22)Chilling Realization

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A/N Sorry for the odd spacing of this story. I'm currently writing on a small keyboard attached to an old IPad. Everything is formatted great on Microsoft word but whenever I try to copy and paste everything starts spacing strangely and it won't let me fix it as I edit. :(    We're nearing the last few chapters of this story, Happy reading!

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"Antagonize the psycho," said Sophia coldly. "Anger him just a little bit more...what's the worst he could do?" She couldn't help but mock her older sister's logic. Alex could have easily gotten the both of them killed with her antagonizing ways. As Sophia rambled on, Alex glared from the chair in which she sat. It had been two days since the family had packed up and left for their grandmother's house an hour away. All of the kids were missing school and work, but their parents didn't really acknowledge care for these things. Their main concern was that everyone was safe and together. Mr. and Mrs. Summers attention was instead solely on the local police department not arresting Blake Bradshaw. Per usual, there wasn't enough evidence to arrest him. He was a minor with an alibi for the night of the accident. It didn't matter that Blake could have toyed with the bearings and cut the break line earlier in the day. He still wasn't brought into the police station for questioning let alone arrested. 

The police officers who took Mr. Summers and Alex's statements questioned Blake at his home, but there was nothing solid to arrest him on. His parents defended him with an iron-clad alibi that showed he hadn't been home for most of the day to have messed with the Jeep. Sophia personally felt what was enough to at least bring Blake in and grill him was that his family possessed all the tools that would be needed to sabotage the Jeep. Still, the police placated the Summers by asking questions, but it was evident Blake was not the direction they were going to pursue in looking for a suspect. The police were more interested in Alex's ex-boyfriends or someone who could 'hold a grudge' against her. Alex politely but firmly pointed out no one but Blake despised her enough to wish her dead. Still, next to nothing was done.

"I'll admit I was anticipating a physical attack instead of an indirect approach," Alex replied bitterly. "I really didn't think he'd use my car to try to hurt me. It was well played."

Colin and Annie stared at their eldest sister with raised eyebrows. They also sat at their grandmother's kitchen table for this impromptu meeting. Sophia could only look at her as well. Alex rolled her shoulders as everyone stared. "What? It's true. His plan was to take me out of the picture. Good plan but poor execution." Annie rolled her eyes at Alex's poor taste in words, but that wasn't what was on Sophia's mind.

"Why even bother with you at all?" Wondered Sophia aloud. Everyone looked at her. "Think about it...Why bother killing Alex at all? So she annoyed him with sarcasm, big deal. Why just kill her for that?"

"She can be kind of annoying," Colin allowed, causing Alex to nod in unison before she seemed to have realized what their brother said. She rolled her eyes as Colin grinned.

"No, no..." Sophia chastised as she began to pace the room. She didn't know how to phrase what exactly was on her mind. Hell, she barely knew what was on her mind. All Sophia knew was that something didn't seem to add up. Blake had been so slow, so planned and calculated with earlier things. Why within just a few days of Alex angering him would he act? Sophia frowned. "Wouldn't the better plan for Blake have been to wait a few weeks or months after your argument to kill you? Why wait just a few days when me or someone in our family could easily point out that Blake was the last person you spoke to that wished you harm?"

Alex and Colin seemed to catch on to what she was saying after this. They exchanged looks of surprise. "Maybe because he's a psychopath and doesn't really think before he acts?"

"It seems like there's more to it than that."

As Annie and Colin started tossing random ideas for why Blake could have acted so quickly, it was only Alex Sophia had eyes for. She tapped at the large gauze bandage covering her stitches as she stared off into space. A realization seemed to hit her.  "When dad had me throw away my poster board detailing the murders and the dead animals in Illinois, I left it in the garage," said Alex slowly. "I was going to hide it in there until dad left for work, then I was going to move it back to my room to keep it."

"And...?"

"And when I went back to the garage after dad left, the poster board wasn't there," said Alex in sudden realization. Her eyes widen as she seemed to slowly be realizing something crucial. She stood up to suddenly head towards their grandmothers front room. Sophia followed her while Annie and Colin continued to share theories at the table. Once in the room, Alex found her father to converse with him. He was currently sending a work email. "What's up girls?"

"Did you throw my board away?"

Mr. Summers frowned. "What board?"

"My board that I showed you and mom about the murders in town."

"Ohh your murder board," said Mr. Summers acknowledgment. "I told you to throw that thing away to not scare your sister."

Alex looked annoyed as she continued to dig for information. "I know, dad! But listen! Were you the one who took it out of the garage and threw it away??"

"No, I never touched that thing."

"Did mom throw it away?"

"You know your mother never goes into the garage willingly. Not after we found that mouse..." Alex didn't bother to hear him out as she suddenly began hurrying around the house questioning the kids. She even found Mrs. Summers in the bathroom and interrogated her. Mr. Summers hadn't been wrong; his wife never went in the garage and did not touch Alex's board. Sophia soon pieced together what it was her sister was thinking just as Alex finished questioning the younger kids along with the older siblings. No one had touched Alex's board let alone took it. The sisters found a quiet room that was unoccupied before Sophia spoke. "Your missing the entire board? I thought you threw it away?"

"Dad told me to but I wasn't going to listen," said Alex in a low voice. "Like I said, I was keeping it until he left. When I couldn't find it where I left it, I assumed he found it and threw it out."

"So someone came in from the outside and found it in the garage," said Sophie, cringing. "Blake."

Alex shook her head slowly as she suddenly looked horrified. Her thoughts seemed to be coming too fast for her to process them vocally. "The day I put it in there, the garage door was shut and the door to the driveway was locked from the inside."

"So someone took it out when the door was open?" That seemed to be the logical explanation.

Alex shook her head again, her face very pale. "During the time I left the garage and went into the house and then back thirty minutes later, the garage door hadn't been opened. Almost everyone was headed off to work and school, and mom and dad just confirmed they didn't touch the damn board."

"So what is it you're thinking?"

Alex turned her horrified expression on to Sophia. "You once thought someone was in the attic above your room..." Sophia still wasn't understanding before the realization suddenly gripped her. Her mouth fell open as she finally grasped what her sister was saying. There were two attic doors in their large house. One of them was located inside of their garage. When you pulled a foot-long cord, a small foldable staircase dropped down to allow someone upstairs into the musty attic. "If I'm right..." Alex began, looking far too afraid to finish her sentence.

"It means Blake found your board because he was already inside of our house," said Sophia fearfully. Her eyes widened as she reached another conclusion before Alex did. "It means he didn't want you dead just because you were being sarcastic."

Alex nodded slowly as her eyes ghosted off into space. "It means he wanted me dead because I found out about his crimes."

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