Adventures of a Graveyard Girl (14 page)

"Who do you think would want to kill her?" I asked. "I mean, did she fight with anyone at the dance?"

"No, we were having a great time, actually," Sebastian said. "And, as to who might kill her...I have no idea. She was a great girl, although, we only went out a couple of times. Still, maybe someone like Julia Morgan would have had a reason. Then again she's dead too."

"Did you know her too?" I asked, trying to sound impressed by Sebastian knowing both of the dead girls.

"Some," Sebastian admitted, "Julia tried to hit on all the guys."

"I wonder who'd want both of them dead," Ethan said.

Sebastian laughed and said, "Jenny Kendall. She wanted to be Pep Club president just as much as either of them. Too bad Ariel took it from her today."

"But you were in the running too," I said.

"I'd do it if they elected me," Sebastian said, "But I don't really care. It's just a college transcript booster for me, but those girls were all at each other to be president like it was the holy grail of high school club status."

I looked over at Jenny Kendall. She was busy using glitter to decorate her poster. Could someone who used glitter be a murderer? She was working on the poster pretty ferociously, though. Ethan and I had barely started ours and Jenny was already snazzing hers up. Maybe she was venting her frustrations on losing the presidency into her art.

Sebastian must have seen me looking over at Jenny because he said, "She looks pretty innocent, though, right? Yeah, if it wasn't her, you might check out Madison's ex-boyfriend, Ray Newton. He and Julia had a thing too. Big love triangle."

Sebastian's friend, a big burly guy who totally didn't look like he'd belong in Pep Club, distracted him with a question about something normal, like a fantasy league of some kind. I wasn't into sports or fake sports or the like, so I quickly tuned out. I know. I was in Pep Club, which cheered sports teams on, but it was more about gawking at hot guys, getting a club on your college applications, and in this case, investigating some murders.

Ethan and I exchanged a glance. Another couple of names added to the suspect list and we still had to finish our Pep Club poster. We both looked down at it, since Sebastian had started talking to his friend.

"What do you want to draw?" Ethan asked, noticing my gaze.

"Anything to get us out of here," I said, looking down at the blank white poster board.

"Yeah," Ethan sighed.

I looked over toward Jenny Kendall. I wanted to talk to her too before Pep Club ended. I wouldn't have a more opportune moment. She wasn't in her spot, though. I looked around the room. Jenny wasn't in sight. She was already gone, poster done. She must have been upset about losing the presidency. Maybe she had stayed to keep up appearances and then booked out as soon as nobody was looking. I'd have to make it a point to catch up to her later.

Ethan and I walked out of Pep Club an hour later with marker stains on our hands from making posters for the game on Saturday. It was a lot of work, making a quality poster. At least, I hoped it hadn't looked like a kindergartner made it, since one of us was probably going to be holding it at the game, in front of the entire school. We were both silent. My mind for the last hour had been warring between how I might convince Ariel to denounce her Pep Club presidency and the idea that maybe Ariel could keep her new post because there was a different reason for the murders. I didn't want Ariel to take the chance. At this point, the odds weren't good.

"You okay?" Ethan asked as we walked to his car. He had driven to school in anticipation of going to the Pep Club meeting.

I shrugged, "Just worrying about Ariel. I know that's weird."

Ethan frowned, "It's not weird. You guys were best friends for forever."

I nodded, "Yeah. I guess I still care about her. You know, that she stays alive."

"You're only human," Ethan said, sarcastically, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Thanks," I punched him playfully on the arm.

He used the opportunity to try and tickle me. I ran. He chased me all the way to the car where he kissed me. Ariel became a distant memory for a few minutes.

We broke apart and I looked up at Ethan, "We have to figure out what's going on before Saturday."

"Why?" Ethan asked.

"I would bet anything that the next murder will take place then," I said simply.

"How do you know that?" Ethan asked. "The second murder happened on a random Tuesday."

"Yeah," I said, thinking, "Right before a Pep Club bake sale and the first one took place at the Homecoming Dance that the Pep Club helped decorate. Regardless, the game is sure a great place to kill someone and make a scene and I'm starting to think this killer gets off on ruining school events. They totally don't seem to have school spirit."

"Do you think that's the motive then?" Ethan asked. "Ruining school functions?"

"I think that's kind of a lame motive," I said, "I think it's more of a bonus. You know? Like they get off on the scandal and they're the only ones who know that they did it and got away with it...so far."

Ethan nodded, "That kind of makes sense. You know, as much as I hate to admit it, you kind of have a knack for this."

I felt a glow of pleasure at the compliment, "Thanks."

"So, any idea where to start?" Ethan asked.

Being that the list of potential suspects only seemed to be growing wasn't a good thing. I had lots of ideas, but no real solid leads. If we were going to figure things out by Saturday, we needed more connections between the dots.

My glow of pleasure disappeared, "None."

It was Ethan's idea to visit Detective Dixon at the Palos Police Station. I wished I had some advance notice. I would have bought the Detective a reusable coffee mug. It was on my list. The Styrofoam cup thing he had going on was seriously bothering me. I didn't have too much time to think about it, though, because surprise, surprise we were ushered into his office way more quickly than that last time.

"What are you two doing here?" Detective Dixon asked gruffly.

I noticed that the Styrofoam cups in his office seemed to have multiplied. I really shouldn't have procrastinated on buying that travel mug. Actually, Detective Dixon's office really would have benefited from a cleaning service too, and of course, a recycling bin.

"We're here to talk about the murders of Madison Brown and Julia Morgan," I said.

Detective Dixon sighed, "Look, Kait and Ethan, like I've said before, leave this to the police. Enjoy high school."

"How can we? People are being murdered. And, we helped you last time," I said, already regretting and second guessing Ethan's instinct at coming to the police station.

"We have some good information," Ethan said. "Maybe we could do a trade."

Detective Dixon's frown turned into a smirk, "The police don't work like that."

"We do have some leads," I said.

Detective Dixon looked at me, "Are you trying to end up in the hospital again?"

"No," I said. "Of course not."

"Are you sure? Do I need to put you on suicide watch?" Detective Dixon asked.

He was being sarcastic. I frowned at him, "No. "I'm just trying to find out what really happened to Madison and Julia."

Detective Dixon sighed, "Fine. What do you guys have?"

We told him our list of suspects and the reasons behind them from Noah Robertson to Sebastian Zane to Seth Wilcox to Jenny Kendall to Ray Newton. I secretly wondered how many more suspects might be in the woodwork.

"Oh, and Ariel Walker, despite having been in the bathroom with Madison right before she died, didn't do it," I said finally. "She told me all about it and I believe her."

I had to make that clear to the detective. I was pretty positive that Ariel had nothing to do with the murders of Madison and Julia. Well, ninety-nine percent sure and that was pretty sure. Plus, I didn't want the police spending time suspecting Ariel, when she might turn out to be the next victim.

"We talked to Ariel," Detective Dixon said, but didn't say anything else.

A kernel of fear popped up in my stomach. Was Ariel a suspect then? Why didn't Detective Dixon say anything else? She couldn't be. Seriously, what if Ariel was the one in danger?

"Detective," I added, "Just a note, I mean, so you know - Ariel is the new Pep Club president. I mean, just in case she's in danger and all. And, like I said, she's not a murderer."

The Detective nodded. I didn't know if he'd help Ariel at all, but at least I had mentioned my fears to him. It was all I could do and at least it was something.

I was impressed, though, the whole time we talked, I noticed that Detective Dixon actually wrote our suspects down and seemed to genuinely listen, even about Ariel being in danger. He did write that down too. I could read it upside down on his notepad. It was a nice change of pace. Detective Dixon was taking us seriously this time. It looked like I had gotten some street cred from solving my last case.

"Anyone else a suspect?" Detective Dixon asked, pen poised.

Ethan and I looked at each other. The five names we had given the Detective were our lead suspects. Truthfully, the killer might not even be one of them. I wondered what sort of leads the police had and if there was anyone else we should add to the list. Then I noticed that the Detective had used the plural word for murders. So, the police were investigating Julia's death as a murder too. It was official, at least in police channels, even if nobody else knew that yet.

"No," Ethan said. "No other suspects."

Detective Dixon looked over the list, "Thanks. We'll take it from here."

"Can you give us anything?" I asked.

Detective Dixon shook his head, "I can't. Sorry. It's a police matter. Thank you for the help, though."

I nodded even though I was disappointed, "Yeah."

Detective Dixon hesitated, like he was going to say something.

"What?" I asked.

"I was just thinking that someday you might make a pretty good detective," Detective Dixon said.

I smiled at him. I almost said something about the Styrofoam cups and recycling, but I kept my mouth shut. Detective Dixon was paying me a compliment. It wasn't the time to criticize his impact on the planet.

Then the Detective continued on, "Someday when I'm retired of course and you've grown up. In the meantime, we've got it from here. Okay?"

I didn't say anything. I felt Ethan look at me. I wasn't promising anyone that I'd stop sleuthing. Detective Dixon didn't notice, though, he was busy hurrying us out of his office. Ethan and I walked out of the police station, hand in hand, toward his car.

"So, are you happy with how that turned out?" I asked. We hadn't gotten any real information to help us in our case, but from Detective Dixon's reaction to us, I felt like maybe we helped him with some insight into the background high school politics going on in this case. He had at least sort of listened to us this time around. Still, it would have been nice to get some clues for our investigation in return.

Ethan shrugged, "You?"

That was when we passed the police impound lot. I spotted it from across the yard, the car that had obviously been Julia's. It was a white Honda Civic and would not have stood out, except that the front hood was up and written inside the front hood, I could just make out the words: Pep Club slut.

It was finally Friday. It had been an excruciatingly long week. From Madison's murder to Julia's to rejoining Pep Club to worrying for Ariel, I had been busy. That wasn't including things like homework and my job at the video store or time spent making out with Ethan.

I had spent the night before tossing and turning, wondering if the Pep Club really was the basis for the murders. Was anti-school spirit really that strong of a motivator for someone to kill innocent girls?

I was tired and had to rush to get ready for school. I forgot to put on my make-up and only remembered when I was almost at the bus stop. I couldn't go back home and get it because I was already running late. Then, I barely caught my bus on time - as in, I had to run after it. Luckily, the bus driver saw me and stopped to pick me up. It was going to be one of those days.

Madison's funeral was after school. Ethan and I decided to attend it together. I'd have time to go home and change this time, since we were going to go a couple of hours after school ended. Thank goodness, since I at least, wanted to put on some make-up for that.

I saw Ariel hanging Pep Club posters inviting everyone to the game on Saturday, just as I walked in the school doors. It freaked me out a little and hit home that I better move forward in the murder investigation. I saw Ariel notice me as I walked by too, but she pretended not to see me. Typical. I ignored her too and hurried to my locker.

As muddled as my brain felt from the exhausting week and it being way too early in the morning, I knew I had to be on my toes. I needed to investigate some of the leads Ethan and I had. It was Friday and we were running out of time until Saturday. I was still sure that Saturday was the D-day for the next murder and I was really afraid that Ariel was the next one in danger of being killed.