"WHAT this is too weird" Steven said as they finished.
"What is weird?" Brad said asked puzzled
"Well think about it Brad, first someone KILLS Melody then someone TRIES to kill Rory and the voice sounded familiar" Steven said
"I still don't get the point" Brad said confused
"Come on Brad your not that stupid. It was one of you" Rory said plainly.
"WHAT?" Steven, Brad, Tom and said in shock. Joe and Joey just looked at her. Joe had talked Joey in into hearing what she had to say this morning.
"Well last night it couldn't have been Joey. It could have been Joe. He left our house then came back" Rory said motioning to Joe; this caught him a little off guard.
"What? Rory, I saved your life but if want play that way fine, I forgot my coat at your place. Then if I'm a suspect in this case who is in Melody's case I mean their both obviously related" Joe said angrily.
"Well Steven of course he came in moments after the murder," Rory said as if Joe should have known that already.
"I CALLED HIM TO COME" Joe yelled angrily. Rory looked a little shocked but continued on.
"What was Melody's cause of death Joe" Rory asked. He thought it was a dumb question.
"She was shot twice remember, thought she had other injuries." Joe said still fuming.
"Like what?" Rory asked almost conversationally. Joe was getting madder by the second.
"A dislocated shoulder, deep cuts all over, and bruise marks around her throat indicating an attempted strangulation." He said
"Ok if we had been closer to the door we would have been cut like her, the shoulder I don't know but he tired to strangle me but now that I think about it Joe you did saved my life because before he had time to finish the job you walked in." Rory said in a thankful tone.
"Ok that leaves Steven, Brad and Tom" Joe said thinking it up in his head.
"Steven doesn't have a motive to kill me but Brad and Tom do" Rory said
"What?" they asked Tom sounded nervous.
"Brad you could have tried to kill me because I didn't ask you to dance. Tom you said you were jealous of Joey" Rory explained.
Joe had been staring at Tom for sometime because something was out of place but he couldn't figure it out. He looked different now something was wrong with his face. After a few minutes he figured it out and became angrier then ever, but no one seemed to notice.
"What about in Melody's case?" Steven asked.
"You and Tom are suspects. Steven you are because you came in moments after the murder like I said. And your motive is that Melody didn't ask you to dance and Tom you said you were jealous of Joe" Rory said.
"Rory, permit me to interrupt" Joe said menacingly now.
"Go ahead Joe, be my guest." She said
"Tom I have a question for you, how did you get that fat lip your sporting today?" Joe said walking slowly and calmly towards Tom.
"I bit my lip last night eating dinner" Tom said defensively. Joe grabbed his arm and pulled back his sleeve.
"These scares on your arm didn't come from working in the yard, they came from Melody! The police told me they had found skin tissue under her nails but couldn't match it to any data they had. Melody did leave a clue behind. Tom what have you done?" Joe said. Tom wretched his arm away from Joe.
"You have no idea what I have done" Tom said more angry then he had ever been.
"Tom I hope you have been living for the past two years with the image of Melody's face in your mind, because every night I see her before I go to sleep." Joe said furiously. Everyone else stood terrified.
"I do see Melody every night. I see her begging me to spare her, asking to see you one more time. I saw the look on her face when she died, a beautiful terrified face." Tom yelled tears now streamed down his face.
"You couldn't have because she died in my arms Tom. I was the last one to see the light in her eyes." Joe said angrily.
"I thought I killed her. I never wanted her to suffer. She was supposed to die right then. Should have shot her in her heart" Tom said for the first time showing a little bit of uncertainty in his voice. Joe involuntarily shuddered at the thought of that.
"I'm glad you didn't but you did make her suffer quite a bit, the pain in her eyes, I knew it was unbearable for her" Joe said
"If she had not avoided my touch after we kissed, she would still be alive so you have no one to blame but her." Tom said arrogantly.
"You're a lair! Melody would never want to kiss the likes of you, bastard!" Joe fired back.
"Okay that's fine if you want to believe that, here's something else you won't believe, I wanted to kill you first so, that in her hour of grief, little Melody would come crawling to her dear friend Tom." Tom said. Joe looked shocked.
"Wh…wha…what?" Joe stumbled in great alarm.
"Oh don't act so surprised. You were to be my first and only victim, originally, but you know plans change." Tom said offhandedly.
"Why did you have to kill Melody then, why not go upstairs and murder me in my sleep?" Joe asked fuming with anger.
"First, do you really think that your darling Melody would have let a gun wielding madman up the stairs to the bedroom where her precious husband was asleep helplessly? Tom asked.
"No" Joe said through gritted teeth. Melody would have protected him at all cost.
"Second it was really a crime of opportunity. I crashed into your living room under the impression that it was you lying on the couch. Much to my surprise I see Melody, scared and confused. She looked into my eyes and right there I decided that she had to die that night. I decided to make you suffer through the pain of losing someone you loved and I do believe my glorious plan worked. I was so delightfully happy when Steven rushed to my house to tell me you had tried to killed yourself after just one day with out her by your side" Tom said smiling evilly.
"Why you little son of a bitch, of course your plan worked, you piece of shit, I'LL KILL YOU!" Joe screamed running at Tom. Tom casually pulled out a gun and pointed it at Joe. He stopped dead in his tracks and became very frighten. Rory shrieked and threw herself on to Joey. Steven and Brad gasped and nervously looked from Tom to Joe.
"Please Tom you don't want to do this to me" Joe pleaded nervously backing away. He bumped into a wall, he was trapped.
"Your wife said something like that and look were she is now." Tom said coolly advancing on Joe.
"Damn you to hell son of a bitch, you leave Melody out of this." Joe said viscously to Tom who was angrily cocking the gun.
Steven wanted to distract Tom somehow. He had his gun right on Joe and he knew Tom was mad enough to take action. He knew his only chance was now so he took it.
"Tom please listen to reason. Where would you be by killing Joe?" Steven asked calmly. Tom did exactly what Steven was hoping he would, he lowered his gun and looked up blankly at Steven.
"What do you mean?" he asked Steven swallowed.
"What would you get out of killing Joe" He asked. Tom looked at his gun this and Steven mouthed the words "get him" to Joe.
"Well I'd get the satisfaction of being the one who took out the legendary rock star. Not drugs, but his own band mate how poetic. And second what kind of friend would I be if I allowed this pain to go on" He smiled as he started to raise the gun.
"You're no friend of mine!" Joe yelled and launched himself onto Tom.
"Get off me you piece of shit." Tom exclaimed struggling to throw Joe off. They were both fighting for the gun.
"You killed Melody you Jackass, I'm sure as hell going to make sure you rot behind bars for the rest of your life." Joe said through gritted teeth.
They both fought for what seemed like ages to get the better hand on the gun. They tumbled around the room knocking over furniture and other things. Suddenly the gun went off. Rory screamed and all of them were still as stone. Brad noticed first as his eyes grew wide with shock. The others followed his gaze and found complete horror in what they saw.
Joe leaped to his feet abandoning Tom with his gun. He ran as fast as he could to Steven who was slumped against the wall, blood covering his whole chest by then. His head was down and Joe fell to his knees to see where Steven had been hit. Joe lifted Stevens head and he immediately became frozen. He saw with growing sadness that the bullet had hit Steven in the throat and that he was already dead.
Brad called from somewhere over Joe's shoulders. He couldn't hear what exactly it was but he knew that it was something like was Steven ok. He moved aside to allow the others to see that he was not okay and would never be again.
He didn't hear them gasp, or Rory scream. All he could do was see the gaping hole in Stevens neck, the thick sticky blood still coming out. He wanted to scream too, but no sound would come out. He wanted Tom to hear the scream and be frightened by the anger that came with it. He wanted Tom to be backed against the wall with the gun pointed at him pleading with Joe, whose finger would rest easily on the trigger, to spare his life.
Something was wrong; this was not how it was supposed to end. He had spent years with Tom. He had always seemed to be in such good sprits, even when the band fell apart, there was Tom with a smile. It was true that he had been the last to sober up but he was a good guy. Joe was trying so desperately to convince himself that the man who had killed Melody and Steven was not Tom, it was some monster, something was wrong.
He never heard Tom come from behind him, but he could feel the barrel of the gun in back of his head now.
"Get up" Tom snarled at Joe who began to get slowly. When he was all the was up Tom made him turn around the gun was dead center of his chest. He swallowed just as Steven had done 10 minutes ago.
"Tom you can kill me but you're still gonna be a damned bastard." Joe said back. He intended it to be strong but it was feeble and his voice cracked. He knew this was the end. Tom smiled just as he did when he pulled the trigger when he killed Melody.
Joe staggered back looking down at his chest, seconds later he fell to the floor how fighting for air. It did not hurt as much as much as he thought it would. He looked around the room, Brad was frozen, Joey was holding as sobbing Rory while he himself stood looking very confused and Tom just stood laughing in triumph. A bit of pain shot through his chest.
Suddenly everyone else in the room vanished, including Steven's body and Melody appeared at his side. She was sobbing; one hand was on his chest the other resting gently on his cheek.
"Joe wake up! please!" She said through sobs. She raised her hand in a fist and brought it down hard on his chest right into his wound. He winced in pain.
"Darling don't do that, we can soon be together Melody again, this time for ever. I've missed you so much." Joe said smiling at her. The studio began to change around him and suddenly he was in his bed room, Melody was still over him.
He lifted his hand to feel her cheek and when he touched it she grabbed his hand. She had warmth, it penetrated his fingertips, then moved up his arm, and it spread through out his whole body. With it brought an understanding that everything had been a dream. The murder, funeral, Steven's death, all of it.
"Joe I love you come back to me." Melody said raising her fist again. This time he caught it before she hit him and new tears of joy sprung from her eyes. He sat up and looked around, running his hand over the mattress and blankets making sure they were real. He turned to Melody and ran his hand through her hair. He then smiled at her and a second later she was in his arms sobbing. It felt so good to put his arms around her and just feel her breathing; slowly up and down, the beautiful rhythm that was her life.
Joe explained everything, her murder and how it was Tom who had killed her. The funeral, the final fight for the gun, and Stevens untimely death. When he finished she stared at him with horror.
"Joe I am sorry that is a horrible dream you had, I thought you were having a seizure or something, I guess that must have been the fight. Then you screamed out that Tom was a bastard that's when I decided to wake you up" Melody said cheeks blushing slightly from saying an obscene word. Joe smiled at the innocence.
"It was all a dream so it doesn't matter." He said as he wrapped her in a hug. "Now please get some more rest" He said as he lay down with her resting on his chest.
She fell asleep there, and for a long time Joe just watched her sleep. Her small delicate hand wrapped in his big one. He kept thinking about his dream and how it had made him feel when he lost her, when she died in his arms. Just that feeling alone showed him that he loves her more than anything and he wanted to spend the rest of her life with her. He sighed and Melody stirred. Her eyes fluttered opened, she smiled at him and nestled into his arms.
"I love you" she said in a small quiet voice. He smiled back at her.
"I love you more than you'll ever know" he said and kissed her hand