"Who is it?" Connor asked, his tone curious rather than concerned. Holt, an officer from the precinct he was familiar with came into view. "Adrian and his family, they were on their way to the airport when they were involved in a car accident. Adrian as well as his family didn't make it." Holt pointed at the limo that was being lifted out of the river.
The luxurious chic design now reduced to nothing more than a chassis that barely held itself together and shrapnel. Bits of the car could be seen drift off with the river current with stains of blood adding a morbid layer to the scene. "What happened? From the car, it would seem that someone intentionally rammed into them."
Holt and Connor made their way to a truck that hauled logs of wood, the driver nervous and frantic as he saw the two officers make their way over. "I promise, I tried to brake when making the turn but my brakes wouldn't work." The man shouted fervently, his fidgeting as well as his shaky tone rising suspicion.
"Is he telling the truth?" Connor asked as they made their way to the truck which had the front part indented, some of the logs sprawled all over the road. "Yeah, someone deliberately cut off the brake fluid." Another voice echoed from the bottom of the truck, revealing to be Pike.
"It wasn't an accident but rather a planned murder." The sound of the plump man making the driver break into a frenzy of self pity. "I promise you that I didn't try to kill them! There's proof if you want!" Connor looked at the truck before shifting his eyes to the car that was now being gently placed on the road. Making his way over, the body of Adrian came into view, his mangled body twisted in inhumane ways.
His skull caved open and clinging to the window frame, bits of his brain spilling all over while his parents were equally twisted. The father with multiple bits of the chassis digging into his torso while the wife was nowhere to be found. As for the chauffeur, with him being at the front faced minimal physical injuries as he died from drowning.
Presumably knocked out from the impact then drowning. "There's something about all of this that doesn't add up. If some lunatic were to cut the brake fluid of a trucker, then were they actually planning on having these people killed? It seems like a very situational thing, with the Adrian family conveniently in the way and they end up dead."
Connor said, his gaze shifting from the truck to the limousine. "I know, it's rather odd. The person behind this was either lucky with this because so much could have gone wrong." Connor narrowed his eyes as he made his way over to the truck driver now receiving care from the paramedics on the scene. "Have you felt anything off with you for the past several days as well as telling me what happened?"
The man took in deep breathes as he began his recollection. "I've been fine, other than a mild headache from staying up too late from driving, nothing really. I haven't felt anything off, like being watched or anything. As for what happened, I was making that bend over there in which I braked and the brakes worked before coming over here where I tried to stop but my brakes didn't work and slammed into that car."
The driver with his hands elaborating the events. "Hmm, if you were able to break from that corner then that means the person behind this not only knew you would be taking this path, they also timed the time to cut off the break fluid as well. Connor turned to face Holt, his face grim. "Are there any cameras around here?"
Holt shook his head, his face downcast. "Well then we'll have to follow your path till we got here and see if any cars were following you." Connor groaned as the agonizing work of checking footage dawned on him.
. . .
"You did the right thing Claire, I know that it may be tough now but it'll come to pay off later." Eliot said to Claire, the two in a chess match. "Thanks a lot Eliot, I know that we haven't been able to talk as of late but I'm glad that we could get over that weird stage." A nervous chuckle left Claire's lips.
"I know, I may have overreacted on my end. Seriously, I didn't think that we would ever manage to talk to each other until, well…" The air turning sombre for minute before Claire declared checkmate. "Got you!" Her tone filled with vigour as a smile found it's way on her lips. "Looks like I've been slacking off as of late. I should have seen that coming a mile away."
His groans cut off with Jason, his face showing hurry. "Have the two of you finally gotten over that weird part where Eliot was running away like a little bitch for no reason? Honestly it was annoying if anything, that's something I expected Claire to do, not you Eliot." His words in good faith eliciting a chuckle out of Claire. "What? We all have our ways of dealing with rejection and with Claire being my first I didn't want to mess it up."
A brow rose on Jason's face. "What do you mean Claire's your first confession? Have you never faced any other crushes in high school or what?" Eliot leaned back into his chair, a nervous laugh filling the silence. "I…don't want to talk about that."
Before Jason could press on, coach Calvin cut through the air. "Gather round." Eliot tidied up the chess board as they drifted toward the gathering in the auditorium. "Alright, I know that we got our asses handed to us this year but next tournament, we can't allow to lose so easily!" The sting of defeat a wave washing over the students. "Coach is right, it would be laughable if we lost back to back tournaments!"
A student shot up. "As if we haven't had a four year loss streak!" Another shot up, their tone dripping with sarcasm. "I understand that so far we haven't been at the top of our game but that can't cripple us going forward. We have to lift our chins up and expect the enemy to hit four times harder than last time! So assure me that we'll win next year!"
Calvin's words met with cheers from the students who after the gathering melted from the blob and back into their individual matches. "I still think that we would have won with Andrew around. What was he thinking back then when dropping such a golden opportunity handed to him on a silver platter?" The mention of Andrew souring the faces of Claire and Eliot.
"Oh, right, you said that you were no longer friends of Andrew. My bad." Eliot brushed it off. "It's nothing really." His hand waving Jason off before a match sparked between Jason and Eliot. It didn't last long before Eliot lost once more, this time quicker in comparison to her match with Claire.
"There's no way I lose so easily. Have I really lost my touch?" Jason flashed an ear to ear smile as he dared Claire. The match longer but Jason won in the end. "Looks like someone has been practicing." Claire applauded as she began to analyse her loss. "However with such an aggressive style, it's not usually how you play Jason."
Jason who leaned back into his seat, satisfied with his vcitories let out a chuckle. "What can I say? As much as you two don't want to hear his name, he's been giving me lessons He's not a bad teacher either." Jason lowered his voice akin to divulging a secret. "I even faced off with coach and won a greater majority of the matches. Like this I'm sure that there should be a change next year."
The reality of Andrew giving Jason lessons something that disturbed the two. "Andrew's giving you lessons now? Since when?" Claire was the one to ask, a look of shock and disbelief making her face. "Since last week really, though he doesn't talk much, it's more than enough for a qualitative change to be noticed though I have yet to win a match with him."
Eliot was the one who asked, something off in his gut about this whole ordeal. "As much as I would like to praise you for reaching out for help, I don't think that Andrew should be the one." Jason, still smug didn't see any problem. "What? Are the two of you jealous because he took me in and not you two? And now with you two ending any form of with him, it'll only serve as a great advantage to me." The two looked at each other, debating on whether to divulge the half truth on Andrew or not. "It won't make any sense if we don't say it."
Eliot was the one to say, making Jason's smile waver. "Say what? What is it that the two of you aren't telling me?" Suspicion now all over Jason's face. "Jason, there's something we have to tell you about Andrew,as well as the real reason as to why we ended our relationship with him." The heavy atmosphere making Jason uncomfortable.
"What is it?" Eliot let out a sigh. "You have to make sure that you don't tell anyone else about this. After all who knows what might happen to you after you know." Any easy going air that might have lingered around Jason had died. Eliot and Clara began to confide with Jason, telling him about the mystery of deaths as well as the pursuit and Brittany. Ending with their suspicion of their involvement with Pauline's death.
Jason's uncertain face quickly transformed into one of disbelief and shock by the end of it all. "Don't you find it strange how he's so perfect with his actions, there's no way that he's human." Another voice entered the conversation unannounced, Looking at the source, it was none other than Kevin, a figure that Eliot and Jason barely knew about.
"I take it that you all know that you find Andrew to be rather suspicious and his interactions with Brittany haven't helped his case either." The three showed him a seat, the weight of his words promised something they didn't know. "Sure I knew that he was good at chess but studies as well? Why didn't any of you tell me any of this sooner?" Jason asked, his question met with sarcastic faces from Claire and Eliot.
"Because you would have believed it when we told you about him. You would have called us jealous and moved on." Eliot's words flat before shifting to Kevin. "I take it you know something about him that we don't know about?" Kevin let out a sigh, the suspense soul crushing. "I know that this may sound a bit out of left field but there's no way that Andrew's human. Have any of you seen him struggle in any way?"
Jason held his thoughts back sensing the heavy air. 'Are we just making fiction at this point about Andrew? Sure the string of murders that could be related to him don't help but this is getting way out of hand. How did I manage to end up in such a group where all the kooky kids are?' Claire and Eliot paused, pondering about Andrew's actions ever since he stepped into campus.
"He doesn't struggle at any point in time and his silence is so alien like. It feels like something is wearing his skin rather than a human being with us." Claire said, clutching her chin. "As crazy as it sounds, I just might believe it at this point with Andrew. There's too little we know about him. And his relationship with Brittany kind of happened way too quickly. Not to talk trash of Andrew but there's no way he would be friends with Brittany. There was a time when Brittany thought that he was a stalker but overnight became friends with him to lovers."