Working with Ghosts

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

Chapter 14 (An Old Friend Comes Knocking)

Seated around the family table, Jade kept a close eye on her husband, still unsure whether or not to doubt him in regards to Lisa's murder. If he did it, then it would question everything she ever knew about him.

To her right, Vanessa was spinning some spaghetti with her fork. To Jade's left, Ryan was rolling a meatball across the plate. Jade was struggling to eat and feared that her food might come up.

A war was being waged inside of her on whether or not Beck saw Lisa after the breakup. Then she thought of Tori and Trina; he had nothing to do with them. He couldn't have. Their primary suspect right now was the man with the most motive: Robbie.

Beck slid his fork slowly across his lips and turned his eyes towards her. She was studying his fork, thinking about taking it to the crime lab for analysis. But if she were to doubt her husband, a man she trusted for twenty years, then where would that leave her?

"I got an interesting phone call earlier today," Beck announced, "From an old friend." Jade leaned upright and buried her fork slowly into the spaghetti. "Andre. He was trying to get in touch with us, I think."

Jade's eyes were glued to the fork she was slowly twirling. "After all these years? How's he doing?"

"Well." Beck removed his phone from his pocket and pushed it across the table. "He sent a picture." Her heart skipped a beat and her eyes fell to the phone. Vanessa instantly suggested taking a look, so with a sigh, Jade put down her utensil and reached for the phone.

"He didn't seem to want to talk to us after Tori's death." She turned on the phone and Andre's photo popped up. He was sharply dressed in a fashionable white suit, was sitting at a grand piano, and had his hair in a ponytail that seemed to flow around his shoulders. "Well, his suit's definitely better looking than that god awful one you've got." She smirked and watched as Beck rolled his eyes.

"When you're right, you're right."

A woman Andre's age and two young children stood around the camera, grinning with the man. They were a beautiful family, and Andre's wife seemed to resemble Tori in a way-long brown hair and a slender figure. She also had the same skin tone, and the same brown eyes. "How odd. Have you seen his wife?"

"That's Taylor. They met in New Orleans when he moved there. Andre's done very well for himself. He owns a music shop, teaches piano lessons, and plays gigs in the jazz clubs on the weekends."

"That's amazing." Andre had to be a millionaire by now. The way his family was dressed in all formal attire, they seemed to reflect an elite status. "I'll call him after dinner, sweetie."

She handed back the phone, mildly uninterested in Andre and his wealthy family. "Oh um, I found Lisa, by the way." Her eyes squinted and she watched him. His brow furrowed and he pulled his mouth back into a frown.

"You did? What did she say?" Jade did a double take. Vanessa's eyes widened and she quickly excused herself from the table, pulling Ryan away against his will. Their daughter knew about Lisa because it came up during a fight the couple had when she was very young, and anytime Lisa was brought up, Vanessa left the room.

"I want to know if you saw her after you broke up with her." He shook his head and brought another bite up to his lips. Beck remained calm and chewed the bite slowly.

While waiting for him to speak, she curled her fingernails in and scraped them against her palm. Her right foot tapped the floor and her brow furrowed. "The last time I ever saw her was when I broke up with her." They had numerous fights even after he broke up about whether or not he was still seeing Lisa-even after they married and had Vanessa, Jade still accused him about the girl. "Must we go over that every time her name is mentioned? Did she say something to you?"

"No." Her lips pressed together and her hand uncurled a slight bit. Beck appeared to genuinely feel that Lisa actually spoke; was this indicative of non-guilt? "Beck, she's dead." His eyes shot open and his jaw dropped.

"Dead? What happened?"

She swallowed a lump of air and studied him close. His fork was hanging between his chin and the plate, shaking lightly, and genuine shock was clear in his eyes. "She killed herself. We think…just a few months after your breakup."

"K-Killed her-you can't be serious." He scratched at his head and set his fork down. "No, Jade, that's." He cleared his throat and shut his eyes. "Damn, I, I'm sorry to bring my dating her up but Jade, that's impossible." Her eyebrows rose and her heart began to rise. "She wouldn't do that, not to her brother. That girl was all she had, her dad had that mental mess going on, the guy couldn't take care of himself. There's no way!"

"Her brother seems to think there's more to it. We're going to look into this, find out if it was a homicide-somebody didn't want it investigated."

"Well, if someone killed her, then find out who. Just like with Tori and Trina. It's your job." He grabbed his fork and Jade turned her eyes away from him. His hand was trembling and his face twisted into an expression of total shock.

"You realize that if that's the case." Her voice broke and Beck stopped the fork at his lips, groaning softly.

His voice fell and he took a sharp breath of air. "I might be a suspect. You don't honestly think-" She remained silent, keeping her gaze away from his. "Are you seriously thinking I would have anything to do with that?" Once again, she remained silent. Her eyes slammed shut and she waited for Beck to explode in anger.

When he didn't, she was startled. "You know what? I get it. You're just doing your job, like you always do."

"Nothing's known just yet."

"I know."

"Plus whoever did it may have assaulted her as well." He coughed and glanced up from his food with a frown "I…don't think I can eat anymore." His hand moved to his stomach and his skin turned sheet white. "I can promise you, I haven't seen her since I broke up. Now, if you excuse me, I can feel my dinner coming back up…"

Jade winced as Beck got up from the table and ran for the bathroom. A long time ago they made a promise for her not to reveal details of crime scenes to him, especially on the risk that he may potentially know the person.

"Well. One was left…" She picked up her fork and stabbed her spaghetti with it, sighing heavily.

When she finished eating she made sure to check on Beck, he decided to take a cold shower. So while he was busy with this task, and Vanessa was packaging up the leftover food, Jade took the opportunity to give Andre a call back.

She was eager to hear from him.

"Hello?" Andre's voice was smooth and calm, near soothing for her shot nerves. It was pleasing to hear his voice again.

"Andre, hey, Beck said you wanted me to call you back."

"Jade?" He spoke with an excited haste that brought a smile to her face. "Yeah, I was just sitting here wondering what my old friends were up to. I've missed you guys."

"Glad to hear you've been thinking of us." It was a change from all those years prior when he told them both he wanted nothing more to do with them. "You know, I'm a homicide investigator now."

"Yes. Beck told me you were reopening the Vega murders."

"Yeah and another potential case involving one of Beck's 'girlfriends'. Lisa. I can't go into any detail there, but-"

"Lisa? As in Lisa White?" She froze and her eyes darted to the right. She didn't know that Andre knew anything of the girl. "Hey yeah, I do know her. Used to hang with her when Beck was in that affair…"

Her nose wiggled and she scowled momentarily. "Thanks for the reminder, I haven't been reminded of the affair enough lately." It was surprising to hear Andre having personally known Lisa.

In high school, Andre was almost as bad-if not worse-than Beck was in regards to women and his respect of them. He didn't care if they were hurt, case in point being when Robbie cut Trina's harness in the play, and he was always deceiving the girls he went out with.

There was a time when he would date what Jade had to term "leftovers", and this phase disturbed her most when he tried to emulate Beck so much that he started taking an interest in girls that his best friend had either broken up with or was still with.

"You knew Lisa?"

"Yeah, even a little after Beck called it off. She was distraught, so I helped her out." Jade could feel her blood run cold, but the she shrugged his statement off as coincidental. It was in Andre's nature to console someone that was feeling down.

Although, there were times when the man knew how to take advantage of a girl's vulnerable state. She wasn't sure if Andre ever went that far or not with anyone she knew, and certainly not someone tied to Beck.

"So how goes the investigation on the girls? Are you getting any closer?"

"Maybe…So, do you still feel like you want nothing to do with us?"

Andre laughed heartily, causing her to flinch. "Honestly Jade, I thought you knew? Your husband's the one that told me to stay away."

Jade turned her attention to the bathroom, her lips separated, and her breathing grew difficult. "Beck said that?" Why would he tell Andre something like this, and why didn't he ever tell her? "Andre, I-" She shook her head and furrowed her brow. "I'm sorry if Beck made you feel unwelcome or something."

"It was just a falling out, Jade. Nothing to worry about. Beck didn't want me coming around anymore."

Talking to Andre was going to be important for the case, or at least for Lisa's case. She assumed that Lisa was in fact murdered and did not kill herself, and they had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt who did what.

"Andre. I bet Beck would love to see you now, since he seemed to be okay with me calling you up." Whatever reason Beck had for being uncomfortable with Andre may have passed, unless he felt Andre being on the phone and several miles away was better than being in person. "You should bring your family for a visit."

"You know what? I just might do that. I would love to be there when you solve the Vega murder. I'll talk to Taylor about it, and if she agrees, I'll let you know."

She thanked him and then parted ways. When she turned around, she saw her husband in the doorway, staring with a disapproving look. "Please tell me I didn't just hear you invite that man to fly in for a visit." She raised her eyebrows and straightened her back.

"I did. He's a former friend of ours, so I'm not going to turn him away." Beck slanted his eyes and let his mouth fall into an intense frown. There was something unreadable in his eyes, an emotion that confused her.

"If he comes to visit us, Jade." He spoke slowly and with a forceful nature that she'd not seen in him for a long time. "I'm taking our daughter and our son, and we're leaving until he's gone."

"Beck, be sensible."

"No. I'll take the kids to see their grandparents or something, but I'm not going to be here, and neither will the children." She stood up and felt her anger rushing into her veins.

"They're my children too." She flung her hand out to the phone and narrowed her eyes. "There's nothing wrong with letting them meet an old friend of ours."

"I said no." Beck approached her slowly. His shoulders were locked in place, his hands were clenched so tight that his knuckles were white, and his strong jaw seemed to be frozen. "I was his best friend. I know him. You don't know the man."

His arms crossed over his chest, and a heaviness thickened over his voice. "I'd take you with me, but you seem hard pressed to talk to him, but you wouldn't let the kids around Robbie, would you?"

"Robbie's different. He's a criminal, Andre isn't." She dropped her arms, then reached up, pointing at Beck's chest. "Whatever issues you have with him in the past, you need to get over it."

Jade walked past him, ignoring his further protest. She had no interest in fighting him due to all the other stress that surrounded her presently. There might be no chance of reconnecting with Andre, but Beck seemed not to want even the chance.

"Jade! Goddamn it, listen to me." She stopped in the doorway and slammed the frame with the palm of her hand. Her pulse was racing and her blood felt poisonous to her body.

"What?" She growled at the man and turned her head. "It was only a suggestion, Beck. He may not even agree to show up."

"He will. All he needs is an invitation, and he will." Beck quieted the anger in his tone and slid his hand through his hair. "You know, Andre never knew his parents." She raised an eyebrow and bit down on her tongue in an attempt to keep her silence. "Yeah. His mother's in prison on a life sentence. His father and two brothers lived in New Orleans with a sibling, they died when Andre was young."

As the tension in the air subsided, Jade removed her hand from the frame and turned fully towards him. "I didn't know that. Why did I never know that?" It hurt that Andre never trusted her with that information when they knew the man, but surely he had his reasons for it.

"Because I was his best friend." Beck flattened his hand over his heart. "He shared things with me that he didn't share with the world." His eyebrows drew close and his jowl lines shifted down. "Andre's lived with his grandmother all his life, and that psycho was a witch. She abused her daughter, and then she did the same to Andre."

Her jaw fell open and she shook with disbelief. "Are you saying Andre might be criminal?" Beck held his breath for a moment, then heaved forth a heavy sigh.

"I'm not saying he is a criminal. Your specialty is profiling, and you know how Andre was in high school. Every week he had a different girl at his arm, he was worse than I was about women. He never knew how to treat them because he never grew up with that in his mind. He was messed up, Jade, and I don't want that kind of mental screwup around my kids or you-and you can handle yourself just fine."

"I'm sure there's nothing wrong. He's got two daughters, for god sake!"

Beck laughed once and raised a single finger into the air. "Just you watch. If he comes for a visit, you do what you do best and you observe. I'd like to see if his family's as picture perfect as they seem, because that man's never seen what a healthy relationship with a woman should be. That, and he's a damned copycat."

"Oh?" She smirked and started to scoff, but Beck was unyielding in his detesting voice. His expression twisted into disgust and he slowly shook his head.

"Jade. One reason we had a falling out, do you want to know why?"

"Of course I want to know, you were the one that told him to stay away, evidently. Funny, because a friend would have been the best thing to get him away from the apparent hell you say he suffered."

"Yes." Beck's shoulders rose and his chest expanded out. "I told him to stay the hell away from us, for good reason." His eyes closed over and his chest deflated. "You remember when he had that thing for you?"

Jade looked away, dropping her smirk and shrugging. "I do."

"It's not the first, it wasn't the last." His eyes opened partially and his nostrils spread open. "Every woman I ever had a thing for, every woman I ever dated, he would go after. He'd have this thing for them, he'd fantasize, you know?"

"He had his own dates."

"Yeah he did, but those never lasted more than a day or two, now did they? So why in the hell is he married and with two kids?" Beck shook his hand in the air, then cleared his throat. "Not important. I'm saying after a period of time, he started emulating me. That 'crush' he had on you came back for a little bit, then he would come over and hang out with my parents."

The room started to heat up and Jade could feel a level of discomfort eating away at her. If what Beck was saying was true, then maybe he was right to ask Andre to leave.

Beck clamped the bridge of his nose with two fingers and tensed his forehead. "All the time." His arm fell down and an exasperated sigh fled from him. "I don't mean five minutes out of a day, it was hours…he'd help around the house with my mother, he'd ask my father if he could join our hunting expeditions, like he couldn't have a damned life of his own."

"He seems perfectly fine now, Beck." She was aware that criminal activity wasn't something a person necessarily 'grew out of', but they could change their actions or moods if they so chose such. Just as Samuel Ross had regret for his crime and was unlikely to commit the act again based on the level of disgust he had about it, any criminal that still retained some humanity could change.

"I doubt he's mentally stable."

"Well he's got a million dollar instrument business, he's got a wife and he has two children. Whatever mentality he had as a child or as a teenager, he may have changed."

"Coming from you, I'm surprised to hear you say it."

"Why?" She brought her hands up to her hips and raised an eyebrow at him. "Look at me, I changed." He nodded and ran his hand over his neck with a sigh. "Even you! You used to be a womanizer. You were manipulative, controlling-an egomaniac." Beck cringed visibly; a sign of triumph. "Everyone can change, and everyone grows up."

"Think like a profiler, Jade." He brought his hands to his chest and narrowed his eyes. "I knew better. I know the difference between right and wrong. I knew my actions were hurting someone I cared about, so I made the effort. I had the mentality, the knowledge and history to look at the situation and say 'this isn't right'. I still have issues with control, yes, but I know better."

Beck stepped forward, raising his voice and pointing at the window. "That man out there, living-thankfully-several states away never had that mentality. He was like Robbie, he didn't know the difference between right and wrong, he didn't know that being a womanizer hurt the women he was with. He didn't know stealing his best friend's life was wrong. Even his own views regarding sex are fucked up! And you don't just 'get over' those things!"

"It seems like he did." She shrugged. "I still would like to talk to him about an investigation, anyway, so if he does decide that he's coming for a visit-"

Beck threw his hands up and turned around. "Fine." He ran his hand over the back of his head. His entire body was trembling, and now he wasn't even looking at her. "But I draw the line on Vanessa."

"What?"

"If you want him to meet the kids. I'm saying no. If you're still adamant, you are capable of watching over Ryan, but I will take Vanessa and we'll go see your father or something."

Vanessa was the one that wanted to meet Andre, though. She enjoyed hearing the stories about her mother's friends, and was always happy to hear about how well they once got along with Andre.

"But Beck, she-"

"I said no on our daughter ever meeting that man, and my decision is final." He dropped his hand and walked out of the bedroom without a further word. He was incredibly tense, and certainly at this point, impervious to further argument.

She knew better than to argue any more when Beck got like this, so she would let him cool off. His words did resonate with her, however.

As her eyes drew to the phone, Jade couldn't help but wonder what the actual problem with Andre was. Beck had to have a reason for not trusting the man, even after all these years, and she did want to know.

"Think like a profiler, you say?" If Andre had any criminal-like behavior, which she doubted at this point, then Beck just gave her the reason why. Many criminals had a history of abuse in their childhood, and clearly Andre's grandmother was a monster behind those paranoid eyes of hers.

Now, she wanted to talk to Andre even more than she did before the phone call.

So quite a bit happened here. Beck had a pretty horrific reaction to Lisa's death, but I wonder if that's an act or if he genuinely didn't know. It's a curious thought but he's still suspect. Now another has entered the radar, we see Andre has become perhaps the pillar of society in his town. Built a name for himself and a good life, but it seems like there's something more to it that hides beneath that spotless exterior. Is there? What are you thinking and observing throughout this chapter?