Bury the Past

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

Chapter 5 (Survivors)

With burglary ruled out, they needed to think about a motive. Unfortunately David had been forcibly ejected from his family's life so he knew very little about what they were doing or what they had been involved with. It didn't help Trina either since she'd willingly made the choice to leave them behind ten years ago.

On the way to the hospital, David tried to inform her of what the victims had been up to. Jade and Andre weren't difficult, since the families had already been notified and told him what their children were doing.

It seemed that Andre and Tori had been dating, but they rarely talked about their relationship. Andre had a bachelor's degree in videography and was working as a photographer for Randal Shell Photography. Tori dropped out of college some time ago to take a break and had begun working with Andre at the same company as a model. It seemed likely that Andre had helped her get a job there.

The jobs didn't appear to be any that would carry a connotation of turning someone against you. Their boss, Heidi Marks, informed the police that the pair got along well with the other photographers and models, and couldn't think of anything they were doing that would have made someone angry with them.

Jade had been working, ironically, at a daycare opened up by a woman named Samantha Benson and her husband. She was a receptionist at the daycare center, and talked very little about her personal life.

David mentioned that in talking with Samantha, he did discover Jade often talked very little about her husband, if she talked about anything. What was said was she was always afraid Beck would cheat on her or leave her.

"The problem with that train of thought is she was like that in high school," Trina remarked. "She never had much reason other than lack of trust and confidence for feeling that way."

"You're right. There's no evidence suggesting that Beck had any kind of affairs either." David turned into the hospital parking lot and shrugged. "Mrs. Benson did indicate that Jade appeared bored with her marriage, she kept talking about wanting to try something outside of routine, but Beck always wanted to do the same old thing-whatever that was."

"What does Beck do for a living?"

"Works at a glass shop, I believe. He's the foreman for Shapers Glass Company."

"Puts in a lot of hours, I'll bet." Trina rubbed her right temple and gazed out the side window. "For a bored housewife working as a receptionist at a daycare center, that can be pure torture."

"Sure. Again, however, we have a supervisor telling us that our victim didn't appear to be involved in anything aside from their job." David rolled his head to the side and frowned. "Though Heidi did say Tori and Andre seemed to be growing apart lately as well."

"I'd almost think that spells trouble, if it weren't for the fact that both of them are victims." Trina lowered her hand to her knee and frowned. "You could consider that Andre or Tori wanted to separate and have some kind of financial incentive to hire a hitman to kill the other…but if that were the case, with both of them attacked, that would be the sloppiest hitman I've ever seen." David chuckled once and nodded his reply.

"I can't say I've ever seen a hitman that stupid. So stupid they kill not only their target, but the person paying them to off someone else." David parked the car in a spot close to the door and shut off the engine. "We still can't eliminate the possibility of this being a paid hit."

"Seems odd, with the amount of hate inflicted on Tori." She pursed her lips and scratched the bottom of her chin. "Would a hitman do that?"

"Maybe if they were ordered to. I can't see a hired gun doing that amount of damage without being told to do it. Not to mention, they're only going to take out their intended target most of the time."

They made their way through the hospital, staying silent as a nurse guided them to Tori. Before stepping into the room, Trina took several deep, calming breaths and even checked her phone just to see if her husband might have sent her something. It was a distraction, if nothing else.

She pushed her way into the room and set eyes onto her sister. The girl had changed a good deal in the last ten years. Her hair was much longer and she looked incredibly frail. "She does eat, right?"

"Her agency actually believes if you way more than one hundred and thirty pounds, you're considered fat. They don't like their models to eat much. Although, I'm not sure how much of her weight is attributed to malnutrition." David walked over to his daughter and placed a strong hand on the girl's forehead.

Tori looked like she was asleep within a net of tubes. Her face was swollen, bruised and scarred. The only sound in the entire room was the life support monitor, echoing like mad in Trina's head.

David exhaled and shut his eyes. "She's HIV positive." Trina's eyes shot open and she nearly fell back as his words cut into her like a knife. "Has been since she left college three years ago."

"What? I-I can't believe…" Tori had waited a few years to go to college, attending when she turned twenty-two. According to David, he knew Tori left at the age of twenty-five with one year to go. It was also around this time that she begun to date Andre and was convinced to become a model. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure. I know we found traces of HIV in Andre's system as well, but we aren't sure who infected who. I'm not so sure Tori was active in college, but I have no way of knowing that information."

"Did either of them realize it?"

"It appears neither of them realized it. Their employers didn't notice, Andre's family were surprised to hear about it, and neither had medicine or doctors that indicated a knowledge."

"Oh." Her heart broke as she walked towards her baby sister. She laid a hand on Tori's arm and tears started to fill her eyes. "Oh Tori…" In this state, she wasn't sure how long Tori could last. She hoped her sister would pull through, and would do anything she could to see it happen. "Oh god, I wish I had known."

"Not your fault. There's nothing you could have done."

"Still." She wrapped her fingers around Tori's wrist and lowered her head, gently kissing her sister's hand. "Oh Tori…" Her tears fell from her eyes and landed on her sister's hand. "Wake up soon, little sister."

It may have been so long, and she might have been influenced by Tori, but that didn't mean she loved her sister any less. "I'm not angry at you anymore," She whispered to her sister, "I hope you know that. I've always loved you, I always will. If you pull through…god, I swear I will still be your sister." She placed her hand over Tori's and closed her eyes.

It was hard to believe she was standing here, having gone through what Tori did and survived while her sister was in a coma. Flashes of her attack came to her in strides, making it more difficult. "Daddy! Daddy help!"

"Keep her pinned, Wallace." Trina struggled as Wallace's grip tightened on her small arms. Ned slammed his pistol into her body multiple times, kicking her in the sides and in the head. David screamed at the men, cursing them and pleading for them to stop.

Wallace raised his fist high into the air and Trina turned her head, wincing as he brought it down onto her. Each blow was like a brick, crushing her and turning her bones to brittle.

The man got off her, enabling Ned to pick her up and slam her into the television and gaming set. She screamed as blood splashed from her. "Twist her arm, Wallace. Let's see how Daddy dearest responds."

David growled. "Don't you dare let me out of these ropes, I'll tear you apart for this you goddamn bastards." Trina cried in horror as Wallace twisted her arm back, then struck her elbow upwards. "Katrina!" David lurched forward, tears in his eyes. "Damn it, you're killing her!"

"Kind of the point, detective." Ned grabbed Trina by the back of her head and yanked her backwards. Her vision was blurred and her body hung limp and numb. "We ain't done just yet, so stay alive." She moved her eyes over, shivering as she was in too much pain to weep. The man dropped her to the ground and Ned waved Wallace over. "Beat her up a bit more, but not too much. We don't want to killer her yet, I want to drag this out for her father."

Wallace instead put his hands around her throat, squeezing so hard she could almost feel the air in her lungs evaporating. She strained herself, slamming her hand on the ground while trying to breathe.

"Sadistic shits." David struggled in his bonds, crying out. "Hold on Trina. I'm here. I-"

"Shut up." Ned pistol whipped David, causing him to jerk and gnash his teeth.

Once in a while Wallace would remove his hands, allowing her to take a deep breath; but once the oxygen returned he went back to compressing her neck until her vision blurred. All along he was laughing and taunting her, taking great enjoyment in her pain.

Police sirens stopped their beating short, but the two men took off out the back and over the fence. Trina survived the attack by a miracle, making it out with broken ribs, a broken arm and a broken leg. She had a collapsed lung and was covered with blood and bruises.

Her heart shook with tremendous force, creating a sharp pain in her chest. She gasped out as her father placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry Trina. I…I don't know what to say." She looked at him, sniffing as she saw the tears rolling away from his eyes.

Her head moved to his shoulder and she turned towards him, weeping softly. No words were needed, and for once in a long time, they could be on the same level.

They mourned for a while longer before saying their goodbyes to Tori. The doctors could sustain her for a time, hopefully long enough for her to wake up. However, she was terrified of Tori slipping further into an HIV-induced coma.

Looking down the hallway they saw someone pushing a woman in a wheelchair. Trina squinted at the person, denoting the masculine form and dark black, wavy hair, cut short and parted at the side. "Hey Dad?"

"Yes?"

"That guy looks familiar."

"He should. That's Beck Oliver." Trina gasped and stopped in place while her father walked forward and raised his hand. "Mr. Oliver, over here if you please." Beck stopped and turned his head. His bushy eyebrows slid towards the center. He had a thick moustache and stubble in place of a beard. "Can you spare a moment?"

"Certainly," Beck replied. As he begun to turn, Trina noticed the woman in the wheelchair. She had shoulder length, dark hair, and pale skin. She wore a long dark dress and her hands were folded in her lap. She also had multiple cuts along her face and right arm.

Trina's voice grew soft and her eyebrows curled up in the center. "Jade." She watched the woman raise her head, then watched as the woman's eyebrows started to rise. "Poor woman. Having to go through that."

Beck rolled her over and his eyebrows flattened. "Trina, wow, how long has it been?"

"Ten years." Beck was wearing an overcoat and blue fingerless motorcycle gloves. "Motorcycle gloves? You ride?"

"Yeah, not so much anymore." He motioned his head to the side and hummed. "Screwed up my back in an accident once." Jade looked up at her husband, furrowing her brow. She tapped her hands gently on her legs. Beck clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Driving down the street and as I'm crossing over, some jerk runs the stop sign and hits the back end of my bike. Fortunately we weren't travelling fast, but I flew off and rolled across the ground."

"I'm sorry to hear about that." She looked at Jade once more, feeling more of a pang of sorrow. "I'm sorry about what your wife is going through as well." Beck closed his eyes and let out a shallow breath of air.

"I don't even know where to begin. Jade can't remember anything. It's like, I don't know…" He breathed in and looked at his wife with a sad smile. "I'm just glad she's alive." His eyebrows rose and he looked at Trina with a mournful look. "Tori and your mother. I can't possibly imagine how difficult…"

"You were still friends with Tori, weren't you?"

"Yeah." He ran his hand across his face, sweeping away a tear. "I mean, we weren't as close as we used to be in high school. Just drifting apart. Jade was the only thing really keeping that friendship a friendship."

It was a sad story, she never thought she'd see the day Beck and Tori drifted apart. Yet it was natural, and very rare for people to stay friends after high school and college. The mind was always changing and a person never stopped growing, so it didn't surprise her in the slightest. "What about Andre?" She crossed her arms. "The two of you were best friends."

"Of course. He was my longest friend. To say we drifted would be false, but it was starting to go that way. Once he got wrapped up in his job at the modeling agency and I started working at the glass shop, we just got busy and stopped talking to each other."

She wondered how Beck managed to work in the industry he did with back trouble. It wasn't impossible, but it couldn't be easy. "It must cause a lot of stress to work in your career with a bad back."

"Yeah, but I manage." He swept his hand through his hair. "Motrin helps." Beck took a deep breath and looked down the hallway with a deepening frown. "We just got done visiting Tori…I wish I had been there, maybe I could have done something. Maybe I could have prevented it."

"You don't know what could have happened." Trina reached out, patting Beck gently on the shoulder. "Be with your wife though. She needs you." He wasn't quite a suspect yet, but he likely realized they were going to have to look at him at some point. She didn't want to say it now, rather just to be cordial given what he was going through in the moment. "If Jade remembers anything at all, give us a call, okay?"

"I will." Beck sniffed and looked down at his wife. He moved a hand to Jade's shoulder and Trina cast a soft smile as the woman leaned to the right and looked up into her husband's eyes. "I'll do everything in my power to help you guys find whoever did this to Jade and the others. Make them pay."

"Take it easy Beck. Get some rest."

"You too."

The couple left, disappearing around the corner. Trina shook her head and turned away, thinking about their next move. They needed to get to the morgue now, which was going to be incredibly hard for her. She needed to see her mother's body, and of course, Andre's as well.

Well, there's a good chunk of stuff in this chapter. Tell me what your thoughts and observations are