Who Killed Kyle Simmons? (Bastille)

Chapter Three

Chapter three

A cough started a new chain of dragged out silence.

Layla Jackson was sat, opposite Kyle's girlfriend, Janna.

Layla kept her eyes trained on the young woman before her. She tapped her pen gently against her notepad, a slight hint of impatience, but Janna didn't notice. Either that, or she ignored it.

Janna almost seemed like she was refusing to look at Layla. Her eyes straying all over the room. The books, blanketed in dust lines the room, over spilling from the bookcase. There was everything from Shakespeare to J.K.Rowling.

After a while of nervously picking at her nails in her lap, Janna finally looked up. A deep breath broke the silence as she began to talk.

"What happened to Kyle?"

Layla stopped the repetitive tapping of her pen on paper. Instead of answering Janna's question, she directed a new one back at her.

"What happened that night?"

Janna blinked for a second before starting her story.

"I-I, it, I went out, and," she seemed to choke on her words," I came back to, him, there in the corner."

"You went out?"

Layla flipped the top of her notebook over, and clicked her pen ready, as Janna began to talk, knowing that in a matter of moments, the page would look like ten thousand spiders had died there.

"It was about," Janna glanced at the clock on the wall, nervously twiddling her fingers once more, "11:30. Kyle came back late...

I watched him stumble through the door.
He looked drunk, the way her tripped over his own feet, the rims of his eyes slightly red.
He used his sleeve to wipe his mouth but paused when he noticed me leaning over the sink. I happened to be directly opposite the door, he knew her been caught.
Crossing my arms and straightening my posture, I faced him, eyebrows raised. I rolled my shoulders back.
His eyes widened before he shot me a shaky smile.
"Idiot." I laughed back at him.
"Hey, it's not like you've never tripped over the door frame."
Throwing down the dish cloth I'd far in my hands, I went over and sat on the arm of the sofa.
Kyle had spread out, taking up all three seat spaces. He looked tired. He dragged a hand across his face again, letting out a small huff of exhaustion.
"You been recording all day?"
"Something like that."
"I told you, you need a rest."
Kyle gave me a skeptical look, "you're not a doctor."
"And yet I can still tell that you need a rest." I reached out a hand, Kyle took it in his. I leaned over and took the tv remote and muted the show he was watching.
He pursed his lips and turned to look at me, the flashing images lighting up his face in irregular intervals.
"You going back tomorrow?"
He shrugged. "It's a bank holiday, we've got nothing on."
I gave him a sly grin, which he returned.
Hopping off the side of the sofa I went back to the kitchen, only pausing to yell to Kyle, asking if he wanted tea or coffee.
I flicked the kettle on and opened the fridge.
Then I realised something.
"Shit."
"What?"
"There's no milk left."
"So?" Kyle yelled from the living room.
I closed my eyes for a second. Typical.
"Milk is needed to make coffee."
"Oh, I thought someone had died." He joked.
"You'll be next if you don't shut up."
I could imagine him rolling his eyes.
"Besides, I don't wanna go out tomorrow, aaaand, it's a bank holiday."
"True, true."
I walked back, past the sofa, and grabbed my keys from the small coffee table in front of the tv.
Kyle never had understood my love for the drink. With my bag and car keys, I kissed him on the cheek before announcing I would drive to the 24 hour place, a couple of miles away.
"Better hurry then."
Kyle called as I shut the front door behind me.

And then, when I c-came back..."

Janna motioned towards the corner where Kyle's body had been. A faint smile played on her lips as she remembered Kyle's kind, smiling face.

A red stain had sunk into the wood, giving it a darker tint.

Layla nodded sympathetically as she finished off her sentence, although she was more interested in what had happened, and wondered who else was involved.

"What time did you come back-"

"Twelve."

She answered quickly.

Layla nodded. The first important pieces of information, were the times. Now it was just the case of seeing which minutes matched up.

The killer had around thirty minutes to get in, kill Kyle, then leave unnoticed.

Unnoticed?

It was well planned and ruthless. Whomever had killed Kyle, had made sure to do the job properly. There were no obvious leads as of yet, but Layla hadn't asked everyone yet.

Janna could easily see Layla's notepad was full of scribbles now. She tried to inconspicuously lean over slightly to try and see what had been written.

Layla flicked through until she found an ink smudged page; Suspects, Motives and Alibis.

Janna doubted this was her first, and probably wasn't going to be her last investigation. She kept glancing at the young detectives face. Concentration written all over her.

Layla had found that writing down information about friends, family, all the people close to the victim, wasn't something to miss.

And unfortunately however genuine Janna looked, she couldn't let it go over her head, it wasn't to be overlooked.

She gave Janna a polite nod, before excusing herself. She told her that she'd try her best to find out who'd killed Kyle. It was her job after all.

Grabbing a dark, almost black, purple coat, from the arm of the sofa she'd left it on, Layla quietly left, the door clicking behind her as she shut it.

************

A/N

I'll hopefully get more time to write this weekend, don't worry guys, there will still be regular updates on Fridays and Saturdays :)

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