⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Brynn cried into Tate's shoulder as soon as the brunette had entered the house, slightly confused on what was happening and worried about her best friend who had phoned her in sobs. She'd barely been able to make out the words that Brynn was saying across the phone line, and she still couldn't make them out now.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀The police and the coroners were here, the exact same people that had been at Maddie's death scene, taken photos of a blood soaked sofa and carpet and making notes in their books. As Brynn recalled, although everything was a little fuzzy in her head, they'd arrived moments after she'd hung the phone up and Barclay's body had been taken away to be examined. She'd been placed as the prime suspect, since she'd been the last to see Barclay, but since she had a strong alibi, one that had two people ready to back it up, for Maddie's death Brynn supposed that her name was mostly in the clear.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"Excuse me?" Tate asked, tapping a nearby police officer on the shoulder as Brynn continued to sob uncontrollably. "Please may I go and get some toilet roll from the bathroom? I'm not sure if it would be okay to do."
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"Of course," a young police officer, maybe in his early 20's, turned around and replied. "Would you like me to look after your friend whilst you run up?" He seemed nice and his green eyes had a hint of pity for Brynn in them.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"Thank you. I won't be long,", she smiled, untangled herself from Brynn and immediatly began to run up the stairs. She'd been here at a party before, quite recently in fact, and she remembered her way to the toilet.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Tate ran quickly and grabbed a spare toilet roll that was sitting next to the pot. It was a simple bathroom, but spacious and Tate found herself looking at a few photos on the shelf above the sink, next to the mirror. One of Barclay, Brynn and Brynn's younger sister Sadie when they couldn't have been older than 4 (or 2 in Sadie's case). He looked so similar to the two sisters in was uncanny.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"Levi?" Tate whispered as she looked at a photo of Barclay and what looked like the school heartbreaker with their arms around each other's shoulders, maybe 8 years old if that, smiling and displaying their gappy grins. The last thing she'd known was that the two boys had been engaged in a rivalry after Barclay had 'stolen' Levi's girlfriend Chloe Lukasisk (who also happened to be Maddie's mortal enemy).
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"Tate?" someone shouted and as Tate spun round on her heels she saw the police officer that she'd left in charge of Brynn standing in the doorway with a shocked expression on his face, green eyes gleaming with tears.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"I thought I left you with my friend," she begun to snap. "She isn't in a state to be left alone with a bunch of meddling police officers." The police officer didn't answer but smiled warmly towards tate as if she reminded him of someone close to him. "What?" the brunette said and she watched as a single tear slowly dripped down his cheek.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"I remember you. Fiona's sister right? I'm Alex. Alex Kinghorn. Our families were friends,back in the day. What a coincidence."
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Tate was shocked to silence, her mouth agape as she looked at Alex standing before her. The Kinghorn's and the McRae's had been friends back when Tate had been little, before they'd moved away at the age of 7. All she remembered of Alex was a little boy, just a year older than her, with a gappy smile, big green eyes that always held s glint of mischief in them and shaggy brown hair. Looking at him now, now having something to compare him to, Tate noted that he hadn't changed much and all the memories that they'd shared came flooding back to her in a tsunami wave.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"How's Oli?" she asked, her face flushing a faint shade of red. Oli was Alex's twin brother, and the one that she'd always believed had got all of the beauty genes. She'd had a crush on him for three years before they'd left, before she'd ever known what a crush was, and everyone had know that this.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Upon hearing this, Alex let out a little chuckle, taking Tate by the forearm and starting to drag her downstairs. "We shouldn't leave Brynn alone. Got the tissues?" He didn't give her time to answer before he launched back into speaking again. "Oli is fine by the way. Not much change since you last saw him. He plays football now, or he did. Just before I left and he was getting into the professional leagues he got injured. I'm not sure if he's still able to play now. Noelle is okay as well, but I suppose since you didn't have a petty crush on her like Oli then you wouldn't want to know how she was doing."
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Noelle was the older Kinghorn sibling, four years older than her brothers and the same age as Fiona. She'd been 12 when Tate and Fiona had left and her and Fiona had been best friends. At one point when they were there they'd been dating twins, one for each girl. They'd loved this because they believed that when, not if, they got married to their boyfriends then they would be related and the Kinghorn family and the McRae families would be related.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀When they finally got back to Brynn, who was sitting on the ground cross legged, sobbing into her hands. Both Tate and Alex both had guilt rush through their veins as Tate crouched down and passes the blonde the tissues.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀"Brynn's, it's all gonna be okay. We are going to find the person who did this and we are going to bring them to justice. I promise you."
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀But in all honesty, Tate was certain about anything at all. She didn't know if they would be able to do this or if the murderer would roam free and Maddie and Barclay would've died at the hands of an ampnonymous murderer.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀She didn't know, but she knew she'd try her God damn hardest to do this and with Brynn and Bostyn by her side, she supposed anything was possible.
