North Starr

20

They arrived at the Stilinski household and Sheriff Stilinski pulled out his sandwich as Melanie watched, sitting in a chair. He unwrapped it and grimaced. "Oh, what the hell is this?"

"Veggie burger," Stiles answered with a smile.

Sheriff Stilinski's grimace deepened. "Stiles, I asked for a hamburger."

Stiles gave a small shrug. "Well, veggie is healthier. We're being healthy."

"Oh, hell, why are you trying to ruin my life?"

His son sighed in annoyance. Frankly, I didn't blame him. His dad was acting like a child. "I'm trying to extend your life, okay? Could you just eat it please? And tell me what you found."

Sheriff Stilinski shook his head. "No, I'm not sharing confidential police work with teenagers."

Stiles pointed to the board behind his dad. "Is that it on the board behind you?"

"Don't look at that."

"Ay-"

"Avert your eyes."

"Okay."

"Hey!"

Melanie frowned in confusion about what she saw on the board. "All I see is arrows pointing everywhere."

"Okay, okay, stop," Sheriff Stilinski sighed. "Fine. I found something. Mechanic and the couple who were murdered. They all had something in common."

"Am I missing something? A couple who was murdered?"

The sheriff nodded grimly. "The husband was killed in the woods. The wife, who was pregnant, was killed at the hospital. We don't know who did it."

Stiles raised an eyebrow as if he sensed something. "All three?"

His dad nodded. "Yeah. You know what I always say. One's an incident. Two's coincidence."

"Three's a pattern," Stiles and Melanie answered in sync.

Sheriff Stilinski was silent for a moment. "The mechanic, the husband, the wife -- all the same age. All twenty-four."

Melanie frowned in confusion. "What about Mr. Lahey? He wasn't anywhere near twenty-four."

The sheriff nodded at my comment. "Which made me think that either "a," Lahey's murder wasn't connected or "b," the ages were a coincidence, until I found this, which would be "c." Did you know that Isaac Lahey had an older brother named Camden?"

"Died in combat?" Stiles guessed.

Sheriff Stilinski nodded at his son's guess. "But if he were alive today, take one guess as to how old he'd be."

"Twenty-four," Melanie breathed, realizing the pattern that was going on.

As Stiles and his father were talking, Melanie leafed through the yearbook. Stiles noticed what she was doing and questioned, "Now what if same age means same class -- I mean, did you think of that?"

Sheriff Stilinski nodded in what seemed like slight desperation. "Yeah, yeah. Well, I would've. I mean, I -- look, I just got Lahey's file two hours ago. Melanie, what are you doing?"

Melanie ignored the sheriff, and continued leafing through the yearbook. Stiles frowned. "Two hours? Dad, people could be dying."

The sheriff sighed in annoyance at his son. "Yeah, I'm aware of that. Thank you. Melanie, I repeat, what are you doing?"

"Same class," she replied without looking up. "Class of 2006. They all went to Beacon Hills."

"Including Isaac's brother," Sheriff Stilinski realized.