Adventures In Murder Chasing (Funeral Crashing #3) (15 page)

"No," Ethan said.

"So, you really don't trust her," Troy said.

Ethan looked between Troy and me. I wondered why Troy was egging Ethan on. What did he have to gain? Or did they just both sort of dislike each other? I mean, I knew Ethan had never been big on Troy, but I never considered that Troy felt the same way. I saw Ethan's fists clench. He was staring at Troy. Would he really get into a fight with Troy about this? I had never seen this side of Ethan. Troy was pushing some buttons. I looked at Troy. He totally knew what he was doing. I had to stop this. I put a hand on Ethan's arm and he remained where he was and focused back on me. He took a deep breath.

"I do trust you, Kait," Ethan said.

"I know, Ethan. So, just let me go. I'll text you when I get there and when I leave. I promise," I said.

"Fine. Just promise me you'll be careful," Ethan said, relenting.

"Thanks," I took Ethan's hand. "I will."

Ethan whispered in my ear. "I can't stand to lose you too."

A ripple of pain tore through my heart. He was talking about Liz. He was afraid I'd end up like her. I wouldn't. He was still dealing with Liz's death. I had to remember that.

I squeezed Ethan's hand. Ethan squeezed my hand back. I focused on him and he looked right back at me. I just hoped he didn't see the triumphant look on Troy's face.

An hour later I was at Marissa Dayton's door, alone. It had taken me a little while to figure out where she lived. The internet could be totally evil in the wrong person's hands. Still, I made a mental note to ask in advance about a person's whereabouts from now on. A college campus and its surrounding area was way too big to try and find someone without some help. I was lucky to find out where Marissa lived.

I used the ten-minute walk to the apartment, thinking about my approach. How did I introduce myself and get answers to my questions? There were a few ways I could go. I just had to make a choice. I was still debating pros and cons when I walked up to her building. Again, I had no problem getting to her front door and past the minimal security. I just followed another girl in through the gated entrance and there was no guard. Marissa, though, lived in an off campus apartment. It was just off campus and you could tell that the apartment complex was full of Landale College students. Music was blaring through open windows. I made up my mind on what I was going to do in the elevator and I was pretty much prepared with an angle by the time I was standing in front of Marissa's door. I took a deep breath, put myself mentally into character, and knocked on the door.

"Hey," I said when a girl with medium length dark brown hair and piercing green eyes opened the door.

"Hey," She said back to me.

I didn't say anything. I was trying to figure out where to start. I wanted her to talk to me and I was suddenly unsure if she was going to. There was a cautious air about her. Maybe it was her eyes. I felt like she could see right through me and would know if I was lying as soon as the lie was out of my mouth.

"What do you want?" She asked, since I hadn't said anything yet.

I went for it, "I'm looking for Marissa Dayton."

"Um, okay," The girl said. "She's not here right now."

"Are you her roommate?" I asked.

"Yeah..." The girl said.

"Well, I really need to talk to her," I said.

I felt disappointed. I mean, it was normal that Marissa might be at class and not at home. I just wanted to talk to her. I didn't have that much time. Maybe I could find out where she was from her roommate.

"Why? What's going on?" The girl asked.

"Can I get her number or anything?" I asked.

"I can't give that out," The girl said.

"Well, can I talk to you then?" I asked.

"About?" The girl asked, not opening the door any further than it was already open.

In fact, I got the impression that she was considering slamming the door in my face. Was it going to be one of those days? Did I really look all that scary? Did she really somehow know I was lying? It looked like she was analyzing every detail of my face.

"About her relationship with Nico Moretti," I said. Maybe honesty would work after all.

The girl frowned, "They broke up a few weeks before he died. Why do you want to know? Wait. Who are you?"

"I'm just a friend of Nico's from back home. Don't worry. I'm not a reporter or anything. I just wanted to find out if anybody knew what really happened. I mean, he died in a really strange way, you know?" I said.

"Yeah, he did. Still, you don't think Marissa had anything to do with it, do you? She wouldn't have hurt him. She loved him," The girl said. Her tough exterior was breaking down a little.

"Well, why did they break up then?" I asked.

The girl looked at me and instead of answering my question, I saw her guard come back up, "What did you say your name was?"

Did I give my real name or a fake one? I went with an old standby, "Abby Reed."

The girl stared at me and then took a closer look. I felt like I was under a microscope. I wondered if I had pizza remnants in between my teeth or something. I tried to inconspicuously run my tongue over my teeth.

"Abby Reed? Are you sure your name isn't Kait Lenox?" The girl asked.

My brain was whirling. I couldn't think fast enough. What did I say? I peered at the girl. Did I know her? Was I really becoming that well known as a teen sleuth that random people in colleges an hour away knew me? Or did she know me as a funeral crasher? Would I ever get away from my reputation if it was spreading like wildfire? I thought college might be different, but maybe not.

The girl was staring at me. She must have seen my freaked out reaction at her knowing my name, but she was waiting for me to respond. Her piercing eyes were looking right through me.

"What?" I asked. I mean, what else should I say? Now I was the one on the defensive.

"Your name is Kait Lenox, isn't it?" The girl peered more closely at me.

I didn't want to admit to it. Was I going to have to wear a disguise everywhere I went? Maybe I needed to go and buy a collection of wigs and costumes.

"Who are you?" I asked instead of answering her question.

"Kara," the girl said and then added, "Kara Dixon."

Oh. My. Goodness. Detective Dixon had a daughter. Did she like Styrofoam cups too? Had he passed on that gene? Was she going to tell him that I was investigating again? At least now I knew why she knew me. Detective Dixon had gossiped about me. I wondered if I was gossiped about in a good way or a bad way. Was I a topic at their house? It was probably in a bad way, like in the form of complaints about a pesky funeral crashing teenager who was taking an interest in the local murder mystery cases. I took a deep breath. I couldn't let Kara see that I was totally freaking out. What should I do?

"Yeah, I'm Kait," I admitted. It was hard to say it. I didn't like being caught in a lie.

"I knew it!" Kara said. "You looked so familiar and then it just clicked. Are you looking into Nico's death?"

I hesitated, but she had already caught me, so I said, "Yes."

"You think he was murdered?" Kara asked.

"Maybe," I said. I really hadn't decided yet. "Nobody else thinks he was, though, so I might be wrong."

"Have you been wrong before?" Kara asked.

"Definitely," I said. "It's just all so strange. I think it's worth looking into."

"I'm guessing the police don't know you're doing this?" Kara said.

"No, they don't," I said. "I know your dad probably wouldn't approve."

"He definitely wouldn't, but..." Kara said and then continued, "I'll help you. I mean, I'll tell you what I can, although Marissa definitely did not kill Nico. Okay?"

"Okay," I said, although I'd have to make up my own mind on that, "Well, what can you tell me about Nico and Marissa's relationship?"

Kara looked at me, "Well, she was really broken up when he died. There's no way she did it."

"You said that already," I said.

"I just wanted to make sure you heard me," Kara said.

"Okay?" I said, waiting for Kara to go on. "What else can you tell me about their relationship?"

"Do you want to come in?" Kara asked.

"Sure," I said, thinking I might get an idea of Marissa's personality from the things in their apartment.

Kara opened the door to let me in. I walked into a small one-bedroom apartment. It was actually a one bedroom with two rooms, unlike the junior one bedroom that Nico had shared with Tim.

I walked right into the living room. The bedroom door was off to the right. I could barely see inside of it because they had blackout curtains. The bathroom door was open, though, and every visible spot was jammed with girly toiletries. I turned back to Kara who was leading me further into the living room.

That's when I noticed that there, lying on the couch, wrapped in blankets was a girl with long dark hair. I couldn't quite see her face because she was turned away from us. Was that Marissa? She had been here the whole time?

Kara saw me looking and met my eyes, "Marissa, you have company."

"I don't want company," came Marissa's muffled reply.

We both looked over at her. I looked back at Kara. I didn't know what to say. She had let me in to interview her roommate. I just didn't quite understand why since she was obviously protective of her and knew I was there to question her guilt. I really wondered what Detective Dixon had said about me now. Could it have possibly been something good?

Kara looked at me and answered me as if she had read my mind, but maybe my thoughts were just obvious on my face, "My dad doesn't agree with what you do, but in a weird way he kind of talks really highly of you. If you really think Nico was murdered, I know Marissa didn't do it. Let her tell you the story. I know you'll keep digging. My dad said it's really annoying that you don't give up."

I smiled. I knew I got on Detective Dixon's nerves, but it was kind of nice to know that he thought highly of me too, even if he didn't approve of my methods. I'd have to get him a nice travel mug or something. Maybe that would also do the job of getting him to stop using those Styrofoam cups he loved so much. I put it on my To-Do list.

"She thinks Nico was murdered?" Marissa was sitting straight up, looking at us.

I could finally see her face. Streaks of mascara ran down from her brown eyes and it looked like Marissa hadn't showered in days. Other than her appearance, though, Marissa was watching me alertly, waiting for my response.

"It's a theory," I said. I glanced at Kara before I continued, weary of what might get back to her father, but I had to proceed. "I just think it's weird how he died."

Tears started running down Marissa's face. She nodded. Still, I found myself wondering if it could be an act. Was she just sorry she had killed Nico? Wow, I was getting cynical. It was also totally possible that she was genuinely upset that her ex-boyfriend was dead. I mean, if Ethan and I ever broke up and he died, I would be pretty upset. Of course I'd also be really, really upset if we ever even broke up, but him dying, wow, that was not even something I wanted to consider.

"It is weird how he died," Marissa said after a moment, "But Nico was always messing with random stuff on that bookshelf. It could have fallen on him. It's totally possible. Those things have been there for forever. It's just...it never seemed like it would just fall over. It's so surreal that he's gone and..."

"Where were you that day?" I asked, cutting Marissa off before she could start crying over Nico's death and lamenting why it had happened.

It was probably hard-hearted of me to ask, what with the state Marissa was already in, but I had to ask before her grief caught up to her again. Marissa's eyes immediately hardened. I felt bad, but if I wanted to get any information out of her I needed her to be rational and not a basket case.

"It's okay," Kara said before anyone could say anything. "Marissa, she's just asking. And besides, Marissa was here with me when Nico was found. So no, she didn't have anything to do with it."

"And she was here before that?" I asked, looking between Kara and Marissa.

"Yes," Kara said, not letting Marissa say anything.

I continued to look between them. Would Kara lie about being Marissa's alibi even though she was a detective's daughter? Even though she let me in to talk to Marissa? I felt torn.

"Marissa?" I asked.

"I was here with Kara," Marissa said simply.

"Okay," I said, looking between the two girls.

If they were lying to me there was obviously no way I was going to get them to admit to it. I wasn't convinced, obviously, that Marissa and Kara were together when Nico was murdered, er, killed. It could be true, but it was also a really easy alibi. In the meantime, though, I planned to find out more about Marissa and Nico's relationship.

"Well, since that's cleared up..." I started, hoping I didn't come off as sarcastic, "Can I ask you about Nico, Marissa? How long did you date him? Why'd you break up? Stuff like that?"