Halfway Gone

As soon as Kim woke up the following day, she immediately noticed a pair of light blue eyes above her. Kim managed to figure out it was already the afternoon, since she didn’t get to sleep until four thirty in the morning after meeting up with Nick so the pair could examine Rosie’s body.

“What time is it?” Kim asked as she slowly sat upright.

Ivy glanced down at her watch before looking back up. “One-oh-six,” she answered. “How have you been since the brick incident?” The dark haired girl sat down on the chair besides the bed.

“How are you this morning?” Nick said.

It was only then when Kim realized he was in the room too. “A little tired,” she said, stifling a yawn.

“The police are beginning to close the case,” he frowned. “And they’re going to give the body to the Fowlers soon for a funeral. Heck, we haven’t even worked out who the killer is.” His hand curled up into a ball.

“Nick, I’m going to work this out,” the blonde promised as she met his eye. “If even it’s the last thing I do, okay? I want justice for Rosie just as much as you do.”

“What have you got worked out so far then, Kim?” Ivy asked.

“All I know is that Rosie was beaten to death,” the blonde said quietly. “Whoever did this to her decided to assault her first-” But before she could finish her sentence, a loud ‘bang’ came from across the room.

Kim looked in the direction where it came from and frowned. Nick whacked his hand against the wall, and now the wall was sporting a crack. She frowned and hopped off the bed to approach him. “I’m so sorry, Nick,” she said, as she stood besides him. “I know you’re still in love with her.” Kim could tell he was slowly loosing it. She could tell that last night in the morgue, was probably already bad enough for him.

“Well, I hope this will help you out, Kim,” Ivy said as she pulled out a small piece of paper. “There’s a threatening note that was left on your desk today in History.”

The blonde took the piece of paper off the dark haired girl and read it aloud. “’You’re next’, and it’s signed off by the letter ‘C’,” Kim said. She read the note again with the voice inside of her head as it sent chills down her spine. She was next, and whoever this ‘C’ person was going to kill her, just like they did with Rosie.

“Who could this ‘C’ person be?” Nick asked as he read the note over the blonde’s shoulder.

“’C’ as in… Cheyenne?” she suggested. But then she thought about it. Cheyenne might have hated Rosie and had the motive to kill Rosie, but that didn’t mean she had the guts to kill her. In fact, Kim found it somehow ironic how the two used to be best friends long time ago. Plus, Ivy said Cheyenne’s alibi checked out on the night of the murder “Are you saying that… her ex-boyfriend… Chris killed her?”

Ivy shrugged. “It could be,” she said casually. “The other day when I was talking to him, he said that he and Rosie split because she was cheating on him. I asked him when he found out, and he said he found out about a month ago.”

Kim suddenly felt a fuzzy feeling going through her. She was sure about the killer. It was Chris, it had to be! And Cheyenne didn’t have the guts to do it; hence she hadn’t killed Rosie before. It wouldn’t have made any sense for Cheyenne to suddenly have killed Rosie after all this time.

And based on what Ivy said, that’s roughly the same time Rosie’s body was found on the curb when Chris found out about Rosie’s unfaithfulness. He had motive, and it was strong and solid. Plus, Chris never told Kim where he was on the night of the murder.

But what bugged Kim the most was, why hadn’t she known about Rosie cheating on Chris before? Why didn’t Rosie tell her? The blonde pushed it aside for the moment.

“Did you ask him what he did when he found out?” the blonde asked.

The young woman nodded. “Of course,” she answered. “He told me he felt angry, and that he wanted to rage at someone, but he didn’t know who at that time. I think it pretty much killed him when he found out about Rosie and the three other guys. So I went around and asked the three guys if Chris did anything to them. They were all given a hard time by Chris. One said, Chris threatened to tell his girlfriend about his unfaithfulness so the two would break up. Chris didn’t want anyone to know about Rosie’s cheating. Another said Chris punched and kicked him repeatedly. The other was made fun of by Chris’ friends. They all hate Chris now and Rosie too.”

“Wait, why would those three guys hate Rosie?” Kim asked, confused.

“Because she was going out with all three of them, plus Chris, at the same time,” Ivy explained. “According to those three boys, Rosie lied to them about her and Chris breaking up, but they never did. They only broke up six months after when it was all over the school.”

“That makes Chris our number one suspect then,” Nick noted.

But for some reason, Kim wasn’t convinced.