Shawn Becker's house was a downgrade from the Daniels estate, but that wasn't saying much; it was still obviously upper middleclass and looked like a suburban dream home – a side entrance behind a driveway, a basketball hoop attached above the garage door, perfectly maintained grass and sparkling windows with a dark red roof.
They assumed the boy out front, in the driveway dribbling a basketball, was Shawn Becker, as he looked to be the same age as Ryder. They hoped at least, it'd be good to not have to track him down to speak with him.
"Shawn Becker?" Fowler asked as they strolled up the driveway, the boy stopping and turning to look at the pair. What was it with all these Hollywood Arts kids looking like they should be on the cover of teen vogue or as the cast in a Netflix movie about teenagers enjoying summer?
"Yeah?" He furrowed his brow a little, looking the pair up and down before something connected. "You're hear about Ryder?" His lips pursed at that.
"Yes...I take it you've heard..."
"Heard he was killed by that goth bitch West? Yeah." His lip curled a little as he shook his head.
Diaz and Fowler exchanged a glance. Sure, they'd heard she was 'difficult' from Lane and DuBois, but so far everyone they spoke to had been very fond of the West girl. This was a different vibe all together. "Well, that's not the full story. But we'd like to speak with you about Ryder and about his relationship and views on Jade West."
"Ryder was a hopeless romantic. And hopelessly in love with Jade." Shawn rolled his eyes and put the basketball on the rack he had set up in the garage, sitting at the end of a weights bench – obviously, the garage left side of the garage had been changed into a home gym, with the right side still working as intended. "It was sad how head over heels he was for the gank. I liked Ryder, he was my best friend..." Shawn frowned and shook his head, as if trying to chase away stubborn tears that didn't seem to fall. "But the second Jade West was in a mile of him, or hell, he even heard her name, he became an idiot. He didn't even care that she just...used him."
"Used him?" Diaz raised an eyebrow – OK, this was new. They'd heard nothing against Jade before this, sure. But now claims that she was using him?
"Yeah. Anytime her and that asshole boyfriend, Beck, fought or she got annoyed with him, she'd use Ryder like an accessory to piss him off and make him jealous; get him to pick her up for school and drive her home, to take her out for coffee or smoothies or dinner. Then within a day or two, they'd be back to being all over each other and Ryder would be left to moon over her again."
"It sounds like Ryder didn't mind that much if he kept letting her do it?"
"He minded. Believe me. He was always so angry afterwards, and swore next time he'd just refuse. But then next time came along, and he was sure that this time was for real. Then rinse and repeat, over and over."
"Would you say he was obsessed?" Fowler asked, tilting his head.
"I mean..." Shawn let out a deep sigh and ran his hands through his artfully messy hair. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure she was his entire world, to be honest. He wouldn't give it up, especially recently. He was convinced that Jade was sending him messages and signals that she wanted to be with him. Started saying she had started calling him at night so they could sit on their balconies and talk to each other. That she was hanging out with him at his house. But everyone knows she was barely ever home, always at fuckin' Oliver's RV. But he kept saying he couldn't give me details, since it was secret between them."
Diaz and Fowler frowned a little. It seemed as if everyone was mentioning that he'd escalated recently. Since the summer, it seemed he went from love sick teenager to full on stalker, even his best friend was unable to deny it.
"Listen I don't...I know what I've said OK? It's the truth, and even if I know if proves him guilty, I'm not gonna lie. But Ryder...he isn't the type to...do what people are saying he did." He bit his lower lip. "I don't know...everything. But Ryder' mom called me yesterday and...said what had happened. I don't believe he tried to do that to Jade. He'd never hurt her or...force her." He shook his head, swallowing hard. "That girl was practically his entire world. He couldn't hurt her. He could barely even be angry at her – even after she'd used him again and then went back to Oliver, he was the one Ryder would be pissed at, never Jade."
"Shawn...I understand not wanting to believe something like this about a friend. And I want you to know we're not ruling anything out. But there's a lot of evidence to support the fact that Ryder attacked Jade." Fowler gave him a sad smile. Sure, they weren't ruling anything out but it was still pretty cut and dry, closed case. Even the Deputy Chief of Police knew this was little more than a dog and pony show, just getting down to the brass tacs. "Shawn, do you know if there was anything to...well, trigger his behaviour declining so fast? By all accounts, it seems like until the summer just passed, Ryder wasn't as obvious or overt about his feelings towards Jade."
Shawn shook his head. "No...nothing happened over the summer. We barely even saw Jade. I mean, the only thing that sticks out for this past summer is Tori Vega offing herself." Shawn shrugged a little, tugging at his hair. "But Ryder didn't care much for Tori after she humiliated him, so I don't know why that would have triggered anything."
Tori Vega, mentioned again. Probably for the best that Officer Vega wasn't including in these interviews, considering. "You said you barely saw Jade? Does that mean you did see her at some point?"
"Yeah...at Ryder's dads parties. The only time I really ever spoke to her; she'd get dragged along by her dad and come hang with me and Ryder to escape all the old farts. But I suppose, the last time was a bit different..."
"How so?"
"It was only a week after Tori had...done it. She looked really miserable and kind of ill? But...she let Ryder touch her. She never let him touch her before. I guess she was just really out of it, but it made his night."
Shawn sighed as Ryder seemed to stand at attention, smoothing down his shirt and suit jacket as the newest guests arrived – neither late nor early, 25 minutes past the official start time, as always. The West family was like clockwork at these things. Of course, the one thing that changed was if the table was going to be set for two Wests or three Wests. It seemed that tonight, it was three.
Jade made a bee line towards the duo, dressed in a emerald green strapless cocktail dress that clung to her curves deliciously, with her hair curled, matching green streaks in place, her piercings glinting under the crystalline light of the chandelier. Even Shawn had to admit that, despite not being Jade's biggest fan for how she treated Ryder like a lap dog, she truly was gorgeous. It was no wonder both Oliver and Ryder were head over heels for her. He knew it pissed a lot of the girls off that two of the three hottest guys at Hollywood Arts were after the same girl, but he prided himself on being the one out of the three hottest guys to not be into Jade West, despite appreciating her in a cocktail dress.
However, as Jade got closer, it was obvious that something wasn't quite right with her; her eyes were glassy, her skin was pallid; Jade was always pale, but right now her paleness seemed tinged with the grey ashy colour of exhaustion. She had dark circles under her eyes not quite fully hidden. It took him a few moments to remember what was probably bothering her. Tori Vega, someone who Jade was both friend and rival of, had taken her life last week. To be fair, Shawn could do without the Vega's all together; Trina had been weird as all hell, especially that time with the pizza thing. And Tori had humiliated Ryder, so she wasn't his favourite person.
That didn't mean he didn't feel bad for the girl, her friends and of course, her family. He was kind of surprised Jade had allowed her dad and hot-stepmom to even drag her here.
"Hey Jade." Ryder said softly as she got within earshot of them, obviously it hadn't briefly skipped his mind that as to why Jade didn't look herself. "It's good to see you."
"Yeah, thanks." She gave a small and tight smile, nodding to Shawn briefly before seeming to tuck herself into Ryder's side and almost sink against him. "So what's this one for again?" She asked, her voice almost hollow as she people-watched the other guests, still seeming to need to lean against Ryder to stop herself falling over – Shawn almost rolled his eyes at the bright look of happiness in Ryder's blue eyes. The boy was obsessed to the point of it being sad now.
"Homelessness." Ryder replied with a shrug. "Fuckin' weird they do a charity party for it, instead of just giving money to the people who need it."
Shawn nodded. He felt a little bad, as he hadn't paid for a 'ticket' but Ryder always just shrugged and said it was fine. But Shawn didn't exactly have the money to pay for $175 tickets almost every weekend, just to eat fancy food and drink bad non-alcoholic cocktails. He only came to keep Ryder company and scope out the daughters of the rich and famous of LA.
"Well, if they did that, they couldn't talk about how good they feel for donating to a charity event. Just an excuse to eat expensive food, drink expensive drinks and talk about how generous they are." Jade sneered a little. "Can we ditch until the meal?"
"Sure." Ryder nodded, leading Jade towards an exit, Shawn following. It was weird – Jade was allowing Ryder to touch her, in fact, she had tucked her tired and fidgity body against his side, under his arm; Jade had never really let Ryder touch her before, other than a brief glance of his palm over her shoulder or lower back when he was directing her somewhere, and then it was always matched with a stiffness for a few seconds after. Now it was like she could barely manage to walk by herself, using Ryder as a walking stick. Of course, the fool was over the moon about it, Shawn could tell just from the repressed smile and brightness of his eyes.
Once they made it to the den, an area that was highly unlikely to be visited by any of the other guests, due to how far away it was from the party, Jade practically slumped into the sofa, curling herself up and tucking her feet under her thighs, leaning into the corner of the sofa. He took the armchair sat at a 90 degree angle from Jade's side of the sofa, and Ryder sat next to her, a little closer than he normally would but still not physically touching her.
"I heard about...I mean, I'm sorry about your friend. Tori." Shawn offered awkwardly, giving a sympathetic half smile.
"Don't...I..." Jade shook her head and frowned. "I don't want to talk about it...about her. It's all anyone ever wants to talk about now. I just want to forget for one fucking night." She shook her head, the curls bouncing as she did so, tears misting into her eyes but not falling. "Stupid girl."
And so, they carefully avoided anything to do with Tori Vega, up until they were ushered back to the main dining room by Ryder's mother, as dinner was about to be served.
"Didn't speak to her much after that...after we ate, she spoke to her dad and Julia, and the three of them left early. I guess they'd made a deal that she should come just for the meal, not the after party."
"Do you think...maybe Jade allowing him to touch her could be what caused him to obsess over her so openly?"
"I guess...he seemed to think it meant something, despite me telling him to forget it. And yeah I guess..." Shawn paused to think. "Yeah, it was from that night onwards he became open about his feelings, moreso than before."
The questions continued on for a little while – information about Ryder himself – Valentine, Shapiro and Harris were all biased against him, even from before the attack. Having at least one person from Ryder's side made things a little more even. Once they were finished with Shawn and sat in the car, Fowler pressed his index fingers to his temples and moved them in small circular motions. "So after the death of Vega, Jade let Ryder touch her at one party...and then he suddenly just becomes even more obsessive? It doesn't seem to match up. They didn't even speak alone that night, it seems; Shawn was always there."
Diaz shook her head. "Sometimes I guess it could be the smallest of things; he'd been waiting years for her, for some sort of sign for her. We already know he's probably been stalking her for a few years, judging by the findings at the Daniel's house. Maybe he'd been standing on the line between opportunistic adoration and rampant obsession for years and that one night fully tipped him over to the latter."
"It'd make sense I guess, for the radical change." Fowler nodded before pulling the car out from the curb in front of the Becker household. "OK. So – the hospital? I guess Oliver is there. If Mr West is there, he can stay with Jade while we interview Oliver. And then speak with Mr West and see if we can set up a time and date for her interview."
"Sounds like a plan." Diaz nodded, picking up her now almost cold coffee from the cuphold and taking a sip – she never got a chance to drink hot coffee while working, always too busy.
By the time they had made it to the hospital, Diaz had finally managed to finish her lukewarm coffee and, when arriving this time, there was no one outside the room waiting impatiently. Fowler stopped off to check with the doctors and nurses to see how Jade was doing medically, and Diaz went to the uniformed officer stationed at the door – the same one as yesterday, although no doubt he'd been home and had cover overnight.
"They inside?"
"Yeah. The dad and the boyfriend – the other kid? He didn't come in today, I guess he went to school or stayed home. Not heard much from West, other than a few cries overnight. The boyfriend stayed with her overnight."
"The boyfriend? Not the dad?" Diaz raised her eyebrows.
"Yeah. From what I could tell, there's a bit of tension between her and her dad. And some major co-dependency from Oliver and West. Not sure about overnight, but it seems like he's not left her room since yesterday. Got the damn nurses bringing him coffee every so often." The officer rolled his eyes a little, evidentially a bit bitter that nurses who he'd been flirting with a little had given him almost no attention since the 'sweet boyfriend' had arrived, transferring all of their doting and motherly attention onto him.
Diaz gave a brief smile at the grumpy and put out officer. Maybe he should be written up for his unprofessionalism but that was life; so long as he didn't leave his post unattended for more than a few minutes to nip to the bathroom, there was no harm in him flirting a little with the doctors and nurses around here.
"Not much has changed overnight. They're weaning her off the drugs, seems her fits have calmed down a lot since Oliver was allowed to see her but she still can't sleep well without some medication – just wakes up screaming otherwise. It's odd – you'd think she'd shy away from his touch, considering what happened." Fowler stated as he joined them outside the door.
"Yeah a bit weird." Diaz nodded, tapping her chin with her index finger. "You said co-dependent?"
"Oh yeah. Haven't let go of each other's hands unless they had too, since he went in yesterday, at least that I've seen. She barely even speaks to the nurses, instead just seems to murmur it to him and he speaks for her – but I think her throats pretty torn up from..screaming." The officer winced there; it was a shock. The fact that Jade had screamed herself hoarse during the attack, and then apparently woken up screaming each time she went to sleep, was pretty disturbing. It would no doubt hurt to speak loudly for a little bit of time.
"Well, lets see if we can drag Oliver away for a chat." Diaz suggested, knocking lightly on the door and peering her head in – probably for the best it was Diaz, not Fowler, considering they had no clue how Jade would react to a strange male sticking his head into her hospital room. "Beck Oliver? We'd like to have a word with you." All three people in the room looked up – Jade on the bed, her knees pulled up to her chest, with Oliver sitting on it next to her, tucking her under his arm, as her dad held one of her hands in his. "It shouldn't take too long."
"Uh, yeah, sure." Beck nodded, carefully removing his arm as he pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "I won't be long OK babe?"
Jade bit her lip with her eyes wide but nodded slowly, tightening her grip on her dads hand as Beck lifted himself off the bed.
"We'd like to speak with you afterwards, Mr West, if that's OK? When Beck is back in with Jade." Diaz mentioned, mostly so he didn't do a disspearing act again, like he had yesterday when he'd went back home to check up on his wife and the security of the property.
They sat in the same room as the previous day with Andre, although Beck looked a lot more antsy – although they couldn't blame him. He was obviously wanting to get back to West as quickly as possible, judging by the way he was playing with the gold ring on the black leather cord he had around his neck – which exactly matched the necklace currently in a little evidence bag at the station, to be returned when all test had been run and the case was closed. They went through the standard interview questions, asked him about his location at the time of the attack – at home, in the RV. Questions about Jade, his relationship with her, about Ryder and his relationship with him ('anger and threats of violence' seemed to be the standard between the two). It all matched up with what had been said already, including the timeframe when the stalking started to get out of hand after the summer vacation.
"Now, Beck. I understand this must be hard for you. I can't imagine what you're feeling right now, but we need to ask a few questions." Fowler started softly, knowing he was the more gentle one of the two. "We understand you had a lot of suspicion that Ryder had been stalking Jade and, to a lesser degree, he was kind of stalking you, right?"
Beck sighed and ran his hands through his, admittedly impressive if not a little bit greasy right now, hair. "Yeah...I was always positive it was Ryder. The way he looked at Jade was just...there was something off about it. He looked at her like she was...a possession and he was mad someone else was playing with his toys. Which was bullshit, because he looked as if I was stealing his girlfriend when she's been dating me for 4 years."
"How long had you been worried about Ryder's behaviour?" Diaz asked curiously.
"For four years." Beck responded dryly. "When we first started dating, Jade introduced him as 'essentially her big brother'. So at first, I thought it was just protectiveness and understood it. But then I saw the way he looked at her – and it wasn't very brotherly at all. That's when I first realised. Jade knew." Beck let out a light laugh and shook his head. "That's why she always said he was like her brother. To try and put him off, because she was totally uninterested."
"It's been hinted at that she often used Ryder to get a rise out of you?"
Beck scratched the back of his neck and look at the floor. "She did. We...we started fighting a lot pretty early on in our relationship. Nothing huge, but small things that caused us to blow up at each other – we're both volatile people, I guess, so it was expected. Never meant anything. But...she'd get jealous ridiculously easily..." He shook his head. "I knew that, so when we fought I'd always chat with other girls and flirt, just a little. So...she did the same. But since she hates almost everyone, the only guy she really flirted with was Ryder." He bit into his lip and looked at the two detectives and, despite the fact they dealt with serious crimes almost every day, speaking with victims, witnesses, loved ones and suspects; Fowler literally felt his heart break at the agony in his eyes. "Do you think...that I helped cause this? That...if I hadn't made Jade jealous, she wouldn't have given Ryder attention and made him like this?"
"Not at all." Fowler jumped on it, before Diaz could; because although Diaz wouldn't say it was his fault (because it wasn't), she may not have the necessary tact. "Ryder...the chances are this was brewing long before you and Jade met." Well, he was pretty sure it had – what with the middle school tie and bra they'd found. "He may not have been acting on it, but the personality trait will have been there, and it would still have been Jade he fixated on."
"If anything, while you being with her may have sped up some of the more unstable behaviour, if you weren't around, he may have acted on his urges far earlier, without you being with her a lot of the time." Diaz added on, and Fowler was happy she hadn't just stopped at the fact that yes, Beck and Jade's relationship probably did cause a bit more of the unstable and erratic behaviour near the end, the idea of Ryders 'toy' or 'possession' being in someone elses hands. But without Beck being around all the time, the attack could very well have happened a year or so ago.
"Now...we understand that the stalker took a few pictures of you and Jade while in your RV?" Yeah they understood. Had seen them – but Fowler couldn't exactly tell Beck about that, it was confidential evidence.
"Yeah...the first...I mean..." He rubbed the back of his neck again, obviously a little embarrassed. "There were...photos. Put in Jade's locker. Of us at the RV, together uh...well, having sex." He flushed a little and his eyes shifted around nervously.
"C'mon. It'll be fun. How long has it been since we all went out to Kareoke Dokie?" Beck needled as they entered the school hallway, going towards Jade's locker first as it was closer to the doors. "Not since..."
"Since Tori." Jade replied dryly, her hand brushing over the fully healed tattoo on his ribs, that she always seemed to do whenever Tori's name was brought up. But they all had tells – Andre would get 'Make it Shine' stuck in his head the rest of the day if Tori's name was mentioned. Robbie wouldn't have the courage to speak himself for at least an hour afterwards, with only Rex talking. Cat's eyes would dim for a few moments before she started speaking even louder and more nonsensically. Beck himself would dig his index fingers nail into the palm of his hand. And Jade would touch the tattoo she got to symbolize Tori.
"Exactly. She'd hate to think we stopped going there because of her Jade..."
"Well we did. Because she was a stupid, selfish child who didn't think about how this would affect-" She cut herself off as tears came to her eyes. Whilst everyone else was upset and devastated, Jade and Trina weren't. They were angry. At the world, at whatever caused her to feel like she had no way out other than suicide and at Tori herself, for doing it. The anger had caused the two very different girls to bond a little, oddly – Jade and Trina weren't best friends, but Jade made sure to keep in touch with the older Vega sister, even now she was at university.
"OK. We don't need to go if you don't want to babe." Beck said quietly, taking her hand and kissing her fingers lightly. "Forget it for now."
"Maybe we...let me think about it, OK?" Jade gave a weak smile as she swung her locker open, before letting out a squeak of shock and closing the door over, but not slamming it shut. "Beck...there's...there's another picture. And it's worse."
"What?! I thought that they stopped after the school changed the lock!" He exclaimed, anger clear on his face as he pulled the door open. And he instantly got why Jade closed the door. Because there, pasted on the inside of the door was a picture.
It was evidentially taken through the thick bullet proof window of the RV. And the main focus wasn't the TV playing a horror movie, or the little kitchenette. But it was obviously focused on what was going on, on the bed. Beck and Jade. With Jade on top, stark naked and exposed to the peeping tom, head thrown back, riding Beck hard, her mouth dropped open in pleasure. And he knew his face was probably in the throws of rapture as well, but he couldn't tell from the photo. Because while it was clearly his body and his RV, his face had been scratched off the photo paper, leaving only the white backing remaining.
"Fuck." Beck whispered as he tore the picture off the door and shoved it in his bag – like hell he'd throw it out in a school trash can; it could be found by the janitor or by some environmentalist student looking for cans to recycle. Or Sinjin, who just seemed to like going through the bins next to Jades locker; they knew he wasn't the stalker despite his obvious adoration of Jade. He'd been with Jade once when one of the calls had come, working on the lighting for one of her plays, after all.
"I...this is a joke." Jade shook her head, tears of frustration and paranoia replacing the unshed tears of sorrow about Tori. "It's disgusting. Why is someone doing this to me?"
"I don't know baby." Beck pulled Jade into a tight hug, wrapping his arms around her and hoping to engulf her in the security she always said she felt in his arms. "We'll figure it out. And I'll make this sicko pay for it." He promised. It was unspoken, but everyone who knew – alongside him and Jade, it was just Andre and Cat right now – was aware there was a high chance it was Ryder fucking Daniels. The sick freak. "We need to call the police again, let them know about this picture. They can maybe get prints or something-"
"They couldn't off the other pictures." She sniffed, and he could practically feel her brow furrow. "But...yeah. We should call them. During free period between first and third?"
"Yeah. We can set up a meeting with them for after school." Beck nodded, and it was horrible to think that this was becoming a semi-common occurrence; calling the non-emergency police line, citing the case number for Jade's stalker and then speaking to an officer who would set up a time for her to go in, give a statement and hand over the photos. This was the fourth time so far they'd had to do it.
"Have you told your dad yet? He needs to know Jade." Beck said gently, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head, still tucked into his arms.
"I'm going to tell him tonight. He'll already be upset that it's taken me this long but...we can't ignore this anymore. Now he's spying in private." She let out a shaky breath – it was true. All the other photos had been when they were in public – paparazzi styled shots of Jade out with Cat or with Andre and Beck or with the whole group. This was the first one that was even more intrusive – they'd taken it directly outside of his RV, invading on one of their most private moments. "Can you come with? I don't...want to go through everything with him by myself."
"Sure." Beck nodded, despite knowing he wasn't often really welcome at the West Estate when Steven West was there – Papa West was not the biggest fan of his daughters boyfriend and hadn't been since he'd arrived home earlier than expect from a business trip and walked in on Beck bending Jade over the kitchen island. And even before that, Beck wasn't the first choice Steven West would make for his daughter. But if Jade needed him, he'd be there.
The day was pretty uneventful from then on, although they did pull Andre aside and explain the situation – after all, Beck couldn't be with Jade 24/7 at school – they didn't share every class. But every class Beck wasn't in with her, it just so happened Andre was. It gave her a bit of comfort, Beck knew, to know that Andre would be keeping an eye out for her. It gave him comfort too; Andre was built despite not really looking like he was, and Ryder was wary of him; Andre had once almost dislocated the smug freaks jaw with one punch.
After school, they decided to go and speak with Mr West first, before going to the police to answer a few questions and hand over the picture. It would probably be best to have Mr West involved in that, considering he was a lawyer and could make sure everything was done perfectly.
Needless to say, Papa West was furious.
Not at Jade, of course. Not even at Beck, who was sure Mr West would find some convoluted way to blame him. He was annoyed at Jade for taking so long to come to him, but he wasn't angry at her. He had called the station, demanding that an officer come to the house to take a statement and collect the evidence, as he wasn't having his little girl trapsing in and out of a police station like a common criminal.
And really, Beck was close to finally coming out and saying what he and Andre and Cat and even Jade, despite the fact she half refused to admit it. That he was sure it was Ryder fuckin' Daniels. But Jade squeezed his hand before the words could get out of his throat and sent him a begging look. She didn't want to cause trouble for her dad, because despite how she acted, she loved him, she truly did; just like, while it wasn't overtly obvious on the surface, Steven West would do anything for his daughter; neither knew how to express it though, in anything other than shouting, swearing and throwing things (shoes, hairbrushes, wads of cash etc). And accusing his life-long best friend and business partners son of stalking her wasn't something to say lightly.
Mr West didn't look at the photo that had caused them to finally tell him. He knew what it was of, and that was more than enough; he didn't need that image stuck in his head. And when the young officer glanced at the photo as he was putting it in an evidence bag, despite the fact the poor fellow had only glanced to make sure he wasn't damaging the bag with the sharp edges of the photo paper, Mr West almost growled at the idea of someone looking at the photo.
"You're staying here tonight." Mr West stated blankly when the police officers had left. Just as Jade opened her mouth to argue, he cut her off. "You are staying here tonight. He can stay if he wants too." An unhappy consession from him, Beck had no doubt; but everyone knew the only way to get Jade to agree to staying was for Beck to stay too. "When Julia arrives home, we'll see about ordering food for dinner. She'll be happy you're staying."
Jade glared at her dad then let out a loud huff, standing up from the couch in one of the three rooms Beck would call a 'Living Room' in the house – of course, the Wests didn't call all three rooms (spread out across the first floor) 'living rooms'. There was the drawing room (which was where they were sitting. Jade always said it was for the guests they didn't really like that much, so it wasn't quite as comfortable as the others. Beck realised he wasn't the unwanted guest so much as the cops were), the 'Den' and the living room.
"Fine. But we're going to my room. And I'm not leaving the door open." She snarled, grabbing Beck's wrist, wrapping her slender and cool fingers around it, and practically dragging him off towards the main staircase, leaving him to call out a thank you for the invitation to dinner and to spend the night.
Beck shifted a little. "That was the first time it all seemed...real. Before that, it was weird, but it felt like a teen drama plot, you know?" He shrugged a little. "We're actors, all of us. So it was just something we could skirt around for Jade's sake, because she never wanted to acknowledge it much after it was dealt with. But with her dad being told...the type of picture it was...it made it scarily real."
"When did the stalking first start?" Diaz asked curiously. They'd heard a lot about the more...creepy aspects of the stalking, but not the start – as far as they could figure out, the first story they'd heard about it, from Cat, was the earliest chronologically. Followed by Mr Sikowitz's story, then Robbies and then Andres. The story Beck just told slotted in between Mr Sikowitz and Robbie's, from the sounds of it. But nothing from before the time at the mall, it seemed.
"It...at first, we just thought it was an admirer or something. Well, Jade hit me with flowers because she thought it was me first." Beck spotted the confused look on the detectives faces. "She hates flowers – thinks they're cliché and tacky. Once when we first started dating, I gave her some and she hit me with them until all the petals fell off. Never again." He shook his head, a small smile on his face at the memory before he shook himself out of it.
Beck was having a pretty good morning so far. His hair was pretty much perfect today, Jade's coffee had been the perfect temperature when it had been given to her (because the floppy haired blond 20-something at the JetBrew cart definitely had a crush on her, and made sure to make her cup perfect each time), so he didn't have to deal with her cranky and frowning due to burning her tongue on her first sip of coffee. Plus he'd gotten a B+ on a history test he was almost sure he'd get a C- on, if not a D.
That however, came to an abrupt halt when he was smacked in the face with a bunch of flowers – pink and yellow carnations, if his mothers chattering had managed to make its way into his brain correctly. The high pollen count made him almost instantly sneeze as he batted the flowers away, despite having no real hay fever – as he was sitting in the ping pong room, chatting away with Andre.
"What the hell Jade?" Beck asked, without even looking. Because even if he couldn't smell her over the flowers– he could, but only just; apples, mint and lime – no one else would be crazy enough to attack him with flowers.
"I could say the same Beck." She stood in front of him, one hand planted firmly on her hip, her other hand holding the flowers in a tight grip, brandishing them as if they were a club or a baseball bat. "What the hell are these?!"
"Uh, flowers?" Andre suggested, sharing a bemeused look with Beck, because really, what was Jade even on about.
"Duh Andre." She snapped. "But why were these...things in my locker?! You know I hate flowers Beck!"
Beck straightened up a little at that, a frown touching his brow lightly. "I know. That's why I wouldn't give you them – not after the first and last time." He reached out and snagged the little white card that was a nestled between the flower stalks, a little crumpled from the tough treatment the flowers had been given. "You didn't check the card?"
"...No." Jade mumbled, dropping the carnations with an embarassed pout. "I just assumed you'd be the only one stupid enough to do it." She explained, flopping down on the sofa next to him, his arm automatically going around her shoulders. She said 'stupid enough' but he knew she had no clue how admired she was by the male population of Hollywood Arts – which Beck was kind of happy with. If she had any clue how sought after she was, she'd probably taunt the entire population of the school with shorter skirts and tighter tops, just to cause some internal misery in the unlucky boys who liked her. Which in turn would cause Beck to get horny and distracted all day.
Deciding not to mention any of that he looked at the note. The print was tiny – probably to make sure it could all fit onto one little card, but the message was pretty obvious. And it pissed Beck off. "Are these...song lyrics?" He asked through gritted teeth, showing the card to both Jade and Andre – Andre knew almost every song, due to his encyclopedic knowledge of music and Jade knew most creepy songs – which this definitely fell into. He cleared his throat before reading the words on the card. "How I wish you could see the potential, the potential of you and me. It's like a book elegantly bound but in a language that you can't read just yet. You gotta spend some time, love. You gotta spend some time with me. And I know that you'll find love, I will possess your heart."
Both Andre and Jade were sitting with raised eyebrows and wide eyes. "That's...isn't that 'Possess Your Heart' by that band, Death Cab For Cutie?" Jade asked, her question directed towards Andre, the musical guru.
"Yeah..." Andre looked a little wigged out. "Not exactly a romantic song though."
"It's probably just someone making a joke or whatever." Jade shrugged, tugging the card out of Beck's fingers and ripping it into tiny squares, sprinkling them into the bin, tossing the flowers in on top.
"We thought nothing more on it...but then flowers kept showing up. With creepy poems and quotes. Then came the candid photos of Jade out and about the city or at school. We went to the police then about it, but it still didn't seem like a huge deal – it's Hollywood you know? Stalking is almost normal." He let out a humourless chuckle. "But then the phone calls started. And then...that photograph."
"You were awfully tense about telling us about the photograph of you and Jade in the RV..." Fowler raised his eyebrows a little, finally realising what had been off with the boy – for the rest of the interview, he was fairly put together, as much as he could be given the situation. There was anger and despair and worry and guilt, but he was still fairly collected. But when discussing the photo, there was a nervous restlessness about him.
"Yeah I mean, obviously." Beck tilted his head a little, picking at his nails. "I know the law in California. We don't have a full Romeo and Juliet law, only partial. Jade's only 17. I'm 18."
Well, that made sense. Because technically, it was illegal. But as Beck stated, despite California not having a full Romeo and Juliet, the partial law they had instead meant that only if the legal guardian of the underage party – Jade, in this case – pushed to press charges. Which they assumed would have happened by now, if it was going to happen at all.
"I don't think we need to worry about that right now. Charges would only be filed if Jade's father or step mother wished to do so." Fowler explained, and it seemed like Beck relaxed just a little more.
"Listen I...I know you've probably got a lot more questions to ask...but I want to get back to Jade. I know her dads with her but...she..." Beck rubbed his face. "I need to be with her right now."
Fowler and Diaz caught each others eyes. They had asked most of their questions, the others mostly unimportant. And Beck was slowly shutting down before them, his fidgiting getting worse and his eyes flicking towards the door, as if he was just itching to run out of the room and back down the hall to his girlfriend.
"Yeah, that's all for now Beck. If we have any more questions, we'll be in touch."
Beck nodded, jumping to his feet and practically speed walking to the door, yanking it open and taking off down the hall.
"Poor kid." Fowler muttered, shaking his head. "I'm just happy we don't have to suspect him. I think it might have caused a breakdown if we did."
Diaz nodded. "Yeah. She's a lucky girl, having him with her. You can tell he'd move heaven and Earth for her." She pushed herself to her feet and stretched her neck out. "I'll go and get Mr West for his interview."
Not overly pleased with the ending of this one. If I'm 100% honest, I'm kind of flagging on this half of the story now. I feel like everythings just being repeated over and over by each character. So, I think there will only be two more chapters of THIS half of the story. Not the story as a whole, don't worry. The second half, or I guess the second 'arc' of the story, is going to be in Jade's POV and going through the lead up to the attack and Ryder being killed. It seems most of my muses are chomping at the bit to get to that part of the story now. So we'll have an interview with Mr West next chapter, along with some very disturbing evidence (most likely, unless I think of another idea but it's doubtful).
Anyway, hope you enjoyed!
