Right, so who else is peeved about the gag order the administration at MCBC put on us about fan fiction? No STORY TITLES? That's bull. So, hereon out, I am merely updating "my story about the fire." And if you want to reference it, refer to it as that. Because, though this rule TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY SUCKS ASS, I don't want to get in trouble, nor anyone else get in trouble. So, yea. On with chapter 5.

Chapter 5

Officer Leah took me back to Jesse's apartment. It was now a little after 3, and I felt horrible about keeping Jesse up, when he had class early this morning.

When we went into the apartment, I saw Jesse, still in his pajamas, drinking a cup of coffee and looking very tired, indeed.

"This is Jesse, Officer," I said, and went to go sit down next to him. "I'm sorry you had to be brought into this." I took his hand, and he gave me a small—if not exhausted—smile.

"It's fine, Querida. I want to help. However, I'm not sure how much help I can provide."

"What is your full name?"

"Hector de Silva," he responded.

"Where were you last night between the times of 8:45 and midnight, last night?"

"Well, I was here, at my apartment, for a while… but then Susannah's friends came over, and I gave them some privacy for a while and took a walk to the park. This was between about 8:30 and 10:20, maybe?"

"Where did you go?"

"To the park. I bought a coffee, then went and sat in the park and read for while." Oh, and got a random guy to realize he wasn't supposed to still be here, as he was dead. But I understood why Jesse didn't allow Officer Leah to be privy to that information.

"Did you see any suspicious individuals or cars in the immediate area around this building or the alleyway where Mara Lowell's car was parked?" Jesse shook his head.

"No, I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention. Besides, it's very difficult to remember which cars drive by my building. Hundreds pass it a day." Officer Leah nodded.

"Thank you for your time, Mr. de Silva, Ms. Simon. We'll call you if we need to speak to you again." She stood up and left. I got out of my chair too, and pulled Jesse to his feet.

"C'mon. Let's go to bed." Jesse wrapped his arm around my waist, and led us to the bedroom.

…………………………..

Several hours later, my alarm went off. It was nine a.m. and the other half of the bed was empty. Jesse had already left for class. I had to be at work in an hour and a half, so I crawled out of bed—unfortunately—and took a quick shower, before changing into the required black pants and white button down shirt. I worked at a local upscale restaurant, which hosted a lot of business meetings. My shift on Fridays was 10:30 to 7, which got quite a few business meetings—which leads to quite a few tips. Not as much as I did back at Pebble Beach, but I was surviving, much thanks to the money I had saved up, working summers there before I moved into my apartment at the start of my junior year, almost four months ago. My phone rang as I was leaving the building, and I pulled it out of my bag and flipped it open.

"Hey, Suze, it's Angela."

"Hey. Did you hear about Mara?"

"Yea, Cate just called me. I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to the hospital to visit her with me."

"I wish I could, but I can't. I'm on my way to work right now. What time can I go visit?"

"Cate said it's until 6:30 tonight." I swore.

"I'm working until seven. Listen, tell her that I'm sorry I couldn't come by today, but that I'll call her tonight?" Angela agreed, and hung up.

I got to work five minutes early, and checked in with my boss. For the next several hours, I enjoyed keeping my mind off the problem at hand. However, by about 2:30, business had slowed. It was the end of the lunch rush, and I was on my break. I sat down with a glass of water and a small salad, but didn't eat it. Instead, I found myself staring off into space, wondering what the hell was happening. Try as I might, the fact that one of my friends was murdered and someone tried to kill another one of my friends was seeming less and less like a coincidence, and the reasoning I'd been telling myself for the past 15 hours was making less and less sense.

Something about what I've been thinking must have shown on my face, since I heard the chair next to me pull out, and heard a familiar voice.

"Well, look who it is." I jumped out of my catatonic state, and found Paul sitting next to me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I came for a meeting with one of my professors. He wanted to discuss a case that I will be helping him with." It figures. Paul was, of course, the star law student. "So, what's the matter? You seem gone." Paul, while still not my best friend, had gotten much better, toward the end of our junior year. I think that would be because he finally got over me, and started going out seriously with a girl from RLS. They've since broken up, but an e-mail from him from a few weeks ago said that he's begun seeing a fellow law student.

I raised my eyebrows. "You really want to know it all?" I asked. He smirked.

"I've got time. I don't have any classes today." I sighed.

"I am, technically, homeless. My best friend was recently murdered. Another good friend of mine was hit by a car last night. Attempted murder. Hit and run." His eyes widened, and he whistled.

"Eventful past few weeks?"

"You could say that."

"Suspects?" I shook my head. His cell phone rang, and he excused himself to take the call. I took a bite of my salad, and my co-worker, Sazz, called to me.

"10 minutes, Suze." I nodded, and Paul returned.

"Sorry, Suze, I've got to go. My girlfriend Anna needs some help with a case… listen, let me know if anything happens, alright? I want to help."

"Thanks, Paul. See you around." He left, and I finished up my salad, and got back to work.

………………………………………………….

At five of seven, Sazz came over to be in the kitchen, where I was finishing up my final order's bill.

"Hey, Suze, Jesse's here." I looked up.

"Where?"

"Talking to Mary Jean." MJ was hosting that night, and she was in one of Jesse's classes. I think she was a lab partner their freshman year. "He said he's here to pick you up." I smiled. Jesse always found ways to surprise me, to cheer me up.

"Can you let him know that I'll be ready in about 3 minutes? I just need to take this to table 19." She nodded, and disappeared towards the lobby area. I finished up with the last order, I checked out with my boss, and went to meet Jesse in the lobby. I saw a few women waiting for a table checking him out subtly, but as soon as he saw me, it was like there were no others in the room. His eyes lit up, and he gave me a slow, unbelievably hot smile. I returned the smile. I gave him a kiss, and he wrapped his arm around my waist.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as we left. I noticed the women had slightly disappointed looks on their faces, so I snuggled against him closer.

"Just wanted to see you." We left the restaurant, and continued walking down the street, my head on his shoulder and his arm around my waist and holding my hip.

Suddenly, I heard a scream around the corner. Angela came running out of an alley. Her shirt was torn, and she had a cut on her cheek. There was what appeared to be a growing bump on the side of her head, and came running directly into me. Jesse stopped me from being completely bowled over by her, and quickly grabbed Angela's shoulders.

"Angela! What happened? Are you alright?"

"S-someone pulled me into t-the alleyway and att-attack-cked me," she stuttered. "He s-s-slammed me against th-the wall and h-he had-d-d a knife." I pulled a tissue from my purse, and pressed it against the cut on her cheek. We walked her gently over to a bench, and sat her down. Jesse took over taking care of her bleeding, and I pulled out my cell phone, and called 911.

About ten minutes later, an ambulance pulled up, but Angela wasn't in such bad shape. Jesse had gotten the gash on her face to stop bleeding, but she did still have a huge bump on her head—what I assumed was from when her attacker slammed her against the wall. Jesse had determined that she didn't have a concussion, so she didn't have to be taken to the hospital. The EMTs took care of her, then a police officer arrived to ask questions. After Jesse and I told them what happened, they excused us. I told Angela that I would call her later, then, shaking, Jesse walked me back to his apartment.

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Sorry for the slight delay in updating, I've been really busy. Anyway. Review.