Ecstasy

Andrew

Xavier stepped out of the hospital room, taking a sigh of exhaustion. Leonardo remained in the room, next to his brother and chatting away. They were inseparable.

"Gotten anywhere?" I asked, even though his face said it all.

"No. We're getting nothing Ashley", he said with frustration dropping himself by the chair and combing his hands through his dark, long straight hair. He took his notebook out and tapped a scribbled written page with his pen, starring at the wall ahead of us thoughtfully.

I tried looking at his page, trying to make sense of the writings. I came to know that was his handwriting, Leo's was neat and spaced out. His was.... Well, he looked like he was competing with doctors— but not me doctor. I had a fabulous handwriting— well at least I thought.

And I noticed too that his written English was.... Dull? He wrote like he didn't speak. He used words like 'very upset' rather than 'surly' or 'vexed'. He just didn't write like a man in his thirties. Sometimes, even speaking was a struggle for him. I was already coming to a diagnosis and conclusion.

"Did you try asking Allison's old classmates about anything or anyone who had been acting fishy before the incident?"

"We've practically asked the whole city. They didn't say anything weird was going on. In fact, her and her boyfriend were supposed to go to Australia for a little holiday on her birthday, which was two weeks ago. It was supposed to be a surprise but things didn't go as planned and she found out, practically everyone did. A week later, she was found dead in a lake", he looked at me.

"And at the diner? Her job?"

"Same old thing. She was a pretty, kind, teenager, always on time and loved by everyone. Her managers words, not mine".

"Poor girl", I rested my chin against my fist fist, looking at Xavier with full attention as his bright blue eyes stared at the brown notebook.

"Do you think this was some stalker?" He faced me, giving that 'I may have thought of something that could lead us somewhere' face.

"Actually that could be possible. It is kinda suspicious how she died after everyone knew about the getaway. Maybe it could have been some jealous admirer... or maybe even an ex", I rolled my eyes at the thought. Really, ex's were crazy. Did you want me to start giving examples?

Xavier laughed at that, knowing already why I said the last part. "Honestly that could be very possible, sadly. And he's after Allison's boyfriend so he's motive was to get rid of both of them. The only bright thing Allison had in her life was probably her 'perfect' relationship with her boyfriend. Almost everyone I interviewed had something good to say about this Andrew".

I was taking it that Allison's boyfriends name was Andrew.

He continued. "She was an orphan. She had financial difficulties. And most of all, she was not your typical famous or party teenager. So obviously our killers biggest motive was to make sure she didn't have a happy relationship either. Cold", he spoke attempting to write something down his notebook but stopping before he had the chance. He stood frozen for a while before closing the book up, changing his mind just like that.

The sound of a vibration startled us both, realizing that it was a phone, Xavier's. He took it out his pocket and stood to his feet quickly. "Hello?"

I heard muffled words from the other end, coming from a man. Xavier had a stern face, only responding with "yes sir" once in a while.

In a minute or so, he ended the call. His face turned back to normal, though this time he seemed stressed and drained. "Everything okay?"

"They say they found Andrew", he explained.