A Condemned Haven

Chapter 23

After Caroline made her statement at the police station Clarke was finally released. Detective Mitchell didn't exactly look thrilled, but he really had no choice. Clarke just wished they would stop focusing on her and find the real killer. She had been so wrapped up lately that she hadn't had a moment to think about what she was going to do next. First thing she had to do was find out what was in that photo and in order to do that, she had to find it. She didn't even know where to start. It could be with any one of the football players or in Francis' house with his parents. She couldn't exactly go around asking and she knew his parents would never let her into his house. This was one of those times that Jack could help her, but she couldn't ask him. She needed to do this on her own.

"Where did Jack go? He was so determined to get you out I'm shocked he didn't stick around." The vibe between Clarke and her sister was different now. It felt like when they were kids and they could actually talk to each other.

"I uh sent him home." Caroline's head snapped towards her and she stopped walking.

"I know that tone. What did you really do?" Clarke didn't even know how to answer. Jack had been such a good friend to her, and she just booted him out like he didn't even really matter. She did it for all the right reasons, but she didn't understand why she felt so damn guilty for doing it.

"I told him to go away."

"Why?"

"I....... I wanted him to be safe and if he's running around with me, he'll constantly be in police stations or I don't maybe worse. Maybe he'll end up like Brandon or Francis. I know I did the right thing, but I just can't shake the feeling that I made a mistake."

"You did." Clarke's eyes flicked up to Caroline's so fast she almost gave herself a seizure. Those were not the words she was expecting on hearing, if anything she expected a good job. She was trying to protect him. How could that be wrong?

"What?"

"You made a mistake. I don't care if you did it for all the right reasons. He was there for you when no one else was and you kicked him to the curb. I mean are you serious right now?"

"But it's to keep him safe," Clarke yelled incredulously.

"Who says he's any safer now. Everyone knows you two are friends. As for the killer, he's just as likely to die as the rest of us. At least this way you both have each other's backs, and he obviously had yours."

Everything Caroline was saying made complete sense, but she couldn't take everything she said back now. If she talked to him right now, she doubted she would get anywhere. She just had to focus on what was really important and that was finding this photo. People were dropping left and right. She had to start with the football team. Why was the killer only killing people on the team? He must have had a vendetta or maybe a secret he didn't want to get out. If it was a secret, though, why kill more than one person? They could have threatened to tell, but if that were the case, Clarke was pretty sure that if one person died, she would be too scared to say anything.

Maybe the killer was the girl in the photo. She could have been finally getting back at all of the guys for what they did to her, but Clarke had no idea who the girl was. While she could assume what happened to the girl, she still wasn't sure. It could have been anything or it could have been nothing. If she could just ask the girl maybe she would get some perspective. She also wasn't even sure that the killings had anything to do with the photo. She had no photo, no suspects, and barely any information. People had found killers with less though, right?

Clarke needed to put all of her focus into this and not worry about how Jack was feeling. Besides, not having to worry about whatever was going on with Jack and her would probably help her focus. Maybe she could ask Caroline about the photo. Maybe the girl was one of her friends. Even if the girl wasn't, maybe Caroline could talk to one of the football players.

"Hey, do you know anyone on the football team?"

"Yeah I've dated two or three why?"

"You know anything about a photo of a passed-out girl?" Caroline paused for a moment, because she knew that Danny had made her promise to never talk about it. When he told her that that was what Francis was holding over him in a moment of weakness, he seemed so afraid. He made her promise to never ask about it again or tell anyone. This was her sister who was asking though.

"Yeah my ex told me something about it. He made me promise never to tell anyone about it, ever. Why do you want to know?"

"I think it might be the reason the football team is being killed."

"All because of one photo, I can't believe that. Even if it is, Danny was afraid Clarke. His team is like a cult or something. If they found out he told me anything about it he could get in trouble with not just them, but with the authorities."

"It might save him from getting killed."

Caroline didn't know what to do. Despite her and Danny not being together anymore she still cared about him. When they broke up, she ended up getting with Francis when Brandon died, and Clarke got arrested. She fell in love with Francis, despite the things she had heard about him. Now that Francis was dead, she really didn't have much to lose. All of the nasty things that were said about him didn't really matter anymore. She didn't want to tell Clarke that she had dated Francis the entire year she was in juvie. Just thinking about him put a heaviness in her heart. She didn't want to be judged for dating someone who was known to be such a bad person. Who knows if any of the rumors were even true? She just had to remember him as she always had. She hadn't even processed his death yet.

"He didn't really tell me much about it."

"Did he tell you who it was?"

"No all he told me was that there was a photo Francis was holding over the teams head. He sounded really guilty when he was telling me about it. He said that no one knew where it was except for Francis. A couple of the guys thought that maybe Brandon knew, but it's not like we can ask either of them." Clarke was eerily silent, even the mention of Brandon's name made her heart hurt. Even after all this time the pain hadn't gone away.

"I still have Brandon's notebook that he left in my room a month or so before he died. Maybe there is something in there. I just don't know where to look anymore."

"That sounds like a good idea, but sis you're not a detective. Do you really think you can find out who killed him?"

"I'm going to, I don't care what it takes."