Deadly Beautiful | ✓

Chapter Eleven

Hailey Thomas.

After school, Aiden and I began the drive to River Falls College. It's a massive college, and it's the only college in River Falls. Most people leave to go to college in places like Edinburgh. I don't blame anyone for leaving River Falls, to be honest. Most people dream of making it out of here.

"Did you text your parents?" Aiden asks while making a right turn. "I suggest you tell them you won't be home for dinner. God knows how long this will take. Tell them you're tutoring some idiot in English and it may take a while."

I dig my phone out of my backpack, and I begin typing a text to my mum. "What about you? Shouldn't you text your parents?" I ask, glancing over at Aiden as he drives.

For a second, he tenses, but simply replies with a shrug. "I'll text my Mum when we stop. I don't text and drive, Thomas," He chuckles.

My curiosity almost takes over, but I manage to bite my tongue. I have no right to pry, I know, but I can't help but feel a little concerned. Aiden talks about his Mum no problem, but whenever I mention his Dad, it's as if I've asked him his opinion on what tampons I should buy. He clamps it and his face twists into a look of discomfort.

"We're here," Aiden says. He pulls up outside River Falls College, and he stops his car. "This place is huge. But it's still not appealing to me."

I chuckle softly, silently praying to myself that we don't run into my dad. Oh, shit. I probably should have mentioned to Aiden that my Dad is a teacher here. Oh, well. I doubt we'll run into him, anyway.

We get out of Aiden's car, and he walks around to my side, waiting for me before we begin walking across campus toward the dorms.

"Did Jack text you with this guy's dorm room and shit?" Aiden asks, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

I nod my head, scrolling up a little through my and Jack's texts to find the information. "He's on the second floor, Room 200."

Without another word, Aiden and I walk into the building. We take the stairs to the second floor, dodging some rowdy college boys as they walk down the hall. And much to my surprise, one of them wolf whistles when they see me. Aiden shoots him a glare, placing his hand on my lower back to lead me down the hall a little quicker, stopping us in front of Room 200.

"This is it," I say, eyeing the small whiteboard stuck to the door that has 'Caleb and Eric's Room' written across it in blue marker.

Aiden knocks on the door, and from inside we hear someone shout, "Just a sec!" And then we hear some bangs and rustling before the door opens to reveal a tall, extremely good looking older guy. He has shoulder length dark brown hair and dark brown eyes to match. If this is Caleb, I can totally see why Elle liked him. I mean, unless he killed her, then that's totally unattractive.

"Are you Caleb?" I ask, looking up at him as he towers over my 5'2 frame. Aiden is taller, but still, this guy towers over me, too.

The guy eyes me carefully, leaning against the doorframe. "You're Hailey," He says. "And yes, I'm Caleb. Elle told me a lot about you."

"She told you about me?" I ask, shocked. I shake my head, dismissing it. "It doesn't matter. We're not here to talk about me. We want to talk to you about Elle. When did you last see her before she died?" I ask, getting straight to the point.

Caleb laughs, stepping back a little. At first, I think he's going to slam the door in our faces, but then he holds the door open for us and says, "Come on in."

I glance up at Aiden, and he shrugs, his hand returning to my lower back as he leads me inside and Caleb closes the door behind him. Caleb gestures for us to follow him, and he leads us to a small living room. I sit down on the couch beside Aiden while Caleb sits on the small coffee table in front of us.

"What do you want to know?" He asks, seeming perfectly happy to answer any questions we have.

Aiden clears his throat, glancing at me before looking back at Caleb. "When was the last time you saw Elle?" He asks, starting off simple. I mean, there really isn't any hard questions to ask. It's not like I'm going to hit out with, 'Hey, Caleb. Nice to meet you. Did you by any chance murder Elle?'

For a moment, Caleb is silent. He has a look on his face, one that tells me he's thinking about his answer. "The day before they found her body. She came over while my roommate was out and we had sex. I drove her home around 5:30 pm and that's the last I saw her."

"Did she mention anyone bothering her lately?" I ask, watching Caleb carefully.

He shakes his head. "We didn't do much talking. In fact, she didn't like talking about her problems much. Sometimes she acted as if she didn't have any problems, but everyone has problems, right?" He says, shrugging.

I nod my head a little, looking at Aiden. Aiden nods, and I take that as a sign that we can leave. I stand up, looking at Caleb again. "Thanks for talking to us. We're just trying to clear some things up, you know?" I say.

Caleb nods, standing up along with Aiden. "No problem. I mean, you're not the only one that thinks Elle's death wasn't an accident."

"You think she was murdered, too?" Aiden asks, raising his eyebrow. 

"Are you kidding? This whole thing has suspicious written all over it," Caleb replies, shaking his head. 

At least Aiden and I aren't the only ones. I mean, I didn't think we would be. And Caleb seems like an honest guy, so I guess he's crossed off the suspect list. 

☟

"You think he's telling the truth?" Aiden asks, breaking the silence as we drive back to his house.

"Honestly? Yes," I say, nodding my head. "And this is good, right? Another person is crossed off our list. Mr Jensen and Caleb are innocent. But we still have to check out Olivia and Max. And maybe we should check out Iona, too. I mean, she's Olivia's sidekick. Maybe she was jealous of Elle and wanted her out of the picture."  

Aiden nods, but he doesn't say anything. 

Soon, we pull up outside of Aiden's house and I quickly text my mum, telling her that I'm with Jack and that I'll probably just stay at his house for the night. It's gotten pretty late, so Aiden offered to let me crash at his house for the night. I'd just have to wake up extra early to get home and ready for school. 

I follow Aiden into his house, and I almost walk right into his back when he suddenly stops outside the living room. "Aiden, what-" I begin to say, poking my head around him to look into the living room. There are a man and a woman sitting on the couch, and they stand up when they see us.

"What is he doing here?" Aiden spits, his fists clenching in clear anger.

"Aiden, sweetheart, please just listen to what he has to say," The woman says softly, and I guess that it's his Mum. 

The man is practically the spitting image of Aiden.

 Oh, my God. He's Aiden's Dad.