Chapter 8
The sunlight streamed into the police station the next morning, brightening Lily's mood. She felt like they were one step closer to finding out the truth about Victoria's death.
"Seems like Ryan and Victoria's little fling was all an act." She told the rest of the team. "The only downside was being a good friend, Mike went and told Katie what he thought was the truth. So maybe that angered Katie enough to get even with her best friend, teach her a lesson for messing with her ex."
Jeffries snorted. "Got to love teenage drama."
Vera approached the group clutching a file in his hand. Guessing by the look on his face, everyone could tell he had dug up something juicy.
"Guess what dirt I dug up on our ole' boy Josh here." Vera said as he slammed the file down on the desk. "Ryan was right."
Scotty picked up the file. "Registered student, Philadelphia State…this is new. Hospital records show he was admitted in January 2003."
Lily was instantly intrigued. "What for?"
Scotty handed her the file, too surprised for words. Lily took the brown folder from him and read the report. Josh had been hospitalized in the beginning of January 2003 from a mental breakdown. Scanning the records, Lily could see he had spent five months in the hospital being treated for a list of ailments, most notably depression. The best kicker of all came with the note that Josh had tried to commit suicide early on in his treatment.
"Suicide," Lily finally said. "That doesn't sound like the picture perfect Josh that Allison painted."
"But that explains why he snapped at Victoria, out of the blue." Jeffries pointed out.
"So what would it take for Josh to turn it from suicide to homicide?" Scotty wondered.
"That's what we have to find out."
Josh looked up from his seat as Lily and Scotty entered the room. Amongst all the other buff tattooed convicted criminals trying to get every last second with their families and/or loved ones, Josh looked all the more like a little boy that didn't belong in that ruff, cruel part of the world.
"Hello Josh." Lily said. "I'm Detective Lily Rush and this is Scotty Valens."
Josh's eyes flickered from Lily, to Scotty then back to Lily again. "Is he your boyfriend?"
"No." Scotty said quickly, surprised by the question. "We're just partners."
"Maybe you should think about getting together." Josh said. "You look good together."
"Let's just cut to the chase shall we?" Lily suggested, for some reason eager to get on a much less awkward and out of the blue topic. "We came across a piece of very interesting information." In one swift motion Lily opened the file and slid it in front of Josh. His eyes were blank as he scanned line after line of his hospital record, describing his diagnosis, his progress, and his eventual release five months later. Minutes after Lily was sure he had read everything that was in front of him Josh was still silent.
"A witness claims to have seen you exiting the Wellness Centre of the school."
"Who said that?"
"That's not important."
Silence.
"Do you want to know what I think?" Lily finally asked.
Silence.
"That Victoria was just trying to be a good friend, and you suffered a relapse, snapped." Lily continued. "And she was the only one you could take your anger out on."
Silence.
"What, afraid to admit I might be right?"
"I could have never hurt Victoria." Josh's voice had dropped to a deep husky tone.
"Why not?"
"Because she didn't do what everybody else did. She didn't do what you're trying to do—she didn't judge me."
January 2004
It was the first day of school and Josh couldn't help but feel a little elevated in happiness as he sat beside Victoria with rays of sunshine dancing around them. Icicles hung off the side of the buildings and the air was bitter cold making their breaths visible, but somehow that made him feel more alive. Victoria fiddled with her scarf as she listened patiently to the story Josh had to tell. Over the winter holiday he had heard a DJ on a local radio station go through some of his philosophy, recounting how babies and toddlers often held onto their parent's hands for safety and security. When you grow up, you hold onto your boyfriend or girlfriend's hands as a signal of love. And when the DJ died, he hoped that somebody would be holding onto his hand, to complete the circle.
"I never thought of it like that." Victoria said at last.
"I'd like that." Josh said confidently. "Somebody I loved…holding my hand as I pass on. What about you?"
"Me?" Victoria pondered that thought for a second before a mischievous smile came across her face. "Nah, I'm much greedier than that. I'd want the person holding me in their arms."
"Why?"
"Why?" the girl became serious once again. "Because I'd feel much closer to them, feel like they cared about me."
Victoria did seem to have a point of her own. But Josh was now at a loss for words, and fighting hard to find something, anything to talk about.
"Are you ok?"
"I'm fine." Josh said quickly.
"You're not fine. You've been talking a lot lately."
"I always talk a lot."
"You're talking more than you usually do."
For a guy that could usually find anything to talk about, Josh kicked himself for falling silent. But he had to tell her. She deserved to know…didn't she?
"I've wanted to tell you this for awhile now…we've gotten so close, and I feel like you should know, before we get any closer. I feel like you should have a right to know. But I was always scared to risk the chance of losing you as a friend."
"Whatever it is, I'm sure it won't change how I see you." Victoria assured him.
Finally with her assurance, Josh began the story he had repeated twice already. He had told a little white lie when he had told her, so long ago, he had taken eight months off from school to work. True, he had worked during that time, but for only three of the eight months. With a deep breathe and a pounding heart, Josh told her the real reason he had taken all those months off school: after he had completed his winter exams in his second year, he had a mental breakdown. At that point the whole world had seemed to be closing in on him: he wanted to do well on his exams, he wanted to be strong for his family, but he was tired from dealing with their alcoholic mother. He had wanted to take care of it all, and yet the guilt was piling up from the feeling that always nagged at him for months on end. The feeling he was slowly slipping and spinning out of control. It got to the point where he tried to take his own life, thinking it would make things easier on his family and friends. But his plan had been stopped; he had arrived at the hospital in the nick of time, only to begin a gruelling regiment of recovery that lasted for five months.
Victoria had remained silent throughout the whole ordeal, her face showing no disgust, no hate, no shock or horror, just the concentrating look he saw so often in class. Even after his tale had ended, that look remained on her face as she let his words slowly sink in. But soon after that, a new look crossed over her face, her eyes struggling to find the right words to say.
"How are you now?" she asked softly.
Josh pondered that question for a moment. "I'm a lot better now, sometimes I still get depressed, and who doesn't? But at least I won't go down that road again; I know I have a great family and a great girlfriend."
"And I'm sure great friends." Victoria smiled.
Josh finally understood the new look that had crossed her face. It was the one that said, you idiot, why did you think I would be scared?
He had been wrong about her all along. He had made the mistake of telling Andrea his story and now whenever they ran into teach other on campus she always looked the other way, pretended not to know him. Word of his "illness" had spread quickly among her friends. He could see it in their eyes whenever he passed by...he could hear their whispers, their laughs, their teasing. They were more concerned about making fun of the mental case rather than…rather than taking a chance of trying to discover whether or not he was like them. Normal. Human.
"You know." Victoria finally said. "My dad suffered depression when he went through University."
Josh could barely believe what he had heard. "Serious?"
"Come on, let's go for coffee." Victoria offered. "My treat." She gave Josh a friendly pat on the shoulder before they got up and started walking again.
Present Day
Josh looked up at Lily as she sat back, half in shock. He had always given off the impression of being a good-natured polite boy and whether that was thought of as truly genuine or all an act lay in the eyes of the beholder. But as she looked at the face again her heart ached with the realization that his eyes were filled with the pain that she herself was familiar with. Mother…alcoholic…attempted suicide…
She tried her best to remain professional, but she was finding herself feeling more and more compassionate to the boy that was, like her, mature beyond his years. She knew firsthand how destructive an alcoholic parent could be, making individuals like herself and Joshua seem like miracles.
"I'm sure you would have found that out if you had dug a little deeper instead of stopping where you wanted to." Josh said quietly. "Yes, my mother was an alcoholic, a real bitch."
"I'm sorry." Lily finally said.
"My dad tried the best he could to protect us." Josh continued. "But he was always working, always trying to support his three kids and his wife's…habit. The more he tried to stop the beatings, the more she beat us, blamed us for him blaming her. But that was when she was drunk. When she was sober, she beat us because of the hangover she had. Since I was the oldest, I felt it was my responsibility to protect my siblings, take three times the beatings so they wouldn't have to. She ran off with some other guy when I was sixteen: we haven't heard from her since. All the better."
"I know how you feel." Lily managed to say. "My mother was an alcoholic too."
He smiled grimly. "Then I guess we have something in common."
"I guess we do." Lily echoed, gathering up her files and papers. Her mind searched for something, anything to say to the boy. Part of her wanted to believe his innocence and yet the other part screamed murderer.
"Like I said, she didn't judge me. She saw who I was now and how far I can come from my past. I will be forever grateful to her because of that."
"But yet you were there when she died." Lily reminded him.
"Yes I was. And I was glad to be with her until the last."
Lily walked out of the visiting room with Scotty close in tow. It was no until the metal gate had slammed shut did Lily realize his hand had been on her shoulder once again.
To Jeffries and Vera it was any other interrogation room, a place where they spent as much, if not more of their time then at home. But it was the first time Katie saw the small grey room, the plain metal table and matching chairs, and her reflection in the two way mirror. And it was certainly the first time she had two detectives breathing down her neck trying to pin the murder of her best friend on her.
"Like I said before, Victoria was my best friend. Why on earth would I hurt her?"
"Because at this point in time, a lot of suspicious things point to you." Vera stated. She had gone out with Ryan, broken up with Ryan and received the news he was cozying up with Victoria not too long afterwards. But since she would have been in a pretty serious relationship with Ryan, she would have had plenty of opportunities to visit him on campus. Plenty of time to know her way around. And certainly she could have easily gotten Victoria alone with a simple phone call.
The perfect recipe for murder.
"Mike did tell me." Katie finally admitted. "About how Ryan and Victoria were getting close."
"And?"
"At first I was angry. But I took a little time to think about it and I realized they didn't do anything wrong, we had already broken up. I told her exactly how I felt the next time I saw her."
Feb 14, 2004
It was the same house the same surroundings, the same decoration, and almost the same people. Katie's house always seemed to be the one they had their big parties and gatherings at. Valentines Day. It was supposed to have been a celebration, now…she didn't even know why she had let Victoria persuade her to hold a party at her house. A few months ago she would have gladly said yes in a heartbeat. Back then it was her and Ryan, and Victoria and Mike as the single ones. Now…was Victoria that good at acting like nothing was out whack?
Victoria gave a smile as Katie handed her a soda and sat down beside her friend on the couch.
"Come on." Victoria tried. "Smile a little. It's Valentines Day."
But Katie was in no mood to lighten up. Not after what Mike had told her days earlier. Not after all she had gone through emotionally. But she had to do the right thing.
She forced herself to smile. "I know."
"Know what?"
"About you and Ryan."
Victoria's face instantly clouded over. "Did Mike tell you?"
"Who else?"
"Of course." Victoria nodded, almost to herself. "Listen Katie, I know this may not seem to mean anything right now, but I promise you everything will work out. You'll see."
She held back a snort and a smirk. "Yeah, sure." Ironically, it was not until after the silence had dragged on for several minutes that Katie had realized how cold her voice had been.
"Listen." She said hesitantly. "I…I just want you to know that I'm not angry at you. I…I wish you guys the best, you look like such a cute couple."
Victoria stared at her best friend in disbelief.
"It's true."
The peace offering finally seemed to have sunk in for Victoria as she returned her gaze to the ground and drew her knees closer to her chest. But Katie knew that position also stood for something else. A confession.
"Yeah, we're uh seeing each other now…but I'm not sure if it will last."
Katie's heard sped up and she fought hard against the urge to grin and smile. She knew she shouldn't feel happy over the predicted break-up with her best friend and her ex, but for some reason she couldn't help but look forward to it. Was this feeling normal?
"Oh?" Katie prided herself for keeping her voice even and calm. "Why not? Is it because of the other guy?"
"He asked me out again." Victoria admitted. "And I said yes…but it's not that."
"Then what is it?"
Silence.
"Is there someone else?"
More silence.
"There IS someone else. A third guy." Katie exclaimed triumphantly.
Guilt was appearing all over her best friend's face. "Don't tell anyone." She said quickly. "Nothing's ever going to come out of it."
"So you've got the hots for another guy?" Katie tried her best to be friendly, giving the girl a friendly nudge and a wink.
Victoria smiled shyly. "I guess…I don't know."
"Do I know this guy?"
"Sort of."
"Let me guess, tall dark and handsome?" Another nudge and a wink.
Victoria finally lightened up enough to let out a laugh and a smile. "More like tall, blonde and handsome."
"Tall blonde and handsome? It's Josh isn't it?"
Victoria remained silent. But Katie knew, from that type of silence, she had hit the mark.
"So…Victoria had the hots for Josh?" Vera could barely believe his ears.
Katie hesitated for a moment before nodding. "She never said anything about it, but whenever she talked about him there was gleam in her eye I had never seen before. He was blonde, he was cute, and he was taller than me and Victoria by a good few inches."
"What about this other guy?" Jeffries questioned. "How did he get into the picture?"
Katie shrugged. "They met at school; he asked her out awhile after winter break, they went out at the end of the month. She brought me along for moral support, double date sort of thing."
"I'm assuming the date went pretty well."
Katie smiled to herself. "She thought it was a disaster because she was so shy and nervous she barely talked. In fact, most of the conversation came from me and the guy's friend. But you should have seen the way he looked at her, he saw past her shyness, her quietness; saw past all the walls she had put up. He saw her potential and fell in love with her."
"Sounds like a great guy." Vera commented.
"He was." Katie agreed. "I don't know why she didn't fall for him first. Heck I would have fallen in love with him, he was the perfect gentleman. But he only had eyes for her."
"Do you have a name for Prince Charming?"
Katie's forehead wrinkled ever so slightly and she searched her memory. "Adam…something. Lifeguard at the pool on campus if I remember correctly. I think that's how they first met."
Author's Note: This chapter was a little long, but I hoped you still liked it. Thanks to The Magic Bringer and Max Fuchs for reviewing! Please keep the reviews coming!
The Magic Bringer: Thank you for your kind words. I can only hope my story has a good ending and won't make every groan.
Max Fuchs: No problem! And (haha) isn't that how CC runs? Sometimes it just keeps flipping back and forth between possible suspects?
