Invisible Killer

Chapter 15

The next morning, the sun was shining in Rachelle's face. She moaned as she slowly opened her eyes. "What happened?" she mumbled to herself. She saw Lyndsay and Ryan asleep. Lyndsay was on the couch, and Ryan was on the floor. "Lyndsay?...Ryan?...," Rachelle mumbled quietly.
Lyndsay heard a voice. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Rachelle looking in her direction. Lyndsay turned her head to see her. "Rachelle!" she cried, falling off of the couch and landing on Ryan. Ryan grunted when she landed on him.  He opened his eyes and saw Lyndsay's lips pressed against his.
Lyndsay pulled away. "Hi...," she said silently as she blushed.
"Hi...," he replied back, silently. They stared at each other until Rachelle grabbed their attention.
"Guys?" mumbled Rachelle.
"Yeah?" answered Lyndsay. Her and Ryan looked up at Rachelle. "Oh yeah, right."
Lyndsay climbed off of Ryan and lended him a hand to help him up off of the floor. Lyndsay stood on Rachelle's left side, and Ryan stood on Rachelle's right side.
"What happened?" Rachelle mumbled a second time.
"You were put to sleep," answered Lyndsay.
Rachelle quickly remembered. "Oh yeah...why did you do that?"
"Because you were going out of control; you were losing it."
"Oh please..." Rachelle rolled her eyes.
"It's true..."
Rachelle looked up to Lyndsay with guilt in her pupils.
"You were throwing so many objects at Troy including both of your pillows, your cup of water, and your little side table with wheels," Lyndsay continued.
Rachelle bowed her head down with a guilty conscience. "I was so angry with him. Then again, I'm still angry with him."
Lyndsay sat halfway on the bed and rubbed Rachelle's back. "But that doesn't mean that you can hurt him. How many times do I have to tell you? Hurting someone is never going to solve your problems," she explained.
"That's not the point, Lyndsay. It's not right for him to just randomly give you those bruises and that black eye. Nobody is going to hurt my best friend and get away with it."
"Rachelle, it's not that big of a deal. It doesn't matter right now. You're angry at him, and he's angry at you. So what? This is a very difficult situation for us to overcome. What matters right now is uncovering the criminal before it's too late."
"Okay...," moaned Rachelle, becoming sarcastic up at Lyndsay's face. "Well now what do we do, Ms. Hotshot?"
"Well...," began Lyndsay. "Ryan and I have a few pieces of evidence that we need to complete a fingerprint analysis on."
Rachelle scrunched up her right cheek as she squinted her right eye in confusion.
"You know? The pieces of evidence that we found in Bruce's cell?" Lyndsay continued.
"Lyndsay? I don't have a clue what you're talking about," said Rachelle.
The girls were silent.
"Oh yeah...," Lyndsay remembered.  "We haven't filled you in on the information because you had that panic attack."
"Well?..."
"Bruce Kenzington is dead."
Rachelle's eyes widened up with surprise. "What? When? How?"
"And Ms. Andrea Jensen doesn't know anything about the one trying to kill you. She wasn't even the one who gave me that Ketamine drug. She's not the one responsible," Lyndsay continued to explain.
"But I thought that all of the drug's search history was on her laptop under her username?" thought Rachelle.
"Apparently, she was framed. Ryan and I have the laptop with us, and we're going to performer a fingerprint analysis to locate any other fingerprints. If we do, then that will lead us to the criminal."
"Awesome!" Rachelle froze. "But if she was framed, then why is she still in prison?"
"Don't you know that rule?" asked Lyndsay. "Everyone is guilty until proven innocent. As of right now, she's guilty until we can prove that she's innocent."
Rachelle became confused.
"They didn't believe us when we told them she's not responsible for all what has happened," mentioned Ryan.
Rachelle rolled her eyes. "Of course..." She moved on to a different conversation. "So what's this about Bruce Kenzington being dead? What happened?"
"When we left Ms. Jensen, we walked by Bruce's cell and saw his body lying in a pool of blood."
"He was dead," added Lyndsay.
"How?" asked Rachelle.
"We're not technically sure."
"Well we found a gun in hand, remember? He basically committed suicide," said Ryan.
"But it doesn't make any sense. There's no way that he shot himself. Plus, I noticed that the gun was in his left hand."
"So?"
"Why would it be in his left hand when he's right-handed?"
"That's a good point," agreed Ryan as he placed his thumb and pointer finger under his chin.
"Wait a minute...," began Rachelle. Lyndsay and Ryan looked at her with concern. "How do you know that he's right-handed?"
"When he tried to hit on me, he kept using his right hand to grab my hand. Anything that he did to try to get with me, he used that hand," explained Lyndsay.
"Okay..." Rachelle froze. "Wait a minute! He kept flirting with you?"                             
"Yeah, but it doesn't matter. Boys are immature jerks." Lyndsay smiled with a giggle.
Ryan caught Lyndsay's remark and tapped her on the shoulder.
Lyndsay saw the look on Ryan's face. "Well not all of them are. Besides, Ryan took care of Bruce when he saw him flirt with me."
"Yeah...he was probably doing that just because he didn't want to be sentenced to prison," agreed Rachelle.
"Well the joke's on him, because he's behind bars whether he wanted to be or not," said Ryan with a sly brow and a smart attitude.
The teens laughed amongst themselves.
"Well...shall we get started on those fingerprint analysis?" suggested Lyndsay.
"Oh right...," agreed Ryan as he snapped his fingers.
Lyndsay pulled out her laptop from her bag. Ryan pulled out the two bags from the crime scenes. One bag had the gun from the jailhouse, and the other bag had Ms. Jensen's laptop. "Goodie, goodie...," began Lyndsay, becoming overly excited. She clapped her hands and grabbed the bags from Ryan.
Ryan's watched beeped unexpectedly. "Oh crap...," he mumbled doubtfully as he turned the alarm off.
"What's wrong?" wondered Lyndsay. Her smile immediately faded away with concern.
"We have to go to school. We're already late..."
"Dang it...," muttered Rachelle in depression.
"Well...," began Lyndsay. "After school, we'll do the fingerprint analysis at my house." She turned to Rachelle. "And we'll skype with you so that you can still be a part of the process. Does that work?"
"I'm down," eagered Ryan.
"Me too," supported Rachelle.
"Great..." Lyndsay turned back to Ryan. "Come on, Ryan. Let's get to school before we get in trouble."
"Bye, Rachelle! We'll talk to you later." Lyndsay waved goodbye.
Rachelle slowly waved goodbye. Ryan and Lyndsay exited through the front doors of the hospital and headed onto school.
When they arrived at the school building, Lyndsay and Ryan went their separate ways to their classes. "I'll see you after school," said Ryan, smiling.
"Same to you," Lyndsay smiled back. They waved at each other.
Lyndsay opened her locket to grab her books and closed the door. She then screamed when she saw Troy and dropped her book on the floor. "Please, don't me...," she squealed as she threw her hands up and hugged with her breath.
"It's okay, Lyndsay," said Troy very calm. He squatted down and picked up Lyndsay's books from the floor. "Here...," he mumbled as he handed them to her.
Lyndsay stared at Troy with sorrow in her pupils. "Thanks...," she mumbled as she slowly grabbed her books from Troy's hands.
They stared at each other in silence.
"Well...I'll see you around...," said Lyndsay as she began to walk away.
Troy placed a hand on Lyndsay's shoulder to stop her. "Wait...," he inquired. Lyndsay stopped and turned back to Troy. "I want you to know that I'm really sorry," he continued.
Lyndsay looked down and back at him without saying anything to him.
"I'm sorry for punching you in the eye and leaving those bruises on your neck," Troy corrected his previous statement..
"Don't worry, I accept you apology," said Lyndsay in a low tone.
"You do?..." Troy became a little surprised.
"Of course I do...."
"That punch was definitely not intended for you."
"I realize that. Your main objective was to punch Ryan until I stopped you."
"Why did you do that?"
"Because that's not what's teammates do. Then again, friends don't do that either. You and Ryan are best friends until you went and blew it. You took your anger out on him and that was so not okay."
"Why are you defending him?" asked Troy.
Lyndsay began to raise her voice. "I'm not defending Ryan. I am trying to get a message through your thick-headed skull." She began to quiet down. "We are suppose to be friends, not enemies. We need to be working as a team, but you're not putting any effort into their case."
Troy stayed silent.
"Troy, we need you...," Lyndsay continued. "Why aren't you cooperating with us? What is your problem?"
"I can't tell you," he mumbled in a low tone of his voice.
"Well if you can't tell me, then you are officially kicked out of the group."
She began to walk away until Troy grabbed her hand. "Wait...," he mumbled. Lyndsay turned around.
"Come with me..." Troy proceeded to drag her down the hallway.
"Where are we going?" asked Lyndsay, confused.
Troy dragged Lyndsay all the way to one of the picnic tables in the front yard of the school building. They sat down across from each other.
"Okay, Troy. What's up? Why did you drag me all the way out here?" demanded Lyndsay.
There was silence.
Lyndsay sighed. "Here's the deal," she began again. "Neither one of us is leaving until you start talking. Unless you want to sit out here all night, then I suggest that you open that pie hole of yours."
"Lyndsay...," begged Troy.
"Troy...I am not going to play anymore games with you. You have been distant from the group ever since the first incident with Rachelle. You have done nothing to support us, and it's really getting on my last nerve. I want to know why you've turned your back on us, and I want to know now. I'm sick of you acting like a foolish idiot. Now either you start talking, or we're going to have some problems."
"Do you really want to know why?" Troy hesitated.
"Yes!" Lyndsay's voice got louder. "Why do you think I'm raising my voice?"
"I love her!" Troy blurted out.
Lyndsay froze with emotions. She slowly put her clenched fists down, and her fierce glare slowly went into a blank expression.
"What?" she asked, slightly confused.
"Yes! I admit it...I love Rachelle..."
They were silent.
Lyndsay became lost on the situation. "But that doesn't make any sense. If you love her, then why are you ignoring the fact that she could possibly die?"
"Because I don't want to believe that."
Lyndsay stared at him and didn't say a word. She raised an eyebrow.
"Let me explain...," Troy began again.
"Oh please do...," replied Lyndsay, sarcastically. "That's what I'm here for."
"I'll admit that I love her, and maybe possibly more than just as a friend. I honestly do have the feeling that someone is trying to kill her, but I don't want to believe it. I'm afraid that if I do believe it, then she will actually die."
"But that doesn't mean that you can just completely walk away from all of us. You are still a part of the team, and we need you. You don't have to believe that she might die, but we still need your help. That's not how the cookie crumbles. If you want to stay committed to this team, then you can't just walk away from us when a case is very close to you. I mean, did Rachelle just walk away with she found out that her cousin Paisley was murdered?"
"No...," mumbled Troy, beginning to feel guilt running through his veins.
"So then does that mean that you can just get up and walk away just because Rachelle is in a critical situation?"
"I guess not..."
Lyndsay was shocked. "You guess not?"
"No! I shouldn't just walk away!"
"Then you need to suck it up, get off of your butt, and help us find the criminal. Trust me idiot, you do not want to push me over the edge," Lyndsay threatened.
"Yes ma'am!" Troy puffed out his chest and placed the side of his hand up to his forehead.
"Good boy! Now come on, Ryan and I are heading to my house to do a couple of fingerprint analysis." They began to walk to find Ryan until Troy stopped Lyndsay.
"Uh, Lyndsay?" Troy asked as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Yes?" she answered.
"Are we good now? Like are you still upset with me?"
Lyndsay half smiled. "Not as much as I was. First, let's uncover the criminal and then we'll go from there." They half smiled at each other and began to walk down the sidewalk.
Sooner or later, they met up with Ryan.
"Hey Lyndsay, hey...," began Ryan until he froze. "Troy?"
Troy threw his hand up to greet him.
"What are you doing with my girls? I thought that I told you to back off." Ryan continued as he began to form fists.
Lyndsay's eyes widened up. She placed her right hand on the back of his shoulder and her other hand on his chest. "Ryan, it's okay. There is no need to fight. It's okay. Him and I talked, and we're good."
Ryan looked at her with a dead stare. He saw her smiling at him. He took a deep breath and calmed down.  He then released his fists and half smiled at Troy.
"Are we good?" asked Troy, holding up a fist.
"Yeah, bro. I guess that we're alright," answered Ryan as he knuckle punched Troy.
Lyndsay placed a hand on Ryan's shoulder and her other hand on Troy's shoulder with a smile. "I'm so happy to have the both of you back," she said. The three of them did a group hug.
"So what's the plan?" asked Troy.
"We need to head to my house to complete the fingerprint analysis on the gun and laptop," replied Lyndsay.
"Have y'all talked to Rachelle about it?"
"Of course!" Lyndsay froze. "We're actually suppose to Skype with her on my laptop as we complete the task."
"Don't you realize that once she sees me, she's going to freak?"
"That's why we'll just be sure and to keep you out of frame."
"I guess that will work."
"And you'll have to keep your mouth shut," Ryan added.
"Why?" asked Troy.
"Because if she hears another voice in the background, she''ll want to know who it is. If we tell her that it's you, then she'll also freak out."
"Oh right..."
The teens were silent.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Are we going to get his show on the road or what?" Troy continued.
"Let's do it!" Ryan threw a hand in the middle. "For Rachelle..."
Lyndsay smiled and threw her hand on top of Ryan's. "For Rachelle..."
"For Rachelle...," said Troy as he repeated the same thing as Lyndsay. They threw their hands up in the air and high-fives each other.
"Let's bust this dirtbag," insisted Ryan. They climbed into Troy's truck and headed to Lyndsay's house.