Page 73 of I Despise You
Chapter 28
WHEN CHASE ASKS FORmy help, I agree to do it, so he invites me to the library. Once I get there, I spot him at one of the computers at the end of the room.
“Hey,” I say as I take a seat next to him.
“Hey. Thanks for coming.” He gives me a small smile.
I notice the video on the screen. “What’s that?”
“I got my hands on the footage from the club where Kayla and I were partying on the night of her death. I don’t know if my father found a way to watch my laptop, so I thought it’s safer to use the school computer. I already disconnected it from the internet, just in case, and made sure no one else in the school has access to it. I don’t know if this even matters because everything happened after we left the club, but maybe there’s some clue or something.”
“Okay. But how did you get the footage? Wouldn’t your father make sure no one can get it if there’s something important about it?”
“Maybe he didn’t think that far, or he stopped the cops from even investigating anything, so he didn’t think it mattered.”
I furrow my brow. “But if he stopped the investigation just like that, does that mean he knows the truth or he just assumed you’re guilty?”
“I suspect he thinks I’m guilty, or all of it is just so normal to him that he doesn’t care as long as no one finds out about it.”
Wow, his father is a psychopath. I don’t have any other explanation. He probably hasn’t even bothered to find out the truth because he doesn’t think something like that can matter to his son.
“That’s just crazy,” I say.
“Yeah. Can you look over the footage with me and tell me if you see anything suspicious? Or maybe Kayla taking something or someone slipping something in her drink.”
“Sure, but I don’t know what she looks like.” I don’t think I remember seeing any photos of her.
“Right. Sorry.” He clicks open a folder and brings up a screenshot image from the video he’s been watching. “This is her.” He points his finger at the dark-haired girl.
“Okay. Play the video.”
He presses the play button, and I squint at the screen because the footage is grainy and terrible quality. I can barely make out Chase and Kayla, and a weird sensation shoots through me when I see her with her arms around him. Seeing Chase dance with someone else like that makes me feel weird, and I know it shouldn’t. It’s not like I won’t see him with other girls eventually. We’re not together anymore.
“I haven’t watched the whole thing yet,” he says. “I think I might have returned to the party at one point, but I’m not sure.”
“Um, when do you think she died? I mean, how long she’d been dead before you found her?”
“I don’t know. No one ever told me. But she was cold when I touched her.”
I’m investigating a murder with my ex-boyfriend who may be the murderer. The sheer craziness of the situation hits me all at once, but I do my best to ignore it. It’s Chase we’re talking about, and he’s not a serial killer. I don’t know what I’ll do if it turns out he did kill Kayla or how I feel, and I guess that, deep down, I don’t think he did it, but I don’t have any evidence for that claim. I keep telling myself it’ll be easier to cut all contact with him if it turns out he’s guilty, but I have no clue how I’ll feel if that happens.
“Wait.” I lift my finger, frowning at the screen. “Did you see that?”
“See what?”
“It’s like the screen flickered. I think we already watched this part.”
He pauses the video and goes back to the moment the screen flickered.
“Here!” I say.
He plays the video, and yep, it’s like someone cut the original and pasted the copy of the previous scene.
Chase mumbles a curse under his breath.
“Do you think your father did this?” I ask.
“Probably.”
