Costco Kisses

The mystery man

It had been three days since I had my chat with Miriam and my friends came over and my living room looked like a scene from a detective movie. I had printed out all pictures of Tajon from the night of the incident and accounted for when they were taken, I had gotten testimonials from everyone who came into contact with him that night except for Danielle.

Chloe and John had been helping me put it all together but they weren't very helpful with the actual details because they had left the party for John's apartment fairly early into the party. They were over now, talking through the details with me again.

"So, with the new information that Miriam gave us about the suspicious man in the bathroom where does that put us now," John asked, sitting on the loveseat next to Chloe, after reading Miriam's text from my phone.

"I don't know. Knowing that he was wearing a suit doesn't really help us at all, I mean how many people wear suits?" I asked hypothetically. Miriam's new info had given us another piece of the puzzle but I had no idea where to place it.

"Well, does anyone from their house know or remember anyone in a suit?" Chloe asked, trying to further the investigation.

"I don't know, I still haven't been able to get Charlotte to pick up my calls and she's my only link to Danielle, who I honestly think has more to do with this than we think," I responded with a huff, annoyed that my best efforts didn't seem good enough.

"Kyla, are you sure that it wasn't just Tajon who killed him? Like what if we're looking way too much into this?" John asked and Chloe sheepishly nodded in agreement, not wanting to undermine me.

"I'm sure, he may have been a little crazy but I know him. He doesn't have the nerve to actually kill someone, at his worst he's impulsive not murderous. And even if miracuously he did kill him, there's so much more to this puzzle, there's too many weird details for it to be otherwise," I stated, pleading my case for my ex-boyfriend.

"You're right," John said shaking the idea of Tajon killing in cold blood and put his mind back into the case. "But this means we're still at a dead end. With Charlotte not answering and everything."

"Why don't we just go to the house and talk to her? She's gotta be there, today is her weeding day," Chloe suggested. I shrugged.

"I don't know. It feels weird showing up without an invitation, they were always more of Tajon's friends than mine. What if they hate me now? I wouldn't blame them," I responded, my words twinging with anxiety of what could happen.

"Them 'hating you' is the least of our worries right now, Tajon is a suspect to murder, we should do all that we can to try and help him out," Chloe reassured me and I nodded in half agreement.

"Alright, let's get going then."

---

I huffed out my breath as John pulled up to the cottage in which Charlotte lived. I stared at the door as Chloe and John turned around in their seats to stare at me sat in the back. My heart was beating so fast, the last memories I had of these people were good but hearing all the shit that went down in this house made me want to vomit.

"Are you ready to go knock?" Chloe asked and I was snapped out of my miniture panic. I looked to her and John and away from the door and it took all my courage to nod and open the car door. They got out shortly after me and followed my trail as I made my way up her driveway and to the door.

My heart felt like it was palpitating as I stood in front of the door and lifted my heavy arm to knock slowly. Chloe looked to John with pity for me as I stood waiting for an answer.

"Well it seems like no one's hom-" I started, trying a last ditch effort, turning around to face John and Chloe when I as cut off by the sound of the door opening. The look on John and Chloe's faces made me dread whatever I was about to turn around to.