Adventures In Murder Chasing (Funeral Crashing #3) (23 page)

"Well, what are you going to do with it?" I asked.

"I don't know," He said.

"You should turn it in," I said. "Maybe someone's looking for it."

He hung up on me. I looked at the phone in shock. Seriously? I so wanted to call back. I took a deep breath, trying to calm down.

"You should have said it was your phone," Ethan said.

"That's a great idea!" I said and quickly called the number back. Plus I wanted to tell the guy off.

It rang and rang and rang and went to voicemail. The voicemail was generic, just a computer voice telling me to leave a message. That wasn't helpful. I hung up.

"No answer," I said.

"You scared him off," Ethan said.

"I just asked him if it was his phone," I said.

"Maybe he's the killer," Ethan said.

Chills ran up my arms, "Maybe. I don't know, though. The messages were from a girl."

"Maybe it's a team, a guy and a girl," Ethan said.

I nodded. "That could be. I'm going to try him again. If he's not the killer, though, it would be great to get my hands on that phone. We could see what numbers it called."

I dialed the number again, but again it went to voicemail. I had a feeling the guy I had talked to would not be picking up the phone again. The question was, was he telling me the truth and he found the phone or was he mixed up in murder? Chills shot up my arms again. I didn't know. Should I text him from my phone? I felt reluctant. If he was the killer, then that would mean he'd be able to find out who I was too. I couldn't be sure either way. My brain took that moment to remind me that a girl left the messages at the dorms. I had to take that into consideration.

"So what now?" I said feeling even more frustrated that our tiny lead had fizzled. I wasn't sure what to think, except that I still thought we were on the right track, "Any ideas?"

"Well," Ethan said. "I don't think you're going to like it."

Ethan was right. I didn't like it, but in the end I agreed. If I had just been talking to a killer we were in way over our heads. Even if I hadn't, though, there was a good chance another desk assistant was going to die after work on Saturday, at least according to the pattern so far. I definitely didn't need to end up in the hospital again, chasing down a killer, so we needed help, real help.

We wound up at the closest police department to Landale College. It was a lot bigger than the police department back home. They must have had to deal with a lot more crime in the city. There were three officers at the front desk when we walked in, but I couldn't really see into the offices behind them to see how many policemen worked in the department.

Ethan and I walked up to the counter. The closest police officer looked up. He was middle aged, but really buff. He was not the stereotypical I eat donuts and fast food all the time cop. This guy cared about his physique. His nametag said Martinez.

"Can I help you?" Officer Martinez asked.

"We'd like to report a crime," I said.

Officer Martinez didn't move, "What kind of crime?"

"Well," I looked at Ethan.

He shrugged and looked at Officer Martinez, "A murder."

The other police officers glanced at us. Officer Martinez suddenly looked less bored and more interested. He reached for a form. "What happened? Were you a witness?"

"No, we weren't," I said. "But we have evidence that proves that Nico Moretti and Dana Tulle from Landale College were murdered."

Officer Martinez looked suddenly bored again. "Alright. I've had enough of these college pranks. We're busy here."

"We're serious," Ethan said. "Show him the evidence, Kait."

I rummaged frantically through my purse. Where had I put the paper Westley had given me? I grabbed for my phone too, where I had taken a picture of the other note.

"Seriously, get out of here before I arrest the two of you," Officer Martinez said.

I looked up, phone and paper in hand. "But I have the proof right here."

"And I have the proof right here," Officer Martinez said, pointing to a gun attached to his hip. "Get out of here."

I had to give it another try. It could be a matter of life or death for someone. "Can't you just take a look at these? See what you think? Please? Another desk assistant might be in danger on Saturday and..."

"Or would you prefer these?" Officer Martinez interrupted me, holding up his handcuffs.

Ethan grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the police station. That went well, I thought to myself, as I got into the passenger seat of Ethan's car. Now what did we do?

It was only Tuesday and I knew we had plenty of time to figure out something before Saturday. That didn't help me sleep the night before, though, and it definitely didn't help that when I got to my locker, Ariel was waiting for me again. She stared at me as I walked toward her and I could tell that she wasn't happy. I sighed. I had to get some books out of my locker. I had no choice. Maybe I could break the speed record and get them out before Ariel noticed I was there. Yeah, wishful thinking, I thought, because as soon as I had locked eyes on Ariel, she had seen me too.

"So," Ariel said as I walked up to my locker, not paying attention to her, and twirled the combination. "What's this I hear about you looking into Nico Moretti's death again? And why didn't you text me back?"

Did Ariel actually sound hurt? I focused on my locker combination. "Yeah. I'm guessing Troy told you. Sorry, I wanted to be sure before anybody else got involved."

I had texted Troy after Ethan dropped me off the night before. He deserved to know that we were back on the case. I didn't give him any details because I wasn't sure what to tell him, but I didn't want him to find out about our investigating secondhand either and be blindsided. I guessed I had inadvertently blindsided Ariel, though.

"But I'm the one who told you about Dana Tulle!" Ariel said.

I looked up at her and said what I was thinking. "Why are you so mad about this? I didn't get the impression that you even liked murder investigating the other day."

Ariel shrugged. "It was okay. There were just a lot of us."

"Alright," I felt confused and I didn't know what to say. What did that even mean? That Ariel just wanted to hang out with me? But according to her we weren't even friends. Yeah, I was very confused. "Anyway, sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't think you'd care."

Ariel frowned, but didn't say anything right away. Then she broke her silence. "So, what did you find out?"

I sighed and then told her. I didn't want her to follow me around school all day harassing me. Besides, then she could tell Troy and I wouldn't have to call him to fill him in, which I had been thinking about doing because he deserved to know. I was trying to keep my distance from Troy, for Ethan.

"So, are you going down there on Saturday then or what?" Ariel asked.

I hadn't let myself think about that yet. I mean, I had thought about it, but I knew that Ethan would be totally against it. Still, if we didn't have another plan before then, we'd have to go. I didn't know how we'd end up covering all the dorms at once since that's what we'd have to do to see which desk assistant got the call, but it was definitely an option.

"Maybe," I said.

"I'd like to go," Ariel said.

"What?" She had thrown me for a loop again. "Why?"

"Because," Ariel said.

"Because why?" I asked.

"Because," Ariel repeated.

Ariel wasn't going to answer me. I couldn't take her anymore. I'd do anything to get rid of her. I just wanted to think about the case and what we were going to do.

"Fine," I said. "If we investigate, you can come."

"Don't lie to me," Ariel said. "If you go without me, I'll be really pissed and you know how I get if I get pissed."

Yes, I did know. I'd have to include her now. I just didn't get why she even wanted to go. Maybe she was trying to impress Troy or something. It did start me thinking, though. If we had a bunch of friends come with us, we could cover all the dorms. Maybe Ethan would even feel like I was safer surrounded by friends. I tried to push away the nagging thought my brain wanted to bring up, that I didn't always seem to be safe in a crowd of people.

"Fine," I said, focusing back on Ariel. "If we investigate, you can come."

"Fine," Ariel said, turning and walking away from me.

I was glad that she was gone, but I felt a pang in my chest. I hated it. I knew it was the part of me that still wondered where we stood.

The day flew by. I filled Suzie and Kyle in during Chemistry. They were totally enthralled by the story. I almost didn't get it all in before the bell to start class rang, but I gave them the important details.

"We're in," Suzie said after I was finished.

"Definitely," Kyle agreed. "We'll help. It sounds like a solid lead."

"As long as we can be together," Suzie continued, "I'd be scared without Kyle."

"That's awesome! And definitely you and Kyle can be together," I felt encouraged and way better than I had that morning because if we decided to investigate, I already had part of my crew. Well, besides Ariel. She wouldn't have been a top choice for my crew anyway. It really did seem like Kyle and Suzie and I were friends. It felt...nice.

"And, um, Kait," Suzie said breaking into my thoughts. "Where did you say Dana Tulle was from?"

"Madison, Wisconsin," I said. "Why?"

Suzie frowned, "Remember the girl that I ran into when we visited Landale? I think that's her. I can't remember her last name, but I'm pretty sure."

My jaw dropped. I wasn't going to say it, but geesh, for a non-funeral crasher, Suzie sure knew a lot of dead people. I closed my mouth and tried not to look affected. I tried to picture the girl that Suzie and Kyle had been talking to when we met them for lunch that day, the freckled girl with the short light brown hair. I hadn't even connected them as the same person, but now that I thought about it they almost definitely could be the same girl.

"Well, um, anything you remember about her?" I asked.

"Just from when we were kids and playing at my grandma's house. She wore pigtails and liked to throw sand down your back. She thought it was funny. I just remember playing in the sandbox with her. Sorry," Suzie said.

"It's all good," I said. "Anything else she said at lunch?"

"No," Suzie said.

"Just what we already told you," Kyle added. "We never thought to ask her if she was in danger or anything."

I nodded. Why would they? A part of me still wished that I had guessed that she was in danger. I might have been able to save her.

"Now I really want to help," Suzie said, bringing me out of my thoughts. "She was alive just a few days ago. I got her email address to keep in touch."

"Me too," Kyle said. "We just saw her."

"It's so surreal," Suzie said, her voice cracking. "And sad."

"It'll be alright, honey," Kyle said.

Suzie looked like she was about to burst into tears. Yeah, with Suzie's luck, I was ninety-nine percent sure it was the same Dana. I was glad that she had Kyle to comfort her.

To comfort myself, I spent all of Chemistry not quite paying attention and thinking about the case. I knew Troy would probably want in too and I was sure Ethan could convince his friends Dave and Mike to tag along if we needed the extra help. The only real problem was Ethan. We had lunch together, but I didn't want to bring it up. I was nervous about how he'd react. I really wanted to stakeout the dorms on Saturday and I didn't want to hear Ethan say no.

It was really disheartening then, when the first words out of Ethan's mouth as he sat down next to me at our lunch table spot were, "So, what do you want to do about the investigation?"

I don't know what came over me. I ignored his question and planted a kiss on his lips. It was a quick kiss, but I only pulled an inch away from his face just after. Ethan froze for a second in surprise and then leaned forward and kissed me back. It was really nice, actually. His lips moved tentatively on mine at first, but I kissed him a little harder. He kissed back. I was starting to get into it and I could tell Ethan was too, when Ethan pulled away. I looked around, disappointed. I wondered if any teachers were going to come over and yell at us for making out in school even though people did it all the time.

"What was that for?" Ethan smiled.

"I just missed you," I lied. Well, I did miss him all the time and I loved kissing him, but I was in no way going to tell him that I was kissing him to change the subject.

"I missed you too," Ethan looked into my eyes.

I looked back. He was so totally cute. I lov...arg! Well, in my mind, the subject was totally changed at least. I even forgot about my lunch. I thought about kissing Ethan again. We never really kissed much at lunch. It was the whole school thing. We tried to keep the PDA low key so that we wouldn't get into trouble. Thinking about it at the moment, though, how much trouble could we get into anyway? We were just kissing.