Jake sighed as he restlessly paced the room. "Oh, man, Connor, where are you? It's been what, twenty minutes at least since you were supposed to arrive!" Normally, the time wouldn't have mattered because Connor was usually late, but with the murder that had possibly taken place next door, Jake was leery.
"Come on, man." He had stopped feeling quite so sick from the chicken pox, and now he was just miserably restless and tired all the time. "Where the heck are you?" he muttered, staring at the window, looking for some signs of life at Seth's house. There were none.
"Man, I know what I can be doing." Jake booted the computer up in his room. They were going to be looking into a little of Seth's background today, and trying to lay low, because Connor swore he'd felt something looking at him yesterday.
Jake couldn't shake the feeling Connor was in some sort of trouble.
-----------------------
"Dad," Connor said, his hand shaking, "I need you to talk to me for just a minute."
"I'm tired, Connor," David snapped. He was untying his tie. "I just came home for an hour or so to catch a nap, not to be disturbed by racket."
"Dad, I really need to talk to you. It's not about life - well, not about my life. Okay, so maybe it is."
"You're not making any since at all," David grumbled. "Okay, Connor. Tell me." He sat on his bed and rubbed his eyes.
"I think Jake saw a murder over at Seth's house."
"Bullshit, Connor. Remember, last year Jake accused Seth's brother-in-law of smacking him in the face and the Bakers nearly charged him with assault."
"Dad, he came charging after him with a pipe."
David bristled. "What is it that you want, Connor? Your mother gave you some spending money and I thought that you were just going to play with Jake today anyway."
"I think Jake really did see a murder. I have a picture from Seth's grange --" he reached in his pocket to show David, but the man held up his hand. "Wait a second. You were in his garage?"
"It was wide open," he replied.
"I taught you not to invade other people's property," David said, his face turning red. "If Seth saw you, he could have you arrested! How do you think that would make me look?"
"But--," Connor started to say.
"I'm about to ground you for the rest of the week. As it is, don't talk to me until I get some rest. And, your curfew is seven-thirty."
"Seven-thirty! Dad, that's Toby's bedtime!"
"I don't give a damn if it's Jake's bedtime. Seven thirty," he said, shutting off the light.
-----------------------
Connor grumbled all the way across the street. "Seven thirty. There's no possibility. You're just a worthless brat, Connor. Listen to all those kids in school." His thoughts were interrupted when he saw Jake outside in his hoodie and jeans. "Dude!" he rushed over. "Get back inside, man! Your mom'll kill me."
"I don't care, man." Jake allowed himself to be escorted to the steps with Connor's help. "You worried me."
"I was trying to tell my dad."
"I'll bet he was help," Jake said, "From the look on your face."
"Oh, yeah. Loads of help! He said Seth could have us arrested for going in his garage. I'm scared, Jake."
"We aren't going to get arrested. For one thing, he won't say anything --" Jake's words were broken off when Seth walked towards them.
"So you were the people prowling around my garage yesterday," Seth said. His eyes were angry, and Connor shrank back in fear.
"Easy, dude. We just wanted to see how it looked."
Seth walked away, but that left Connor with an uneasy feeling. "He saw me, didn't he?" he asked as he helped Jake inside.
"I don't know, dude. All we can do is hope that he didn't."
"What if he did murder somebody?"
"If he didn't, whose blood was spattered all over the wall?" Jake said.
The two climbed the stairs and walked the hall before Jake fell into his bed, exhausted.
"I don't know. Maybe he cut himself shaving?" Connor suggested, not wanting to believe that a murder had taken place.
"In the garage?" Jake asked, rolling his eyes. "Here, gimme that pic. Yeah, it definitely looks fishy. There's not a lot of blood, but there's definitely SOME. What did he do, move the body down to the garage?"
"Body?" Connor asked.
"Yeah, Connor," Jake said, "When you murder someone, you leave a body."
Connor looked at the ground. "Sorry, didn't sink in."
"Don't worry about it," Jake said calmly. He sighed and looked out the windows. "Ever wish you could get inside a person's head?"
"Yeah."
"What'd your dad really say?"
"He said it was probably bullcrap because you tried to charge him with assault last year. I was like, DAD, he charged after him with a pipe. He's too blind… Lost in his own thoughts."
"Hey, listen, go easy on him," Jake started to say, but Connor was already lost in his own world.
"Hey," Connor said, "Why didn't I think of it?"
"What?"
"Showing the picture to my dad."
"I thought you did."
"Yeah, but what if we snooped around and took more pictures?"
"With Seth there? Hell no, that's just stupid."
"Tomorrow. Tonight. Whenever."
"What are you going to do? Use them for blackmail?" Jake spat.
Connor glared at him. "No, use them to get dad to help us."
"Look, we've already been over this. I don't think he's going to."
"Well, we can try."
Jake sighed. "I feel like crap," he said.
"Yeah, it must really suck to get the chicken pox."
"You have no idea."
"Hey, something's going on out there!" Connor said. The two inched open Jake's blinds, and they attentively looked out the window.
"What?"
"You see? He's talking."
"Yeah, he's talking. It's not like either of us knows how to read lips."
"Come on." Connor slipped out.
"Connor, you idiot." Jake new from watching crime shows that Connor wasn't being that bright, but he followed him down the stairs. "Connor."
Connor turned and stared at Jake's fever-filled face. "Go to bed," he said. "Look, I'm going to go home. Your mom should be home soon. Sleep tight."
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Midnight: Twelve o'clock
Jake's eyes scanned Seth's room. He was watching out the windows with his binoculars. It was black. Suddenly, the light turned on, and Jake watched intently.
"Man oh man," he thought. Seth was rummaging around his room, looking up at the window every so often. Jake was peering intently, still.
Jake saw Seth grab a knife in his hand and stab something. But what? He heard no scream, he saw no object. A chair or something?
Was Seth insane?
Not thinking, he grabbed his binoculars and headed outside. He wanted a first class-view, not noticing that as he left his room, turning out his light, the light in the neighboring house went black.
He stared at the window intently through his binoculars, never noticing the sounds creak up at him…