Part 4 (1/2)

”Then you didn't kill her?” Chloe said before she could stop herself.

”No, I didn't kill her,” Grey said in all seriousness. ”She did something pretty terrible to me, but I would never have killed her.”

”But you were right there,” Chloe pointed out. She wanted to believe him, but she also knew that Lora's murderer would definitely lie about killing her. She may have thought Grey was cute, but she wasn't totally blind to reality.

Grey looked scared, ”I know. And, that's why I need to get rid of these photos and their negatives. They put me too close to the scene of the crime.”

”But like you said, you might have a picture of the killer! One of those pictures might be really important! They might tell the police what happened,” Chloe wished she had taken a better look at those pictures.

”That's why I wanted to talk to you. I think the police think I'm a suspect,” Grey ran a hand through his hair, anxiously.

”What?” Chloe was incredulous, even though she herself had already considered him a suspect too.

Grey sighed, ”The cops came to my house last night. They wanted to ask me about my relations.h.i.+p with Lora and where I had been around the time she was killed.”

”What did you tell them?” Chloe asked.

”I told them I was with you,” Grey said taking her hand and looking into her eyes. ”We met on the stairs, remember?”

Chloe's mind was whirling, ”But you were on the beach before that. We were only together a couple of minutes at the most. That's not enough for an alibi.”

”That's why I need you to tell them that we talked for a while and then you went down to the beach and found Lora and I went up to the pool deck,” Grey pleaded to her with his eyes.

Chloe was unsure, ”Why should I do that? If you didn't do it, surely they can't find proof that you did.”

Grey sighed, ”Then why do innocent people go to jail for crimes they didn't commit? I know the cops around here, Chloe. They have it in for me. I did something I regret last year. I broke into a house. I didn't need the money. I did it for the thrill, a dare actually from the ill.u.s.trious Lora Kelly. I wanted to impress her. Well, I got caught from a silent alarm going off in the house. They arrested me and charged me and were none too nice to me when they found out I was from a wealthy family.”

”Wow,” Chloe said.

Grey was caught up in the memory and kept talking, ”And, you know what Lora did when I called her to tell her that I had been arrested? She laughed. She thought it was hilarious. She didn't care about me at all. I tried to impress a girl who didn't have a heart, who had just used me for her amus.e.m.e.nt.”

Chloe kept silent at the bitterness she heard in his voice. She wasn't sure what to say, so she just listened. As he spoke, she couldn't help but think that such abject humiliation would be a good reason to commit murder.

Chloe felt unsure about asking her next question, but she felt she had to know, ”So, how did Emma fit into the Lora Kelly situation?”

Grey looked surprised at the mention of Emma's name, ”How do you know Emma? Have you been checking up on me?”

Chloe felt her face burn pink, ”No, no I haven't, but Emma and I have been having lunch together and she mentioned seeing you and me in the hallway. She said you went out on a few dates and then Lora Kelly found out and made her out to be a s.l.u.t.”

Grey shook his head, ”I liked Emma. I wasn't dating Lora at the time, no matter what Lora said or Emma thinks. Don't get me wrong, I had been interested in Lora for a while, but she always kept me at a distance. I never even got to kiss her. When she dared me to rob the house, it was stupid. I thought the thrill was pretty s.e.xual, but Lora Kelly just thought it was amusing to have someone do her bidding. So, when I started pursuing Emma instead, she felt insulted. To Lora, n.o.body rejected Lora Kelly. Lora Kelly only decided when she was done with them. So, she made things miserable for Emma. We had only gone out a few times, but Lora's rumors about me and Emma and her, ruined any sort of relations.h.i.+p Emma and I might have had. I feel sorry about that. Emma got the raw end of the deal.”

”Why didn't you say anything to set the record straight?” Chloe asked.

”n.o.body would have believed me or cared if I was telling the truth. Lora Kelly was the popular girl and her word was law. She decimated a lot of people with that power. You should ask your friend Jake. She ripped his heart out.”

”He won't talk about it,” Chloe said, frowning.

”Yeah, Lora had that effect on people,” Grey seemed lost in his own thoughts for a moment.

”Yes, she definitely did,” Chloe said.

Grey focused his gaze back on Chloe, ”So, if the police ask you, will you be my alibi?”

”I don't know, Grey,” Chloe said, conflicted. ”I need to think about it and anyway, I already told them about that night.”

”So? Just tell them you didn't know my name. You're only lying a little. We did talk that night,” Grey reminded her.

”I don't know,” Chloe said again, feeling herself wavering.

Chloe looked into his eyes and still found herself wondering if he was telling the whole truth. Grey's eyes continued pleading with hers, as Chloe gathered her things and went to go wait for Jake at the coffee shop he had told her about, The Latte, so that she could catch a ride home with him. To distract herself, she asked about getting a job there, filled out, and handed in an application. Only later did she realize she had forgotten to fill in a whole section that she had meant to get back to because she was still too busy thinking about Grey and murder.

Chapter 6: The Other Girl.

Chloe was glad to do something mundane like Calculus homework after the craziness of the last few days. It was finally Friday night and she didn't have to be at school again until Monday. She hadn't seen Grey since their talk in the darkroom, except in brief pa.s.sing in the hallways. He always smiled, but before she could figure out what to say to him, he was gone. Chloe had slightly hoped that he might ask her out for the weekend, but he hadn't said anything to her. Maybe she had been mistaken that there was something there between them and perhaps, she hadn't encouraged him by not promising to be his alibi.

The police hadn't talked to her since the murder. She had antic.i.p.ated hearing from them after Grey's plea, but so far they hadn't contacted her. She felt relieved about that. After everything, she wanted to get as far away from the murder as possible. She just wanted everything to be normal again.

Jake had been busy with football and Kate all week. Their car rides to and from school had continued to be silent. Chloe didn't want to push the issue, but if he didn't talk to her soon beyond a ”Ready yet?” in the morning and again in the afternoon, she was going to have to have a talk with him.

In the first week of school, Emma had become her only friend. Lunch was easily the best part of her day now and she looked forward to it all day, despite the large group of morbid gossip seekers who were still curious about her finding Lora Kelly's body. Even that stigma seemed to be disappearing. Chloe found that less people paid attention to her as she walked through the halls now. She had given them nothing to gossip about, so they were slowly forgetting about her.

And, to her relief, Chloe hadn't received any more mysterious notes in her locker or felt stalked. It seemed that whoever was hara.s.sing her had lost interest. She was safe, she hoped and after all, maybe it had all been just a mean prank to begin with.

Chloe had been spending the last few nights at the coffee shop Jake had suggested. The Latte seemed to be a popular after school hang out. They had food in addition to coffee drinks, so you could even eat there if you were hungry. Chloe had taken to sitting at a small table in the corner and doing her homework, while sipping on a cup of hot chocolate. n.o.body bothered her and she was glad for the alone time even if the other kids laughing at their tables and throwing fries at one another made her a little envious.

Chloe looked at her math problem again. It was a difficult one and her brain wanted to think about other things. She forced herself to focus on the problem instead and started scribbling calculations down on the paper with her pencil.

”Can I talk to you?” a female voice said from above her.

The girl looked slightly familiar. She had wavy brown hair and a pretty face. She was wearing a PV High School cheerleading uniform with a designer jacket over it that Chloe quickly deduced she'd never be able to afford. Had she seen her cheerleading with Kate that night that she had been stalked in the darkroom? She could definitely have been the girl that broke the staring contest between her and Kate, but Chloe had seen her somewhere else as well. Suddenly Chloe realized where she had seen her. This had been the girl with the crying red eyes that Jana was comforting at the lunch table she had tried to sit at on her first day of school. The girl who had seemed to want to talk to her even then, but was almost afraid of the people surrounding her.

”Sure,” Chloe said, moving some of her notes so that the girl could set down her cappuccino with ease.

The girl sat down across from her and looked her squarely in the eyes, ”I know we don't know each other, but I've been wanting to talk to you.”

Chloe was curious, ”Okay.”

”I was a good friend of Lora Kelly's, some would say her best friend. I'm Elizabeth. Liz for short,” Liz ran a hand through her hair, nervously.

”I'm Chloe, but you probably already know that,” Chloe said, putting her pencil down and shutting her Calculus book.

”Yeah. I need to ask you something. It's about Lora's death,” Liz looked on the verge of tears as she said Lora's name.