Haunted

VIII

I was still asleep when there was a knock at my window.

Now, considering that my bedroom was on the second floor of our house, whoever was knocking must've climbed up the tree outside. Which meant it was either a squirrel or a kidnapper.

I looked out the window, ready to run if it was a kidnapper, but instead I was surprised to see Cade out there. Why in the world would Cade be knocking on my window at seven in the morning right after our late night?

I quickly ran over and opened up the window, not moving aside until Cade could tell me why he was here.

"Good morning sunshine." Cade greeted.

I popped my hip and stared him down. "What on earth are you doing here? And why didn't you just use the front door?"

"I couldn't be certain your parents would let me in this early, or even if they would let me talk to you. This was the fastest way to get to you."

"And what is so urgent that you need to speak to me at seven in the morning?" I yawned. "I still have a headache from last night you know."

"I figured, but you're going to want to hear this."

I weighed my options a bit before I moved out of his way, letting him climb into my room.

"So, what's the big news?"

Cade sighed and plopped down on my bed. "The police have found another body. I heard it on the police scanner this morning."

"Three bodies." I whispered under my breath, shocked.

"No, two bodies." Cade corrected me. "Unless you know something I don't?"

His eyes narrowed and I shook my head. "Um, no. I was just confused for a moment. Where was it found?"

"AJ's house. That's all I could get from the scanner, and I already walked by. The body is somewhere in the house, and I can't exactly get in there. All I know is that there's another body in a small town. I would bet anything it has a number on its hand."

AJ's house. So, body number one was found at a construction site, buried alive. Body number two was found in Emily's backyard, made to look like she was eaten by Fluffy the Doberman. And, body number three was just found in AJ's house, cause of death unknown. Obviously the killer wasn't trying to hide the bodies, they were making sure they were in places that could be found eventually.

"Also, Amanda didn't show up at her house last night. Caleb called Joey asking if we had taken her home because she didn't show up to come home with them. And I already checked the list of kids who were caught last night in the raid, Amanda wasn't one of them."

I looked back up at him. "Wait, are you saying Amanda is the dead body?"

He shook his head and closed his eyes, pinching his nose in between his fingers like he was reliving something horrible. "I don't know for sure, but I overheard a deputy at the scene saying the body was blonde with a flower print dress on."

I put my hand to my mouth. Oh, god. Amanda was wearing a flower print dress last night.

"They were also talking about the body found in Emily's backyard. It was identified as a Jeanine Ferguson." He paused and looked up at me. "How did you know her first name was Jeanine?"

I was still a bit in shock that body number three could be Amanda, so I didn't understand the full scale of his question. "I don't know, lucky guess?"

"And then, last night I heard you talking to yourself again. 'Another body' you said, 'are you sure it had the number one written on its hand?' Now, that sure sounds to me like you were talking to someone who was giving you information on what would be this killer's first kill, but there was no one else in sight. So I visited the precinct after I went to AJ's house, and, what do you know? There was a body found two towns over with the number one written on its hand. Time of death would have been before Jeanine Ferguson. That would now make three bodies if the one in AJ's house has a three on its hand."