong, and it turns out to be a prank, we should be prepared for the worst,” I said, hoping we were wrong and dreading the possibility of us being right.
Zoe nodded. “You’re right. I’ll look around campus and check in with all of her professors to make sure she didn’t show up late or anything. You go with Jordan and check with her family. I’m pretty sure they don’t live too far away. You may be right that she just had some sort of emergency and forgot her phone. Maybe she went home, but wasn’t able to contact them first.”
“Okay, let me know if you find her,” I said. “And I’ll do the same.”
Running out to the parking lot, I apologize to Jordan for making him wait. He waved away my apology, and I told him the plan to which he agreed, and he started the car.
It turned out that Jaelyn’s parents lived about an hour away, so we decided to check out some of her favorite local spots first. She wasn’t at the library or the bookstore, and when we got to her favorite coffee shop, it was already closed for the day.
“Can you think of anywhere else she might have gone?” Jordan asked, and I was confronted with the fact that I really didn’t know anything about Jaelyn.
To be fair, we hadn’t been roommates all that long, but I should at least know where she liked to hang out, shouldn’t I? The only things I knew about her was that she was always happy and bubbly and that she liked pizza. She still hadn’t declared a major so I couldn’t even guess what classes she might be in.
Shaking my head, I shrugged. “Sorry,” I said, feeling useless.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said with a smile. “We’ll go ahead to her parents’ house and see if she’s there. We can worry about what we’re going to do after that.”
On the way there, I started thinking about the report again. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get what it said out of my head. Deciding I had nothing better to do, I pulled the yellow envelope out of my bag, but couldn’t bring myself to actually open it.
“What’s that?” Jordan asked, and my head jerked up.
“What?”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. You just looked a little sick when you took it out,” he said with a shrug.
Looking back at the envelope, I said, “It’s the report of my mother’s death. If this is real, then she might have actually been murdered.”
“Oh… I’m sorry,” he said, turning his attention back to the road, and an awkward silence filled the car.
Taking a deep breath, I lifted the flap on top of the envelope and pulled out the report. I reread through the first few pages, eyes filling with tears at what happened to my mother. Once again, rage that Lily left me here alone ran through me. I couldn’t even tell her what was going on. Pulling out my phone, I sent a quick message to her.
Lily, mom might have been murdered. Call me.
I sighed, hopelessly waiting for a response that wouldn’t come. Flipping the report closed, I went to put it back in my bag when a small bright yellow piece of paper fell out. Picking up the sticky note with shaky hands, I flipped it over.
If you want to know more, return to the place where it all started
SIX
Jaelyn’s house was exactly how I imagined it in my mind. It was white with red bricks, surrounded by a white picket fence, the picture of a perfect family home. The only problem was, the house was empty, like it had been gutted from the inside out. If you asked me, the house looked as if it hadn’t been lived in for years.
“Are you sure this is her house?” I asked as we walked around, looking in all the windows for any sign of life.
“One hundred percent. I was just here a few weeks ago,” he said, running a hand through his hair.
“We should go around back. Do you know if there’s a way to get through the fence?” I asked.
Jordan nodded. “Yeah. There’s a latch on one of the side gates. We should be able to reach it if I lift you up.”
Heat filled my cheeks, but I nodded. It wasn’t like I would be able to lift him. Besides, we didn’t really have a choice in the matter. We needed to get inside and figure out what was going on. Why would Jaelyn’s family up and disappear at the same time she went missing? None of this made any sense.
To his credit, Jordan didn’t so much as strain when he picked me up so I could reach the latch over the fence. When I released it, the gate swung open and a small furry body ran out, running right passed us. I screamed, jerking away, and Jordan lost his grip on my waist, stumbling backwards. We tumbled, landing in a heap on the artificially green grass.
“What the hell was that?” I shrieked, feeling my pride escape in waves.
Jordan, currently lying in a prone position on the ground, burst out laughing. I glared at him, frowning as I wondered what he found funny about us being attacked by an insane animal, when he pointed behind me. Turning to see what he was looking at, I froze, feeling my embarrassment reach its highest point yet. On the other side of the lawn was the smallest, most skittish looking Chihuahua I’d ever seen. Unable to hold back the laughter building in my stomach, I let it out, joining Jordan in his amusement.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh, but you should have seen the look on your face,” he said, doubled over from the exertion.
Without thinking about it, I slapped him in the arm, and his eyes went wide. I froze, worried I’d gone too far, but then he pointed at my face and started laughing again. Rolling my eyes, I pushed
myself up to my feet and brushed the grass from my jeans. He followed me up and through the gate, laughing the entire way.
The backyard held a small picnic table, a swing set that was made for children, and a barbeque pit off to the side. The grass was equally as maintained as the front yard, but I could tell there had been recent foot traffic.
“Do these look like drag marks to you?” Jordan asked, and I just realized he’d stopped laughing. Instead, he was bent over, studying something on the ground on the side of the house. It was right inside the gate, and I would have stepped right over it. Sure enough, there were trails in the grass that looked like something had been dragged through it. My stomach twisted.
“It could have been wheels, like a cart or something,” I said, sounding even less confident than I felt.
“I don’t think…” he paused, looking at my face. “You’re right. It could have been anything. Let’s see if we can get inside, maybe there’s a clue or something that might tell us where they went.”
I nodded, forcing myself to look away from the tracks to help search for an entrance they could use. When Jordan tried the back door, neither of us expected it to swing open. Readying myself for some sort of trap, I was surprised when I walked into a completely empty house.
“I thought you talked to her parents this morning,” I said. “How could they have disappeared and completely cleared out their house without leaving a trace in that amount of time?”
“I don’t think that’s what happened here,” he said.
I had to agree. The place didn’t look like it had recently been abandoned. It looked like no one had lived in it for years.
Walking around with wide eyes and jaw dropped, Jordan began shaking his head. He was in such a state of shock that he didn’t even hear me ask the question. We decided to split up and see if there was anything left. Chills covered my skin as I discovered the true gravity of the situation. There was not a single scrap of evidence that anyone had ever lived in this house before. It truly looked like a brand new house that was just built. The carpet looked new, the floors were shiny and unscuffed, even the kitchen appliances were too clean to have ever been used. It was like someone had pulled it out of a magazine and placed it on this lot.
You Could Have Saved Her Page 6