A Deadly Obsession

Part 7

"Can't we just call her?" Clary asked. She was feeling very nervous about seeing Ralph's mother again. They were sitting outside of the house parked across the street. "Tell me again why are we doing this?"

"To get answers, remember. Besides, we are already here. Look Clary, I know you're nervous but don't be." he said as he took her hand in his larger one. "Come on. I will be right there with you."

"Fine. Lets gets this over with." She sighed and stepped out of the car. They both walked up to the house. It was a small one story brick house. Clary noticed that the yard looked different than she remembered. There were toys in the yard and a swing set. Jordan knocked on the door and a woman opened it. She had a baby on her hip. She had brown hair that was in a messy bun and had bags under her eyes from lack of sleep. Her blue eyes were looking at them with annoyance.

"Look, whatever you're selling, I'm not buying." she said. She goes to close the door but Jordan stops her.

"We were looking for the owner of the home. Mrs. Santiago. Is she here?" Jordan asked.

"Mrs. Who? Look, we bought this house months ago." the woman said.

"What?" Clary said in shock. Mrs. Santiago lived there her whole life. She would never move. Ralph offered to get her a nicer place that he was going to pay for, but she refused. She said 'This is my home. I was born here and I will die here.'

"Did she leave a forwarding address or something?" Jordan asked. He had the same look of shock on his face.

"If you're talking about the previous owner...I'm sorry to have tell you this, but the person who lived here before we moved in was found murdered about a few months ago...I think. It was tragic from what the realtor told me. She was murdered in the house and they never found out who it was." she said and then closed the door, leaving both Clary and Jordan standing there in shock. They slowly walked back to the car and got in and just sat there. Clary had tears in her eyes. She couldn't believe it. Ralph's mother was murdered months ago and she didn't even know.

"What are we going to do now?" Clary said breaking the silence.

"I don't know." Jordan said quietly. He was in deep thought. "I think we need to talk to the police. Maybe they can tell us what happened to her. File a missing persons report too." Jordan said rubbing his palms over his eyes.

"Wait. I've got an idea. Izzy's brother is a cop. I'm sure I can get him to find out." Clary said.

"That would be great, but it's late. Maybe we should talk to him tomorrow." Jordan said as he turned on the car took off into the night.

"Well, this is it." Clary said as he pulled up near the dorm building.

"I know. I picked you up, remember?" Jordan said and let out a little laugh. "You want me to walk you to your door?" he said as he opened the door for her.

"No. I'll be fine." Clary said as she stepped out.

"You're sure?" he asked, locking eyes with her with a look of concern.

"Yeah, I'm sure." she said breaking the eye contact with him to grab her purse. "Thank you, Jordan. So...what time tomorrow do you want to go?"

"How about after lunch?" he says walking her to the front door of the building.

"Okay. That's fine. See you then." she said and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She walks away from him and goes inside and heads for the stairs. She just got to the first step when she noticed someone was there and almost screamed from shock. Sitting on the steps, looking at her with angry black eyes, was Sebastian.