FrAcTuReD (Part One) (Completed continued in Part Two)

Chapter. 24

"You've got to be shitting me!" Alex cursed aloud in the hall before turning to Fox. "Are you absolutely sure?! Are you?"

Fox nodded grimly. "Yeah, my cousin works for the town's newspaper, she wouldn't make this up."

Jason frowned. "Was it your cousin who released the information about the murders?"

This time Fox glared angrily. "Like hell she would, Rain wouldn't do that, she has a better moral integrity then you think. But if you're really looking for someone to blame then you don't need to look far."

Will looked ill as he looked about ready to pull down his beanie. "Oh god don't tell me..."

Fox gave an affirmative nod. "Yeah it's Duke alright, sorry Will..."

Will swore as he pulled the beanie over his eyes. "Of course that bastard would pull a stupid stunt like this! I should have known it was him the moment I heard people talk about it! Goddamnit Duke! What the hell!!"

"Duke?"

"A relative of Will's," Jason said to Alex. "Or, more accurately, an ex-relative. He's not really a part of the family since his folks blacklisted him from the family."

"Should have burned his ass when they did!" Will snapped. "If I run into him I swear I am going to give him two blackeye's for this!"

Alex looked at her friend with stunned quite, she had known Will for many years and not once had she seen him so angry before, normally he would just be very laid back and relaxed, but this was a whole new side to him. "Will, you... you going to be okay?"

He let out a breath. "I will, eventually. It's just, shit I thought he left this town for good. God Mom's going to be so pissed when she finds out, that is unless she already has."

Alex still looked at him warily. "You don't mind I ask what happened, do you?"

With a sigh Will sat atop one of the empty desks of the classroom. "It doesn't bug me that you ask Al, I never talked about it before because I never wanted to bring him up. Duke... he did something that I and the rest of my family could never forget. before he was a journalist with Sharlton's news department, much like Fox's cousin, but unlike her he never had a moral compass. He'd claim it'd be for the truth of the matter but it was really just for the money, that's all he really cared about, it didn't matter if it was family ether. Blackmail, extortion, harassment, he'd do all that and more just to get the so called truth that he wanted to write whatever he thought of. It wasn't even journalism. This one time though, he kept pestering this poor girl, over and over and over until she committed suicide."

"Jesus..."

Will shook his head. "Yeah well it only got worse, Duke ran with it as a story, slandering the girl's name without even a shred of remorse, he never gave a damn, so we walked away, cut him off and kicked him out of town hoping he'd never come back. I can't even think as to why he would even be back in the first place."

"Perhaps he was working on something in regards to the killer from the city; he's basically claiming it to be the same person if you read the papers..."

Will didn't say anything as he simply pulled his beanie over his eyes, not wanting to talk about it anymore not that Alex could blame him for it.

"I don't know what's going to happen now," Fox said drawing Alex's attention. "But I at least wanted to give you the heads up on this before it become a firestorm, or whatever you want to call it. I have to go talk to Rain see if she can give us anything else."