Humanity 3 "The Renewal"

Chapter 13

ASHLEY'S POV

I walk into the Gilbert's house and I find Ric in the kitchen digging through a box of pills.

"Morning." I smile at him and he looks up. "What's up?" I ask referring to the mess of medications.

"Looking for Aspirin." He says with a sigh.

"You're hungover." I conclude and he nods.

"Ric had a rough night." I hear Elena say in the doorway.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Ric says to her.

"I told you, you don't have to feel guilty about inviting Meredith over here." She says and I smirk at Ric.

"Who's Meredith? A new lady friend?" I ask and he rolls his eyes.

"Maybe. But even if I don't feel bad about her being here, I do feel guilty for whiskey dialing her at two in the morning." He says and Elena and I both laugh.

"You did not." I say through my laughter.

"Oh yes I did." He says shamefully.

"Was she cool about it?" Elena asks.

"Well, as soon as these aspirin kick in and I remember the conversation, I'll let you know." He says and we both laugh again.

The doorbell rings and I follow Elena to the front door. She pulls the door back and Sheriff Forbes is standing on the other side.

"Sheriff Forbes, hi. Is everything okay?" Elena asks as Ric walks up behind us.

"This is an unconventional conversation we're about to have. So I hope you'll protect me on it." Liz says and I'm not sure what's going on.

"Of course." Ric says seriously.

"I assume you all heard our medical examiner was murdered the night of the Wickery Bridge fundraiser." She starts.

"Yeah. Brian Walters. Why?" Ric asks.

"We've been investigating. Someone drove this stake through his heart." She says, holding up a wooden piece.

"That's one of ours." Ric says. "I mean this is one of a set from the lake house."

"That's why I'm here. I haven't told anyone, but forensics ran it for prints and found only one clean set." She says and looks at Elena. "Yours."

"What?" Elena asks her immediately. This is not good.

***

"So Elena's the prime suspect, huh?" Damon asks as I talk to him on the phone.

"Sheriff Forbes doesn't think that she did it. She's just trying to find out why somebody used one of the Gilbert family weapons to kill a council member." I explain.

"Well, why don't you just ask Ric if his dirty little doctor had access to the weapons." Damon suggests and I look over at Ric who's sitting in the kitchen across from me.

"You're on speaker phone, dick." He scoffs and I smile.

"I'm just saying, first suspects usually the right one. Don't get so defensive." Damon says back.

"Brian Walters was killed days ago, alright? I didn't show Meredith this stuff until last night." Ric defends himself.

"It wasn't Meredith." I tell Damon.

"But Brian Walters was her ex-boyfriend and Ric saw them fighting that night." Damon continues.

"It's not Meredith." I snap. "Okay? I refuse to believe that Ric's luck with women is that tragic." I say and Elena nods as she sits next to me, listening.