The New Girl Who Found A Dead Body Part 13

Chloe laughed back at him, "Ooooo, forty degrees. Try snow. Try below zero."

"Well, that's why I live in California. I can go skiing, see snow, hate the cold, and leave, all within about a two hour drive," Grey was grinning.

"Who knew you were such a sissy," Chloe teased.

"Hey," Grey said, suddenly taking her hand.

The car became quiet as Chloe let Grey hold her hand. What an odd date this was going to be, if it even was one a talking about a murdered girl's twin brother and how he fit into the big picture.

Grey let go of Chloe's hand and drove forward. Chloe watched him drive down the rich suburban streets, silently. He pulled up to a large house, much like Lora Kelly's, and also on the ocean.

"Wow," Chloe said, unable to control her awe at his home.

Grey looked at her, "It's not that great. My parents are divorced and that really sucks. Money is great for some things and really awful for others. It tore my parents apart."

"Wow. I'm sorry," Chloe said, feeling bad for Grey.

"Nah, don't be. It happens a lot, rich or poor nowadays anyway," Grey ran a hand through his hair.

"Still, it's no fun," Chloe amended.

Grey stopped the car in front of the brick entryway and turned to her, "Here we are. I hope you're okay with being here. I know I've been accused of murder and all..."

Chloe stopped him, "No, it's okay. I don't think you did it and that's why I want to talk to you about Ted. I think it's important that I find out who the murderer is because I think I'm next on their list. I don't want to give them the satisfaction of actually killing me, though. I don't plan to let them get the chance."

"Okay," Grey was relieved and then seemed tentative about going on. "One more thing. We're going to be alone here. My dad is out of town. He's taking the new wife on a trip to Europe. Even if his son is a murder suspect."

Chloe nodded, not knowing what to say about the situation or to the sound of frustration and anger at his father that was layered into Grey's voice. She didn't say anything and watched as Grey fumbled with his house keys, finally finding the one to open the front door. They walked into a large ornate foyer. Grey didn't even bother turning on the lights. He just motioned for her to follow him up the stairs. They walked down a long hallway, which Chloe was sure contained numerous bedrooms, even though the doors were all closed. They reached an open door at the end of the hallway and Grey beckoned her to follow him inside, switching on the lamp as he went in.

The lamp illuminated a relatively large room. Chloe found herself immediately gazing at the walls. Grey had framed numerous photos and around the frames, the walls were littered with hundreds of snapshots all plastered to the walls around them.

"Wow," Chloe breathed, "Look at all the pictures."

Chloe moved to take a closer look at one wall. Most of the pictures were of scenery or animals or inanimate objects. There were some of people, obviously taken at school or on the beach. There had to be over fifty framed photographs in the room. It was awesome.

"These are great," Chloe said, coming to sit next to Grey on the bed.

"Thanks," Grey said, "Photography is the greatest thing in my life at the moment."

"Very cool," Chloe nodded and she meant it. He had a real talent for photography.

"Let me take a picture of you," Grey smiled, reaching for the camera on his bedside table.

Chloe laughed nervously, "Okay. What do I do?"

"Just be yourself," Grey said simply.

"Okay," Chloe said, wondering what that meant. She tried smiling.

Grey started snapping photos, "Loosen up. I'm just taking your picture."

Chloe made a goofy face and then another and another.

Grey laughed, "Exactly. It's nice to finally see the real you."

Chloe laughed back at his joke. After everything that had happened, she felt like she hadn't genuinely laughed in years. It was really nice.

"That's it, perfect," Grey snapped one last photo. "Take a look."

Grey showed Chloe the viewfinder. He was right. He had gotten at least one good picture of her from the bunch he had taken - caught mid laugh, looking totally carefree. Chloe wished she could feel that way for more than a fleeting moment.

"It's great," Chloe said, feeling like she should say something about the photo even though her mind was now elsewhere. The murders were back in the forefront of her thoughts. She felt suddenly very serious.

"I'll print it for you," Grey said, setting down the camera, noticing her change in mood.

"Thanks," Chloe said and then paused for a moment, not sure where to start, "You said that you would tell me about Ted?"

"Yes," Grey became serious too. "I've known Ted and Lora Kelly since kindergarten. There's about eighty of us, who were in the same cla.s.ses ever since then, so it's not all that small of a group, but there was a small group of us who became good friends at that point in our lives. We were childhood best friends. It was: Ted, Lora, Liz, Mike, Emma, Kate, and me. There were other people who added onto the group at some point, like your friend Jake, when he got to our school. And, there were plenty of people who wanted to be in on our crowd more than anything else in the entire universe, but who we'd never let in."

Chloe was listening intently, "Emma was in the popular crowd?"

Grey nodded, "Yeah, she and Lora were best friends until they had a falling out freshman year. They've hated each other ever since, so it's not super surprising Lora would try and mess with her and me."

"Emma never said anything," Chloe said.

"Maybe there was nothing to say. It happened a long time ago, but it's no secret that they didn't like each other," Grey shrugged.

"That's true," Chloe said.

Grey continued, "Anyway, I sort of fell out of that whole in and out crowd mentality when my parents divorced. What does the in and out crowd really matter in the whole scheme of things, you know? So, I sort of drifted away from the original crowd too. I'm just telling you this, so you can understand where I was when everything happened. I was on the outer edge of the circle, so it's possible that I didn't get all the details."

"Okay," Chloe said nodding, "So, who is Ted Kelly and why is he such a mysterious person?"

"Well," Grey paused for effect, "It's because he's dead."

Chloe's jaw dropped. She didn't quite know what to say. She hadn't expected that response, although it made sense why n.o.body had mentioned Lora's grieving brother, Ted. He wasn't grieving because he was already dead.

"What happened to him?" Chloe asked.

"He committed suicide," Grey began, "Like I said, I was good friends with the whole group when we were kids. Then soph.o.m.ore year things started changing between all of us. Ted killed himself at the beginning of our junior year."

"Why?" Chloe asked. "Did something happen?"

She was remembering the amused picture of Ted on the first day of school their junior year. He hadn't looked depressed in that picture at all. He hadn't struck her as the type to take his own life. Still, a third death in a small group of people, who were all young and healthy, was way beyond coincidence.

"That's what I'm not exactly sure about," Grey started. "There were rumors that he and Kate were having problems. They had been dating since junior high and possibly even before that if you looked at how they were with one another as kids. They were soul mates. I think their parents had them married in their minds by the time they were in high school."

"Wow, I mean I've seen the pictures, but I never would have guessed that Kate had a long term boyfriend before Jake. She's been so crazily jealous about him. She's so afraid of losing him," Chloe started.

"I guess that makes sense, with losing Ted so unexpectedly," Grey said.

"Yes and no," Chloe said thoughtfully. "Ted wasn't cheating on her, was he?"

"Not that I know of," Grey replied. "But I might not know."

"Okay, so what happened then? I mean, was there any reason why things went down the way they did?" Chloe leaned back against the pillows on Grey's bed, resting her head on a comfortable down pillow, while she listened to him tell the rest of the story.

"Well, Ted definitely seemed like he would never do anything like that a killing himself. He was really outgoing and happy and I don't ever remember him being depressed. Nothing momentous that I know of, for sure, had happened. Lora and Ted's parents were still happily married, even if they let their kids do whatever they wanted. And, Lora and Ted did pretty much whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. They had no curfew and no budget and they totally used it to their advantage. As far as I knew, though, they were happy. Lora was with Jake at the time and Ted was with Kate. They were each their own perfect couples and then everything just sort of blew up."

"What do you mean?" Chloe wanted Grey to go on and tell the rest of the story.

"Well, it was a s...o...b..ll effect. Lora and Jake broke it off. That, by itself was odd. Then Ted killed himself. Kate fell apart. Jake definitely wanted to be there to support Lora in her grief, but Lora didn't want him there at all," Grey said.

"Why not?" Chloe asked.

"I don't know," Grey shrugged, "You should ask Jake that question."

"Is that when you and Lora started dating?" Chloe asked, watching for Grey's reaction.

Grey suddenly couldn't quite look her in the eyes, "I did like Lora, but we were never a real thing. I had liked her for a long time before she ever even took notice of Jake like that and she knew it. She always knew I liked her and because of that never looked at me twice. She liked a challenge. I guess Jake must have been one at first, but then he stopped being one and maybe that's why she dumped him. I really don't know. But, yes, I did go out with Lora a few times after they broke up. I was really floored. I didn't know why, but she was suddenly really into me. Don't get me wrong, Jake was a cool guy, but it was as if I suddenly won the hot girl lottery. The girl I had dreamt about since junior high suddenly had the hots for me. It was awesome and I didn't think twice about it when she asked me to the Homecoming Dance."

"She asked you?" Chloe said.

"Yeah," Grey leaned back against the pillows, so that they were now lying side by side, next to each other on the bed.

"Okay, back to Ted. So, how did he kill himself?" Chloe asked. Although she didn't really want to hear grim details, she thought it might be important.

"Are you sure? It's not pretty..." Grey warned.

"I'm sure," Chloe prodded.

Grey nodded and then said, "Well, his parents found him hanging from the shower curtain rod in their bathroom."

A visual image flitted into Chloe's brain, but she pushed it away. The thought itself was gruesome enough without a mental picture of the scene.

"Was there a suicide note?" Chloe asked.

"On his computer. He emailed it to all of us before he did it," Jake said slowly.

"Wow," Chloe said, thinking about how morbid it would be to receive an emailed suicide note. "What did it say?"

"I didn't get it until after I knew he was dead. I never wanted to read it. I was really upset at the time. He and I had been good friends and I couldn't understand why he hadn't talked to me about what was wrong. I knew we hadn't been close in a long time, but I would have been there for him if he needed me to be there," Grey was getting upset.

"I'm sorry to make you sad with all of this. I know he and Lora and Elizabeth were all friends of yours," Chloe said, taking his hand again.

Grey looked into her eyes, "I know you're not purposely trying to bring up bad memories. It's just hard. We haven't all been real friends in a long time, but it's still really hard seeing the people you grew up with suddenly gone in what feels like a random burst of violence."

They sat there, holding hands in silence, just being in each other's company for a few moments.

Chloe broke the silence, "You know someone in your circle could have done it. It's possible that Ted didn't even kill himself."

Grey laughed, "You've been watching too many mystery movies of the week. This isn't a case of murder made to look like a suicide."

"How do you know? There have been two murders in the last two weeks. Why couldn't the murderer have tacked on one more person? Ted could have been the start of it all," Chloe said.

"Well, I have the note in my email, if you really want to read it," Grey said slowly. "From what I've heard, it's very distinctly Ted. The way it's written is the way he used to talk."

Chloe thought for a moment, "You could still fake it, but I'd definitely like to see that note."

Grey nodded and stood up and walked to his desk, which had a laptop sitting on it. He sat down at the chair. Chloe got up and followed him, standing behind him.

"Pull up the chair over there if you want," Grey said, motioning to a side chair that was standing next to his dresser.

Chloe pulled the chair over as Grey logged into his email account. She walked up as he was searching for the email.

It popped up quickly once he typed Ted Kelly into the search box. It was the last email Ted Kelly had ever sent.

"Do you want to print it for me?" Chloe asked when Grey pulled it up on his computer. It was a long letter and Chloe wanted to be able to reread it later. Maybe there was a clue somewhere in it. She wasn't as convinced as Grey was that Ted had indeed committed suicide. There had to be more to the story and she wanted to find out what more there was to know.

Grey printed it and it spit out a moment later from his printer. He handed it to Chloe, without looking at it, "I still don't think I can read it. Thank G.o.d I wasn't one of the people who found out that way. That's how Kate found out, you know. I can't imagine what I'd do if a girlfriend did that to me."

Chloe felt suddenly sorry for Kate. Maybe her seeming insanity had resulted from the trauma of Ted's unexpected suicide. She pushed the thought out of her mind. Feeling compa.s.sion wouldn't help her at this very moment. She had a killer to find. It could be Kate. Chloe needed to use all the tools of reason and logic that she could find and everyone was a suspect.

Chloe leaned back in the chair and started to read the note: To all my friends and family, I am very sorry for all of this. I wish n.o.body had to find me. I wish I could just disappear into the ether. I know many of you won't understand why I did what I did, but believe me, I had good reason. My seeming happiness has been a mere facade for a long time and that's what it has been a a facade. I can't tell you when the world changed from a bright, rainbow filled place to the dark, desolate land I see now before me. Regardless, it has. I can't live with myself anymore. Nothing is going to change unless I change it. I can't live with who I am and what I've done and who I've hurt and who I've loved and I just can't do it. I'm sorry if it's plain and simple, but that's it. Enjoy the world without me in it and be happy. I'm sorry, Ted Chloe reread it again. Something traumatic had happened to Ted in the last weeks of his life. That, at least, was what the letter suggested. What was it?

Chloe glanced over at Grey, who was lying on his bed with his eyes shut, as if attempting to block out any chance of reading Ted's suicide note. Chloe looked back down at the note. It had been emailed to nine people: Grey, Jake, Lora, Elizabeth, Kate, Mike, and Ted's parents.

Chloe felt her head start to ache. What kind of mess would have made Ted kill himself? Chloe knew that talking to Kate would probably clear up all her questions, but she was weary of Kate. She still thought there was a good chance that Kate had run her off the road the other night. Still, what had happened between Kate and Ted? Had she killed him? Was she the murderer? Or was it someone else in the group?

Chloe felt her headache getting worse. She walked over and put the suicide note in her purse, which she had set down near the foot of Grey's bed when she had walked into the room. Chloe walked over and lied down on the bed next to him. She felt a little awkward about it, but her head was aching and the idea of lying next to Grey was appealing in and of itself. The bed was comfortable and he didn't stir until she placed her head on the other side of his pillow.

Grey opened his eyes, sleepily at her. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"I don't know," Chloe said, staring back into his tired eyes. "So, another random question a what do you know about Mike Donahue, Jana Walker, and Sam Jameson?"

Grey frowned, thinking, "That's an odd combination. Jana was friends with Liz and Lora. There were a bunch of girls who followed Lora around and Jana was one of them. Lora would call them her worshipers. Jana actually went out with Jake for a split second now that I think about it. And, Sam briefly went out with Liz, but nothing happened. They only dated for like a month. Mike's gay. He came out last year, right after Ted's suicide, so n.o.body really noticed. We hang out sometimes, but not like that. And, that's pretty much all I can say about them unless you have something specific you want to ask."

Chloe shook her head, "It's a start."

Grey yawned, "Ok."

Chloe yawned too, "I think I need to nap on it.

"Napping works wonders for the soul," Grey said, encircling her with his arms and pulling her close.

For the first time since moving to California, Chloe felt safe. She relaxed into him and felt herself falling into a deep, dream filled slumber while nestled comfortably in his arms.

Chloe was walking along the beach. It was night, but she could hear the lapping of the water in the near distance and she knew that there was sand underneath her feet. She was walking along a path of beach and houses. Chloe looked up to the house she was walking next to and realized it was Lora Kelly's house. In the moonlight, she could almost make out the bottom of the stairway where she had found Lora Kelly's body two weeks before.