More Than Meets The Eye

More Than Meets The Eye -7-

As soon as Will had left, her mother didn’t hesitate to literally yank Autumn into the house.

“Where were you all this time?!” she exclaimed, eyes wide with fury and panic. “I’ve been calling your phone for the past two hours!”

Autumn stared blankly at her mother’s exasperated face and instead blurted out the stupidest, most careless answer she could ever say. “At a Riding Academy with Will.”

“Where?!” she shrieked, tangling her slim fingers into her wild brown curls in frustration. “Autumn why didn’t you answer your phone?! Why were you at a godforsaken Riding Academy?!”

The young actress frowned, cocking her head to the side. “Wait what?”

“Ooh!” Autumn’s mother threw her hands out of her hair and almost looked ready to burst at the seams. “As soon as I heard about the shooting on your filming set – and no not the filming kind – I took liberty to take the fastest jet home to find that you were dawdling about in a Riding Academy with Will while someone was shot! Jenna Nocturne to be precise!” Tears sprang to her mother’s pretty blue eyes, making Autumn feel guilty. “I don’t know what I would have done if you were the one that got shot and died!”

Suddenly, anger flared inside of Autumn. “Died? Jenna was the one that died not me! Why aren’t you upset over that?!”

Her mother’s perfectly waxed eyebrows shot up. “Excuse me young lady? Don’t you dare use that tone with me!”

“I can do what I want!” Autumn shouted, tears of frustration and grief springing to her eyes. “Jenna is dead because of some crazy dick who shot her on purpose and you’re only crying over the possibility that it could have been me?! I just lost a friend mum – and a pretty damn close one too!”

By now, tears had started to roll down Autumn’s cheeks as she stared at the woman who was a complete stranger to her.

“Alana? Autumn?” Noelle peeked her head around the front door, jingling her keys in one hand. “Oh good, you guys are home! Alana, why are you home so early?”

“To check that Autumn was fine,” Alana whispered, pushing her curls out of her eyes. “I see that she is now.”

And with that, she marched upstairs to her room rigidly, feeling betrayed and angry.

“Okay, I heard shouting and I saw Will’s car – what’s going on? I’m sure your mum likes Will . . .”

“Nothing,” Autumn said, stuffing the note into her pocket and crossed her arms.

“Well how was your day out?” Noelle asked brightly, sauntering into the kitchen. She knew that when mother and daughter were both angry at the same time, it was best not to mess with them or press on further.

It only made Autumn feel worse knowing that she had practically spent the whole day chasing after a theory that wouldn’t bring Autumn any closer to Jenna’s murderer!

Of course, Noelle didn’t know Autumn’s intentions . . .

“I went to a Riding Academy,” Autumn said simply. “Will mentioned horses and I got interested. He drove me to the nearest school and found Elm Vale.”

“Oh! I had a few friends whose daughters attend that place,” Noelle said with a broad grin. “One of them even hard a horse named Viper – weird right?”

Autumn stiffened and forced a smile. “Right.” So after all that time of searching in the directories and calling up the horse farms and stables, she could have gone straight to Noelle instead! She shook her head at the irony. “So how was your night clubbing?”