Totally Opposites

Chapter 13: Murder Board/Chart

Charlotte's POV:

I quickly make my way downstairs. "Hey, sorry I took long. I was just tracking Dad's car."

"Tracking Dad's car?" Wren asks.

"Yeah. I put a tracker in his car a couple of days ago. When I saw Evelyn come back, I thought it was time to check the tracker."

"Why didn't you tell me? Did you sync it to all our phones?" Evelyn asks.

"I synced it to Wren's phone, but you wouldn't give me yours so I didn't."

"If you'd've told me why you needed my phone, I would've given it."

"It doesn't matter, what have you found?"

"Oh, nothing. Just that Mom had a stalker." Wren answers.

"What?" I go over to her laptop to check for myself and gasp. "She was."

Why wouldn't tell us? We're her kids. And there's my answer. We're her kids. She doesn't want us to get worried. Of course, she wouldn't tell us. Still, she should've told someone at least. Like Dad. He would've helped her.

"We should make a chart." An idea constructs in my head. "Like a murder chart. Of who killed Mom. To make it easier so that we won't lose track of what we've found."

"That's not a bad idea, Charlee," Wren replies.

"We are not making a murder board or chart or whatever. And if we did, where would we hide it?"

"We could hide it here, Dad never goes into this room," I answer Evelyn.

"Actually, a couple of days ago, when I was going to the bathroom I heard papers rustling and saw Dad in here," Wren tells us.

"Oh, so he does go into this room. But that's fine, we can always choose somewhere else to hide it." I say.

"We can put it in our closet, Charlee, Dad never looks in there."

True that. Our closet has gotten so messy that Dad refuses to ever set foot in that place, let alone touch it.

"That's not a bad idea," I say. "But we'd have to put it somewhere where he'd never know it is. Somewhere deep... I don't want it in the front just in case he ever opens it and sees it. But where?"

"We can put it behind our period products. He never touches those." Wren says.

"Yeah, and if you need to get a hold of it, Evelyn, then you can just take it or we can make another copy of it."

"Or," Evelyn says. "We could make the board on Google Docs. It'll be easy, all I have to do is share the doc with you guys and we can all edit it along the way with new information."

"That's also not a bad idea," I say.

"No way, I am not using my phone to solve this mystery."

"Wren, come on! We can't just make 2 copies of the same thing, Evelyn's idea is easier and more approachable. Think about it at least."

Evelyn smirks.

"Fine." She rolls her eyes.

"Thank you. That's really appreciative." I say.

Wren's POV:

It's been hours since we've been in Mom's secret room. I know there are some things we've missed. Evelyn and Charlotte had to go right away cause they both have jobs.

The only job I have is babysitting a little kid. A cute small kid, I love the little dude. But he can be a bit talkative sometimes.

Charlotte works at a McDonald's. The one in downtown, so she has to take the bus there. I'm not really sure where Evelyn works though, she never told me.

Jude's the only one without a job. Probably because he's too young right now.

I have to go babysit him in a little bit meaning I have a little time left to go search Mom's room and try to find something that'll get us closer to her murderer. Or to where she is.

I don't know why but I have a suspicious feeling that Mom is still out there somewhere. Just hiding and waiting.

I go to Mom's room secretly. I look around in the book I found the password in. I skim the pages again but I stop on a page that has a bigger paper with words scrambled across, words that I can make out at least.

I take the paper out – I hear someone coming downstairs. I tuck the piece of paper into my shirt and run to the bathroom quickly. I pretend to walk out as Jude sees me.

"Dad says to come upstairs for dinner," Jude says.

"Tell him I have to babysit again tonight and I'll eat there."

He raises his eyebrows. "Alright."

He leaves to go upstairs and I follow suit. He looks back.

"Oh really. You want me to tell him that you have to work tonight when you can just tell him yourself."

"Sorry, I have to leave now."

"Tell him on your way out."

"Fine, I will."

I round the stairs and walk through the kitchen to see him sitting in the living room.

"Hey Dad, I have to babysit tonight, I'll eat there. I'm sure his mother made something for him and me both."

"Alright, take care." He says.

I walk outside, closing the door behind me. On the sidewalk, I start walking to his house. It's pretty close by so I can just walk which makes it easier just in case she needs me to babysit last minute. Which has happened a few times before.

I knock on their door and a lady by the name of Leanne, answers the door.

"Oh Wren, you're a bit early," Leanne says.

"I know, but I didn't wanna be late like I was last time. Again, sorry about that." I say.

"You don't need to keep apologizing, it's fine." She replies. She opens the door wider for me to enter. "Come in, come in."

I step inside and instantly a little boy runs up to hug me.

"WREN!" He says.

I laugh and smile. "Hey, kiddo. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, you?"

"I'm doing perfectly fine."

"You're here early, why?"

"I need a reason to see my favorite kid of all time?"

His smile grows wider at my response. "No." He sways back and forth innocently.

"Well, I guess since you're here a bit early I can leave," Leanne says. "You know the rules, Scott."

"Yes, Mom." He groans. "No misbehaving and I have to listen to Wren."

"And?" She says, raising an eyebrow.

"And I have to do my chores before playing." He answers.

"Attaboy. Take care, Wren." She leaves the house. "Dinner's on the stove, just give it a few minutes to simmer and you can eat." She closes the door.

"So, what do you wanna do first?" I say, taking my bag off my shoulders and putting it on the coffee table.

"I wanna eat, I'm hungry." He answers.

"Ok, I'll go check on dinner and I'll call you down when it's ready." I walk to the kitchen. "Stay downstairs though."

"Why?"

"So I can keep an eye on you," I tell the  6-year-old.