As Evil As Murder

09 | Red Stilettos

"It's absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either tedious or charming."
-Oscar Wilde
_____________

One week later.

"Stop knocking, I'm coming!" I yelled, but the knocking just grew louder.

I fastened my pace and wrenched the door open. There stood Rex, and I almost didn't recognize him because he wasn't wearing his uniform. He put up his hand in an awkward wave.

I didn't say or do anything but determinedly closed the door at his face.

"Oh, come on!" He said from the other side, "We are not even dating and you are already ghosting me."

I chuckled a bit and reopened the door, this time more slowly than the last.

"I wasn't ghosting you," I said with a shrug and he took out his cell.
He pulled up call logs and shoved it in my face.

"57 rejected calls over the last two days and 21 unread messages," he said sternly. "I don't know about you but that counts as ghosting for me."

"Okay, fine." I put my hands up in a small surrender-like gesture and he put the phone back in his pocket. "You got me. I was ignoring you. But I did it for a very good reason."

"Which is?"

"Which is that I want nothing to do with this case." I opened the door fully but didn't invite him in. Instead, I talked to him as if he was an annoying salesperson and not my high school friend.

"Why is that?" He asked, his eyebrows raising.

"Because I don't," I said simply and scratched the top of my messy hair. That small action seemed to make him observe my appearance more closely. His eyes fell from my haystack-like hair to my pajamas and purple sweatshirt.

"You look..." He started uncertainly and hesitated to find the correct word. "Comfy."

"What do you want?" I asked sharply, trying hard not to close the door again.

"For a start, how about an explanation?" He put his hands in his pockets and stared at me. "What happened? You look like you haven't been out of the house for a week."

"That's because I haven't, okay? I called the university, told them I caught flu-"

"Well did you?" He cocked his head to one side with an amused grin.

"That's - none of your business. Bottom line, no I do want to help you or the cops track down missing bodies or a serial killer or whatever, I just-" I would have ranted on if he didn't stop me right then.

"What's going on, Charlotte?" He asked in his cut-the-bullcrap tone. I took a deep breath in.

"You want me to spell it out?" I asked, letting out a humorless laugh. "Okay fine, I'm scared. I don't know how people on Netflix do it, but I am scared to even think that something I did cost many kids' lives. It was the final straw for me when I heard about Heath."

"Heath?" He seemed startled and then knotted his hands in front of his chest. "That's why you were holed up here? Because you think Heath's murder has got something to do with you?"

"Of course it does!" It was my turn to be startled. "I was the last person he talked to. And he kept saying that he knew things. Dangerous things-"

"Can I talk please?" Rex interrupted calmly. I grunted a yes. "Heath's death has nothing to do with you-"

"But-"

"Hear me out." He said firmly and I shut up. "Look, you're right. Heath did know things. I have a strong belief that's what got him killed too. We don't know who killed him yet, but it's not the same person who asked these kids to jump off from buildings."