The Killings (An Olivia Miller Mystery Book 1) (3 page)

Olivia wanted to say something comforting but didn’t know what would help. “Your parents will be here later.”

Colleen nodded. Her eyes filled with tears but she blinked them away.

A waitress took drink orders just as Ynes came into the restaurant, spotted the girls and hurried over to the table. She sat next to Colleen and gave her a hug.

“Can you talk about it, Colleen?” Melissa’s voice was gentle. “Can you tell us what happened?”

“I want to, yes.” Colleen gave a slight nod.

“Were you in your room the whole time?” Olivia asked.

Colleen sipped from her water glass. She placed it back on the table but kept her hand clenched around it. “I had showered. I got home late from work. I went into my room to dry my hair. The hairdryer was on, so I didn’t hear anything until I finished and turned it off.”

“What happened after you turned off the hair dryer?” Ynes asked.

Colleen’s eyes widened. For a moment, Olivia didn’t think she was going to answer.

In a hushed tone she said, “I was in my room putting on makeup. I heard shouting. It was coming from the living room. My bedroom door was shut. At first, I thought the guys were joking or maybe had some sports thing on TV and were excited about whatever they were watching. But then, I don’t know, the voices didn’t sound right. I went closer to my door to listen. Something seemed wrong.” She wrung her hands together and glanced down.

The girls waited, not wanting to push Colleen. “You don’t need to tell us,” Melissa said.

“I want to.” Colleen sucked in a breath. “What I heard was over quick. Shouting. A scream.” She clasped her hands together to try to conceal their shaking. “I heard some footsteps coming down the hall. I thought of pushing my desk chair up against the door. My room doesn’t have a lock on it. But I was afraid I would be heard. I hurried over to the closet trying to be as quiet as I could. I got in and closed the door. I waited. I heard someone turn the knob and open my bedroom door. I held my breath. I prayed that no one would come to get me. I almost passed out.” She looked up. “Then Olivia opened the closet door.”

“Did you hear Olivia call your name?” Ynes asked.

“No.” Colleen turned her pale face to Olivia. “Did you call for me?”

“I think so,” Olivia said. “I don’t really remember.”

“You did,” Ynes told her. “I wondered why the hell you took off down the hall. I thought you were crazy. I worried the killer was still in the apartment. But when you yelled for Colleen, I knew what you were doing.”

“I was afraid you were hurt,” Olivia said to Colleen.

“That’s when you saw the killer in the hall,” Ynes said.

“You saw him?” Colleen’s voice was thin and high-pitched.

Olivia nodded. “I saw someone. I don’t know if it was the killer.”

“Who the heck else could it have been?” Melissa asked.

“I was just thinking. Maybe, it was someone coming to the party,” Olivia said. “Couldn’t they have come up the back staircase? It just jumped into my mind that it could have been someone else. Couldn’t it have just been another person coming to the party?”

They sat in silence, thinking.

“But he had a ski mask on,” Melissa said.

“It could have been his costume,” Ynes said. “We all had some Halloween thing on.”

“Why did he run then?” Melissa asked.

“Fear? Afraid to be blamed for the deaths? Not knowing who we were? He could have been scared by what he heard and took off,” Olivia said. “I don’t think we can assume he was the killer.”

“It’s certainly possible that who you saw in the hallway was just a party-goer,” Ynes said. “Or,” she hesitated. “It was the killer.”

They considered the possibilities.

“So maybe you didn’t see the murderer at all.” Melissa looked at Olivia and breathed out a sigh of relief. “That makes me feel better. I worried he might come after you.”

“A guy who was at the party, Jack something,” Olivia said. “He told us he was smoking at the back door of the apartment that night. He said he saw two people wearing ski masks leave the building.”

“Two people?” Ynes asked. “Together?”

Olivia shook her head. “Jack said they didn’t seem to be together. They left the building at different times.”

“How can we find out who these people in the ski masks are?” Melissa asked.

“I don’t think we can find out,” Ynes said. She looked at Olivia. “Did you tell the police you saw someone in the hallway?”

Olivia nodded. “Yeah, I told them. But there wasn’t much to say. I couldn’t see enough to give a very accurate description.”

“What could have been the motive?” Ynes addressed the question to Colleen.

“Were the guys into anything that would put them in danger?” Olivia asked. “Did they have enemies?”

Colleen shook her head. “No.” Her shoulders slumped. “I don’t know. Why would anyone do this?”

“Did either of the guys mention trouble with someone? A run-in with anybody? Online harassment?” Olivia pressed, trying to think of any little thing that could lead to finding the person who killed Gary and Christian.

“No,” Colleen said. “I never heard about any trouble.”

“How about at work?” Olivia asked. “What about Gary? Did he have any trouble with a student? A parent? Did either of the guys ever mention a clash with a co-worker?”

“No,” Colleen said. Her eyes filled with tears. “Christian got along with the people he worked with. He was moving out of our apartment on the first of November. He wanted to be closer to work, wanted to be able to walk to work. He was moving in with a friend of his from MIT. Luke Smithson. And Gary loved his job. He loved the kids he worked with. He never complained about anything.”

“You said your bedroom door was shut when you heard the commotion, when you hid in the closet,” Olivia said. “You heard your bedroom door open when you were hiding?”

Colleen nodded.

“The killer must have opened the door,” Melissa said.

Colleen winced.

“Did you hear any voices when you heard the bedroom door open?” Olivia asked.

“No. I didn’t hear any talking.” Colleen’s face scrunched up trying to hold back her tears. “Why would someone do this?” she whispered. “Why?”

***

Melissa and Olivia decided to walk back to their Somerville apartment thinking that maybe the crisp fall air would help to clear their heads.

“I’m exhausted,” Melissa said. “I barely slept. All night I kept listening for noises in the apartment.”

“Me, too. Every little squeak or branch blowing in the wind had me jumping.”

“What are you thinking about the murders, Liv?”

“I don’t know what to think. Maybe it was random, some crazy person, maybe somebody high on something. Gets in, goes nuts.” She shoved her hands into her jacket pockets. “Or maybe it was planned.”

“I just can’t stand thinking about it anymore. The police will figure it out.”

“Maybe we should talk to the guy Christian was planning to move in with. Luke Smith?” Olivia said.

“Smithson,” Melissa told her.

“Maybe he knows if Christian had an enemy or had a fight with someone.”

“That’s a good idea. We should wait a few days to try to contact him though. He must be pretty upset,” Melissa said. “Are you sure you don’t want to come home with me for a couple of days? Get away from here?”

“I’ll be okay. I have a lot of work to do. I’ll be busy, but, thanks.” Olivia wasn’t looking forward to being in the apartment alone while Melissa went home, but she had so much to catch up on that she hoped that work would distract her from the horror of the previous night.

Chapter 4

Olivia sat hunched over her laptop reading and editing the essay she had been working on for over three hours. The words swam on the screen and she leaned back and blinked several times trying to clear her vision. She rubbed her temples where an achy tingle pulsed under the skin. Checking the clock, Olivia was surprised at the late hour and that the time had flown by so fast. She hadn’t intended to stay that long in the library.

She leaned back trying to stretch her shoulder and neck muscles and a gnawing sensation in her stomach made her realize she hadn’t eaten anything for hours. Olivia shut down her laptop, closed up her notebooks, and pushed everything into her backpack.

Melissa had gone back to her parents’ home for two nights to be with her family. Some of Olivia’s friends had texted inviting her to dinner or to meet for drinks later but she was looking forward to relaxing in her apartment and maybe watching a movie in her pajamas. Images of last night’s murder victims had unexpectedly flashed into her head throughout the day, and she didn’t feel like being upbeat or jovial this evening. She just wanted to take some time for a long bath and turn in early after her day of studying.

Olivia flung her backpack over her shoulder and stepped into the dark, cool October night. The wind tossed dried leaves around the sidewalk as she made her way down the hill towards the streets that would lead to her apartment. Last night’s events started playing through her mind, and as she walked, she pulled her jacket closer around her body. She tried to think of other things to distract herself from reliving finding the dead bodies and the gruesome scene in the apartment. She pictured herself summer kayaking in the river behind Ogunquit beach in Maine and she smiled remembering the icy water splashing on her sun-baked skin as she paddled. Olivia loved the water, whether sailing on the Charles River, or boogie boarding or kayaking in the ocean. When she was little, Aggie and Joe called her a fish because they could never get her out of the water.

Olivia turned left onto a tree-lined neighborhood side street. Two streetlights were out and the sidewalk was black. She slowed her pace so that she wouldn’t stumble over anything. No one was around, the area was deserted. There was no moon and the stars were hidden by heavy cloud cover.

Olivia started to feel a prickle of apprehension, and despite being chilled by the cold breeze, a drop of sweat trickled down her back. She thought she heard the rustle of footsteps behind her, but wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, since her feet scrunching the dry leaves muffled any other sounds. The weird and sudden sensation that someone’s eyes were on her back made her heartbeat speed up. Primitive instinct set off alarm bells in her head that danger lurked somewhere on the street. Olivia picked up her pace. She fought the urge to turn her head to look back, afraid to alert whoever was following that she was aware of his presence.

Olivia wondered if she should run. If someone
was
behind her, watching her, if she ran, would that make the person following her become more aggressive? Should she stay alert and just keep quickening her pace?
Why is my apartment not closer to campus?
Although Olivia still didn’t want to indicate that she was suspicious of someone following her by glancing around, she needed to convince herself that she was safe, so she stopped, bent down and pretended to be fixing her shoe in order to try to get a look behind. Out of the corner of her eye, Olivia saw someone on the sidewalk stop and step into the shadow of an apartment house. Olivia’s breath caught in her throat and her stomach lurched. She tried to squash the panic flooding her veins.
Get a hold of yourself. Think.

She stood and hurried to the other side of the street, listening closely for any sounds behind her. She pulled her cell phone from her jacket pocket and pressed the keys for 911 as she walked, but didn’t send the call. She transferred the phone into her left hand and grasped her keys in her right hand, placing one key between each finger. If anyone tried to grab her, she would press the button to send the emergency call and slash at the attacker’s face with the keys.

Olivia attempted to settle her breathing by adjusting her intake of air with long slow breaths. She listened for the sound of someone gaining on her, but the pounding of blood in her ears blocked out any indication of movement behind her.
I know he’s there. I can feel his eyes on me.
She was almost to the corner of her street. When she rounded the turn, she decided she would bolt for her building. If she screamed, then someone inside might hear her.

Three more steps, two more. Olivia sprinted to the apartment and tore up the stairs to the front porch where she plunged her keys into the lock and yanked the door open. Inside, she slammed it shut with her body’s full force and turned the lock. She stood there facing the door, gasping.

“Liv.” A man’s voice spoke behind her.

Olivia whirled.

Her first floor neighbor stood before her. “You okay? Is the devil chasing you or something?” he joked.

She collected herself and gave him a half-smile. “Maybe. It’s almost Halloween, you know.”

Olivia started up the stairs to her apartment breathing hard. Reaching the sixth floor, she unlocked her door, stepped inside, and slid the bolt and chain into place. She entered the apartment without turning on lights, slipped the backpack off her shoulder, and hurried to the front window to look out at the black street. She pressed against the wall and tilted her head to peer outside. Her eyes searched up and down, but she only saw her neighbor making his way up the road. Her hands trembled.

I know you’re out there. I felt you. What do you want?

Chapter 5

The sun’s rays slipped through the sides of Olivia’s window shade and illuminated her bedroom with bright October morning light. Olivia had been jittery all evening, keeping only one interior light on and staying away from the apartment windows so no one on the sidewalk below could see her moving about inside.

She had planned on ordering take-out to be delivered but decided against having to open the door to a deliveryman. Instead, she pulled out flour and baking soda, measured it into a glass bowl, and added a little salt, some oil and water. She mixed it together and kneaded it for a few minutes on the counter. Olivia roasted broccoli and cauliflower with some garlic in the oven and when it was done, she covered the pizza dough with sauce and some grated cheese, and topped it with the roasted vegetables. After a short time in the oven, the apartment filled with the mouth-watering aroma of warming fresh pizza.