I Know What You're Thinking

Chapter 17

I pull my murder board out of my closet, while Luke laughs behind me about the fact that I made one.

"Oh shush. You suggested it." I grumble.

"Yeah, but you had already made it." He points out. I roll my eyes and drop the board into the middle of the room. He stares at it for a while, eyes tracing the many pieces of string connecting image to image. "Well, it looks like it all points back to that man," Luke announces, and taps a photo on the board. I inhale sharply.

"That's my dad."

Luke is silent for a few minutes before quietly saying "I'm sorry." He looks away.

"Don't be. It's not your fault." I mutter and look back to the board, realising there isn't a picture of me. I walk over to my wall and pull a photo of me off, before pinning it right next to my dad. We sit in silence for a little while.

Luke clears his throat. "Well, I guess the best thing to do from here is investigate this relationship between your dad and Diana."

"Yeah. Yeah, ok sure." I agree, but my mind is elsewhere. He sits down on the floor and pulls his laptop out of his bag.

"Hey, can I have the wifi password?" He asks, holding the laptop in the air.

"Mhm," I mumble, staring out the window, thoughts running through my head at a thousand miles an hour.

"So... what is it?" I look at him, confused. "The password." He elaborates, then tilts his head to the side. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just..." I trail off, a million things weighing me down.

"What?" He asks, frowning. I shake my head. "Cordi, what's up?"

"It's just. Well." I sigh. "This all just seems so odd. I mean, my dad cheats on my mum and leaves, then I almost die on a bus, then a lady follows me home and it turns out to be the other lady my dad cheated on my mum with. It's ridiculous and extravagant and it feels like the kind of thing that doesn't happen in real life. Although I suppose I'm not the kind of thing that happens in real life because oh wow I'm a mind reader! And it all just seems so.... so. So impossible." I ramble, all of my frustration and confusion at this situation finally breaking through. "And what on earth did I do to start all of this? Cause I don't want to go around thinking my dad is out to kill me BUT IT SURE DOES LOOKS LIKE IT." I yell and fling my arms out to the side.

I slide down the wall I was leaning against and flop onto the floor. Luke watches me for a moment, before moving to come and sit beside me. I look away, embarrassed about my outburst. 

"Hey," Luke whispers, his voice soft. "Hey Cordelia look at me." I turn to face him, my eyes meeting his.

"It's ok. I know it doesn't feel like it right now, but it will be ok." He nods.

"What if I die Luke?" I whisper, my voice cracking. "What if they find me and they kill me?" My eyes start to water.

"They won't."

"You don't know that!" I cry and curl up into a ball. "What if they kill me and then they kill Mum and then they kill you and who knows who else they'll end up killing in the process?" I sob, my face pressed against my knees so that the world is dark. I hear movement beside me, and then Luke wraps his arms around me and pulls me towards him. Holding me.

"It's ok. You're ok." He says, in a hushed tone. "Just breathe."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He holds me tight. 

"Thank you," I mutter.

After a while, I gather my thoughts and myself and pull away from Luke to stand up. "Alright. Where were we? Oh right. Researching Diana again." I declare and pull my laptop out of my bag. "Oh and you wanted the wifi password didn't you."

"Cordelia?"

"Hmm? So, I've already searched Facebook but I didn't look at anything else. I also didn't do any investigating into what her 'job' is listed as on social media and stuff."

"Cordelia."

"Yeah? I was thinking you look at Instagram and I'll do another Google search. Maybe we can-"

"Cordelia!" Luke interrupts me. I turn to look at him, and his eyes are full of concern. "Stop for a second."

I take a deep breath. "What?"

"Are you ok?" 

"I'm fine," I reply, before turning back to my laptop.

"Are you sure? If you aren't we don't have to do any more research on anything tonight." He assures me.

"Luke." I sigh. "I'm fine. I just want to figure this out."

"If you're sure." He eyes me skeptically, but still sits down and after I finally give him the wifi password, begins scouring Instagram for any pictures of Diana. We sit in silence for a while, before a voice draws me from my investigation.

"Hey Cordelia?" 

"Yeah?"

"What was her name again?" Luke asks, and I am unable to place his odd tone.

"Diana."

"No her full name." He replies, almost nervously.

"Diana Vikander. Why?"

"Umm. Well, you'll want to see this." He turns his laptop to face me, and I quickly scan the screen before seeing what has made him seem so nervous.

"She's dead?" I blurt. On the screen, is a picture of a tombstone. It reads 'Diana Vikander. A loving sister, friend, and daughter. Taken too soon.' There is a picture on it, that matches the face of the woman who followed me home.

"Yeah. She's dead." Luke shakes his head in disbelief.

"I can't make out the date on the tombstone. She must have died the night she followed me. Wow, her family was quick to have a funeral huh." I peer at the screen. 

"Wait a second." Luke turns it back to face him, fiddles with a few buttons, and then goes pale. "Umm. We may have a problem."

"What? What Luke? Tell me."

"According to her tombstone, Diana Vikander died, three years ago." He swallows. I stare at the screen in doubt.

"She can't have died three years ago. I saw her."

"Well either she faked her death and has been living under a false identity for the past three years, or the woman who followed you home wasn't Diana Vikander." Luke counts on his fingers.

"There's another option."

"You think she was a ghost?" Luke stares at me, incredulously. 

"No." I laugh. "I mean that the woman who's dead wasn't Diana Vikander." Luke goes silent, before turning to me, a question in his eyes.

"What year did you say that 'work Christmas party' was? The one with the possibly dead person?"

My eyes widen as I realise what he is thinking. I scramble to find the photo again and gasp as the date above confirms what we are both thinking.

"It's the exact same date as the tombstone," I murmur, shaking my head. Luke inhales sharply.

"So, if it's not Diana Vikander buried in that grave, who is?"

A/N

Hello!

I'm baaack!

Also, I noticed I have some new readers so HELLO! Thank you so so so much for reading this, you don't know how much it means to me.

I also want to apologise for how long it's taken me to update this. I swear I'm trying to get better at it.

Anyways, have a great day!

- blue_budgie52