The 4 of them got out of the car and entered the house.
"Clearly, people have been here," Jessa said.
"No, I thought that a house that's been abandoned for years would look exactly like it was left," Malachi said sarcastically.
"I recommend you shut your mouth before I help you with that, and it's not going to look pretty," Jessa said. Malachi didn't say another word.
Jessa walked up the stairs and into the office. She started walking around the room, knocking on the wall. She then stopped walking.
"Found it," she said. She then took a part of the wall off and hidden behind it was the safe. Cody and Malachi were shocked. They never noticed anything there. Jessa started turning the lock.
"Do you know the combination?" Malachi asked.
"Nope. But stay quiet. I'm going to try and unlock it," she said. A couple of minutes later, the safe opened. Inside was a bunch of personal things like passports, birth certificates and such.
"How will this help us?" Cody asked.
"Hold on. I'm trying to find- never mind. I found it," she said. Jessa was holding documents from court.
"My dad has been to court many times. One was a custody battle for my half-sister, one was because my uncle wanted a restraining order against him for no reason. He was also accused of murdering this dude a couple years back."
"Why'd your uncle want a restraining order?" Cody asked.
"And why was he accused of killing someone?" Malachi asked.
"Apparently because my dad was constantly threatening him. My uncle had almost no evidence, but the evidence that he did have had nothing to do with the case. Someone called in and reported him, and he was arrested. The case was brought to court but it was a false accusation."
"So, are you suspecting your uncle murdered your parents?"
"Yes, but I have no evidence of it."
"You were the one that saw the figures leave your house though. Was one of them your uncle?" Malachi said.
"I'm not sure because they were wearing masks. By the figure shape, I'm pretty sure that one was a female, and the other one was a male."
"That could lead to something. Let's get back into the car and go to the house. We can settle in a bit and come up with a master plan," Cody said.
======
When they arrived at the house, the 4 of them grabbed their stuff and ran in.
"So how does this work? Are we claiming bedrooms?" Jessa asked.
"There's one for each of us, so yes, we are claiming bedrooms," Malachi said. "Race you for the biggest one!" And he ran off.
"You're such an ass!" Jessa yelled and chased him.
"Both of you suck. I want the biggest bedroom!" Gianna yelled and ran after the two of them.
Cody calmly walked in after hearing all the yelling and thumping. "I swear I'm living with children," he muttered to himself.
Upstairs, the three of them argued over bedrooms.
"But a wuss like you doesn't deserve a big bedroom!"
"And you're 13 which means you're more of a wuss compared to me!"
"Hello? I'm the tallest and the oldest of the three of you, I think I deserve this bedroom."
Jessa and Malachi stared at Gianna. "Okay fine," Jessa said. "But I get the one with the loft."
"That means I'll get the one with the reading corner. Deal," Malachi said. The two of them shook hands and separated to go to their bedrooms.
After all of them settled in, the four of them sat around the dining room table to discuss a further plan.
"So, what should we be doing?" Gianna asked.
"I think we should find Autumn and my half-sister first," Jessa said. "There's a chance that they know something."
"Good plan. We could go to her school on the first day back from spring break, which is in a few days," Malachi said.
"Talking about that, what am I supposed to do about school?"
"Right. Um... is it possible for you to catch up when you come back?"
"It's possible, but it won't be easy. I'll try and get in contact with my teachers ans stuff."
"Back to planning. What about Jessa's half-sister?"
"We could try tracking her down." Cody said.
"If it helps, her last name is Suarez-Rodriguez because that's her mom's last name."
"What's with your family and hyphenated names?" Malachi asked.
"I have no idea. I think Autumn's the only person without a hyphenated name. Tomorrow I'm going to go around town seeing if I can find her or if anyone knows her," Jessa said.
"I'll go with you as well," Gianna said.
"Sounds like a plan," Malachi said. "Go to bed, and tomorrow we'll put this plan into action."
YOU ARE READING
Cold Case
Mystery / Thriller6 years ago, MJ Phoenix Lopez witnessed her parents' murder. She never wanted to be involved with it, so she ran away and didn't look back. Years have gone by. She's was reported missing and her parents' murderer has never turned up. The cases aren'...
