A Condemned Haven

Chapter 34

After school was over, she went home to an empty house. She didn't know where her sister was, but she couldn't find her computer. She looked everywhere in her own room and couldn't find a thing. Maybe it was in Caroline's room. She had been using it the year she had been in juvie and her parents had yet to get her one of her own. Her sisters' room was much neater than her own, with only a jacket thrown on her bed and a couple of notebooks on her desk. Clarke hadn't been in here since she'd gone to juvie and not much had changed, but there were a couple of new photos of the family. Most of them were just of Caroline and their parents. One of them had Clarke in it, but it was slightly insulting. She had to remind herself that her and her sister hadn't been on the best of terms while she was in juvie.

There was also one photo on her desk, one that stuck out like a sore thumb. It was of Caroline and Francis. She was staring at him with a look of so much love as he squinted from the sun with a huge smile on his face. It looked like they were at the park sitting on one of the benches. Caroline looked so happy, like she didn't care about all of the things that Francis had done, like none of it would ever matter. She knew her sister said she loved him, but that photo solidified everything she said. She had never seen Caroline look like that in her life. She almost felt bad for her. She wished her sister would have had more for her first love. She picked it up and felt an engraving on her thumb. It was a nice wooden frame and when she turned it around, she wanted to read the inscription.

To my love, a moment I want to remember. Happy six months.

-Francis

At least he was sweet to her sister. He may have been an asshole in everything else, but not to her. Clarke could appreciate that. She put it back down just how it was so that her sister wouldn't notice she looked at it. She didn't want her to think she was snooping around, even if she was. She grabbed her computer off of Caroline's bed and went back into her own room. She needed to look at how far juvie was so she could go talk to Thomas. She wanted to know everything she could about Brandon's involvement with the burglary. She got the address and plugged it into her phone. It was about two hours away so she would have to go on a weekend. Maybe Jack could go with her. She'd have to ask him when he was off so they could go. She could ask him to go with her on Sunday after their date. She was so excited that she got to say that, but she needed to focus on what the hell she was going to do with Sammy at the mall today. She needed to mentally prepare for whatever this girl had planned.

She spent the next couple of hours watching random videos and thinking a little but more about what to do next before she got the text from Sammy saying she was ready. They met at the mall in the food court. Sammy was standing at the Chinese booth getting what looked like lomein. Her hair was still wet, so she probably just showered quickly and drove straight here.

Clarke wasn't sure why she wanted to hang out at all, but she figured it was a way she could get a little more information out of her about Brandon. If not about Brandon, then about Sammy herself. Clarke still wasn't sure if she was the girl in the photo or not. Maybe that would have been why her and Brandon became friends. She thought that he might have had the photo to back her up if she ever went to the police. That was a sure-fire way to get the police to believe her.

"Hey Sammy." She turned around with half a piece of chicken stuffed in her mouth. She mumbled something that sounded like a distorted hey.

"Sorry, I'm always super hungry after practice. Which store do you want to go in first?"

"You don't want to sit down and eat your food first?"

"This will be gone in like five minutes. It's not even worth sitting." If Clarke didn't suspect her of being a murderer, she might have even found that a little funny. Sammy seemed like a likeable girl, but something about her felt off to Clarke, like she was hiding something.

"If you say so. Can we go to Rack Room because I need new tennis shoes?"

Sammy nodded and followed her into Rack Room. She even commented on a couple of pairs, recommending them. It was weird, but they were getting along great. They talked a little bit about school, their favorite teachers, and Clarke asked her about track. Clarke didn't remember the last time she had a friend as a girl, unless you count her roommate in juvie. She never would have thought that she would get along with her so well. It was kind of hard to fully enjoy it though, when in the back of her mind she couldn't help but think that Sammy might be the killer. No hell hath fury like a woman scorned and if she was the woman in that photo she was definitely scorned. Sammy seemed too normal to be a killer though, but then again everyone in her town seemed normal. Regardless of what everyone seemed, someone had to be the killer and it was probably someone at her school. They went to a couple of more stores, trying on clothes here and there. When they finally got to the last one both of them wanted, Clarke had to ask the burning question in her mind.

"Why did you invite me out today?" Sammy didn't seem bothered by the question, if anything she had been expecting it sooner. She had invited Clarke out for a lot of reasons, but the main one was because she wanted to get to know the girl who was getting so close with her friends. She would never admit that to her, however.

"James asked me to take you out and get to know you."

"You didn't have to listen."

"No, I didn't." Apparently, that was all she was going to get out of her for that. She was still curious on why she had actually followed through. Just because James asked her something doesn't mean she needed to listen. If she still thought she was a murderer, she wouldn't be out with her right now. They were still walking down the walkway of the mall to the last store.

"Can we talk about Brandon?" She finally stopped going at her marathon pace and stopped.

"Do you really want to talk about him?" Sammy quirked her eyebrow with kind of a daring look in her eyes.

"Yeah I do."

"Okay, what about him?"

"How did you guys meet?"

"The football team would condition with us every Friday and so we eventually bumped into each other. He saw how fast I was, and he wanted to get in better shape for when the scouts came, so we started training together on some weeknights. That's not what you really want to know though, is it?" She was right it wasn't what she really wanted to know. The things she did want to ask were things she couldn't just come out and say. Are you the girl in the photo? Why would Brandon tell you and not me? Were you the one who killed him? Did you kill everyone else too? She would have to settle for something a little less obvious.

"How come no one knew you guys hung out?"

"He didn't want the team finding out that I knew anything about the photo. Honestly though, I don't think it was really on purpose that no one knew. I don't really share a lot, so it was no shocker that James and Jack didn't know, and Brandon only hung out with me on nights he wasn't busy with the team, so he didn't really have to tell anyone either. The only people that probably knew were his parents."

"Just one more question."

"Even if I said no it wouldn't stop you." Sammy really was snarky, but Clarke chose to ignore that.

"Did you get to see him the night he died?"

"No, I didn't. I actually hadn't seen him for two or three days before that. We had plans to meet up for coffee the next morning, but by then it was too late."

"What happened the last time you saw him?"

"I tried to convince him to share the photo. He didn't exactly get the chance to listen. I'm done talking about this now." Sammy continued to walk towards the store with a new vigor. They went to the last store and didn't talk very much. Clarke had ruined Sammy's mood. Eventually they both went their separate ways, and although it had a bittersweet ending, Clarke actually had a good time. What a weird thing to feel with someone who might be Brandon's killer.