by J A Whiting
“I noticed she seemed a little uncomfortable.”
“I’d bet it wasn’t casual,” Olivia said. “Why do I think there’s more to what she told us?”
“About being with Christian?”
“That, yes. But what about other stuff too? Do you think she was telling the truth about a guy following me?”
Melissa’s face looked serious. “I hadn’t thought about that. Was it a lie?”
“It crossed my mind.” Olivia stood up and moved to the window. She pushed the blind back an inch to look outside. “Did she say her last name?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t remember if she did.”
Olivia spun towards Melissa, her face serious. “Kayla was outside Jack’s building when we were there. Right after Jack was killed. How the heck did she know that something happened to somebody? Why was she there? She said she lives in Cambridge. She isn’t a student at this university. She wouldn’t have gotten a tweet or a text about it.”
Melissa sat up wide-eyed. “Holy, God.”
“I guess tweets could have spread out from the university community,” Olivia said. “Maybe she knew Jack or has a friend who knew Jack? We should have asked her.”
“It’s possible,” Melissa said. “She was there damn fast though.”
“Could she be the killer?” Olivia asked. “Could she be the one who killed all three of the guys? Did she just show up here to throw us off?”
Melissa’s face blanched.
Olivia leaned forward. “Maybe we should wander down to Kendall Square someday and see if she really works at that café. And ask her how she happened to be outside Jack’s building right after he was killed.”
Melissa narrowed her eyes. “That is a very good question.”
Chapter 10
Olivia and Melissa trudged up the hill through campus heading to their morning classes.
“My back hurts.” Melissa adjusted her backpack so that she could knead her lower back with her fingers.
“Why don’t I take the sleeping bag tonight and sleep on the floor in your room? Then you can sleep in your bed,” Olivia told her. Melissa had been sleeping on the floor next to Olivia’s bed since the night that Gary and Christian were killed.
“Or we could move my mattress into your room and put it on the floor,” Melissa said.
“We’re acting like babies,” Olivia said.
Melissa sighed. “You’re right. Like we said the other night, the killer doesn’t seem to be after women. He is only killing men so far. Maybe we’re safe?”
Olivia said, “It seems like it.” They were almost to their classroom buildings. “What about Kayla? Do you believe her story?” The girls had been discussing Kayla’s visit off and on throughout the night and into the morning.
“I don’t know. It’s pretty odd that she happened to be at Christian and Gary’s the night they were killed and was right outside Jack’s building a little while after he was murdered. Makes me suspicious of her,” Melissa said.
“I guess people could be suspicious of us then too since we were at Christian’s and Gary’s the night they were killed and we spoke to Jack just before he was murdered. And we stood outside his building right after his body was found. We seem to be in odd places at odd times,” Olivia said.
Melissa harrumphed.
“Meaning what?” Olivia asked.
“Meaning we’re innocent. We have nothing to do with these killings.”
“We just happen to be nearby when they happen,” Olivia said.
“Correct.”
“Using that logic, then Kayla is also innocent of any wrongdoing.”
“If you had to guess,” Melissa said, “what does your gut tell you about Kayla?”
“It tells me I need more information before I believe what she says, or not. We need to go to that café she said she works at and talk to her again.”
“Yeah, and we ought to find the guy Christian was going to move in with,” Melissa said. “Maybe he knows someone who had it in for Christian.”
“We should try and contact him soon. It was Luke. What’s his last name? Smith?”
“Colleen said it was Smithson,” Melissa said.
“That’s it. She said he’s at MIT. Let’s look him up tonight, send him an email, ask to meet. Maybe he has some insight into why the guys were killed.”
They approached the split in the walkway with one side heading to the science and engineering departments and the other leading to the humanities building.
“Are you going to be home for dinner?” Melissa asked.
“Yes. Why don’t we cook something tonight?”
“Okay. Whatever you want to make is fine. I won’t be back until 6pm. I have lab this afternoon. If you want to wait for me, we can make dinner together.”
***
When Melissa arrived home after a long day of classes and lab, Olivia sat hunched over the coffee table intent on the papers in front of her. The room was warm and cozy with lamplight casting a pleasant glow.
“What smells good in here?” Melissa asked. She put her backpack on the floor next to the sofa.
“I made veggie lasagna. I got back early. If you’d rather have something else, I can freeze it and we can eat it another time,” Olivia said without looking up.
Melissa kicked off her shoes. “I don’t want anything else. It smells delicious. Thanks for making it.” She plopped next to Olivia. “I’m exhausted. You studying?”
“No. Look at this. I’m writing down facts about what has been happening.”
Olivia had index cards laid out on the table in front of her. Each card had one fact with details written on it. Melissa eyed the cards. She picked one up. It had “Christian” written at the top with details about him printed beneath his name. There was a card for each murder victim and cards for each person who was present at the apartment before the police were called. Olivia had a pad of paper in her lap and was adding to a list of questions she thought of.
“I’m looking for patterns or connections that tie people together,” Olivia said. “Like where they grew up, where they attended university, hobbies, clubs, friends. Things that might make them a target.”
“Find anything?”
“Not really. Just that the guys who have been killed are recent graduates who had new jobs. They didn’t go to the same university. They weren’t all best friends. They weren’t in the same field. They didn’t have the same hobbies. Christian and Gary grew up in the same town and went through school together, but that doesn’t link them to Jack.”
“Maybe Jack only got killed because he happened to be at the apartment the night of the party?”
“I wondered about that,” Olivia said. “I haven’t been able to determine any real links between him and the other guys except that they were friends.”
“Liv, do you think Kayla killed them?” Melissa pulled her legs up under her.
Olivia leaned back on the sofa, closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know. Her story about being in the apartment was plausible. How could Kayla kill both guys all on her own? She doesn’t look that strong.” Olivia’s eyes flicked open. “Is one person the link? Like all the guys knew Christian, so are all young men who knew Christian at risk?”
Melissa thought about that as she read over the cards on the table. “I don’t know. That seems too vague. I keep going back to Kayla. If she had a knife and was fast, couldn’t she kill two guys within seconds? She would have had surprise on her side.”
“I guess she could have done it, but I’m having a hard time picturing her as the killer,” Olivia said. She tapped the pen against her chin. “It’s unusual that only men are the targets. Maybe we should look up about serial killers and how they choose their victims and see if that helps us figure out what’s going on here.”
“Serial killer?” Melissa said. “God, this is a serial killer? I hadn’t even thought about that.”
“We should look up Luke Smithson after we eat and try to sen
d him an email,” Olivia said. “Ask him to meet with us to talk about Christian. See what he knows, if he has any ideas.”
“Yeah. Good thinking. He should be easy to find on the MIT network. Maybe he can think of someone who had it in for Christian.”
The oven timer went off and Olivia walked to the kitchen and pulled out the lasagna and a tray of garlic bread. She set them on top of the stove and the fragrant odor filled the apartment.
“I’m drooling,” Melissa called. She got out the plates and silverware and set the small table that was pushed up against one wall of the living room.
Olivia removed a salad from the refrigerator, carried it into the living room, and placed it on the table. “Maybe we should give this a rest. Stop thinking about it all the time and just let the cops figure it out. We don’t have any idea how to solve a crime.”
“It’s just hard to stop thinking about it since we’re the ones who found the bodies,” Melissa said. “The image of the guys dead in their living room pops into my head off and on all day. It’s horrible, Liv. I hate it. I wish it never happened.”
“I know,” Olivia said. “The same thing happens to me. It’s in the back of my mind all day. I wake up at night in a cold sweat. That’s why I’ve been trying to make some sense of it. It makes me feel less helpless.”
Melissa gave a slight nod. She had dark circles under her deep brown eyes.
Olivia hated to see the sad look on the face of her friend and wanted to make Melissa feel better, so she crossed to the coffee table and scooped up the index cards. “Let’s take a break from thinking about it, for tonight anyway.” She opened the drawer of the side table, plopped the index cards into it, and closed the drawer. “There. Out of sight, out of mind.”
“Good idea,” Melissa said. “Let’s just eat and talk about other things.” She carried two dinner plates to the kitchen to get squares of lasagna and a piece of garlic bread for each of them. “Let’s watch something mindless on television after dinner. A crime show or something.” She caught herself and looked up at Olivia. They both smiled. “Um. So, maybe not a crime show.”
Just as they sat down to dig in to their meals, the intercom buzzer sounded. The young women gave each other a look.
“Now what?” Melissa groaned.
Olivia got up, walked to their apartment door, and pushed the intercom button. “Who is it?”
A voice crackled over the speaker. “It’s Luke Smithson. I was a friend of Christian.”
Melissa stood up from the table, her mouth open.
“Well, I guess we don’t need to spend any time tracking him down tonight,” Olivia told Melissa. She pressed the button to unlock the front door.
Chapter 11
With Melissa standing right behind her, Olivia opened the door before Luke even reached the sixth floor landing.
“Thanks for letting me in. I’m Luke.” He shook hands with the young women. “I wanted to talk to you.” Luke had dark brown hair and golden brown eyes. He stood just under six feet tall but because of his long legs, he gave the impression of being taller.
The girls introduced themselves.
“We’re just sitting down to dinner. Why don’t you join us? It’s veggie lasagna. There’s plenty,” Olivia said. She gestured to the table.
“Oh. Thanks. That’d be great. It smells really good.” Luke removed his jacket and hung it over the side chair.
“We were planning on getting in touch with you,” Melissa told him. “We were hoping to meet and talk.”
Luke looked surprised. “Really?”
Olivia said, “We heard Christian was going to move in with you. We wanted to talk to you about him.”
Melissa and Luke sat down at the table.
“How about some wine or a beer? There’s soda too. Or iced tea,” Olivia said.
“A beer would be great.”
Olivia went to the kitchen to get another plate, a napkin, and some silverware. She placed a square of lasagna and a slice of garlic bread on the plate, grabbed a beer from the fridge and returned to the living room.
“We’re sorry about Christian,” Olivia told him as she set the food and beer on the table in front of him.
Luke shook his head. “It was a shock. No one expects a young person to pass away. Let alone get murdered.” He coughed. Olivia could see tears welling in his eyes as he ate a few bites of the dinner. “The lasagna is really good.” He put his fork down and took a long swig of beer. “I heard the two of you found him, and Gary, too. Right after it happened?”
Melissa nodded.
“It was tough,” Olivia said. “When we saw them in the living room like that, I felt like I just spaced out. Like my mind was separate from my body. I know that sounds strange, but it was so unexpected and horrible that my brain just turned off.”
“I completely freaked out,” Melissa said. “I was no help at all. I just shut down. Liv ran down the hall trying to find Colleen.”
“It was a stupid thing to do,” Olivia said. “The killer could have still been in the apartment. Like I said, I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“It was a brave thing to do,” Luke said.
“I’m sure you would have done the same,” Olivia said.
Luke set his fork on his plate. He put his hands in his lap and looked down. “No. I wouldn’t have.” He shifted his gaze to the girls. “I didn’t. And I’m ashamed of myself.”
Olivia and Melissa didn’t say anything for several seconds wondering what he was talking about.
“What do you mean?” Melissa asked.
“I was there.”
“At the apartment?” Olivia asked. “Where? When?”
Luke took another long drink of his beer and let out a sigh. “I was at Christian’s. The night they were killed. When I got there, Christian and Gary were in the living room. We talked for a minute. I brought beer. I went to the kitchen and put it in the fridge. Then I used the bathroom. While I was in there, I heard a shout. A scream. It chilled me. I knew it wasn’t just the guys horsing around. I ran out of the bathroom. Ran to the living room.” Tears escaped from his eyes. “I … I…”
Olivia reached over and held his arm. “It’s okay. Don’t tell us if it’s too hard.”
Luke swallowed. “Christian was in the chair. His throat. The blood. Gary was standing. The killer had his back to me, he grabbed Gary, he stabbed him. I shouted, I took a step into the room. The killer turned around.” Luke ran his hands over his face. “He made a move towards me. He held the knife. He was going to kill me. Gary grabbed him from behind. The guy turned back to Gary and…” Luke stopped talking.
“What happened then?” Olivia asked. Her voice was just above a whisper.
“I ran away.”
The girls gaped at Luke.
“I ran away,” Luke said. “Like a coward. If I had stayed, if I had tried to take the guy down. Gary might still be alive.”
“If you stayed,” Olivia said, still holding his arm, “you’d be dead too.”
Luke lifted his wet eyes to Olivia. “I should have stayed.”
Melissa brushed tears from her eyes.
“It’s a natural reaction to protect ourselves. Self preservation is a powerful instinct,” Olivia said.
“It was a natural reaction for you to go looking for Colleen,” Luke said. “Not to run away.”
“There wasn’t a guy holding a knife standing two feet away from me,” Olivia said.
“And I was good for nothing,” Melissa told him. “Don’t be hard on yourself. It would have been stupid for you to stay there.”
Olivia leaned forward. “You saw the killer’s face?”
Luke shook his head. “He was wearing a mask.”
“Oh,” Olivia said deflated.
“A black ski mask,” Luke said.
“The ski mask. So, one of the people who left the apartment wearing a ski mask is definitely the killer.” Olivia and Melissa looked pointedly at each other.
Luke nodded. “Wait. What do y
ou mean ‘one of the people’?”
Olivia said, “A witness saw two people wearing ski masks leave the apartment building that night. But they didn’t leave together.”
“Two people? But I only saw one killer.”
“Did you go to the police?” Melissa asked. “Did you tell them what you saw?”
“Yeah. I went there that night. I tried to downplay my cowardice. I saw you two there at the police station. I overheard that you found the bodies.”
“Why did you want to talk to us?” Melissa asked.
“Because, you were there. You found them. I wanted to know if you saw the killer, too. If you knew anything, anything at all.”
Olivia’s hands were sweaty. Anxiety pulsed through her body. Talking about the night of the killings was causing her heartbeat to speed up and her breathing to be quick and shallow. Poor Luke. It must be worse for him. I didn’t even know the guys. Gary and Christian were his friends. He saw it happening.
“You okay, Liv?” Melissa could see her own distress mirrored in Olivia’s face.
“I’m okay. Talking about it … you know.” Olivia gulped from her water glass. She held the cool surface of the glass against her cheek for a few seconds. She turned to Luke. “Do you know Kayla?”
“Who?”
“Kayla. She’s a little taller than me, slim. Has spikey blonde hair. She told us she had been hooking up with Christian.”
Recognition flickered in Luke’s eyes. “Oh. The girl from the coffee shop. I never met her. Christian talked about her sometimes. Why?”
“She was at the apartment that night. She came in the back door. She heard the attack.”
Luke’s mouth opened in surprise. “She was there? When it was happening?”
Olivia nodded. “That’s what she said. I saw her, when I went down the hall to find Colleen. I didn’t know at the time that it was Kayla. I thought it was the killer. She said she was hiding in the bedroom. She stepped out of the last bedroom, she was dressed all in black, was wearing a ski mask. She saw me and took off.”
“She was there? She was wearing a ski mask?” Luke asked. “She says she heard the murders?”
