The Killer Next Door: A Murder Mystery

by Nicholas Jordan

  “What is all of this?” she asked.

  “It’s exactly what it looks like,” Eric said, “a box of books. Just like every other box here.”

  “Why did Greg leave them with you? And what was with you paying him for them?”

  “If you walked around to the front of this store then you would get the answer to your question.”

  “Or . . . you could just tell me.” Kaylee fixed Eric with a look that made it very clear she had zero patience right now. She expected some answers after what she had just seen.

  “I work for a used bookstore.” Eric crossed his arms and then gestured with his head towards the building that the boxes were stacked up against. “Right here in case you haven’t figured it out already. Greg told me that he wanted to get rid of a bunch of old books that used to belong to his wife, so I told him to bring them down here and the store would buy them from him. That’s it.”

  Kaylee looked down at the books again and shook her head. “It just doesn’t make sense . . .”

  “So you think I’m lying to you?”

  “No, that’s not it. I believe you. It’s just that I can’t understand why Greg—just days after losing his wife—would make taking in a bunch of her old books a priority.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Think about it. His wife just died. And he’s already selling off her belongings. Don’t you think that’s a little strange?”

  Eric shrugged. “It’s just some old books.”

  “Yeah. But I still think it’s suspicious.”

  “Suspicious?”

  “Did he say anything about why he decided to do it now?”

  “No. Not really. He just said that it was time that he finally got rid of them since they’d been doing nothing but collect dust for years.”

  Kaylee chewed her bottom lip and looked away while she thought it over, trying to find a correlation between everything that Greg had done since his wife was murdered, but nothing made sense to her yet.

  “What are you thinking about?” Eric asked. “I can tell there’s something on your mind. What is it?”

  Kaylee met Eric’s gaze. “I think he killed her. I think Greg killed his wife.”

  “Wait, what? I thought the police arrested Frank for that. You even helped them do it, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, but I think I might have made a mistake.”

  “And why’s that?”

  “I saw him bring a young woman home a couple nights ago. I think he was having an affair and wanted his wife out of the picture, so he murdered her.”

  “That’s a pretty serious allegation.”

  “It’s not an allegation. Not yet anyway. Right now it’s just a theory. But I want to prove it. I’m just not sure how I’m supposed to do that.”

  “Sounds like you need to do some serious digging.”

  “Well, sure, but how do I do that?”

  “I think I might be able to help you.”

  “Really? You’d do that?”

  “Sure. Just as long as you don’t accuse me of aiding a murderer again. I know I can be an asshole sometimes, but I would never do something like that.”

  “Don’t worry. I won’t,” Kaylee assured him. “So how am I supposed to do this?”

  “I have a plan, but I’m pretty sure you’re not going to like it.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Well, it sort of involves breaking into his house to snoop around.”

  A nervous knot formed in the pit of Kaylee’s stomach. “Yeah . . . I was afraid you might say something like that.”

  ***

  Kaylee returned home with more questions than answers, but also pleased to know that she had Eric on her side. She wasn’t totally convinced that she could trust him yet, but she needed his help, so she didn’t have much of a choice.

  Besides, she wanted to trust him. She wanted to believe that he was a good guy, and it wasn’t just because she had a crush on him, although that did have something to do with it.

  As soon as she stepped through the front door, she knew she was in trouble. Not that she was surprised. She knew there was a good chance this would happen the moment she decided to take the car without asking for permission.

  Her mother was waiting for her on the other side of the room. Standing with arms folded and a scowl so cold that Kaylee thought she felt a chill in the air.

  “I see your back,” her mom said. “You think you might want to tell me where you were? I noticed you weren’t answering your phone when I called.”

  “I forgot it.”

  “Of course you did.”

  “Sorry, Mom. I’ll remember to bring it with me next time.” Kaylee walked right past her mom and into the kitchen as if she really believed that would be the end of the conversation.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Her mom followed. “We’re not even close to being finished here. You still haven’t told me where you were.”

  And Kaylee didn’t intend to tell her either. It wasn’t like admitting the truth would make any difference. Her mom would be furious either way. The only thing that would change was that Kaylee would then be subjected to a lecture on why it was not acceptable to follow people around and pry into their personal business.

  She could do without that right now.

  Plus, she would have to admit that she believed Greg Henderson was a murderer, and that was another topic she would prefer to avoid having to discuss with her mom.

  “I just went out,” Kaylee said as she marched towards the living room, hoping that her mother wouldn’t follow—but knowing for a fact that she would.

  “Went out where?”

  “To get a coffee.”

  “We have coffee here.”

  “I wanted a mocha.” Kaylee plopped down on the couch. Grabbed the remote. Flipped on the TV. She didn’t want to watch anything, but she did want to drown out her mother.

  “Right. So . . . when are you going to start telling me the truth?” Her mother moved to stand between Kaylee and the TV.

  “I did tell you the truth.”

  “Bull. And give me back my keys.”

  Kaylee gave up the keys in an underhanded toss.

  Her mother caught them. “Good. Now I’m going to put this someplace where you won’t be able to find them.”

  “Fine. Whatever.” Kaylee shrugged her shoulders. Then she realized that someone was missing. “Where is Mia?”

  “She went home,” her mom said. “And I can’t exactly blame her considering she woke up to find that her new friend—the one that invited her over—had mysteriously vanished. You know, it would be a lot easier for you to make new friends if you decided to act normal again.”

  With that said, her mother started to walk away, but Kaylee wasn’t about to let her get away so easily after a remark like that.

  “What the hell did you just say to me?” Kaylee shot her feet, eyes burning a hole in the back of her mother’s skull.

  Her mom stopped, but she didn’t turn around.

  “Start acting normal? Are you kidding me?” Kaylee shook her head, smiling because she was so angry that she didn’t even know what expression was appropriate for the amount of rage that was brewing inside her right now. “You just don’t get it, do you? You don’t care that I lost Chelsea. You think I can just go back to the person I used to be like it’s as easy as flipping a switch.”

  “Everyone has to deal with loss at some point in life, Kaylee.” Her mom turned to face her. “You have to be strong and not let it stop you from continuing to live your life. That’s why we came here. For a fresh start, remember?”

  “Screw your fresh start. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask you to move me a thousand miles away so we could pretend like the past never happened.”

  “It was for the best. I’m sure you’ll understand that someday.”

  “Best for who, Mom? I don’t think you really give a damn about what’s best for me. You never even let me see Dad. And I’m really starting to wo
nder if maybe it’s because you know I’d be better off living with him.”

  “How dare you say that? Do you have any idea how hard I’ve worked to take care of you without his help. How much I’ve sacrificed? What the hell has he ever done for you? Not a damn thing.”

  “And there you go again. Making it all about you. I don’t think you ever wanted to get me in the divorce. I just think you didn’t want him to get me.”

  “Kaylee, that’s not true. Of course I—”

  “Save it, Mom,” Kaylee held up her hand. She hated the fact that there were tears in her eyes, but she was too upset to keep them from welling up. “I’m done talking to you about this. I’m done talking to you about everything.”

  She stormed off towards the stairs, but her mother moved to block her path, reaching out and snatching hold of her wrist.

  “Kaylee, wait.”

  “Let go of me.” Kaylee pulled away from her. Looked her in the eyes while shaking her head in disgust. “You know, school starts up again in six weeks. You should really enjoy having me around for my senior year because after that . . . I’m gone.”

  Without another word, she turned away and hurried up the stairs, no longer making an effort to hold back the tears that desperately wanted to fall.

  18

  SNEAKING OUT OF THE HOUSE was the easy part. Her mom was asleep hours ago, so she had no difficulty slipping out of her bedroom and then slinking downstairs to the front door—making as little noise as possible along the way. It was pretty much everything that came afterwards that worried her.

  She had never done anything like this before, and she wasn’t exactly looking forward to doing it now.

  But as she walked across the street, hugging her arms around herself and shivering against the cold, really wishing that she had taken a warmer sweater than the thin hoodie she was wearing, she tried to remain positive. She put her trust in Eric—this was all his idea after all—so she just had to have faith that the plan would work.

  Although that was easier said than done. Keeping herself from dwelling on all the things that could go wrong seemed about as easy and trying to stop herself from thinking altogether. Every terrifying possibility swirled around inside her head, ripping holes in her already shaky confidence.

  What if Greg caught them?

  What if they didn’t find any proof that he killed his wife?

  What if they did?

  What would happen after that?

  But as anxious as she might be, when she got to the other side of the street, and she saw Eric leaning against the side of his house, smoking a cigarette, Kaylee felt her anxiety drop a notch.

  This wasn’t going to be easy, but at least she wouldn’t have to do it on her own.

  Eric must have heard her approaching because he looked up at her and tossed the cigarette on the ground before stomping it out. He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket and then started towards her.

  “I was starting to think that you got cold feet,” Eric said.

  “So how is this going to work?” Kaylee asked, still shivering against the cold. “Like, how are we going to get inside the house?”

  “Just come with me,” he said. “I have it all figured out.”

  “I sure hope so,” Kaylee muttered under her breath before she followed Eric around the side of his house. They passed through a gate into the backyard. Then over to the wall that separated his backyard from the Hendersons’ yard.

  Eric stood on his tiptoes and placed his hands on the top of the wall to take a peek over the top. He then looked over his shoulder at Kaylee.

  “The coast is clear. Let’s go.”

  “How are we go—” Kaylee started to ask but cut her sentence short when Eric climbed right over the wall as if it were effortless. “Well . . . I guess that answers my question.”

  Not as tall as Eric, and probably not as nimble either, Kaylee wasn’t confident in her ability to do the same.

  But she had to at least try.

  She took a couple steps backwards so that she could give herself a bit of a running start before she charged and then jumped up and grasped the top of the wall, trying to pull herself up afterwards, but mostly just dangling there like an idiot.

  “A little help here,” she groaned while her fingers clung to the top of the wall and she silently cursed herself for not taking Chelsea up on her offer to work out with her and her mom at the gym when she had the chance last year.

  And just when Kaylee was about to let go and drop back down, she found a pair of hands atop of hers. Then she was pulled up by Eric so that she was sitting on the wall.

  “If you needed a boost then you should have said so.” He grabbed her waist and then helped her down to the other side.

  “You didn’t really give me a chance.” Kaylee looked up at him. Her eyes meeting his and holding his gaze for several seconds. His hands still on her waist. But Kaylee gently pushed his hands away and retreated a step until her back was against the wall. “We shouldn’t waste any time if we’re going to do this.”

  He nodded. “Yeah. You’re right. Come on. Follow me.”

  “How exactly are we going to get inside the house?” Kaylee asked as she tailed him, keeping her voice low. She didn’t really expect Greg to be able to hear them out here, but it was for her own peace of mind anyway. “Do you have, like, a lock pick or something that you haven’t told me about?”

  “Nope, but I got something even better.”

  “What’s that?”

  Eric stopped abruptly and then turned around. He reached into his pocket and extracted something before holding it up so that she could see what it was.

  “I’ve got a key,” he said.

  “Where did you get that?”

  “From Emma,” Eric replied. “She had a spare made and gave it to me so that I could . . . well, get inside without her parents finding out. But anyway, as long as the locks haven’t been changed since then, we should have no trouble getting inside.”

  Kaylee nodded. Then, unable to help herself, commented on what he said. “I thought you said your relationship with Emma wasn’t that serious.”

  “Just because we were having sex doesn’t mean our relationship was serious. I liked her a lot, and she liked me too, but we were friends before, and we would have been friends after too had it not been for those false rumors that someone spread about me.”

  Missing a good friend was something that Kaylee was very familiar with, and she would never try to trivialize that.

  “Alright, so if we have a key, then does that mean we’re going in the backdoor?” Kaylee asked.

  Eric nodded. “Yeah, but just because we can let ourselves in doesn’t mean we’re welcome. We have to keep quiet. And I don’t recommend staying in there any longer than absolutely necessary. The longer we’re there, the higher risk there is of us getting caught. Then we’ll be the ones having to deal with the police.”

  That was a good point, and one that had certainly crossed her mind. Sitting in a jail cell wouldn’t help her discover whether or not Greg Henderson murdered his wife.

  They made their way up to the backdoor and Kaylee held back a few paces while Eric slid the key into the keyhole and then popped the door open, slowly and quietly. Then he took a peek inside the house before he glanced over his shoulder at Kaylee.

  “Alright, I think the coast is clear. Are you ready for this?”

  “As ready as I’m ever going to be.”

  “I probably should have asked you this already, but do you even know what you’re looking for?”

  “I will when I see it,” Kaylee said. Although she wasn’t even sure if that were true.

  “Alright then. I’ll just look around too, and if I find anything that I think could be the proof you’re looking for, I’ll be sure to let you know.”

  Kaylee nodded. Then she took a deep breath to collect herself before finally taking her first step inside her neighbor’s house. She hated that she had to do this, but it w
as the only way to find proof—if that proof even existed at all.

  ***

  Nothing, Kaylee thought as she stood in the middle of the living room with her hands on her hips. There’s nothing here.

  Even after searching the entire first floor, Kaylee was no closer to proving anything. The house was just so normal. Like it had literally been designed to function as the perfect home for an average middleclass American family.

  “Hey.”

  Kaylee heard the whispered word and turned around to find Eric moving towards her in the darkness.

  “Find anything?” she asked.

  Eric shook his head. “Nothing out of the ordinary. I still have to search the garage, though. You haven’t gone upstairs yet, have you?”

  “No. Not yet.”

  “Go ahead. But make it quick.”

  Kaylee nodded. She started to head towards the stairs, but stopped when Eric whispered her name again. She looked over her shoulder.

  “Be careful up there. He’s probably asleep in his room right now, and we want it to stay that way.”

  She nodded again. Then glanced at the stairs while Eric headed for the garage. This was it. If she was going to find anything in this house whatsoever, then she was sure it was going to be up there.

  She started to ascend the staircase. Her heart already beating rapidly in her chest. At least finding her way around the house wasn’t hard considering the house was laid out in practically the exact same way as her own home.

  Each step was measured while she neared the top of the stairs, wanting to make as little sound as possible, and she did the same once she got to the top and tiptoed down the hall.

  She peeked inside each room that she passed—there was a bathroom, what looked to be an office, a closed door at the very end of the hall, and then Greg’s bedroom. She knew it was his right away because she could see him lying in bed on his side, facing away from her. She couldn’t see his face, but she could tell he was sleeping by the sound of his snoring.

  Kaylee paused in the doorway. She was well aware that it would probably be a good idea to have a look around Greg’s room while he was asleep. If there was anything that he was trying to hide, then he would most likely keep it close by. But she wasn’t ready to do that. She would rather put it off until she was finished with the rest of the upstairs first.