Chapter Seven Jade sighed. Maria had been there less than two weeks and already she and were asking Jade to do things for them-adopting litter of puppies and allowing its homeless owner to move in with them. "Jade, can we take her in? This is your house, so it's your decision, but the poor girl needs a place to stay." "Who is she? Why is she? Why should I give up my-" "You'll be giving up nothing but a room and some attention to a person with no where else to turn,"Lola snapped, she very definitely in favor of the move. "Who is she?" "Nina Smith. I know her aunt through church, Marsha Dunkirk, actually, and Nina has no family outside of Marsha and her husband. Marsha asked me if-" "Sure! Bring a complete stranger into my house! Don't let her forget the seventeen puppies she's bringing!" Jade stormed away. She wasn't angry, just sick of being ordered to do things she didn't want to do. Normally she was a very giving person, in fact, she rather liked the idea of helping a homeless teen. But Jade had never been one who liked to be told things, her parents learned that when she was very young, too bad the rest of the world couldn't catch on as quickly. "It's only six puppies!" Maria called cheerfully. Jade paused in front of her door. She was being petty and she knew it; however, she wasn't in the frame of mind to apologize. Unable to sleep on the floor where hers and her parents' bedrooms were due to the bloody bathroom that haunted her memory. The living room was also out; the chilling screams of the burning prisoners chased her. She opted for one of the many guest room on the useless guest floor. When she awoke it was late the next afternoon. The obnoxious noises coming from the second floor had saved her from the horror of her nightmares but she wasn't happy about it. Stalking out of the room she flung open the door where the offense was originating from and stopped dead in her tracks. Standing in the midst of boxes and assorted junk were a blond girl, a rather odd looking tall guy, and two of the most beautiful creatures Jade had ever seen strolling around on God's Green Earth. The girl smiled and waded her way to the door,"Jade?" She asked,"I'm Nina Smith, It's really great of you to let me stay here and all..." Jade stared thoughtfully at Nina. Between sixteen and eighteen, Jade guessed, looking the girl over. Nina Smith was tall, almost six feet, with long, straight blond hair. She had a rather athletic build, solid and strong. Her chest was almost non-existent and she was so slim that she was also lacking the voluptuous curves Jade liked to think she possessed. Right off Jade noted that she wasn't the average empty-headed cheerleading teenager. Her eyes shone with intelligence; Nina had the look of a clever problem solver and a quick thinker. Her lips were thick and pouty, giving her a moody appearance. Her eyes were deep brown, but clear and bright. Jade figured that Nina got attention from the boys. "Nice to meet you." "I'm Mark,"twin number one said, extending his hand. Polite and cute, Jade thought. He was a shade shorter that his twin, and had a slightly golden tint to his light brown hair. "He's Martin." Martin glanced her direction and nodded as he unpacked a large box in the corner. Nina put her arms around Mark and pressed her lips to his. He shrugged her off with a glare. Jade joined in the unpacking, deciding that she liked Nina and especially the twins. Eventually Nina and her friends trooped downstairs and Jade wandered off to shower and dress. When she emerged downstairs, her hair dripping and her clean clothes sticking to her still wet body, Maria and Lola were having tea with an older-looking woman whom Jade assumed to be Marsha Dunkirk. "Jade?" "Yes. You're Marsha, right?" "Oh yes!" Marsha gushed,"I tell you, you've simply got to meet Mae and Naomi! Friends of Nina's. I am certain you would hit it off with them as easily as you and Nina have! I'm so glad you allowed her come on such short notice. Normally I'd never even think of leaving a stranger in the hands of a Mackenna, dear me no, but-" Gushing on, Marsha sipped her tea without ceasing speech for a moment. Jade sat back, nodding, but all she really wanted was to get away from this offensive woman and find Nina. She had thought of a few things she wanted to discuss with Nina if she was planning on staying for any length of time, which, judging by her assorted boxes and bags, she was. "-also, Jade, you must meet Julia Treece. She's a great friend of Nina's, they've gotten along splendidly for-" Lola glanced at Maria and interrupted Marsha's gushing, something she obviously loved to do,"Did you say Julia Treece?" "Yes. Why, do you know her?" Marsha looked at Jade,"She attended the local high school but I believe she graduated last year." Lola picked a newspaper off of a table and held up the front page to show Marsha. She gasped. Jade looked closer. There was a tall black headline,"Local Teenager Found Dead" just above a large color photo of that dead teenager. The picture was likely taken directly from her senior yearbook. In it Julia wore a sober gray turtle neck with a thin gold chain hanging around her neck. Her shoulder length curls drooped, decorated with a dreary gray ribbon. But it was her sad eyes and blank expression that would haunt her mother. Marsha snatched the paper away from Lola and scanned the article quickly. "She died? I haven't even spoken to her family!" Mark, sitting with his brother, Nina, and the ugly guy, jumped up,"I should called Naomi, she's probably pretty upset." He headed to the kitchen. "Martin, you oughta to called Mae,"Marsha gave him a cold look with a sweet smile. "As soon as Mark is done." "Now Martin." He and Nina stood and left. Suddenly Lola noticed her mug was empty,"Jade, my cup is empty, would you please get me another?" "Sure." "No, I'll get it,"Marsha offered. "Really, I've got it. Jade took the cup from Lola and pushed the kitchen door open with her butt. She almost dropped, the mug when she saw Mark and Nina making out on the kitchen table. "What is this?"she asked, wanted to burst out laughing but unable to do anything but stare. "Jade, please don't tell Marsha about us! He's supposed to be engaged, but it's a huge mistake and-" "I won't tell her,"Jade said, filling the cup with more tea. She nodded to Martin and left. "Think she'll be telling Marsha?" "No Mark,"Nina said, her voice was venom,"I don't." Chapter Eight Marsha began ushering her people out of the door as if they kindergartners in a fire drill. Apologizing for their hasty exit, Marsha assured Lola and Maria that she'd be back with Nina. She told them that there was still much to do before Nina left their home completely. "She's going with you?"Maria asked. Nina nodded,"I'm going to spend my last dinner there tonight, I'll be back in the morning." She bit her large bottom lip, looking rather childish, before quickly hugging Jade. "Thanks." She said, and headed out the door with the guy, who's name Jade had never bothered to ask, and Mark. Maria and Lola walked out with Marsha, discussing an enormous banquet dinner that was going to be held in Marsha's honor Thursday evening. Martin was the only one left with Jade. She smiled nervously at him, thinking about Bryan. Their "relationship" was over, it had been since he began spending long hours with Helen while single mother worked the grave-yard shift. He was cute, with his puppy dog eyes and a little tuft of silky hair that hung into his eyes, defying his attempts to keep it away. "Hey Jade,"he paused, fearing rejection,"I know we don't know each other very well, but would you, be my date for Marsha's party. Not a date, unless you want-" "Okay." He smiled, he had nice teeth. Considering her own Jade decided their children would have beautiful smiles. Children, she asked herself, we've barely met! "I'll see you when Mark & I bring Nina over tomorrow." "Okay." "Bye Jade." He turned to leave, but spontaneously kissed her on the cheek. She stood on her toes and kissed him back. Blushing, Martin shut the door behind him. Maria entered a minute later, leaving Lola to pick at the weed-ridden garden. "Jade!" "What?" "What was that? He's engaged!" Maria cried, laughing"You're turning out to be a slut!" "So? I learned from the best,"she said pointedly. "He's cute." "Very." "Sexy." "Yeah." Lola came up behind them, her hands dirty. "Santino was cute and sexy." Maria rolled her eyes. Jade too was sick of hearing about Santino. He was the only man Lola had ever loved and his tumble down the stairs ending with a mess of cracked skull, blood and brain bits on the patio, had irreversibly changed Lola's mental health. In other words, she was going crazy. That evening Jade watched television absently with Alex. "So, is she cute?" "Who?" "The new girl, Nina?" "How would I know?" "You're not adverse to looking at girls to tell me if they're cute or not." "Maybe I am to my roommate." "She's not sharing your room." "My house." "That's different." He acquiesced for a few minutes as a dumb sitcom blared in front of them. "You're going to set me up with her, aren't you?" "No!" "Why not Jade? If I can't have you, don't I deserve the best?" "Alex, she's dating a guy who's engaged to her best friend. Her life is confused enough without a human lemon chasing her." He shrugged,"Fine. I'll set myself up with her." "I'll be waiting when you're shot down." Puffing up his chest, he projected his business voice loudly,"Alexander Claiborne is never shot down." "Did Alexander Claiborne ever stop to wonder why? Jade Mackenna has and she realized that he's never been shot down because he's never put himself in a position to be shot down!" "I asked Rachel Musso to Homecoming this year,"he protested. "She doesn't count, she's been drooling over you, God knows why, since third grade!" "But I asked her!" Jade turned her attention back to the chauvinistic man on television who was fooling around with power tools. Alex managed to enjoy the show, but Jade was distant. And eventually, though it didn't happen often it did happen, Jade and Alex fell asleep on the couch with the television blaring in front of them. Someone knocking on the door woke them up the next morning. Jade expected to find Nina and her friends on the front steps, but instead there stood Joan Treece, looking haggard and exhausted. "Detective Joan Treece,"she introduced herself needlessly. Joan was running on instinct, after two days of horrible nightmares marring the extremely few hours of sleep she was getting. "Come in,"Alex said, when Jade didn't respond. Joan strode to the living room where Alex and Jade sat on the couch opposite the chair Joan occupied. Maria and Lola entered from the kitchen, not wanting to be excluded from the excitement. "I've decided to work with you on this." "You mean you're not going to be rude and petty?" Joan frowned,"Look Jade. I'll level with you. My sister just died. I know what you're going though, but your mother committed suicide." "I thought you said you were going to work with me, how does this constitute cooperation?" "Hey, I'm not here to cooperate. I'm here to get my nightmares to leave me alone so I get more than two hours of sleep in a night." Alex interrupted, not quite his usual comic self,"I'm incredibly sorry for interrupting this beautiful scene, but ladies, why are you doing anything in the same room when you can't stand to be within twenty feet of each other? They both ignored him and Joan continued,"Kate was drinking heavily. Alcohol is a depressant. She was in mourning for her son and her husband, and you honestly think that she wouldn't even consider killing herself?" "My mother never got drunk." "Your mother never had to find ways to deal with the death of her husband and son before either, that doesn't mean she wasn't doing it when she died. Trust me, I looked at the report many times, she was drunk into oblivion when she died." "How exactly did she die? Loss of blood? Overdose on alcohol?" Alex asked. Joan shook her head,"Both, she slit her wrists and died, that's all that mattered." "What about my father and brother, you admit that there was something wrong about that?" "Yeah, they only found pieces, but still." Maria and Lola sat transfixed in a corner of the room. "Can I tell you a story, Jade?" Jade clutched Alex's hand,"Sure." "When I first got interested in 'sleuthing' I was seven. I began reading all sorts of murder and crime stories, to the point that my parents thought I was going crazy. When I joined the academy they threatened to disown me. That almost stopped me-my family is one of the richest in Weston-but I finished school and got a job on the force. I received my first case. "My first partner was Percy Stephanson. He was sixty-four years, three-hundred and sixty days old. He was going to retire in five days so I had that time to solve this case. It was a gang rape on the campus of a private school, fifteen miles out of Weston. Percy lounged in the squad car as I questioned people, searched for any tiny scrap of evidence that might be even remotely helpful. "On Percy's sixty-fifth birthday he got a cheap gold watch and a small send-off. I got a commendation. Over the next couple of years I solved a few cases by the same strange system that actually allowed me to solve that case. I dreamt about them. I know it sounds awful, I sound insane, right? But it's true. About a week ago I began to have recurring nightmares where I was witness to a devastating car accident. I saw how a white sedan ran a red light and a Mercedes, trying to avoid it, was purposely rammed by an on-coming green van. I saw how an older woman with gray-streaked auburn hair told the on-lookers to take disperse, and they did. Then two large guys tried to open the doors, but they couldn't and only a few seconds later the Mercedes blew up." Jade was barely breathing, Alex tried to take his hand away as she squeezed it so tight he was afraid it would be broken when she finally let go. "That's not all. Yesterday I was so frustrated that I was ready to give up. Then I went to bed. I dreamt about a lady taking a leisurely bath, she may have been sleeping, when another person comes into the room. My memory is so blurred, but I know that other person did something to the woman in the bath." "Kate." "Mom." Normally Jade, a non-believer in anything supernatural, would have laughed the story off an gotten on with her life, but today Joan Treece had converted her. "That's what I think too. But there isn't any evidence of the other person, I can't see if it's a male or a female, size, color, shape! Nothing" "What about the autopsy, what if they gave her a drug that put her out while the person slit her wrists?" "I considered that, so I talked to the coroner. Felicia said that the report was kind of rushed, lots of people dying this week. She was surprised that an autopsy was done on Kate, but she did the procedure anyway." "What did she find?" "Just Vodka, in huge concentration, just bubbling in her blood. The going theory is that she got drunk, depressed, then committed suicide." "Then why are you here? To torture me some more? My entire family is dead, who knows if I'll be next? Or Maria, or Lola? You? You're associated with me now, maybe my curse is passing on to everybody!" "Jade, don't even listen to her. She doesn't know what she's saying." Lola took Maria's statement as a chance to get rid of Joan,"I'd appreciate your leaving immediately." "I know how this has to sound, but-" "Joan, call her later. She has a guest on the way." "Jade, I'm not giving up, and I'm saying you're right or you're wrong. I am only saying that I want to figure it out as much as you do." "Great,"she said sarcastically as Joan showed herself out. Chapter Nine Martin sat next to a seat full of Nina's junk. He glanced in the back seat. Nina and Mark were making out atop a pile of books and stuffed animals. In the back of the truck they'd borrowed from Marsha were six beagle puppies, whimpering as the wind tossed them around. "Knock it off you two, we're here." Nina and Mark sat up and gathered the remainder of Nina's things. Martin collected the puppies into their box and lugged it inside. No one else was home, so Martin dumped the dogs in an empty room off the kitchen and headed up stairs. Mark was putting away books while Nina hung clothes in the closet. Martin stood at the window, staring out at the scene. Nina's room had a beautiful view of the fifteen foot brick wall and the decrepit tool shed. Martin turned to comment on it and wished he hadn't. Mark and Nina were rounding the bases completely oblivious to their spectator. He wandered into the bedroom next to Nina's. He remembered Jade having come from his room when she'd helped them unpack some of Nina's things. Picking up a picture of Jade and her boyfriend, Martin was jealous. "Hey!" Martin turned around. Jade was standing in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest. He marveled at the color of her green eyes as they blazed with anger. "Sorry I was just-" "Getting away from that?" She nodded toward Nina's room. Martin heard the heavy moaning and grimaced. "Marsha can probably hear them from her house." "Yeah,"Jade strode across the room to her bed and sat down,"So, what is it with her anyway? Why is they're relationship such a secret?" Martin sat next to her, playing it cool,"Mark's supposed to be engaged to Naomi. I'm supposed to be engaged to Mae. Marsha, our loving aunt, decided that the day we turned eighteen we were too old to be bachelors and arranged our marriages." "How barbaric,"Jade said. Martin laughed, but quickly grew serious. "It wouldn't be so bad if you weren't around." "Oh, thanks." "I mean it Jade. Mae's fine, but you're, well..." "I know,"she laughed. Martin loved the way her eyes sparkled when she laughed. She had very expressive green eyes. "I'm perfect." "Pretty much." Jade stopped chucking and stared into his eyes. Martin took it as an invitation and leaned forward to kiss her. She responded, pressing herself toward him. He couldn't help it, he burst out laughing. Jade pulled away, looking hurt. "Sorry,"he laughed. Martin began to berate himself for not taking up Mae's offer of teaching his about kissing and doing it. He was a far-out guy, after all the girls telling him this he decided it had to be true, but he'd never gone all the way. In fact, he'd only kissed five girls in his life, and only one of them more than once. He was a loser with women and figured it would remain that way until he could kiss properly. Jade smiled. Martin was so sweet, so honest and innocent. He was telling her a story about his brother. She felt him squeeze her hand. "-and I threw it off-" Martin continued. The story was funny, but Jade was concentrating on things other than his words. For one, his eyes, a hazel that would never pass for green. Another was his body, better than Bryan, he obviously trained hard to keep his physique in shape. Then there was his hair, it hung low around his collar and swept across his eyes. "I can't believe that." "Me either,"he looked self-consciously at his shoes, non-descript black running shoes. His smile was nervous, he was scared. Jade didn't know why, she assumed it was because he wasn't as experienced as he looked. Then again, who was she to judge on the looks, with a figure and a face like Jade had, she ought to have been around the block many times. Truth was, the only guy who'd ever been interested was the eternally celibate Bryan Brooks who slobbered like a St. Bernard when he kissed. Maybe, she thought, I should make the first move. She leaned close and closed her eyes. "Mart!" Mark called, opening the door to Jade's room. The sudden intrusion of the quiet made her jump. She ended up on the floor. Martin laughed, sliding to the floor with her, still holding her hand. She had small hand with short, burgundy nails. "I'm leaving, you coming with me?" "Yeah." Mark left. Martin stood and tried to drop Jade's hand. She wouldn't let go. "Jade-" "Shush,"she grabbed his other hand and stood on tiptoes. She kissed him, he kissed her. It didn't matter, for a moment they lost sense of time and place. Then they were back in reality. He whispered good-bye and shut the door.