"You're dead to me… not exactly the cleanest words best friends could say to each other" Lily spoke, the harshness in her voice gliding through and cutting through the gentle confusion that rested on Eric's face. "But at least we have our motive for why you wanted Danny dead."
These past few days had been hell for Eric what with all of the preparations and the pain of it all nearly washing over him and forcing him to kick it on the spot. The last thing he wanted to do was give up, but it was clear that the words the detective had just uttered made him want to call it quits on the whole damn thing. Where once there was someone who was curious to find out what happened to their best friend was now just a sunken faced man on the verge of calling it quits. It had taken so long for people to believe him, so why should he have fought for his freedom.
Crossing both of his arms on the table he remained tight-lipped for the time being, something that only appeared to piss Scotty off. This guy had just wasted all of their time running through hoops so he could feel better about himself.
Coming in close and squatting down to his eye level, Scotty gave him the same barbaric look that he generally gave everyone who was about to be on the receiving end of his fist. "What was the point behind this entire scenario of yours, Chambers? To prove that we'd buy into your stupid game? To get back at the people who'd put you away."
Silence remained. Lily could see Scotty on the verge of losing it and so instead of letting the man go ahead with what he felt was proper justice, she decided to cut in and try and guilt the answer out of him. "I think we all know why Eric was doing this. Getting our attention was the only way he could ever let us know" Lily spoke, skirting around Scotty and tapping him as a signal to play along with what she had.
Not even taking his eyes of Eric, who was now looking back at Scotty with the same depressed and sunken eyes as before, Scotty replied "Let us know what Lil'."
Nodding to herself she took a seat down opposite of Eric, who glanced at her for only a moment before looking back into Scotty's eyes once more. "To let us know that he never truly cared about Danny. I mean what kind of friend would even do that?" she spoke, her tone increasing in confidence and just getting louder. In Eric's ear though, what Lily had said had probably been the most piercing thing he had ever heard in a long time. He struggled not to speak up because if he did he'd only be digging himself deeper. "It's sort of pathetic to think you chased after him all these years and the only way you could get over him was to make sure he couldn't mess around with your heart."
Beating the table a bit to make an audible noise, Eric looked between both of the detectives. This was not what he wanted; in fact this was the farthest thing from what he wanted. A long time ago he had accepted his fate as a friend and he knew he was always going to be just that to Danny. "You don't understand detectives" he spoke, his voice rather feeble in comparison to the detectives in the room. All they really cared about was the answers, answers which Eric was keeping rather close to his chest.
"Of course we don't understand Eric, you haven't given us any reason to believe you except for a lot of hearsay" Scotty spoke, clearly still pissed as his temper grew hotter by the second. At this rate it wouldn't take it too long for it to blow. "There's a reason you went down for this fifteen years ago."
Drumming his fingers along the desk for a moment, Eric lifted his head.
"What more do you want from me? What do I have to say to convince you that I am not Danny's killer" Eric spoke up, his voice breaking up a bit as he struggled to keep it all contained inside of him.
Lily felt herself lean into the desk on an impulse with the same stern look she had given hardened criminals in the past. "Nothing. You held back on the story when it mattered so why the hell should we take a chance on believing a guy like you" Lily snapped, Scotty looking back at her with a concerned look painted on her face. It'd been a while since he'd seen her like this, but then again this was always the side of Lily that got the answers she needed.
"The drugs were yours, the gun you probably tossed was yours, you have the motive and you had the opportunity" Lily busted out, counting off the things on her hand before driving the point home. "You killed Danny because you couldn't face the fact that he could never look at you the way you looked at him."
Finally Eric slammed the table with as much strength as he could muster, all the while shouting "I did not kill Danny Thompson!" as loud as he could, which even then was kind of weak. A few tears started to roll out of his eyes as he repeated himself. "I did not kill Danny Thompson."
"Then explain it to us Eric. Tell us how a grade A student like you gets busted with Adderall in your locker just hours after Danny bit the bullet. Tell us why this is all so hard for you to even bring to us now. Maybe then we could actually look at this case like it's not you trying to tell lie after lie" Scotty spoke, his patience at the verge of breaking.
Thinking for a moment, Eric twiddled his thumbs a bit, just momentarily thinking of how much was still left unsaid between the best friends. "Back in high school me and Danny always did these stories. We worked for the school newspaper; it was something I had always seen as fun, but it was something Danny got really invested in…" he stopped for a moment.
"And what Eric?" Lily asked, curiosity biting at her.
"No one ever suspected that there was a problem with Harmonds. We all thought it was a nice enough place, but the cracks showed up within the first couple of weeks. Kids were being supplied Adderall to boost their grades so that Harmonds would get more money pumped into the school. Danny found out and went undercover for the sake of the story." With a smile, Eric stared at the ceiling for a few moments. "We hadn't spoken since the argument in the auditorium but the day before Danny was found… like that… he told me he'd been working on finding out the truth and he managed to uncover something big, something I think might have gotten him killed."
["What it's Like" by Everlast]
Danny walked down the hallways of Harmond with two duffel bags, one hoisted over each shoulder. The look on his face never wavered away from a mixture of fear and anxiety. He had fucked up royally this time and there was nothing he could do about it but ask for help. There was just nowhere else he could go right now. Stopping short of his locker, he looked across to where Eric should have been and sure enough, there he was, fetching things from his locker for next class.
"Eric, come on man, we need to talk about this" he started, the clear compassion coming off of his voice. Never in a million years had he ever wanted to hurt his friend, but it was clear that something had gotten wedged in between the pair of them.
Ever since the whole incident in the auditorium, both of the boys had been avoiding each other; Eric because he was pissed at Danny and Danny because he thought Eric just needed some space. He never even considered the concept that his best friend could have had feelings for him and yet here they were, stuck at a crossroads because neither of them could bring themselves to say anything.
Eric remained silent, carrying on with what he was doing. Shoving some books forcefully into his backpack for next class he grunted a little, a clear sign that he was still upset with Danny right now.
Rolling his eyes, he skirted around the locker so that he could actually see his best friends face. With a stern look haunting his expression it was just so damn clear that this wasn't something that could have been repaired easily with a few words and a mutual understanding between the boys. For the longest time Danny just stood there, in high hopes that at some point Eric would turn and face him to give him at least some shred of hope.
After a few moments though, Danny realised that Eric had just been idly shuffling things around in his locker, as if trying to stall time somewhat. Taking the initiative, Danny dropped both of the bags on the ground at his feet before placing his hand on Eric's shoulder.
"You remember back in Elementary School…?" Danny asked, beginning to reflect on the good times they had shared. "The first day we ever met was the second day of first grade because I remember I was too scared to even go in on the first day. Not that really the second day was any better for me, people had already made their friends…" Danny continued, sighing a little desperately to himself now. Those things they had done seemed so long ago now and he even wondered if he could actually remember any of this. "I remember it so vividly; you were the first person to actually talk to me whilst I was stuck in my own head, worrying about everything. Back then you said that we were going to be best friends for forever and for always."
As if struck by the words, Eric let go of the books in his hand, causing a loud clash against the metal of the locker. An unsure frown replaced the one he had planted on his face that seemed so stern before. In this moment, Eric was struggling to do anything but breath; it was as if his whole body had tightened up to the point where it was just an impossible feat to turn to meet Danny's familiar gaze.
"Come on man, we've been friends for forever. Nothing has changed and nothing will ever change"
The mood changed drastically in Eric as he slammed his locker door shut and turned to face Danny, anger being the clear expression on him right now. "Maybe that's the problem Danny. Did you ever think that?" Eric near-enough shouted. The hallways were practically empty right now considering it was still Lunch hour and not many students wanted to be cramped in the halls during one of the only slivers of freedom they had during the school day. "It's not easy you know. I was there for you when all of this shit went down. Even when I was leaving you behind I was there for you to the point that you followed me here. Did you ever stop to consider that I needed you not to be here?" Eric blasted, his voice growing louder with each passing second. It wasn't often you seen Eric in such a state; usually he had efficient ways of dealing with his own rage.
Danny offered an unsure smile to Eric, but judging from the look on his face that only made things all the more worse. "You look at me like that and I can't help but to feel for you. I can't stop myself loving you and that makes me angry, it makes me so mad to know the only person I care about sees me as his friend."
With a slow nod, it seemed like Danny finally understood as he took a few steps forward and wrapped his arm around his friends shoulder. It might not have been the best way to deal with all of this, but it was something that Danny could do because he was so comfortable with it all. "Look, I'm not sure what this means for us, but I don't want it to get in the way of what we have man… we can move past this, together" The words came out so fluidly, so quickly that Danny knew that they might have sounded less tact than he had originally intended them to be. "I just need my best friend."
Eric sniffed once, trying to contain himself before turning towards Danny. There was no denying that there were a lot of hard times ahead for both of them, but Danny always made it seem easy for the pair of them. Nodding he finally spoke once more, a smile covering his face. "Well if that's the case, I forgive you…" he said, his hushed voice only booming wildly with the joking tone of it all.
Looking down, Eric spotted the two bags, before raising a sceptical eyebrow. "What's in the ba-"
"It's not important" Danny interrupted. "What is important is that I need you to keep one of these for me. I can take care of the other one no problem at all, but you have to take this for me. No questions asked.."
Alright, it was safe to say that Danny was now scaring Eric just a little bit. What the hell kind of trouble had he gotten himself into. They hadn't been talking for the better part of a few days so there really was no telling what the hell Danny had managed to do. Did this have something to do with the story? If it did, then why did he need to carry it around in duffel bags.
Pulling his shaky hand through his blond hair the boy replied sharply. "I dunno Danny." Lifting one of the bags and inspecting it for a moment, he was able to tell it was a lot of little things from the way they moved in the bag. "What is all of thi-"
"No questions asked" he repeated for good measure before lifting the other bag. "I swear to you it'll all make sense tomorrow, but for now I need you to not tell anyone about this. Not the teachers. Not the cops. No one."
"You're worrying me a little bit here Danny…"
"If everything goes to plan, which it should then I'll tell you everything once it's all over. Right now though I just need you to trust me… can you do that?" Danny asked, it being fairly clear that he needed Eric for this all to go down.
Without even skipping a beat, the other boy smiled at him and said "You can count on me man"
The words that had just arose from Eric's mouth seemed to put the whole room in a standstill. It didn't take a detective to know what was in the bags and it also didn't take a detective to be sceptical of the entire story. This was the last thing they really had to go on. If this was wasted then they would have been nowhere, so you could see why both of the detectives struggled to take this in.
Eric shrugged. "That was the last time I ever saw Danny. I never got to find out what he had. All these years I'm just left with all of these questions in my mind and no one could answer them for me."
"Because everyone already thought you were guilty…" Scotty added, folding his arms across his chest whilst giving a more sympathetic look to Eric. He had already played them for idiots once before, you could bet your bottom dollar that Scotty wasn't letting anything like that happen ever again.
Smiling weakly, he nodded towards the detectives.
"You know more than I do about this entire thing. I can only hope now that you manage to find some justice."
The bullpen was bustling with the news that Scotty and Lily were coming back empty handed. The defeated expressions in the room seemed to say it all. Pretty much every lead they chased up ran dry quickly. The pills were manufactured and sent out to factories all across Philly so that didn't help. There was never any gun found and so ballistics evidence was out of the question until they actually had a bullet to compare it too. It wasn't often that the team thought about the admittance of defeat but there was a reason this case was so open and shut so many years ago; there just wasn't enough evidence or motive to go after anyone else.
Coming into view, both Lily and Scotty shared their look of dismay with the other detectives. They all looked back with the same expression.
"So what do we do now?" asked Kat, breaking the silence. Within an instant everyone turned to her as if expecting her to say something else. When that something else did not come, Stillman took to the plate.
Picking up the file on Danny Thompson he nudged the edge of it against the table, as if to get the attention of his detectives. "We do what we always do. We got back, we take a look at evidence, we take a look at witness accounts. Somewhere along the line someone has slipped up." Stillman knew that the end was close, he could just feel it. All he really needed to do was lead his team to the end. "Nick, you and Jeffries see what you can come up with on the gun. Anything about it will give us a clue. Kat, I need you to backtrack everything that's been said up to this point. Lily, Scotty, see what you can do about uncovering something new, doesn't really matter how big it is"
Nodding amongst themselves the detectives broke off, each assigning themselves to their designated roles. Before Lily and Scotty even had a chance to go to their desks, they spotted someone over at the waiting area.
With the same dishelved look as before, it was clear to see that Jasmine Chase clearly was someone who was in need of some help. Jeffries couldn't help but roll his eyes some as he caught a glimpse of her still bouncing around somewhat. To him it just looked like a junkie in need of her next fix, and maybe he was right about that, but it didn't stop Lily from going over. She was obviously here for a reason. Maybe she had some light to shed on the case.
"Jasmine…?" Lily asked, the burnt out woman twisting her head suddenly to the direction of Lily's voice. A soft smile cracked on her face as she recognised the familiar voice.
Taking a step forward towards the woman she held out her shaking hand, biting the nails on her other. With as much grace and compassion as she could ever hope to hold out for someone like Jasmine, she took the fragile woman's hand in her own and gave a firm handshake. "Hi… I mean… yes I'm here… cause… I mean…" The girl was more than dishelved in appearance. Obviously there was something going on.
"What is it Jasmine, maybe we can help you…" Lily asked. "Do you know something about what happened to Danny?"
Jasmine shrugged as she was led to a seat, taking a much needed breather right now. "Back then I was always so in my own head. I started taking the stuff to make my dad proud, to make him want me for once in my life…" she burst out, looking on the verge of a natural disaster right now as she rocked back and forth slightly. "It made me lose my mind. Half the stuff I remember I'm not sure if I remember because it's real or if it's something I've made up" Jasmine spoke, her voice so soft that only Lily, who was seated opposite her, could make it out "After he died I had nothing except all these jumbled memories of him. I couldn't cope with that loss. I lost myself along the way and I hate what I've become, but I don't know the way back."
"And now you think one of these jumbled memories might give us something to work with?" Lily asked.
Without so much as hesitating, Jasmine pulled out her phone. It was impressive as all hell in Scotty's eyes how she could even afford something like this. Quickly, Jasmine scrolled through a couple of menu's before playing an audio file, placing the phone down on the desk.
"Jasmine, this is your father. I'm not sure if they've gotten to you yet but the detectives are looking at Danny's old case. I need to remind you that we are family. We'll always be family. Promise me you won't tell too much." With that, the message died out, but it was pretty clear that Leopold had not told them everything that they needed to know. All this time later he was still looking out for number one and was quick to throw everyone else under the bus.
Lily had a follow up question though. "What does he mean? Do you have something that you need to tell us?"
Frowning, the girl sank back in her seat, thinking the repercussions over for a few moments. "I saw Danny a couple of hours before he wound up dead in the auditorium. At least… I think I did."
["Given to Fly" by Pearl Jam]
Jasmine sat on her room, books scattered all around the room. It was clear even in this time that Jasmine was someone who was clustered when it came to her thoughts. The girl lacked focus, at least that's what her dad would always say to her. Maybe that's why she was so disillusioned with reality right now. The constant beat downs of everyone around her made her feel rather pathetic. The only guy who truly believed in her was someone she let down time and time again. When it came down to it, Jasmine was more receptive to her father's attention than Danny's positive influence on her.
She thanked that he was there and actually trying his best, but she would always be there to let him down. He needed something stable, something that didn't require maintenance. The guy seemed like the type who would run at the first sign of trouble and that's all she was in her own head.
She chewed on the edge of her pencil as she scanned through her biology textbook. It all just seemed like words to her right now. The girl hadn't even slept in close to a day and a half. It was a miracle that she was actually managing to fully support her head right now, though she had a feeling the soda was helping keep her alert for a bit longer.
With a knock on the door interrupting her thought process, she turned to face it. Standing in the doorway were two figures; one who she constantly sought attention off of and one who constantly sought attention from her. Taking the lead, her father came into the room first, daring not to speak in any other tone but the one he had used around his students for all these years. "Jasmine, this young man here showed up at our doorstop looking for you. Is there something I need to know" Leopold Chase asked, his same hi-brow attitude sweeping across.
Smiling softly to herself she shared a knowing look with Danny before turning back to face her father. "It's nothing daddy, it's just some stupid history project" she made up, knowing full well that her father trusted enough to buy into any lie that she passed off.
Knowing when to take his bow out, Leopold Chase left the room muttering something along the lines of "Have fun you two." To Danny he seemed like the perfect kind of dad, but he knew that could hardly be the case if Jasmine was in the state that she was in. Even if she had gotten herself into this situation on her own, nothing he did made her want to stop.
Coming into the room he closed the door quietly before dropping a lone duffel bag on the floor. Without an inch of hesitation he crossed the room to her and gave a light smile, one that seemed to say that he was sorry for being such a douche.
Without even saying that though, Jasmine could tell how he really felt. "It's okay Danny… I made my bed."
Frowning to himself, he took a seat down on the foot of her bed, clutching his own hands and wondering what he should do. There was just so much all up in the air at the moment and he knew the last thing he could really do was get out of this without a little bit of blood on his back. "Do you trust me?" Danny finally spoke after a long period of silence.
"Danny, what's all of this about?" Jasmine spoke, moving closer to him.
Stressed to the point of wanting to burst, Danny sprang up from his position on the bed, clasping his hands behind his head. Swallowing hard he looked back at her. "I realise I fucked up beyond all recognition…" Danny started, walking over to the bag and slowly unzipping it. "But I don't even know how the hell I'm going to get out of this…" Lifting the flap he showed the contents to Jasmine who just stared for a moment before meeting the gaze of Danny, and then back to the duffel bag.
There must have been easily one hundred bottles or so of Adderall just messily tucked away in the bag. "Is this some kind of joke" Jasmine asked, her voice hushed.
"What…!?" Danny reflected, raising his arms up promptly to defend himself. "No look, these drugs… they belong to someone else" Danny started, feeling himself get more flustered by the second. "What do you do when you want to do the right thing but the right thing could ruin someone?" he finally asked.
Walking up to Danny and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder she softly spoke. "You do what's best for you. What you think is the right thing is probably always gonna be the right thing…" Taking the opportunity, the girl planted a soft kiss on Danny's lips, causing him to sink a little bit. This was honestly the last thing he had anticipated on but now he was kind of glad that he had come here in the first place.
"That was… wow….."
Jasmine offered a hearty smile before turning back to the bag. "Are you going to tell me what's got you so upset?"
For a few moments he considered the answer. "Morality. That's what's got me. If I weren't so chicken I'd probably have my answer right now." Knocking his hand on the wall he quickly picked up the bag. "I need to know that I can trust you to take this. And I need you to trust me to not tell anyone else about this. No one can find out about this bag or what's in it…"
Jasmine paused for a moment, taking it all in. For a while it seemed like she was unsure, but afterwards she gave a quick nod. "Alright, I'll do it"
Grinning to himself, Danny turned to face the door. "That's awesome, I promise, you won't have to keep it for long. I'll come and get it tomorrow and explain everything then. Right now though there's just one last thing I really have to do…"
Before she even had a chance to say goodbye, the bag had been dropped on her bed and he had slunk out of the room.
"Good luck…" she muttered under her breath.
All at once it seemed like the pieces were coming together. The other bag that Eric was speaking about now had an owner and it was clear that there was someone else who seen Danny last. Whilst Eric was not entirely out of the woods yet, he was safe as far as the detectives were concerned.
"Do you still have that bag?" Lily wondered. It was the closest thing to evidence that they had at the moment.
Jasmine looked around the room and gave a little bit of a shrug. "That's the thing; I was so sure that this happened, that I placed the bag in my closet, but when I woke up the next day…" she trailed off, figuring the detectives could work out the rest from her expressions alone. There went that line of thought. Now they were back at square one again… unless….
"Your dad? You think he might be responsible for this?"
She paused for a moment. Clutching her hands and steadily rocking more with each passing second she gave another gentle shrug. "I didn't think he was capable of it" she spoke. "But that message… I've never heard him sound so angry or worried in my life."