Gracewood

Chapter 5

From someone walking outside, you would think that two men and three women playing cards in the living room of 83 Fenice Avenue, Gracewood was completely normal, except it wasn't.

"BlackJack," I called out. Everyone groaned.

"You're too good at this, Ayla!" Caleb shook his head and smiled. Taylah began to shuffle the cards while Will and Camila began talking about how annoying immigration papers were. It had been a month since Rissa's murder, and three weeks since Becky was admitted to hospital. I stared into the distance, with the events from that night playing over in my head. Gregory Baronhall, Connie White, Becky White.

The hospital called us to say that Becky was in a coma and had a 4% chance of waking up, they also said they would ring us if anything changed. I had been waiting anxiously for that phone call from the hospital to tell us if Becky died, or if she woke up.

"...Ayla. Ayla!" Fingers snapped in front of my face as my flashback fizzled away. Caleb's face was inches from my own.

"Welcome back to this place we call Earth, Ayla." I scowled at Camila. Caleb laughed, then Will started to as well. Before I knew it, everyone was laughing. It felt nice to laugh again.

I watched Will. We had only known each other for a month, but it felt like I had known him since I was 15. We just clicked and got along really easily.

I reached into my purse and flinched. I pulled my hand out to reveal a clean slice over my right index finger. I left our game of BlackJack to find a band-aid in the medicine cabinet. As I dug around, I finally found one. I unwrapped the band-aid and the wrapper fell to the floor, I picked it up and gasped. In red pen, tiny words were scrawled across it. It read:

'You found the knife in your bag...'

I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing: Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. I turned around to see everyone talking and laughing at the dining table. I shoved the note into my purse, wrapped the band-aid around my finger and returned to my friends.

"Ayla, can I talk to you for a second?" Will asked.

"Sure." Will took my hand and led me to my kitchen.

"I just got a message from the girls at the station. They finally got around to analyzing the number plate from a few weeks ago." Will pulled out his phone and read the text message, "Hey Will, we know who owns that car in the photo you sent us. Just give me a bell and I can tell you. Don't want to put anything in writing. Thanks! - Alicia." Will opened the phone app and started dialling the number.

"Is this... considered evidence?" I asked Will.

"I guess." Will finished punching the last few numbers in and pressed 'call'. They picked up on the third ring and Will put the phone on loudspeaker.

"Hello, Will."

"Hey, Alicia. Do you mind giving us that number plate?"

"Sure. No problem." I could hear the faint clicking of the keys on a computer. "Alright. That car belongs to... Gregory Baronhall." My jaw dropped.

"It can't possibly be his. We saw him at his house that night. Check again. That's not right."

"Well, do your job then, detective. I've done mine. I'll see you on Tuesday." She hung up. Will looked extremely confused.

"Will--" I said,

"Someone must've stolen his car." Will cut me off.

"Will just listen--"

"We should go over there--"

"WILLIAM FAYE! Listen to me." He turned to look at me. He seemed surprised. "When we--" This time I was cut off by my phone ringing. I pressed 'accept'.