Adventures in Funeral Crashing (7 page)

Didn’t he know that styrofoam was practically
non-recyclable? What about saving the planet and all that? I didn’t
say anything, though, even though I was thinking it. We weren’t
here to save the planet, after all. We were there to stop more
people from getting murdered and since I was the weird girl, we had
agreed to let Ethan do all the talking. So, quiet, stay quiet, was
the mantra I kept repeating in my brain.

Detective Dixon’s office was a tiny cubbyhole
in the Palos Police Department and it was littered with those empty
styrofoam coffee cups. This guy liked his coffee…and killing the
planet. Other than that, there were papers everywhere. For a small
suburban town with no apparent crime, other than a triple murder
labeled as drug overdoses, he looked like he might be a busy guy.
And, okay maybe there was more than just domestic violence cases
happening in the city of Palos. Maybe it wasn’t the nice town it
seemed to be. I know I had always felt safe there before, but maybe
not so much now.

Ethan was in the middle of explaining the
situation, when I tuned back into the conversation and out of my
inner monologue, “So, what that boils down to is that we think my
sister Liz, Olivia Reynolds, and Melissa Kent were all murdered.
And, we think Troy Matthews might be involved. He knew all the
victims.”

Detective Dixon had spent Ethan’s entire
explanation nodding, but he hadn’t even touched the blank notepad
and black pen lying on his desk, “You said they were Facebook
friends?”

Ethan nodded, “Yes.”

“Technically, aren’t they all connected
through their school? Isn’t Facebook a social tool? For networking?
It’s possible that they all knew each other too, isn’t it? Laurel
Community College is a small school. A tight knit community
college, if you will. Everyone knows everyone else and everyone’s
on Facebook. That’s why these overdoses are such a tragedy,”
Detective Dixon had slipped into his procedural police voice.

It was obvious to me that he was thinking –
ah, these silly kids, trying to play detective! I was no silly
kid!

“They’re not overdoses! They’re murders!” I
said and okay, maybe I said it a little too loudly, with a little
too much emphasis, and totally out of the blue since I had just
been sitting there quietly before this.

“And, how are you involved?” Detective Dixon
turned to me, “Besides being Mr. Ripley’s girlfriend? I’m sorry,
Miss…”

“Kait Lenox,” I said, feeling frustrated.

“Miss Lenox,” Detective Dixon continued,
“I’ve worked for this police department for the last twenty years.
We’re checking these overdoses out, but for now, they’re classified
as drug related deaths. There’s no evidence leading us to believe
these girls were murdered.”

“But we just gave you evidence!” Ethan
cried.

“All based on how you feel about your sister
and other girls in similar situations. It’s a coincidence. It is
very possible that the girls all had lots of friends in common.
They may have even known each other. It’s a very, very sad
situation, but there is absolutely no evidence of anything more
than drugs. Troy Matthews isn’t a lead because there weren’t any
murders,” Detective Dixon was trying to be compassionate, but it
came out patronizing.

“What about looking into if he’s a drug
dealer or if they did drugs together or something?” I asked, just
wanting them to check up on Troy in some way. I was getting really
frustrated.

Detective Dixon frowned, “We’ll keep an eye
on him, but there really isn’t any evidence that he’s
involved…”

“There’s also this email from Vanessa Martin
that Liz never got from the day she died,” I said pushing a copy of
Vanessa’s Facebook email to Liz toward him.

He glanced at it quickly and said, “This
doesn’t say anything. Looks like she just needed to talk to
her.”

“Yeah,” I kept pushing, “And, then within
hours of that email, Liz is dead. Maybe Vanessa knows something
about that.”

“We’ll look into it,” Detective Dixon,
nodded, but I didn’t believe him.

Ethan was seething, but trying to hold his
temper. I didn’t even know him that well and I could see that
Detective Dixon was frustrating the hell out of him. Hell,
Detective Dixon was frustrating the hell out of me too and it
wasn’t even my sister that had died. I knew we were onto something.
The police had to listen. I mean, what were Ethan and I going to do
with this information? The law had to help us out and use it to
find the murderer and then arrest them.

“At least check out Troy Matthews,” I
pleaded. I was suddenly afraid that we had blown our one and only
shot with the police and solving Liz’s murder. That would be a
travesty.

Detective Dixon scrutinized us for a moment.
I got the distinct impression that he was trying not to roll his
eyes, while pretending to humor us, instead. Seriously. It was
super annoying.

“Okay, okay, it’s time for both of you to
leave now. I have work to get done before I go home tonight,”
Detective Dixon gestured at the papers lying everywhere.

“Thanks for nothing, Detective Dixon,” Ethan
muttered, bitterly, as he stood up.

I didn’t even bother saying anything as Ethan
and I left the office.

“Can you believe that guy?” Ethan slammed his
fist against the steering wheel of his car in frustration.

We were sitting in the Palos Police
Department parking lot with the car off. Both of us were really
disappointed with the police’s treatment of the situation. I was
sure Detective Dixon was a good cop, but in this case, he was dead
wrong.

“Not really,” I said, leaning back into the
passenger seat. I needed a nap. It had been a forever long day.
“What do we do now?”

Ethan rested his head against the wheel, then
turned sideways to look at me in defeat, “I don’t know. What can we
do?”

“I don’t know,” I replied back. I didn’t
know. I mean, weren’t the police supposed to investigate murders?
Why were they ignoring this? I mean, even if we were only one
percent on the right track, shouldn’t they at least consider it?
They were too busy looking for a heroin ring in Palos. Maybe there
was one, but I was betting that in this case the drugs were being
sold to someone in particular and that person was supplying and
killing these girls.

We sat in the car in silence for a few more
moments, the Palos Police Department like a window decoration out
the front windshield.

“Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I just don’t want to
believe Liz did heroin. Hell, maybe it was her first time ever
trying it and it just ended up with her ODing. Maybe we should just
leave it alone and let the police do their job like Detective Dixon
said,” Ethan looked tired again, as he leaned back against the
driver’s side seat.

It was hard to believe that just days ago
we’d been complete strangers. Having spent an entire Saturday with
Ethan, looking into Liz’s murder had changed things. I felt braver,
much braver, “I don’t think giving up is the right thing to do. I
think Liz was murdered. Melissa and Olivia too.”

“But the police don’t. They’re the ones that
count,” Ethan let out an exasperated sigh, “What are we supposed to
do?”

“I don’t know!” I shouted. Yes, I shouted at
Ethan Ripley, the most popular guy at school. “But we can’t just
give up. I think we have the start of something.”

“I’m tired,” Ethan sounded defeated. “I want
to give up. I just have to accept the facts like my family and the
police want me to. I just want it to be over. I mean, she’s dead.
There’s nothing we can do about it now.”

My cell phone broke off my annoyed retort. We
couldn’t give up. It was Anne from the Palos Video Store, “What’s
up?”

I listened. Oh shit. I completely forgot
about my shift at the store. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes,
Anne. I totally spaced. I am so sorry.”

Ethan was staring at me, as I hung up. “I
need to get my car. I forgot about my shift at the video
store.”

Ethan nodded and started the car. He looked
completely drained, “No problem. We’ll be back at my house in
five.”

Ethan pulled away from the Palos Police
Department and I felt him pulling away from me at the same
time.

“But Ethan, what about Liz?” I asked.

He shook his head, “Forget about this whole
thing. I’m sorry for dragging you into this.”

I ignored his self-defeatist attitude, “Maybe
we should investigate her death ourselves.”

“Like we could make any difference,” Ethan’s
voice sounded dull.

I remember how he felt. There was a period
after my mom died that I felt the same way. Dull. Nothing mattered,
at least not really. Ethan wasn’t right in this case, though. Liz
had been murdered! I was completely sure of it!

I wasn’t going to let him get away with
blowing Liz’s murder off, “But don’t you want to know that your
sister wasn’t a druggie? Even if we can’t convince the police,
don’t you want to know?”

Ethan sighed, “I just can’t think about this
right now. I’m so tired.”

He couldn’t give up! I told myself to calm
down. Ethan was under a lot of stress. He could sleep on it.
Besides, I had to go to work and there was nothing more we could do
tonight, “Maybe you just need to get some rest. We can talk more
about it tomorrow.”

Ethan snuck a glance at me with a resolved
look, as he continued driving, “I’m done looking into it. We don’t
need to talk about it tomorrow.”

That was a total blow off if I could say so
myself. Ethan was basically telling me that he’d used me for what
he needed me for and he didn’t need me anymore. And, maybe I was
ignoring the fact that he was obviously depressed and for good
reason, but I couldn’t help it, I felt suddenly really angry,
“Well, you’re welcome. I’m so glad I spent the last two days doing
research for you into your sister’s death. Now that I’m convinced
that she was murdered, I am so glad you are convinced that she
simply overdosed. Fine, leave me with the guilt of knowing that
there’s going to be a next victim. Fine, Ethan, fine.”

And, we proceeded to drive back to my car and
his house in silence, as we both pondered my statement, each angry
with the other.

Thus, I spent Saturday night worried about
getting fired from my part time video store job over a popular
asshole, who I had spent a perfectly good free weekend day trying
to help. I was over an hour late to work and worse than that, Ethan
and I hadn’t spoken a word since my rant. Even when we parted ways,
he hadn’t said so much as a thank you. So much for the hope that he
might say “hi!” to me in the halls when we returned to school on
Monday.

Anne was cool, though, about my job. It was
the first time ever, that I had been really, really late. Although,
she did warn me that I should make sure it never happened again. It
wouldn’t. I mean, it’s not like Ethan was going to be distracting
me from my responsibilities again or anything.

Anne left after chewing me out. Even though
she was really nice about it, it was still a chewing out. I hoped
it would never happen again and it probably wouldn’t. I was usually
a very good employee.

It was Courtney Lewis and I watching the
store tonight. We got along in that way where you get along without
really talking. It was how I related to most other people
actually.

That was why it was kind of funny that Anne
was out the door for about thirty seconds, when Courtney looked at
me and said, “So, where were you?”

“I forgot I was working,” I said
automatically, not looking at her, worried that my face would turn
red because I was lying. I pretended to dig in my purse for my book
instead.

I found the book and looked up to find
Courtney still watching me, “Uh-huh. So, tell me about the
guy.”

“What?” I feigned, feeling suddenly worried.
I knew it wasn’t any of Courtney’s business and all, but I wasn’t
good in social situations as it was, so pressuring me to admit to a
lie threw me for a loop.

“The guy you were late for? It’s so obvious,”
Courtney was watching me, wanting to hear my gossip for some
reason.

If I’d known Courtney better, maybe I would
have gossiped to her about my crush on Ethan, but we never talked.
I couldn’t just come out there with it. I mean, Courtney was older
than me by about three years, in college, and she might have more
experience on that front than I did, but I just couldn’t trust her.
Ariel had made me very, very weary of girlfriends and the damage
they could inflict if you trusted the wrong one. I had trusted
Ariel with everything and she had used it to try to destroy me. Not
cool.

And, then it hit me. Courtney was in college,
Laurel Community College to be exact. Maybe she knew something
about the overdoses, er, murders. She could be an in. Of course, I
was totally ignoring the fact that as of this moment, I was off the
case, but whatever. I couldn’t just leave it alone. No matter what
Ethan wanted to do, I was already involved.

I faked a smile or maybe it was real because
I was thinking about Ethan, “Well, it’s this college guy…”

Courtney grinned at me, “A college guy? Where
does he go?”

“To your school. Maybe you know him? Troy
Matthews?” I asked, hoping I looked dreamy eyed and in love, and
that Courtney knew him.

Courtney shook her head, “No, I don’t know
him. How’d you meet him?”

I thought for a moment, “I was checking out
campus, I might go there, and he walked up to me, but anyway, I
found out that he dated one of the girls that overdosed and
now…”

Courtney looked at me wide-eyed, “Which one?
It wasn’t Melissa Kent, was it?”

“Why? Did you know her?” I asked, not really
answering her question on purpose.

“Not super well, you know, but I do remember
my friend who was like friends with her from church group talking
about her and a guy,” Courtney started. “But I don’t remember his
name for sure. It could have been a Troy.”