The next morning, Lyndsay slowly began to wake up. She was becoming conscious again. "Hey, she's waking up," Ryan informed to Troy. Troy rose up from the chair and approached the bed on the free side. Lyndsay's vision was slowly transitioning from blurry to clear. She opened her eyes to Troy and Ryan looking down on her.
"Oh man...," Lyndsay began, moaning. "What happened? What time is it?"
"It's 10:00am," answered Troy.
Lyndsay slightly freaked out. "What? How is that possible?"
"You fainted yesterday afternoon, so the head nurse wanted to keep you overnight for further observations," said Ryan. "You've been out ever since then, until you just woke up."'
Lyndsay was rubbing her forehead with the tips of her fingers. "I can't believe that that happened."
Troy laid a hand on her forehead. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"Oh yeah...I'm totally fine." Troy removed his hand. "I guess that I just needed a little rest." Lyndsay sat up.
"What do you think caused you to faint?" asked Ryan.
"It may have had something to do with this case. I've been so stressed to uncover the criminal that it added so much work on top of my current work. With all of this going on in my head, it just caused my to lose it. It especially didn't help when I found out that another one of our suspects doesn't exist. Once I heard that, my stress just hit me in the head like a brick."
"Exactly...," said the head nurse Penelope as she popped into the room. "Good morning, Lyndsay! How are you feeling?" She approached the bed and began to mess with the IV machine.
"I feel relaxed since I had a nice long rest. I feel energized again," said Lyndsay.
"That's great! I bet that you're ready to be released?"
"Yes ma'am."
Penelope smiled and began to remove the IV bag. The IV machine was turned off, unplugged, and Penelope removed the needle from Lyndsay's hand. She then placed a band-aid on Lyndsay's hand to stop the bleeding.
"You're good to go," encouraged Penelope, smiling.
"Thank you!" said Lyndsay.
"Now I'll let you change back into your regular clothes, and we'll get you checked out at the Nurse's Station." Penelope left the room to head to her office.
Lyndsay slowly began to slowly climb out of the bed.
"Here you go," said Ryan as he handed Lyndsay her bag of clothes.
"Thank you!" said Lyndsay. She stood up and took it easy as she walked into the bathroom.
"Do you need help?"
Lyndsay was disgusted.
"Uh no...I can do it on my own." She closed the bathroom door and changed out of her hospital gown.
"So now what are we going to do? You know...since two out of our three suspects apparently don't exist?" asked Troy.
"I don't know. Let's just see what Lyndsay has to say. Hopefully she has a plan," answered Ryan.
Troy nodded his head in agreement.
After Lyndsay changed clothes, she headed for the Nurse's Station. Penelope was waiting for them when they approached the desk. Penelope pulled out the clipboard and flipped to the next available sheet. "I just need you to put the room number that you were in, the date of your release, and sign your name," she informed.
Lyndsay filled out the required fields.
"So Lyndsay, what's our next move. What do we do now since two of our suspects don't exist?" wondered Troy.
Ryan placed a hand on Lyndsay's shoulder. "Please tell us that you have a plan," he said in a soft tone of his voice.
"I don't know...," mumbled Lyndsay.
"What?" Ryan became surprised as he removed his hand.
Lyndsay handed the clipboard back to the nurse. "Thank you," she said, smiling.
"Thank you, sweetie! You kids have a great day and take it easy," replied Penelope. She waved goodbye as the teens walked out of the front door.
"What do you mean that you don't know?" Troy asked Lyndsay, freaking out.
"I don't know, okay? I don't know what to do now," said Lyndsay.
"So I'm guessing that you don't have a plan?" asked Ryan.
"How can we have a plan, Ryan? We don't have any other pieces of evidence to give us another suspect. We've hit a dead end..." Lyndsay's voice got higher and louder. "Another stinking dead end!" She walked out the front door and quickly climbed into the back of the truck.
The boys looked at each other with bummed expressions as they slowly walked outside to climb into the vehicle. Troy was in the driver's seat, and Ryan was in the passenger seat.
"So I guess that we're going home now?" asked Troy. There was silence. "Okay..." he mumbled.
Troy put the gear into reverse, backed out of the parking lot, and headed on the road to Lyndsay's house first. No one said a word during the whole ride.
Troy pulled up in front of the Schafer household. "Thank you...," said Lyndsay. She grabbed her bag, climbed out of the truck, and walked through the front door. Lyndsay waved at the guys as they drove off. Once she was inside, she closed the door behind her. She sighed and hurried up the staircase until she tripped on a step and the papers fell out of her bag.
"Seriously...," she mumbled as she sat down on the stairs. She proceeded to pick up her paperwork until she froze. Lyndsay discovered an important note. Her eyes widened up, and her mouth dropped.
"Oh my gosh....I can't believe that we totally missed this." Lyndsay looked up at the door. "Oh no..." She frantically shoved her paperwork down in her bag and scurried out the front door.
She was outside, saw Troy's truck half way down the road, and immediately began to run down the sidewalk after the vehicle-screaming their names. "Troy! Ryan!...," she called.
Troy and Ryan were moving down the road when Ryan became concerned. "Bro, do you hear something?" he asked Troy.
"All that I hear is the radio playing. Why?" responded Troy.
Ryan was confused. "It just sounds like that someone is calling my name."
"Sorry, bro. I honestly don't hear anything like that."
"Hmm..." Ryan lowered his eyebrows in confusion. "Oh well..." He looked out the window.
Ryan kept hearing a strange voice. He began to look around for the calling until he became shocked. He looked in the side mirror and saw Lyndsay running after them.
"Troy!...Ryan!...," called Lyndsay, waving her arm in the air for their attention.
"Lyndsay?...," Ryan mumbled with shock.
"Did you say something?" asked Troy.
"Stop the car!"
Troy immediately landed on the brake. Lyndsay caught up to the truck and approached the passenger window as Ryan rolled down the window.
"Lyndsay?...," said Troy surprised.
"What's up?" asked Ryan.
Lyndsay was trying to catch her breath. "We...still...have...another suspect...," she breathed heavily.
"What?" Troy was even more surprised.
"Who?" asked Ryan.
Lyndsay handed Ryan the paper that she found. "Valerie Doyle...she's supposedly a police officer down at the county jail."
Ryan looked at the paper and looked at Troy. They both then looked back at Lyndsay with determination. "Hop in!" encouraged Troy.
Lyndsay smiled, climbed in the back of the truck, and buckled up. Ryan handed her the paper back. They began on the road again to head back to the county jail.
"So tell us about this suspect...," requested Troy.
"Well...," began Lyndsay. "Her profile matches to most of the characteristics and it seems as though she's also a paramedic."
"Paramedic?..." Troy was confused.
"How does her being a paramedic fall into this situation?" wondered Ryan.
"Do you remember when Rachelle's pool was sat on fire, and the paramedics were called onto the scene?" asked Lyndsay.
"Yeah...," said the boys together.
"What does that have to do with anything though?" asked Ryan.
"I remember Rachelle telling me that the paramedic who assisted her was named 'Valerie Doyle'," said Lyndsay. The boys looked at each other with raised eyebrows. "Or that's what she told me; I'm not sure if that's true or not."
"Okay...," muttered Ryan, slightly confused as he looked at Troy then back at Lyndsay. "Let's go find out what she knows."
"I'm in!" cheered Troy, encouragingly. Lyndsay dabbed her head down. Her and the guys headed back down to the jailhouse.
After they passed several blocks, the gang arrived back at the jailhouse. "Excuse me, officer...," said Lyndsay, approaching the front desk. She looked at the name tag. "Officer Bangs? Is one of your police officers named 'Valerie Doyle'?"
The officer took a few seconds to think. "As a matter of fact, yes."
The teens became shocked with happiness.
"Is she available at the moment? We need to ask her a few questions," asked Lyndsay.
"She's actually at lunch right now, but when she gets back, I'll send her to you," answered Officer Bangs. "Here... " He rose up from his seat. "Let me go unlock the available interrogation room."
Lyndsay smiled. "Thank you." Her and the boys followed Officer Bangs down the hall until they came across the available room. Officer Bangs unlocked the door and led the teens inside.
"Y'all can wait in here. As soon as Officer Doyle clocks back in from lunch, I'll escort her in here," informed Officer Bangs.
"Thank you, officer," said Lyndsay as she watched him close the door.
The door closed, and the teens immediately cheered for accomplishment.
"Yes!" cheered Ryan as he striked his arm down with a clenched fist. "We got her now!"
Lyndsay jumped into Ryan's arms. Ryan wrapped his arms around her and lifted her in the air as he spun her around. Troy did a victory dance. He spreaded his legs and used his fists to pretend that he was punching a punching bag.
Lyndsay released the hug from Ryan. "Now Rachelle doesn't have to worry about her going to die," she squealed with excitement.
"Rachelle's safe now," said Troy.
"And do you know why?"
"Because we found the killer!" The group cheered altogether as they did a group high-five.
Seconds later, the door opened. Officer Bangs led Officer Valerie Doyle into the room. Officer Bangs stayed in the room as he shut the door behind him. Valerie entered the room and became surprised to see three teenagers in the room. Lyndsay sat in the chair with the boys on either side of her. Officer Doyle sat down in the chair across from the teens.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Doyle...," greeted Lyndsay. She had her hands clenched on top of the metal table. The teens had looks of determination displayed on their faces.
"What's going on here?" asked Officer Doyle very confused.
"We got you now, you skunkbag!" grunted Troy, pointing his finger at her.
"Excuse me?..." Valerie lowered her eyebrows in more confusion.
"We know what all you did. There's no way that you can deny it," said Ryan.
"What are you talking about? What did I do?"
"Oh don't act like you don't know. You know exactly what we're talking about, so quit the act," hissed Lyndsay.
"What act?" Valerie was confused as she put her opened palms in front of her like she was pleaing for more information.
"We don't have time for this," Ryan mumbled to himself. He slammed a hand down on the table and leaned into Valerie's face. "Why do you want Rachelle Truman dead?"
"Rachelle Truman? Who's that?" asked Valerie.
Ryan stared at her with a dead glare of agitation.
"Oh my god...," muttered Troy as he threw his hands up onto his head and walked around in little circles.
Lyndsay pulled out her folder from her bag. She pulled out the picture of Rachelle and slammed it down on the table in front of Valerie. "This is Rachelle Truman..." She pulled out the picture of Rachelle in her horrible condition in the hospital bed. "And this is how she looks now. In other words, this is what you've done to her."
"Oh my word...," began Valerie. "Sweetie, I didn't even lay a hand on her. How was I suppose to hurt her that much if I didn't even know who she was?"
"You're saying that now because you just got caught," said Ryan.
"No, no, no," began Valerie in a fast pace. "I swear to God that I have never seen her before." Her eyes bulged up as her heart began to beat faster.
Ryan and Lyndsay looked at each other with dissatisfaction as Ryan shook his head.
"Okay...then how do you explain this?" asked Lyndsay. She pulled out a picture with Valerie, as a paramedic, talking to Rachelle. "This occurred after her backyard pool was sat on fire." She pulled out a picture of Rachelle talking to Mrs. Valerie Doyle as a paramedic. "Do you care to explain this then?"
There was silence.
"This photo was taken right after Rachelle's backyard pool was sat on fire," Lyndsay continued.
Valerie began to breathe heavily as she quickly became silent with nothing to say. "That's not me...," she muttered.
Ryan crossed his arms upon his rib cage. "Oh please...," he hissed, expressing a smirk. "We know that it's you, Mrs. Doyle. I mean, we clearly got the picture to prove it."
"In other words, we have proof that you know Rachelle Truman. Now, why do you want her dead?" Troy added.
"I don't know what to tell you kids. I know that that isn't me, because I wasn't even working that day. I was off from my paramedic and police job. I was at home eating dinner with my husband for our anniversary. I swear that I'm telling you kids the truth," explained Valerie.
"How do we really know that you were out with your husband that day?"
"Yeah, can you prove it?" asked Ryan.
Valerie was becoming slightly sarcastic. "Of course I can. I would be happy to."
She pulled out her cellphone, opened up her photo album, and rummaged through all of her photos until she found the one that she was looking for. She blew up the image to fullscreen.
"Here you go...," said Valerie, showing the kids her phone screen. "Proof that I was with my husband. I know that I was with him that day because like I previously said, it was our anniversary. My anniversary gift to him was a grill, so that he could cook outside. This picture shows him kissing me after he opened his present. Is that enough proof for you?"
Lyndsay, who's holding the cellphone in her hands with the boys looking over her shoulders, flashed her eyes to Troy and then to Ryan with blanklessness.
Lyndsay looked at the photo. "Well...," she began, slightly disappointed. "This most definitely proves that you were with your husband that day. I'm glad that he liked his gift." She handed the phone back to Officer Doyle. "How many years?"
"20," answered Valerie as she grabbed her phone back from Lyndsay.
"Wow! Congratulations!"
"Thank you." Valerie half smiled as she slid her phone back into her pocket.
Lyndsay sighed with a full expression of disappointment. Ryan and Troy became dissatisfied.
"Well...," began Lyndsay as she looked down on the table. "I guess that we'll just pack up our stuff, and then we'll be out of your hair. I'm sorry for all of the confusion."
"It's alright, sweetie. You're just doing your job," said Valerie, smiling with encouragement.
"Hold on just a minute," demanded Officer Bangs. Everybody quickly stopped what they were doing. "There's something that I'd like for you to see. Please come with me," he said to Officer Doyle. He led Valerie, with the teens in tow, to the front desk to show her the security cameras. He pulled up the footage from the day that Bruce Kenzington was shot in his cell.
"I want you to watch this piece of footage and tell me what you think," Officer Bangs insisted as he played the footage.
Valerie Doyle, with the teens behind her, watched a police officer shoot the prisoner. The officer in the footage turned around, and Mrs. Doyle saw the officer's name tag with "V. Doyle" engraved on it. Valerie's eyes quickly became shocked with speechlessness.
"Do you care to tell me what you just saw...," began Officer Bangs. His voice got lower. "'Officer Doyle'?"
Valerie didn't say a word.
"Apparently, you shot one of our prisoners who goes by the name, 'Bruce Kenzington'," he continued.
"He was one of our main suspects in our case," informed Ryan.
"You were the one who shot him!" crieds Lyndsay.
Valerie didn't know what to say. Her mouth dropped open, but there wasn't any words coming out. "I swear, sir. I didn't do that. I would never shoot one of our prisoners unless I was instructed to do so. I didn't even work around that time. I was already off the clock by 2:00pm," she explained, shakingly.
"Then how do you explain this? Unless you were sleep walking, then it's clearly you on that screen," said Officer Bangs.
Valerie didn't say anything.
"Is there another 'Valerie Doyle' that works here?" he continued, becoming agitated.
"Sir, you have to believe me. I did not do it. I swear to God that it wasn't me!" Valerie pleaded.
Officer Bangs shook his head. "Officer Doyle, you're under arrest for the murder of Bruce Kenzington." He turned her around and proceeded to handcuff her.
The teens looked at each other with shock and confusion.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can, and will, be used against you in the court of law," continued Officer Bangs as he began to walk her down the hall.
"Wow!...," mumbled Ryan. Him, Troy, and Lyndsay were all shocked as they watched the two officers walk down the hallway.
"Well...we know that she's not trying to kill Rachelle," informed Lyndsay.
"How do you know that?" asked Troy.
"Yeah. She could've just used that story to cover up her real alibi," suggested Ryan.
"You two saw the photo. It was a legitimate photo which showed evidence that she was obviously with her husband for their anniversary," said Lyndsay.
"Oh...," muttered Troy.
"And besides, she had black hair, brown eyes, and was right-handed."
"So?"
"Our suspect has blonde hair, blue eyes, a white-tip manicure, and is left-handed."
The boys nodded their heads so they that understood her.
"Well now what? We went through all three of our suspects, and we didn't get anywhere," said Ryan.
"I'll go back home and look through all of my paperwork to see if I missed something. Maybe I'll be able to find something that will move us forward in the case," suggested Lyndsay. The boys nodded their heads in agreement.
The teens began to walk down the hallway and exit the building until Lyndsay got a phone call. "Hello?" greeted Lyndsay as she answered the phone call.
"Excuse me, Ms. Schafer. This is Dr. Baxter. I'm calling you for concerns regarding your friend, Rachelle," answered the person on the other line.
"Yes?"
"Your friend has been doing great during her recovery, and we feel as though it's time that she can spend the rest of her recovery process back at home."
"Really? That's awesome! Thank you, doctor! We'll be right there to pick her up." Lyndsay instantly began to tear up of happiness as she hung up the phone.
"What is it?" asked the boys, becoming concerned.
Lyndsay was crying with joy. "Rachelle gets to go home! They're going to release her today!"
"That's awesome!" cheered Ryan as he picked Lyndsay up and spun her around. He soon released her from his arms.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go get her and get her settled up at her house," encouraged Troy. The teens jumped with joy and hurried up to climb into the truck.
As soon as they arrived at the hospital, they saw Rachelle sitting in a wheelchair. The nurse rolled her outside. Ryan and Lyndsay helped Rachelle into the passenger seat of the car, and they all headed onto the Truman household.
When they arrived, Troy pulled the truck into the driveway. He grabbed the house key from Rachelle and opened the door. Lyndsay and Ryan helped Rachelle out of the truck and up the stairs to her bedroom. They finally got her all situated onto her bed.
"Man it feels so good to be back home in my own bed...," began Rachelle. She sat against the pillow after they were propped up. "Especially after being in the hospital for so many days."
Lyndsay squeezed Rachelle with a big bear hug. "I'm so happy that you got to come home.'
"And I'm happy that you recovered faster than we thought," Ryan added.
Troy slowly approached the bed. "Rachelle?...," he mumbled anxiously.
"Troy...I'm surprised to see you here...in my bedroom...," responded Rachelle.
"Why are you surprised?" Troy was slightly confused. "I grabbed your house key from you in order to open the front door to your house."
"Oh yeah...then what are you still doing here?"
There was silence.
Rachelle stared at Troy with an unattractive smirk. Lyndsay and Ryan looked at Troy with expressions of sympathy. Troy looked at them with a look of shock.
"Well then...I guess that I'll just leave then...," smirked Troy. He exited the room.
"Uh...," said Ryan. His mouth dropped with his finger pointing to Troy as he walked out while staring at Lyndsay. Lyndsay's mouth dropped as she looked at Ryan. "Dude, Troy! You're our ride home!" Ryan ran down the staircase after Troy.
Lyndsay hugged Rachelle. "Bye, Ray! We'll see you tomorrow. Call us if you need us." She rushed down the staircase after the boys.
Eventually, Lyndsay caught up to Troy before he backed out of the driveway. "Seriously guys...y'all were just going to leave without me?" she snarled as she climbed into the back of the truck.
"Sorry, Lyndsay...," said Ryan.
Troy didn't say a word. Lyndsay looked at him with disappointment. "Whatever...let's just go home...," she mumbled softly.
After passing a few blocks, the truck pulled in front of the Schafer household. Lyndsay slid out of the vehicle and entered through the front door of her house.
"Hi, honey!" called Mrs. Schafer from the kitchen. "Dinner will be ready in half an hour."
"I'm not hungry. Thank you, though," said Lyndsay, walking up the staircase to her bedroom.
She entered her room, sat down on her bed, and removed her shoes. She placed her shoots down on the floor beside her bed. She then rose up from her bed and began to head to her closet until she tripped over something. She landed on the floor.
"What the-?" mumbled Lyndsay as she leaned up to see what she had tripped over. She noticed the evidence bag with Ms. Jensen's laptop in it.
Lyndsay picked up the bag from the floor and rapidly saw a sticky note fall from the opening of the bag. She sat the evidence bag on her bed, squatted down on one knee, and picked up the sticky note. She read what the sticky note said. "Trevor Kent: 402-339-9182. Who's Trevor Kent?" she muttered with confusion.
YOU ARE READING
Invisible Killer
Mystery / ThrillerStrange things have been happening in Lincoln, Nebraska; Stranger things have been happening to Rachelle Truman, unexplainable things. When the gang finds out that Zack Allen dies in prison, they begin to wonder if his spirit has come back to haunt...
