Chapter 6:

(Grace's POV)

I was sitting on the couch next to Wayne at the local police department. My head was resting against his shoulder and he gently laid his head on mine. Jane sat in a foldable chair staring at us strangely. Cho was signing some papers for a different homicide that we had closed. As Lisbon walked in Wayne and I released our hold from each other and sat up straight. Jane chuckled and walked to the kitchen to make some tea.

"So Grace, I know this is going to be hard, but I need you to tell us about the girl." Lisbon said sitting down on an arm chair and taking out a pen and notepad.

"Her name is Stacey Lowery. We were best friends all through high school." I said forcing myself not to cry. I'd already embarrassed myself once, and I wouldn't do it again.

"She moved from Idaho the summer before freshman year. Her mom was murdered when she was five. The cops said it was a drunken man who had robbed a store and stolen a knife and killed her on the street. Three stabs to the chest. Stacey never believed it was a strange drunk, she always thought it was somebody they knew who wanted to get revenge, but she never knew for what." I said.

"Maybe Stacey was searching for the killer, she found him or her and they killed her. It's good motive." Lisbon offered.

"Stacey did have this faze when she tried searching for the killer, but she never got anything, and gave up pretty fast. I doubt she actually did find out who did it." I said.

"Well okay tell us more about her." Lisbon said in a quiet voice. I looked around and saw Cho half listening and writing out the reports at the same time. Jane looked at me intentively and prepared his tea as well. Wayne sat next to me aching to comfort me but knowing he couldn't in front of Lisbon.

"We had almost every class together, and ended up talking a lot and started to become friends. I had some other friends, but not as good of a friend as Stacey. We ended up spending almost every waking minute together in and out of school. After a while my other friends got sick of me always being with her and I sort of drifted away from them. You might want to check out her dad. Stacey always talked about how he was an alcoholic every since her mom died. I went to her house one time and he was so drunk he almost started throwing things at me." I was interrupted by Jane coming over holding two cups of tea.

"Sorry to intrude, but I thought you might like something to drink." He said handing me the cup of steaming tea. I drank it and could feel my insides getting warmer.

"Did you put something in this Jane?" I asked growing wary.

"Just something to calm you." He said winking and giving me a charming smile. I smiled back and continued to drink the spiked tea.

"In the middle of junior year it started to begin. Stacey was always a good girl but was funny and exciting when she was out of school. Everyone thought of her as the shy and lonely type but she was exactly the opposite. Kids started spreading rumors about her, knowing she wouldn't do anything about it. And she didn't until one day. She was so sick of everyone, that she stood on one of the cafeteria tables and told everyone what she had been thinking for months about them. From then on people started to respect her more, and be friendlier. Anyone who can stick up for themselves was well liked in our school. Instead of becoming popular which she could have, she started dating one of the drug dealers at our school. People always suspected that he was one, but nobody ever found the proof. She started smoking and skipping class and she would always be with him." I snarled a bit when I spoke about Dylan. Every time I think about how he ruined Stacey's life I feel like hitting somebody.

"After a while I noticed that her eyes were red and she was always acting weird, and I knew she started doing drugs. She dragged me one night to one of Dylan's parties and everyone there was shooting heroin or smoking weed and getting drunk and stoned. I tried to get her away from there but she yelled at me and said "Gracey when are you going to grow up. This is the real world, not some fake place that you live in. One day you're going to get depressed and this is what it will lead to. So we say, get a head start and just go with the flow, man." I kept telling her she needs to stop but she wouldn't listen. She almost got kicked out of high school, because they caught her several times dealing drugs and skipping class repeatedly. She didn't even make it to graduation. Last time I saw her she promised she would get some help, but I highly doubt it."

Everyone sat in silence soaking in all the information I had just told them. Jane looked at me in a funny way but I was used to it. He always tried to study people and the more concentrated he got the funnier he looked.

"When did you last see her? When she told you she would get help?" Lisbon asked.

"It was a few days after graduation. I was packing up for college and she came to say goodbye."

"She was leaving?"

"I guess, she didn't say were though."

"There's something you're not telling us." Jane said pointing at me accusingly.

"What are you talking about?" I asked begging myself that for once he would drop it.

"You're turning pink, come on Grace this will only get harder if you don't tell us."

"It's nothing about Stacey. It's just something else that happened, but it didn't include her." I said in a scary voice, annoyed Jane always had to meddle into my life.

"Okay, sorry." He said putting his hands up, surrendering.

"Excuse me agent Lisbon?" said a man walking into the room.

"Yes" Lisbon said standing up.

"I'm detective Malory; I'm here to help you on the Jane Doe case." He said shaking her hand. He was wearing a black suit, with a light blue tie. His hair line was receding and thinning out slowly. He looked to be in his mid forties, obviously a long time detective. His modern glasses made him look as if he was trying to hard, and he acted as if he was as well.

"This is Agent Cho, Agent Rigsby and Agent Van Pelt. Patrick Jane, he's a consultant." Jane stood up and shook his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He said smiling warmly, but in a joking way. He could clearly see what I had when he walked into the room.

"We actually have the name of the victim, Stacey Lowery. Agent Van Pelt knew the victim in high school. We have some information about her life then, and we're going to need to use your computers. It takes to long to go to our offices and back here. Thanks for the offer, but we don't need much help. You could help with the office work and keep us updated." Lisbon said.

Detective Malory stammered a bit and looked confused. He probably had never had anyone tell him to stay out of their cases. He nodded his head, turned around and stomped out of the room. Cho looked up and smiled, the second time I had seen him do it.

"Did you guys get a look at that guy or what?" He said, his smile growing broader by the second.

"You know Cho, if you smile more often, women will be all over you." Jane said.

With that Cho abruptly stopped smiling and glared at Jane.

"Are you guys going to drive the three hours it took you here, or stay at a hotel or something?" Wayne asked.

"Well actually" Jane said interrupting Lisbon. "I was hoping that we could first go to Grace's house, don't you think it would be lovely to meet her family? We could stay for dinner, if it's okay with them." Everyone looked at me to see what I would say. My heart raced as I tried thinking of an excuse for them not to come.

"Don't think of an excuse, come on gang, we're going to dine tonight at the Van Pelt household." Jane said sticking his arms in front of him, and singing the theme song for superman while racing outside. Lisbon rolled her eyes and followed Jane. Cho left shortly leaving me with Wayne.

"Distract them while I call my dad and beg him not to mention knowing you at all. I'll be out in a second." I kissed Wayne and grabbed my cell phone. He walked outside, and I could see him beginning to talk to them. I took a deep breath and dialed the familiar numbers into the phone.