Chapter 14 | Murder

Katherine's POV

The building beckoned for me to enter, it was as if it had sensed what I had came to here to do. I heard the roar of Melanie's car quickly approaching behind the brush, startling me away from my thoughts. The cool air brushed passed me, and in the distance I could hear the slam of Melanie's car door. I impatiently listened to the sound of leaves crushing beneath her feet as she walked towards me, my heart beating so loud I thought it would burst out of my chest.

"What are we doing here again? I promised Callie I would meet her at her apartment, she's at the station today giving her statement. She's so fragile right now, I hope they're easy on her," her voice trembled from the brisk cold air. Her cheeks were flushed red, and she was hunched up. Going by how she presented herself, you would've believed it was below freezing.

"I just need to talk to him," I lied, "Alone. I need to talk to him alone."

She began shaking her head rapidly, "That's not possible, I'm sorry. I'm already in way too deep just for involving you, I can't leave the two of you alone. What would Callie think?"

I started for the building ignoring Melanie's slight manuscript, "That's my husband. At the end of the day, Callie or no Callie, he is still my husband. I understand she's angry, but he is still my husband. Now you're going to let me have a few minutes alone with him, without her here, or I will tell the police. I'll make sure every single one of you is rotting behind bars. You can either help me, and be my friend, or you can side with Callie. Which is it going to be, Melanie?"

I watched Melanie sway from left to right, mentally deliberating the ultimatum I was giving her.

"Ten minutes," she reluctantly agreed, "That's all I'm giving you."

I flashed her a hundred watt smile, "Ten minutes is all I need."

∞∞∞

Callie's POV

The stench of rotting and burning flesh filled the room long after Stefan's body had stopped smoking from the mouth. His lifeless body sat there, his skin cooked to a crisp. Katherine stayed huddled over in the corner in constant sobs, hugging herself and slowly swaying back and forth. My only reaction was to pace the room, and ponder on the mess that had been made.

It was never supposed to get this far. We were supposed to scare the brakes off of him, rattle him up, but the motive was never to kill him. I didn't understand what had went wrong.

I approached Katherine cautiously terrified of her mental state, and her physical capability. The tips of her fingers were blackened by soot, a clear sign she was the one responsible for Stefan's state.

I towered over her examining her completely. Her hair was drenched from sweat, eyes puffy from tears, and her body was covered in black smudges. "Katherine, I need you to talk to me. Tell me what happened, let me help you," I knelt beside her, trying to console her enough to make her speak.

Her entire body trembled uncontrollably but she wasn't freezing to the touch or crying, Katherine was in a state of deep shock for reasons unknown.

I untied Stefan's legs from the metal chair, his body was stiffened completely and flies had already taken over on every amount of revealing skin. His once buttoned up blue dress shirt was now tattered to pieces, and the stakes that were in his legs were now connected to electrical clamps. The car battery that was once in another section of the room now laid by the counter top, the other end of the cables laid right beside it. The horror that played out in this room was laid out right in front of me, making me sick to my stomach.

Outside Melanie and Chad hadn't budged an inch. She was still staring off into the shrubs while Chad's face was held up by the palms of his hands.

"I need some help," I pleaded with them, wanting them to shower me with any sign of life left in them.

Melanie reluctantly turned to face towards me, "She asked me for ten minutes, I gave her ten minutes. This is all my fault."

Her eyes were peering at me searching for forgiveness, though I had fed her no resentment.

I knelt beside her and wrapped her in an embrace, rubbing her back soothingly. "This is not your fault, there is no way you could've known what was going on in her sick head," one of my hands found Chad's trembling shoulder keeping the other placed firmly on Melanie's back, "But I need your help. I need to know what happened, and I need to know now. We've got a bigger mess now than what we have planned. We need to get our shit together, otherwise we're all rotting for this."

Chad's eyes slowly peered at me from their resting place on the ground, "No matter what I do, I'm going down. I murdered someone too, I'm in the same boat as she is."

The thoughts of Benji's murder made their way back to the top of my mind after being locked away in the back. The amount of worry was evident on Chad's face, which had begun wrinkling on his forehead and chin.

I brought his head into my chest and felt him as he let the tears escape from his eyes, "I'm going to figure this out, I promise."

Just as everything had fallen into place, it was now ripped to shreds. Melanie had invited Katherine in, , with good intentions if anything, and in the matter of minutes Katherine had swooped in and destroyed the plan.

Her motive was unknown, but the evidence was spread across the floors in the basement. Evidence that I couldn't leave behind. There were now two dead bodies, another reason for the police to keep digging. At least with Stefan alive, he was an option in Benji's death. Another suspect they could have considered. Now, with Stefan dead, the eyes are narrowed on anyone who was close to Stefan. Nobody was truthfully innocent.

In the end, everyone was out for blood.