Chapter 11 (Jesse's POV—thought we'd visit him for a little while)
Susannah cried out, and ran over to the bed. I held her back though—Beth was obviously dead, and I've watched enough CSI episodes to know not to compromise the crime scene (a/n: doesn't Jesse seem like a CSI person?) I took Susannah's cell phone from her, and called the police.
A few minutes later, the police came. While we waited, I pulled Susannah into the living room and held her while she cried. Susannah was too indisposed to talk to the police, so I did. One was the partner of the police officer who had questioned me about Mara. He eyed me.
"Do I know you?"
"You questioned me about the attack on Mara Lowell," I explained. "My fiancé—" I gestured to Susannah, who was still crying into a pillow on the couch "—was friends with both girls." He nodded, and wrote something down in his book.
"Tell me what happened." I sighed.
"Susannah came to walk me home from work. We were joking around, and I chased her over to Beth's building. We were…" How to put this? "Standing outside the building, when someone ran into me, and continued around the corner."
"Just standing?" He asked, with his eyebrows raised. My face flushed.
"We were kissing." He nodded, and continued writing. I noticed his partner examining Beth's body, and I suppose collecting evidence.
"Continue."
"Anyway, after we were, er, interrupted, Susannah noticed that we were outside the building, and that Beth had asked her to come by earlier. We walked up, and realized the door was open, so we went in, and then found her like that." By then, Susannah had composed herself. I tried to comfort her the best I could, but there was only so much I could do. Losing a friend is hard enough, but losing two?
"Miss Simon, did Ms. Postmouth contact you today?"
"Yes," she said quietly. "I was at the library, and she called me. She said she needed to tell me something."
"Was there anything…unusual about the phone call?" Susannah paused.
"Her voice sounded a little weird. Like, she was upset. Confused maybe?" The police questioned her a bit more, until they finally let us leave.
It was after ten when we finally got home. Sister Ikinder was already asleep.
While Susannah wasn't crying anymore, her lack of emotion worried me. She got into a tank top and pajama pants without saying a word, and when she climbed into bed she still was silent, staring at the ceiling with a blank face. I got into bed next to her, and took her hand. I kissed is softly.
"Susannah, I'm so sorry," I whispered. She finally turned to look at me.
"I know, Jesse. But what if I'm next?" I didn't know what to say. Ever since Angela had been attacked in the alley, that had been my greatest fear.
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Suze's POV
I had finally fallen asleep, but no sooner had I closed my eyes then I heard the incessant, blaring noise of my alarm clock. I had work.
"Susannah, call in sick. You need some rest," Jesse pleaded. I shook my head.
"What I need is to get my mind off of it," I said sadly. I finished getting dressed, then left for work.
All during the subway ride, the picture of Beth's body, lifeless and bloody, kept showing up in front of me. By the time I got to work, I was extremely edgy. I kept screwing up orders, bringing the wrong thing to the wrong table, and nearly dropping things.
It was almost the end of my shift when Sazz noticed that I was unfocused and upset. "What's up, Simon?" she asked. I sighed.
"It's my friend Beth… she died." Her eyes widened.
"Why? What… what happened?"
"Someone shot her." I said blankly. Sazz dropped the glass she was holding, but luckily it didn't break. I heard someone calling me. It was one of the hostesses, asking me to get to a table. I began walking over, but someone grabbed my sleeve. It was a customer who I had been serving, and he did not look happy.
"Yes, sir?"
"This is not what I ordered. I asked for my steak to be medium, with a side of plain pasta. This is clearly rare, and this pasta is not plain! Not to mention this wine, which I did not order. I asked for a vodka with a twist, not cabernet!" His voice had gotten so loud, that a few of the neighboring tables and co-workers had turned to see what was going on. I blinked back tears, and nodded.
"I'm sorry, sir," I said. I went to pick up the wine glass, but my hands were shaking so much that it slipped, broke, and spattered wine all over the man's white shirt. I could see his face turning purple, and it wasn't from the wine. I opened my mouth to apologize, but Sazz had evidently come up behind me.
"Excuse me sir, but I think you should give her some slack. You don't know what she's had to deal with," she said sharply. The restaurant had grown quiet.
"What? Did she and her little boyfriend get into a fight?" he asked condescendingly.
"No," I said rudely. "I just came across my best friend with a bullet in her chest last night." His sneer fell off his face, and a few people from neighboring tables gasped.
"So fuck off," Sazz concluded eloquently. She took the man's dining partner's glass of wine, and threw it at his face. "Asshole."
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Ten minutes later, Sazz and I were in the manager's office, trying to explain our actions.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Kaiser," I said. I wasn't, but I had to pretend in order to keep my job.
"If it were anyone else, you would have been fired immediately," he said. "But, given the circumstances, you can keep your job. Both of you can." My face broke into a grin. No way. Sazz had just thrown wine and told a customer to fuck off, and she kept her job? "Mr. Stewart has been a customer here for several years, and he has always given servers a hard time. However," he said, his face becoming sharp, "I am only allowing you to get away with this because of these extenuating circumstances. Any other mishaps, and you will be fired without a second thought."
"Thank you, Mr. Kaiser," Sazz said. We stood up. "It won't happen again."
"Now, get back to work. And Suze?" I paused. "I am very sorry about your loss." I gave him a sad smile.
"Thank you." Sazz and I walked out of his office. "Oh. My. God. I can NOT believe you still have a job!" I gushed. "I am so glad I didn't get you fired." Sazz shrugged, and pushed a piece of her artificially fire-engine-redstreaked hair behind her ear.
"I knew he wouldn't fire me. Not after the other night." She grinned at me wickedly. "He wouldn't get rid of me. He enjoys my, er, company too much." She walked away, getting back to work. I looked after her, gaping. Sazz was having sex with the boss? Wow. I shook myself mentally. I was done by now, so I signed out and left.
Back at the apartment, I found a note from Jesse. Thank God, Sister Ikinder wasn't there. I could NOT deal with her right now. The note from Jesse said: "Susannah, I went to the library to study for finals with Peter." Peter was Jesse's lab partner this semester. "When you get off work, come down. I want to see you. Love, Jesse." I obliged, changing into jeans and a red sweater, and heading down to the library.
I wandered into the university library, looking around for Jesse. I finally spotted the back of his head, and started heading over. I saw the guy across the table look at me, and say something to Jesse, who turned around. When he saw me heading towards him, his face softened. There weren't any free chairs—finals were coming up and the library was full—so Jesse pulled me into his lap. Pete looked at the two of us.
"Susannah, I presume?"
"Call me Suze."
"How are you doing?" Jesse asked carefully. "Was work okay?"
"Not really. Sazz and I almost got fired," I confessed. Jesse looked worried.
"What happened?"
"A customer was giving me a hard time, and Sazz had a few choice words for him," I said. Even though, at the time, I had been about to pee my pants from fear, looking back, it was pretty funny. "Then she threw wine at him." Jesse rubbed the bridge of his nose, but Pete grinned.
"How did you two not get fired?" Jesse asked. "Especially her!"
"Well, he was very sympathetic to my plight," I explained. "And Mr. Kaiser's sleeping with Sazz." Jesse shook his head.
"But how are you doing?" he asked. I shrugged.
"Okay. I'm holding up." Jesse nodded and kissed my forehead.
"Good. Have you heard from any of your friends?" he asked. The police had said that they would notify them. I shook my head.
"I might call them to see how they're doing," I thought out loud. Jesse nodded.
"You should do that. I'll be back home at around 5:30, okay?" I nodded, and kissed him goodbye, and left.
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An hour later, Lisa, Cate, Mara, and I were in Mara's hospital room. The good news was that Mara will be allowed to leave in two days. However, the mood was markedly melancholy.
Angela was no where to be found. She wasn't answering phone calls, and she wasn't at her apartment. We figured she was with her parents down near San Diego.
"I'm beginning to wonder," Lisa said, breaking the silence, "If Aaron really did it." We all looked at her.
"What are you talking about?" Cate said. "He didn't have an alibi for any of the attacks. He went out with all of them. He even said that he and Lily had gotten into a fight that morning, and weren't you, and Krystal, and Beth the ones to break up with him? We all were. Because he was scary when he got angry." I looked at her sharply.
"Did he hit you?" I asked, astonished. She shook her head.
"No. He was hardly ever mad at me, specifically. But if he was mad at a grade on a paper, or if his parents did something… he freaked me out." Lisa and Mara nodded. "He got angry very easily. He was really, really intense when he was mad." I pondered this.
"But still… is he really stupid enough to kill Beth while he's off on bail?"
"Maybe that's what he wants you to think," Mara said.
"Maybe… but still. Angela doesn't fit."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"She never went out with him."
"Maybe hers was just a coincidence?" I suggested. But I had to admit—something didn't seem right.
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Happy Easter, all you Christian kids. Now, REVIEW! Make it your Easter gift to me, perhaps? Whoever has the awesome review for me might get a cameo… is that some incentive for you?