The Crimson Chariot

15 | Six Sickly Spears

January 1st, 2013
Sunday
12:40 a.m.

Dear Janet,

I attended Ethan's New Year's Eve Party. The party itself was filled with entitled assholes I could give no less fucks about. I stole Archie's camera he lent Ethan on Halloween and transferred the photos of you and them to my phone. It was hard evidence and I am going to take them out if it's the last thing I ever do.

I then hid the camera somewhere where they wouldn't find it. Later I caught Ethan frantically looking for something. It was the perfect opportunity.

I asked him what he was looking for. He said he was looking for the camera Archie gave him as a gift. He might've misplaced it.

I offered to help and very casually, found it tucked away in one of his cupboards. No sooner had he spotted the camera in my hands than he snatched it away from me. Little did he know that it was all part of my sweet plan. He thanked me and promised to treat me to a free dinner someday. Fucking idiot.

Everything was fine until I ran into Paul as the party drew to a close... He'd seen me going through the camera in Ethan's room.

I won't lie about the fact that my blood went cold when he said that, yet, I knew he had more skeletons in his closet than I did in mine. I remember the exact words I hit him with.

"Paul, with all due respect, do you even want to be on Ethan's side now that Janet's dead?"

The question hit his weakest spot. He thinks I'll go easy on him just because he used to be your friend. However, he lost that trump card ages ago. Nothing's gonna stop me from getting what I want.

He scratched the back of his neck, ran a hand through his hair, then walked away in silence. He's been looking like a dead man ever since you left. His behavior is hollow and so are his words. I don't know if he will share what he had seen with Ethan. If he still has the tiniest bit of humanity left in him, the tiniest corner of his heart weeping for a lost friend, he won't.

But I won't count on a monster. Monsters can't be trusted. I just have to wait on Amara's parents to respond to the evidence I collected.

As for my New Year's Resolution, it's to make sure the four of them go down and so does their reign of terror.

Happy New Year. I love you.

Your brother,
Jeremy

***

It's the night of the Covingtons' celebratory party. My head hurts whenever I think of that chance encounter with Victor and Father Eddard the previous day. I'm still doubting whether or not I'm reading too much into the situation or if there's truly something big going on behind our backs.

I rented a silk mermaid gown with spaghetti straps from a local dress shop. It's a dark red-maroon color. You could say crimson. Ever since I've been assigned this case, I've grown to hate the color. I asked for a similar dress in purple but they didn't have options. Fortunately, it's just for one night and I can bear wearing it if it means I don't stick out like a sore thumb. Besides, it was also one of the cheaper gowns in that store.

Aiden picked me up in a limousine that he rented. He is dressed in a very fancy tuxedo that I assume he also rented, but can't be sure. Either way, it's the first time I've seen him dressed up for an event.

He cleans up well, I told him as a compliment to break him out of his daze when he first saw me. He had his jaw on the floor when he saw me in this dress, unable to conjure up a sentence for a whole minute. I guess I clean up well too.