"Yeah, we were all friends, so what?" Older Jillian said. She had her white-blonde hair down to her shoulders. She turned away from a fireplace where she studied longer at a picture of the gang of three young teenagers, Haley, Jillian, and Jason were holding each other, smiling wide for a camera. She sat down on a couch.
"Bryce said you guys had a private conversation two days before she died. It sounded serious." Scotty said.
"You think I did do something to hurt her on purpose?" Jillian made a doubtful look, eying both Scotty and Kat.
Scotty's eyebrows rose, "I was just curious, that's all."
"Then, it was private." Jillian insisted.
"Ma'am, this is important. We are investigating this case again. We have to do something to catch Haley's killer. We are trying to get justice for her. Were you a good friend to her?" Scotty said.
"Of course."
"Then do it for Haley."
Jillian let out a heavy sigh, "Okay, what do you need?"
"Did she tell you that she had a problem with someone else?" Kat said.
"Well… kind of. But not really exactly." Jillian said.
"Exactly like what?" Scotty said.
"Sometimes, she had a little problem with my best friend. My best friend… she surely had a lot of problem with Haley. I meant really." Jillian said.
"Did she threaten or bullied her?" Kat said.
"Not when I was around. But one time, she did it right in front of me that day. She said she couldn't wait to get rid of Haley already."
"What's her name?" Kat asked.
"Tabitha Green. She had nothing to do with Haley's death. I swear."
"Okay, but what did she do at the place?" Scotty stared hard.
Jillian let out a wry chuckle as she shook her head, "Why would I forget that day…"
"I need to talk to you." Jillian pleaded.
"What about him?" Haley said.
"Did you talk to Jason yet?"
"Yeah, but he is still upset."
Jillian sighed heavily, "I really messed up. Totally. It was all my fault. I hurt Jason."
"It's not your fault. I promise. He needs some time to cool down. Not right now."
Jillian nodded. Then Haley noticed the brunette girl with a sour look stride up to the two girls. Haley swallowed hard.
"Thanks a lot." Tabitha told Jillian as she stood beside her, eyed her, acting like as if Haley didn't exist.
"Me? What did I do?" Jillian looked alarmed.
"We didn't get invited from the senior party. Doug Blake! His party. He turned us down because he said he doesn't think he needs freshmen! Freshmen!" Tabitha shot her an accused look for befriending Haley. She didn't realize she spoke loudly enough to grab all people's attentions. They looked up and turned to her with perplexed looks. Some were murmuring. Some kids from Haley's school came to Go Burger's too. They hung out around with their friends. They seemed they didn't mind to put their noses into their businesses to see what's going on.
"Hey, it wasn't her fault." Haley stepped in. Tabitha turned to her.
"We will get invited if you weren't born yet!" Tabitha glared at Haley as if it was all her fault.
"Tabitha." Jillian warned.
"I'm sorry if I disturb your friendship. I happen to show up here. I didn't mean to get in your way."
"Well, you are already getting in my way!" Tabitha shouted. Some junior and sophomore guys rotated around in their seats to get some better view, expecting them to get into a lady cat fight. They got hopeful looks on their exciting faces.
"I'm really sorry. I mean I was like—"
"Like what? Unreliable?" Tabitha snapped. Haley flinched as if the last word smacked across her face. Unreliable. She felt her heart was being stabbed. Her jaws clenched. She pulled her entire face into a rage. She was sick of being treated like dirt by her. Tabitha was like a powerful queen witch who ruled the school, always making Haley miserable all the time. Haley decided it was time to treat her back.
"Like you!" Haley shot back. Tabitha gasped. Everybody let out low whistle sounds. Some were snickering and cheering.
"Haley!" Jillian gasped with a shock.
Tabitha growled with her snarl look, "Not so over! You are dead to me!"
Her green cat eyes fired up. Then she turned on her heel and stormed away. Her long dark hair flew behind her head. Some guys threw some trash words at her as she stalked past them.
"Tabitha!" Jillian called.
"I got to go." Haley muttered. She slipped away.
"Tabitha wasn't happy to see you hanging out with Haley?" Kat said.
"Because Haley was a freshman, we were sophomore. Tabitha said we didn't need to hang out with freshmen. It was going to make us look losers. But that's not true. Haley was a true friend I ever had. So was Bryce too."
When Scotty heard Bryce's name, he brought his eyebrows down and pressed his lips together as if he was determined it was the truth or not, "That's not what Bryce said."
"Pardon me?" She gazed at him with her blue eyes.
"He claimed that you guys were not hanging out much later with him." Scotty explained.
"O-okay, I admit that he was—um, lonely. He was—shy and quiet. He didn't talk to girls much and boys too. Just to Haley."
"Do you really think Tabitha killed Haley?" Kat asked.
"What? Goodness no, she is like my best friend. She won't do those terrible things."
"Then, why are you sounding like you are assuming Tabitha did it?" Kat said.
Jillian seemed she didn't know what to say, she just cocked her head as if she looked at her strangely, "Because, Tabitha hated her for no good reasons. She always wished that Haley will go away so we can enjoy ourselves in high school, even in junior and senior year. That was her wish. And her wish came true."
Kat drew her head back as she took a deep breath, "Oh okay, so do you guys still in touch?"
"Oh of course, she is still my best friend always." Jillian remarked.
"Tabitha Green?"
As she turned around, showed them as young Tabitha and then she changed back to adult Tabitha. She saw Lilly and Nick entering into her kitchen. "Yes, may I help you?"
"I'm sorry. I have to let them in." Tabitha's eighteen years old granddaughter explained. "They said it is important to talk to you."
"Okay, you can go, now." She waved her away. She pulled her apron over her head and then fixed her mahogany hair with gray streaks. Her cheeks were rosy red. She was almost chubby.
"Hi, I'm Detective Rush and this is Detective Vera." Lilly showed her a golden badge. "May we talk to you?"
"What is it?" Her eyes looked suspicious as if she had not aware of it. She pulled a chair to sit down beside a table. She looked over shoulder at the stove to make sure her chicken won't get burned. Her eyes returned to the detectives.
"We are investigating the case of Haley Jameson again. Do you remember her?" Nick said.
Tabitha paused but nodded anyway, "Yeah, I remember her. What a tragedy."
"Weren't you close to her?" Lilly said.
"Not really," Tabitha shook her head ruefully. "I was pretty cruel to her all the time. I was pretty ashamed of myself for that. I was young then."
Lilly nodded, "Do you remember where you were that late night?"
"Um… I don't remember. It has been over forty years. Even I clearly don't remember much about Haley Jameson and her family. Sorry. I'm pretty getting old." She folded her hands tightly.
"Oh really?" Lilly's eyebrows rose, sounded like as if she said 'ohh I see'. "May I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead." Tabitha granted.
"Where did you grow up?"
"Tennessee but I moved to Pennsylvania when I was five."
"Which school did you went?"
"West East High School."
"Who was that handsome guy?" She pointed it out at a photo frame of Jason Jameson and Jillian Peverett on the bright yellow wall.
"Oh that's—" She stopped herself when she realized that she was almost babbling out into the truth. She darted her eyes to Lilly.
Lilly arched her eyebrows, "Oh really? I thought you don't remember clearly about Haley and her family?"
She paused for a second, looked like she was giving up some lies. "What do you want?"
"I repeatedly ask you, where had you been that night?"
"Home, watching TV with my little brother."
"You didn't show up at Haley's house to take out your rage on her after she humiliated you in front of a crowd?" Nick asked sarcastically.
"That's absurd. I did no such thing." She said calmly.
"You were pretty nasty with Haley. Everybody witnessed that." Lilly said.
"What are you talking about?" Tabitha's green eyes gleamed.
"You and Haley had a fight at Go Burger's. Do you remember that?" Lilly inquired.
"Haley humiliated you in front of a crowd." Nick added.
"How do you know about it?" Tabitha drew back against the chair.
"We spoke to Jillian today." Lilly admitted.
"So Jillian think I killed her?" Tabitha said with a surprised look.
"Do you think Jillian turns you in?" Lilly questioned back.
"What kind of question is that?" Tabitha spat.
"I heard you guys were best friends." Nick said.
"Yeah, of course. We hung out for most of the time. We mostly gawk at handsome college guys. We had to tell everything to each other. We shared our secrets. Except one of her secrets even I didn't know about."
"What secret did she tell you?" Lilly said. She pulled her notepad and pen out of her pocket.
"She didn't even tell me," Then the image exposed a young Tabitha, "I knew her secret." Then she changed back to older Tabitha. "She knew too."
"How did you figure it out?" Nick asked.
"I followed her. I knew she was hiding it from me."
"What thing she was hiding from you?" Lilly asked.
Tabitha hardened her stare, "I can't."
"Tabitha." Lilly leaned forward to pull a chair to sit down. "I understand two of you were really good friends for a long time. I do respect you guys but we really need to know."
Tabitha licked her lips, looked like she had no choices, "Okay, the thing was, I could see that Jillian was hiding her secret from Jason. I was right. But it wasn't exactly what I expected…"
It was a cool evening. A sun fell behind shadowy trees. Skies were full dark blue, no clouds. Just small white stars. Tabitha wandered around through forests. She looked up and saw terrifying shadows moving, she realized it was just some wind that made trees moving. She felt the cold chill running down her spine and she suddenly ran to nowhere. Her shoes were covered in dirty mud. She tried to keep her red plaid dress neat.
She pushed away a branch that was in her way, she found two girls sitting in front of a lake. Tabitha stopped, didn't want to disturb them. The sight of two girls was little blurry, so she had to squirt her eyes hard. Turned out, it was Haley and Jillian. Tabitha quickly stepped back behind a bush.
The two girls sat closer to each other, spread her legs around, and had their arms behind them to support their positions.
"What are we going to do?" Jillian whispered.
"Don't worry, Jason may not find out." Haley said.
"So we won't tell him?" Jillian glanced at her with a fearful look.
"Better than losing him." Haley spoke softly.
"I'm… I'm scared." Jillian said in a low trembling voice.
"You will be okay." Haley told her. Jillian stared at her with her scared eyes.
"Promise." Haley swore. Jillian didn't say words, just chewing her lower lip. She looked away. No one spoke for a few minutes. Then Haley tapped Jillian's bare foot with her own foot.
"Hey, do you see that star?" Haley pointed it out.
"Yea, what is it about?" Jillian asked, watching a star.
"One star is being away from the rest of the stars. It is like the star is more stubborn like you. I would like to call it, Jill Star."
"Oh, shut up," Jillian gave her a playful shove, almost making Haley fall to the grasses. Haley giggled, her eyes lit up.
Jillian's laugh fell silent. She let out a deep sigh.
"You are an amazing person." Haley looked serious all of a sudden.
Jillian whirled her head to her with a surprised look, "You too."
Haley smiled at her. Jillian loved that smile. Her smile made her heart melt. She leaned over toward her. Their lips touched each other.
Tabitha's eyes grew wide. Her brain exploded. She felt her jaws dropped. Her knees almost went out. She couldn't believe her eyes what she saw. She was completely speechless.
She let out a long shaking breath. She still can't believe what she just saw. That was not what she expected. She didn't know what or how to say. Trying to get her brain to cope, she wanted to get out of that place. She didn't want to be seen by them. She crept back slowly, accidently bumped into branches which caused noises.
The two girls jumped and looked back toward a tree.
Tabitha ducked down and stayed low as she ran.
"I didn't bother to tell her that I knew about it. She could tell in my eyes. She started to freak out. She begged me not to tell everybody especially Jason." Tabitha replied.
"When did it happen?" Lilly asked, her voice almost sounded astonished after she heard her story.
"That month before Haley's death, but she told me they did more than five months. I was completely shocked. I didn't bother to ask about her secret life. We didn't speak each other after that until Haley's death."
"How did Jillian react to Haley's death?" Nick said.
Tabitha sighed, "Boy was she mess. She can't stop crying every night."
"Okay, thank you for your time." Lilly gave her a goodbye smile before she left with Nick. As soon as they headed out from her house, Lilly looked at Nick.
"Jillian forgot to tell us one huge part." Lilly sighed.
"Yeah, because she doesn't kiss and tell," Nick smirked as they were on the way to the car.