Sorry for the delay in updating. And thanks for all the reviews, good and bad. I hope you like the second chapter!

"Hey Lane." Jess said casually.

"What movie did you bring?" Lane asked.

"You'll have to see." he said teasingly. "Turn around while I take it out of the bag, and then you can guess when it starts."

"Fine." Lane said with a smile and turned around.

It couldn't have been any easier. Jess reached into the bag and put on his gloves, then firmly grasped the curtain bind. Without warning he quickly slipped it over Lane's head, constricting her breath as he pulled her against his chest.

Lane's arms flailed as she struggled against him, but Jess was too strong and she soon lost consciousness. The rope had been so tight that she hadn't even been able to cry out. Jess knew that she wasn't dead yet, just unconscious, but he wanted her to die by hanging.

He loosened the rope and lay her on the bed, working quickly to hang the rope from a beam in the room. Looking over at the bed Jess realized how erotic the picture was. Lane's face was white and there were deep red marks on her neck. She was lying perfectly still, so still that she could have been dead. Jess resisted the urge to have sex with her, knowing that it would leave tell-tale evidence, so instead he just picked up her body and slipped her neck into the noose. Instead of hanging her up high, which would be difficult to stage, he decided that her suicide would be a combination of hanging and strangulation, putting pressure on the neck while her feet could still reach the floor. That seemed like the best option, and the best way to explain the signs of strangulation.

She made a slight moan as he moved her so Jess worked faster, propping her to where the noose cut off her air. She would probably never regain consciousness and asphyxiate before she could shift positions. He surveyed the scene. The bed was messed up so he straightened it a little, careful not to make it too perfect, then looked for anything else out of place.

Just as a final precaution he opened the window. That way if there was evidence of a murder they could say that the assailant came in through the open window. There was no suicide note, but that didn't matter, that might be too obvious. He waited a few minutes, watching her until he was almost entirely sure that she was dead. Sadly he looked into his bag at the movie he had brought, just in case he decided not to go through with it and realized that they would never watch a movie together again. He had considered her his best friend in town, and now she was dead. A silent tear fell from his eyes but he caught it on his jacket sleeve, reminding himself that it was all for Rory. With this image in his mind he stood up, gave her a final nudge, and prepared to leave.

Jess picked up his bag, careful not to take off the gloves until he was out of the house. Again the whole thing had been way too easy. The only thing he had to do now was go home, sneak back in, and then wait for the body to be discovered. And then Rory would be home for the funeral and he could talk to her, and comfort her. And everything would be right between them again.

Jess quickly left the house, taking off the gloves as he went and walked back down the street. It was getting dark and he was thankful that he had some cover and was less likely to be seen. Of course he was a normal Stars Hollow resident and there was nothing unusual about him walking down the street, he just wanted to make sure that as few people as possible could dispute his alibi.

Once inside he took the rope out of the bag and put it away, then put his gloves back in the drawer. There had been very little blood, only a little around Lane's lips from where she bit them during the struggle. So the gloves were clean and it would be suspicious to throw them out.

Jess lay back down on his bed and calmly picked up his book again, eventually falling asleep.

When he woke up a couple hours later, the whole town was in a frenzy. He woke up to Luke gently shaking him awake.

"Jess." Luke said, giving him another shake.

"What?" asked Jess, irritated.

"Jess wake up. Something happened that you need to know about."
Jess knew exactly what it was, but pretended to be confused.
"What happened?" he asked, groggily sitting up.

Luke sat down, trying to find a way to break the news. He knew how close Jess and Lane had been recently.

"Jess did you notice anything different about Lane recently?"

Jess shook his head. "She's been the same for weeks, ever since she and Zach broke up."

Luke nodded. "Well Jess, they found her in her room today... it looks like she killed herself but they won't be sure until they do an autopsy."

"What?!" Jess exclaimed, forcing tears into his eyes. Then he put his head in his hands. "God Lane, why would you do that." he said quietly.

Luke put his hand on Jess's shoulder.
"I'm sorry I had to tell you. Mrs. Kim found her about an hour ago. She came back from bible study and I guess she was up in her room. Are you sure she didn't say anything to you?"

Jess shook his head, and lay down on the bed.

Luke looked at him sympathetically. "I'll leave you alone for a little bit. I'll tell you if they know anything else."

Jess pretended to be somewhat dazed as he nodded. Then he smiled slightly as Luke left the room. Everything was progressing according to plan.

The next couple days were crazy in the town. Everyone was confused about Lane's apparent suicide. The police had talked to Jess briefly, but there was no reason for suspicion. It wasn't hard to fake sadness because Jess was sad. She had been a good friend after all and he was sorry that she had died.

The autopsy report was released a couple days later and Jess was concerned when he saw that there was a suspicion of homicide.

She had died of strangulation, and her neck was covered with ligature marks and bruises. There was bleeding in the throat, which was a common symptom of strangulation. They concluded that she had died from partial strangulation, using a ligature of the neck and only partial weight of the body. It produced unconsciousness first by restricting the blood flow. The only problem was that during the autopsy they determined that the hyoid bone was broken, a telltale mark of strangulation, and usually indicates that the person has been manually strangled. He researched and found that this is often an indication to the police that the death is a homicide instead of a suicide.

"Fuck." he whispered. There were no signs that pointed to him yet, but still that was a bad sign. There was suspicion that it wasn't a suicide after all.

In the end though they had concluded that despite the odd hyoid fracture it was most likely a suicide. The rope was from Kim's Antiques, she didn't have any enemies, she had been depressed, it all made sense. They also didn't find signs of anyone unusual having been in the house, so there were few leads to follow if it was a homicide.

Jess relaxed a little and prepared for the funeral, the purpose of all this effort anyway anyway.

He desperately hoped that the murder wasn't for nothing and that Rory would actually show up. He knew she was at Yale, and probably had a lot of work and classes, but who would miss their friends funeral?

So he worked out a bit, read a lot of books, caught up on some music and waited. He had acted the sad friend for the last few days but now he needed to comfort Rory, be strong for her. The whole town would see it and see what a good guy he was. They would tell Rory to take him back...

They had broken up not too long after Rory had lost her virginity to him. In fact, they had only done it once more before breaking up and Jess was still thirsty for more. He remembered everything, the innocent look in her eyes, the smell of her hair, her trust in him. And he wanted to get that all back. Sure he was causing her temporary pain, but he would have plenty of time to make up for it later. And on the plus side that was one less person whom he would have to share her with. In fact, if she didn't have anyone else to talk to she would be all his... But Jess quickly pushed the idea out of his mind. He kept reminding himself that his killing days were over now forever.

That thought comforted him, so as he dressed for the funeral he took extra care with his appearance, trying to look as good as possible for her.

He kept telling himself that she just had to be there, she had to.

Finally, he left the apartment with Luke, heading to the funeral. The whole town turned out to mourn Lane. Jess had stayed away from everyone for the last few days, so it was the first time he really got to see the effects of his actions on everyone. Everyone was wearing black, many people were crying. He spotted Mrs. Kim and she looked devastated. Of course she would, it was her only daughter. That made sense. He saw Zach and he looked stricken, and guilty, as if her suicide was his fault. Which it probably would have been if it had been a suicide. Jess smiled a little, feeling like he was in his own secret club. He was the only one here who knew the truth, who knew exactly what happened to Lane. Everyone else speculated about it, wondered why, and he knew. It was a triumphant feeling.

And then Jess stopped in his tracks. There by the coffin stood Rory, crying uncontrollably in her mom's arms.