Chapter 3

My phone was ringing. I didn’t want to answer it. I cracked my eyes open just enough to note the light pouring into the room from the only window. The morning had arrived. The phone rang again. It wasn’t going to stop until the caller gave up, or I answered. My parents paid for a landline so I could call them if I needed anything. It had voicemail but I didn’t know when it would kick in. It rang again. I groaned.

Stretching out from under my sheets, I fumbled across my desk for the receiver, knocked it off the base, and finally grabbed it. It rang again before I could see the button to answer. “Hello?”

“Ral?” It was Ellen, one of my two best friends. She, her brother, Eric, and I all made the road trip from our home in Virginia to Texas together. All three of us had been accepted by UTA and each of us was going to be focusing on different fields of study. Ellen wanted to be a writer.

“Hey,” I mumbled. I wasn’t sure if she heard me. I had barely breathed the word.

“What happened last night?” Yeah, she heard me. And, from the tone in her voice, she’d woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

I knew the Detective would call her and that she would call me. It would have been foolish for me to believe otherwise. I didn’t think I’d get her call before I’d gotten out of bed though. Thinking I would try to lighten the mood a little I said, “I don’t even get a ‘Good morning, How’s your head feel’?”

“Not when a police detective calls me at the crack of dawn asking all kinds of questions about you, the party, and what we were all doing last night.” At least she wasn’t yelling. “So, out with it. What happened?”

I sighed. I could almost see the expression on her face, her lips puckered in a tight little line, her eyes narrowed, and her brows knit in determination. I didn’t know where to start. Maybe there was a reference I could use. “Have you watched the news? They were plenty of reporters there. They could probably tell you more than I could.”

“I saw the news,” she said. “I want to know how it is you were caught up in the middle of all that.” It sounded like she knew something I didn’t.

I rolled over, frowning. “All of what?”

“You haven’t watched the news?” she asked, almost shrill.

“Since when do I watch the news?” I groaned. “You know I don’t watch TV.”

“After last night, I think you should.” Her voice had that quality of calm before the storm – a warning flag if there ever was one.

I sat up. “Okay, you’re starting to scare me, Ellen. What’s going on?”

I could hear her sigh with exasperation over the phone. “They say this is the latest death in a series. The police claim to be following several leads to resolve it, but that could mean anything. And, they said you’re the first witness to step forward.”

“Wait a sec ... what?”

I didn’t get the chance to ask a logical question. “Yeah,” Ellen said, taking control like she usually did. “What happened?”

I shook my head. She was jumping to some kind of convoluted conclusion and taking me along for the ride. I had to calm her down. “Seriously. Nothing happened. I was walking past Texas Hall and saw a man...”

“Saw a man? Anthony Hoyle?”

“Who?”

“Anthony Hoyle. That was the name of the man the news says died last night. They say you witnessed the whole thing.”

“They didn’t say that.” I didn’t think the police would have told the reporters I was their only witness or what I’d seen. The reporters had to be guessing, and guessing correctly, but they were making a big deal out of something really simple.

“Yes, they did,” Ellen said. Her words were short and clipped. “What did you see, Ral?”

I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t see anything. He was having problems breathing and I thought he was in convulsions. Then he collapsed and I tried to do CPR, but he was gone.”

“Oh, Ral,” she said, her voice instantly softer. “Oh, my God. Was there anyone else around?”

“I was pretty sure he was with a woman,” I said.

“You don’t sound convinced now.”

“She disappeared.” The instant I said it, I knew I’d have to explain myself. So, I added, “I mean, I saw them making out, I turned around, and she was gone.”

She was quiet for a few seconds and then asked, “Are you sure she didn’t do something?”

“I don’t know. There wasn’t a mark on him,” I said. It was a matter of fact and that’s how I said it.

“She could have drugged him with poison,” she said. Ellen wasn’t one to give in to hysterics, but then we had grown up in a small town. There hadn’t even been so much as a fatal accident anywhere near where we lived. Maybe between what she’d seen on the news and what I was telling her, she was losing what control she had. Since I couldn’t see her over the phone, I had no idea.

I shook my head. “Ellen, calm down. I’m not getting into a hypothetical discussion about it. I have to stick to what happened, not what I thought happened. Detective Stanfield wants me to go in today to fill out an official statement.”

I heard her take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Well, how are you feeling?”

Inwardly, I chuckled. “Oh, now you ask.”

“Ral,” she whined.

“I know. I’m fine.” I looked and noticed the time. It was twenty past nine. “Dammit, I’m supposed to meet Rachel at ten.”

“You didn’t say anything about that last night.”

I shrugged though she couldn’t see it. “I don’t want to get my hopes up.”

“Did you ask to see her again?”

“No ... she asked me to come by so we could talk.”

“Oh,” she said. “So, where are you supposed to meet?”

“Charlie’s Café. Hang on.” I got up and pulled a business card out of my wallet. Rachel had given it to me when I had to leave the party. There was a small map on the back. “It’s near the corner of Cooper and Abrams.”

“That’s like five or six city blocks from your dorm. You’re not going to have enough time to shower, get dressed, and walk over there.”

“There are supposed to be shuttles that run around the campus, right?” I had seen the shuttle routes. They passed near that crossroad.

“They only run during class hours,” she said. “Since the semester doesn’t start until Monday...”

“No shuttles,” I finished. “And I don’t know the bus schedules.” I was fresh out of options.

“Okay, get showered and dressed. I’ll come by and pick you up.”

I shook my head. “No, you don’t have to do that.”

“You know, you can be such a dunderhead sometimes,” she said. “What do you expect to do, run?”

“Well, I could...”

I was joking, but Ellen didn’t take it that way. “Eww! No! I seriously doubt she’d be impressed if you show up a sweaty mess.”

I let her hear me chuckle over the phone. “Okay. I’ll shower and get dressed and I’ll meet you downstairs.”

I heard her short sigh, a sign of her irritation. “I’ll be there in half an hour. No Hollywood showers now!” Hollywood showers were how we referred to taking more than ten minutes in the shower. She always argued that if you wanted to relax in hot water, soak in a bath. It took up less water.

“Hey,” I said before she could hang up. “One more thing...”

“Yeah?”

“What do I talk to her about?” I asked.

“I can’t believe you just asked me that.”

“Why?”

She sighed and ignored my question. “What do we talk about? You and I?”

I shrugged. “Books, school, stuff.”

“Yeah, now, what did you talk about with her last night?”

“We talked about where we were from and school and tutoring.”

“See? You didn’t need to know what to talk about last night.” To her, it was perfectly evident, but if she knew how nervous I’d been with Rachel, she wouldn’t be acting like this. “You talked, you were getting to know each other, and you’ll do more today.”

I remembered several times when Ellen would storm around, going off about her latest date and how all the guy talked about were sports, his truck, or something else. Whenever I tried to ask what he should have been talking about, she’d just roll her eyes and walk away. “I just don’t want to talk about the wrong thing,” I said.

“Ral,” she said. “If she likes you, you could probably talk about those aura books you read so much and she’d be happy to listen. Now, stop worrying and get ready.” She hung up before I could say anything else. She was right but in the wrong direction. If Rachel wanted to talk about the most outrageous things, I’d be riveted, just for the chance to talk to her.

I shook my head at my idiocy and got up. After getting clean clothes and my shower kit, I made sure I had my key and left the room to clean up. The dorms were arranged in suites with three two-man rooms and a separate shower and toilet. Eric and I tried to get a room together, or at least the same suite, but dorm rooms were assigned according to some set of rules with which I wasn’t familiar. I peeked out into the hall toward Eric’s suite. No one else was in the hallway. I shrugged and went to my shower. Maybe he was still sleeping.

Half an hour later, I was dressed in denim shorts, a new shirt, and the sneakers I got for running in but hadn’t broken in yet. I went downstairs and waited in the lounge, flipping the big screen TV through the news channels, hoping to catch something about the night before, but I didn’t find anything before Ellen pulled up.

We arrived at the café right on time. Ellen turned to me and said, “Go in, apologize for not being able to stay, briefly explain what’s going on, and ask if it’s possible if you can meet sometime later.”

I looked at her. Part of me wanted to thank her for the advice, but another part felt somewhat insulted; as if she was treating me like an invalid. All I said was, “I’ll be right back.”

The café felt like a redecorated diner. Inside, the original fifties theme was changed with small touches here and there to make the place more modern. The booths that lined the walls no longer had the older style upholstery, but smooth tanned leather. The linoleum table tops had been replaced with a more natural wooden top, as was the main counter. Even the stools had new covers but only a few of them were occupied. The wall behind the counter was decorated with the owner’s taste in artwork and a large board displayed a menu from which patrons could order. The music that filled the air was loud enough to enjoy but not so much as to overpower private conversations.

Almost immediately, I heard Rachel call my name. She was in the last booth at the back of the café. I walked to her, catching her eyes in the morning light. They reminded me of the sky. Her long blonde hair framed her face and led my eyes to the shimmery gold top she wore. It looked a lot like her aura. I knew the color of a person’s aura was sometimes their favorite color, but I’d never seen anyone so closely match their clothing to it. Between her top and aura, I would have thought her skin would look pale, or diminished, but it didn’t. Her skin was radiant.

At the party the night before, she had been dressed down to avoid too much attention, but it hadn’t been what drew me to her. The first thing that caught my eye was her aura. It was gold, just like the metal rather than some variation of yellow a lot of people think of as gold. It also had an inner glow, a light source deep within that shown through the cloudiness of her aura like sunbeams through storm clouds. I had seen that effect in a few people among the thousands I had seen and Rachel’s was the brightest I had ever seen.

For a moment, I stood next to her booth, struck with awe. I couldn’t speak or think. I stood there staring at her with my mouth slightly open.

Her aura softened around the edges and she waved at the seat across from her. “Have a seat,” she said with a tinkling of laughter.

I looked at the seat and my stupor was gone. I remembered what I had to say. Good thing Ellen coached me; I would have bumbled like an idiot otherwise. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I can’t stay. I have to run to the Police station to fill out an official statement. Can I meet with you later?”

“Does this have to do with last night?” she asked without missing a beat.

I nodded. “I take you caught the news this morning?”

“Yeah.”

I nodded.

She blinked at me, flashing long dark lashes. “You told me last night that you don’t have a car. Who brought you?”

“Ellen. She’s waiting outside.”

Rachel stood up. “C’mon.” She walked past me and strode toward the door I came in.

I hadn’t been able to tell from the front, but her top was almost completely backless. Only a thick string held it together just above the white skirt she was wearing. Nothing obstructed my view of her flawless back. I followed her automatically. It took a little effort to rip my eyes off of her to focus on what she was doing. I was only happy she hadn’t seen me staring like an idiot again. It was bad enough doing it once. “Are you going too?” I asked, slightly confused.

She shook her head and said, “Just outside.” She went through the door and into the hot summer sun.

I shrugged and followed her out.

Ellen saw us and climbed out of her car. She smiled and waved. Her aura, a powdery pink, shifted through several emotions. Rachel and Ellen hadn’t met at the party so I introduced them.

“Ral told me you were taking him to the police station to fill out paperwork,” Rachel said to Ellen.

Ellen nodded and looked at me. Rachel looked at me too.

I didn’t know what the looks were for and felt the need to explain myself. “I had a massive headache and the Detective took pity on me. He said to come by today to fill out the statement.”

Rachel looked at Ellen. “I can take him,” she said.

Ellen smiled, but her aura rippled. Why would she be frustrated? She glanced at me. “As he would ask, are you sure?”

Rachel chuckled. “Yeah, no problem.”

Ellen looked at me again. “Okay, he’s all yours.” She sounded happy, almost bubbly, but her aura was telling me a different story. I’d never seen her like that before. Confused, I watched her get in her car and drive off. Once she was out of sight, Rachel turned around and went back to the café.

I followed her back inside. I didn’t mind hanging out and talking to her, I wanted to in fact – anything to spend more time with her – but my responsibility to the police tugged at my mind. I wanted to take care of that first so I’d be free the rest of the day. We reached the same booth and she sat down. I stood next to it and asked, “Aren’t we going to the police station?”

She looked up at me and waved across the table. “Have a seat. Let’s talk first.”

I slid into the seat and looked up to find her watching me. Something about her steady gaze sent electric jolts through me. I could feel my face burning and the sun had nothing to do with it.

She smiled softly. Her demeanor and aura were as relaxed and confident as the night before. “Are you okay?” she asked.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to fight down my nerves. I nodded, not trusting myself to talk, and looked down at my hands clasped together on the table. She could tell that I was nervous. I had to get a grip.

Rachel mimicked me with her hands and leaned forward. I could see the edges of her aura via my peripheral vision. It was as smooth and calm as her expression. “I don’t think it’s a good idea, you going to the police.” Her voice was low, lower than any of the other voices in the café.

I had half expected her to let me down gently, to tell me she had a boyfriend she hadn’t mentioned the night before or something equally disheartening. After all, a woman as beautiful as her couldn’t possibly be single. What she said, however, shocked me out of my anxiety, and confusion quickly replaced it. I looked up and met her eyes. “Why not?”

She glanced to the side. “It’s complicated.”

I studied her face and her aura. “Try to explain,” I said softly. “I’d like to think I’d understand.” My voice was surprisingly calm.

She nodded. “How much do you know about what’s going on? About what you saw last night?”

I shrugged. “Ellen said she caught the news and told me that it’s been going on for a while. She said I was the only witness.”

Rachel nodded. “Exactly. Anthony Hoyle was the eleventh person to be found like that over the last two months.” She glanced around again. “The fact that you’re the only person to witness anything is strange too. After the amount of time that has gone by and the number of people who have been killed, someone else should have said something by now.” She leaned forward more. “What makes this worse is that the police don’t believe any of the deaths are natural or accidental. The news usually reports the cause of death, but they haven’t for any of the victims.”

I remember thinking something similar at the scene; a natural death wouldn’t have called for such a big response. I swallowed down my nerves and looked at Rachel. “So, what’s it all mean?”

She dropped her voice even further. “It’s simple: a serial killer.”

I considered what I’d learned and what she said. Her conclusion made sense, but I wasn’t a detective and unless Rachel had training she hadn’t mentioned yet I didn’t think she was either.

“And now you’re in the middle of it all,” she said.

I looked up. “What do you mean?”

“If the police don’t figure out what’s going on,” she said, “you could end up a political scapegoat.”

“What!?” I said a lot louder than I meant. I glanced around at the other patrons. No one looked our way. I looked at Rachel and dropped my voice again. “They wouldn’t do that. They’d have to have a motive, and I didn’t even know the guy. I had no reason to do that. If anything, I need to get to the station to fill out that official statement.”

She shook her head. “Ral, think about what happened. You’re the only person to be found with a body. All of the others were called in anonymously, and that’s actually in the news.”

I shook my head. “That doesn’t make me the de facto suspect.”

“It could,” she said. “The police haven’t made any progress figuring out what’s going on. They haven’t made any arrests. They haven’t even released the autopsy reports.”

I looked at her incredulously. “None of that points to me.”

“You watch TV,” she went on. “You’ve seen at least a few procedural shows. Why do the police usually want to talk to the last person to see the victim alive?”

“Because that person could have been the killer,” I said, almost under my breath.

She nodded. “And you were the last person to see Anthony Hoyle alive.”

I shook my head. “If it was that simple, they would have arrested me last night. Besides, I only got here two days ago. I gave the Detective my parents’ phone number to call them to confirm. He’s already talked to Ellen, and probably Eric. I’m sure he’s already talked to my parents too. He knows I told him the truth.”

She shook her head. “I never said they would have a case. I said ‘political scapegoat.’ The politicians want this solved any way possible, and since you’re the only person connected to this, you have the limelight.”

I didn’t like it. I didn’t want to believe it. Was it possible?

“You need to give them something that’ll take the attention off of you,” she said.

I thought about it. If she was right, and I was afraid there was a possibility of it, then I had to do something to give myself reasonable doubt. “There was a woman in the alley too.”

Rachel’s eyebrows rose. “Did you see her face?”

I shook my head, feeling the same disappointment I had when I answered the same question from the Detective. “But I would recognize her if I saw her again,” I remembered her dark red aura with the Christmas tree lights. The twinkling illumination was unique. I wouldn’t mistake it if I saw it again.

Rachel lowered her voice to a whisper. “And how would you know her if you saw her?”

“I just would,” I said, and to me, it sounded sullen, defensive.

She shook her head. “If you can’t explain it to me then how are you going to explain it to the police, or the courts? You have to give them something they can use, something they’ll understand.

I frowned. “I can’t. No one understands.”

“Have you tried explaining it to anyone?” she asked.

I looked into her eyes and shook my head.

“You need to talk about it,” she said, “because you have another problem.”

My eyebrows furrowed. “What problem?”

“The police probably suspect that you’re holding something back,” she said, “just like you are now.”

I shook my head. “No, I’m not.”

She shrugged. “I’m telling you, the police are suspicious by nature. If they think you’re holding anything from them and figure out what it is, they could arrest you for obstructing justice.”