The four friends who'd gone to Majorica's sleepover, along with Jason, all ditched school that day. They spent the day at Jason's house, discussing what had happened. Jason had heard everything with a grave face, but he didn't comment.
"I don't think anyone present there did it," Alyssa said as they lay sprawled in Jason's bedroom at around mid-day. He looked at her sharply. His black pupils were dilated and his hair was even more messed up than usual. He seemed worried, extremely so for some reason. And to say the truth, Alyssa thought that Jason was behaving quite oddly. He was unusually jumpy and whenever someone called his name, he would either not reply, or snap.
Did he have a strong suspect, then? Or a bad past like hers? Alyssa didn't let herself consider the alternative. Jason Rios wouldn't sneak into Majorica and Tanya's house and ... No, he wouldn't, would he?
Alyssa really couldn't say.
After lunch, the phone-calls from her friends had started coming in again, but not a word from wither Brodey or Jennifer. Surely Brodey already knew... She decided that it was high time she called him, herself.
Alyssa excused herself and went out of the room. She wandered about the corridors, calling Brodey. Once, twice ... he didn't pick up. During the third call, he finally did. His voice was weary as he yawned his "Hi, Liz. I'm kinda sleepy right now. Can I call you later?"
An ugly feeling settled itself in her guts. "Wait, Brodey. Are you trying to ignore me?!"
"No!" he said. Too fast, and too clearly. "No. Why would I ignore you?"
Alyssa shrugged, though he couldn't see her. "I don't know. Maybe just like your 'boss', you believe that I might be the murderer," she said, her voice bitter. She was hurt. She knew she was over-reacting, but it was so hard to bear all this!
She wished she'd stayed cooped up and broken in Winchestor rather than come to Mel's Town.
"No!" he said, gruffly, sounding sincere. "I trust you, okay?"
Alyssa breathed deeply onto her phone. "You...trust me?"
Just hearing Brodey say those words meant a lot to her. "You don't think I'm mentally unstable or something?" she whispered. Even she could read the pathetic tone of her voice, begging Brodey to say 'no'. Begging him to say that he believed in her.
Brodey remained silent for a very long time. "What's wrong with you, Alyssa? You were always such a strong girl. You were doing to good. What happened?"
"Don't act like a murder is nothing, Brodey," she said, her voice turning cold. Was she losing her friend? Was his being a detective, was his professionalism damaging their bond? No! Alyssa couldn't lose her friend too.
"Tell me one thing, Brodey. You could've come down here with Mr. Moyer today. Why didn't you?" Brodey had always been the kind of curious cat who would participate and poke into everything possible. And going by his personality, he would've asked Mr. Moyer to let him accompany.
"You didn't want me there," he whispered back helplessly.
So, he didn't come because she'd asked him to stay there - because she didn't want him to remind her of the past? But she was getting the memories back. She wished she hadn't made that request to him. She had lost her family, she couldn't lose her friends too.
"I do want to see you," she aid, her voice soft and meek.
"Really?" his voice was a mixture of shock, happiness and sadness. She could almost imagine his round eyes, hopeful face.
"Yes, really."
"I'll break the record of six hours, I swear! I'll be there by 5 PM. Just make sure you have your phone on you." His voice was delightful, and Alyssa herself couldn't help the bubbling laughter rising in her throat. She was going to meet him again!
"What about Jen?" she asked.
"Oh, she's in some camp. She'll be so jealous when she's back. Now, I got to go. See you!"
Alyssa could almost feel another smile creeping into her lips.
***
Damn. She was lost with no idea where she should go. Jason's house was a maze of rooms and floors and she wasn't even sure which floor she was in. Alyssa entered a random room, and by whatever luck she had, or didn't have...
She found herself in a medium sized room. With tables and shelves full of stacks of music albums, ranging from the oldest to the latest. One of the tables were stacked with them, too. Country music, Pop, Rock, Metal and many more - from Elvis Presley to Taylor Swift.
In one corner of the room, there was a recorder and a mic, along with a record player. There was a piano and five guitars of both types. There was also a computer in one corner for sound manipulations.
This room was heaven for a music lover. Alyssa was awestruck. She hadn't known Jason was such a big music fan. A singer, too. No wonder he'd suddenly shown an interest that day in the coffee shop. No wonder Parker had made that comment about a duet...
Then she remembered, almost half the times, he would have an earphone plugged into his ears.
She hadn't seen this view of him before, but she must say, she rather liked that view.