Adventures In Murder Chasing (Funeral Crashing #3) (12 page)

"Sorry about that," Kyle said as he turned the corner, "My mom was just excited to meet all of you."

"She was nice," I said.

Ethan and Suzie echoed my comment. Kyle nodded.

"So, what's the plan?" Ariel asked from behind me, changing the conversation topic.

I had been thinking about it all night. We pretty much had about eight hours to investigate and see if Nico's death wasn't a random accident. I wasn't sure what we would do with the information if we found anything out. Normally, Ethan and I would go and talk to Detective Dixon, but Landale College was in the city and so not in his jurisdiction. Maybe we'd call in a tip? We'd have to cross that bridge if we came to it. I'd be up for seriously investigating, but as Ethan kept reminding me, that was dangerous. Plus, I had to go to school and work and deal with my own life. Besides, we couldn't take unlimited college days either, especially not to the same college.

I turned in my seat, so that I could see everyone, "Well, this is how I think it should go down. Kyle and Suzie, you guys are going to explore the school because I know you guys are actually checking it out. While you're doing that, ask people about what happened. Say you heard someone died. Maybe there are some rumors going around or something? And make sure to get us some extra college brochures too in case we need proof we were there. And then the rest of us are going to start with Nico's roommate, Tim Morris."

"All four of us are going to see Tim?" Troy asked. "Won't that come off a little weird that I'm bringing three friends with me? Maybe just you and I should go."

"No!" Ariel and Ethan both said simultaneously.

I looked between them and back at Troy and shrugged. I mean, did Ethan and Ariel still really think that there was something going on between Troy and me? We had both invited our significant others along on this road trip. It was so totally ridiculous and it was getting even more ridiculous because they kept insinuating it when nothing was going on between Troy and me at all. Seriously, though, Troy liked Ariel and I totally like liked Ethan and maybe even more than that. I knew it bothered Ethan about me having gone on that date with Troy once and that he had almost kissed me, but I was in the throes of a murder investigation when that happened, you know? Besides, Ethan and I hadn't been together then. I mean, I had liked him, but I in no way thought he'd ever return my feelings. I was so glad that I had been wrong about that.

Still, because Ethan was obviously uncomfortable with Troy and I being alone together, I wasn't going to make him deal with it. I remembered all too well of once being jealous of any attentions Ethan paid to Ariel. It was no fun. If Ethan felt that way about Troy and me, I didn't want to egg it on. Truthfully, I was kind of flattered. It meant that Ethan really like liked me if he was jealous that another guy might be after me. Right? I mean, I never thought of myself as a girl who could have one guy interested in her, much less two. Although, Troy like liking me was totally ridiculous. He had Ariel on his arm. Like I had told Ethan, what guy would choose me over her? Well, besides Ethan of course.

"We'll all go together," I said. "Besides, I might need some of you to distract Tim so we can get a good look around that room."

We got to Landale College a little after eleven. Besides stalking Troy that one time at Laurel Community College when we were investigating a murder, I had never been on a real college campus. I'll admit that it was kind of exciting. Students were everywhere. It was a warm fall day, unlike the day before, and people were sitting out on the main lawn. There were tons of people walking to classes. College seemed way cooler than high school, actually. I couldn't wait to go to college. Well, as long as college didn't break Ethan and I up.

Kyle drove down the main drive and a guard at the entrance directed us to park in a nearby parking garage on the fourth floor in a visitor spot. It took us a few minutes, but we found a spot and parked. I scrambled out of the car and stretched. An hour ride into the city wasn't that bad, but I had gotten car sleepy. We had spent the last half hour listening to the radio and I had been reluctantly drifting off to sleep. It was probably because I had stayed up late getting ready for the college day. I was doing stuff like looking at the Landale College website and getting a lay of the land, as well as figuring out an action plan for the day ahead.

"So, we're going to try and catch the eleven thirty campus tour," Kyle said, looking at his phone for the time. "We need to run. Meet you guys for lunch around one, one-thirty?"

"Sure," I said. "We'll text if we're running late."

Kyle and Suzie walked off toward the center of campus. Kyle had obviously done his campus research too. I kind of wished I was going with them and on the campus tour. It sounded kind of fun. Another time, maybe, when I was actually looking at a school to go to college. Not that I wouldn't go to Landale. It looked nice. It just seemed so far away. I knew that it wasn't really all that far away, of course. It was only a little over an hour from my house. I guess I still wasn't sure about a lot of things related to college, though. I mean, where did I want to go to college? What was I going to study? Did I want to live on campus or at home? It was a lot to think about. I had other things to think about first, like Nico's murder investigation.

"You guys ready to talk to Tim?" I asked Ethan, Troy, and Ariel.

I didn't wait for an answer. I already knew where we were walking to and headed off in that direction. Ethan grabbed my hand and walked next to me. Troy and Ariel followed.

Nico and his roommate shared an on-campus apartment and the only security was a card swipe lock. We tried calling Nico, but nobody answered the phone. I wondered if he wasn't home. We'd have to wait for him if he wasn't, but we were lucky. The second person to walk by, let us in. Technically, that wasn't very secure if you thought about it. It also meant that anybody could have gotten up to Nico's room to kill him. Still, I was glad that there wasn't a security guard. It was one less hassle for us.

We found the room within minutes using the address Troy had provided us. There was loud rock music thumping through the walls. It was no wonder that Tim hadn't answered the phone. The music was super loud.

Troy knocked loudly on Nico's old dorm room door. We all stood behind him watching.

"Is this guy deaf or something?" Troy asked nobody in particular.

Troy knocked again. The rock music thumped on. At least we knew that Tim had to be home or in any case, there was someone in the apartment. They either didn't hear the knocking or weren't answering the door. Troy knocked again, even louder, banging on the door like he was trying to bring it down with his fists.

"Ow," Troy said after the last pound and turned to look at us, throwing up his arms in an I give up gesture. "So, Kait, what do you want to do now?"

That was when the door to the apartment opened a crack and an Asian girl with short black hair peeked out at us.

"Tim isn't here," She said, looking at all of us suspiciously.

"Is he going to be back soon?" Troy asked.

"He's in class," She said.

"Can we wait?" Troy asked. "I'm a friend of Nico's and..."

The girl shut the door in Troy's face. We heard the deadbolt lock.

"Ooookay," Troy said, surprised at the door being slammed in his face. My guess was that most girls did not slam the door in Troy's face. He was pretty cute.

"That was weird," I said, staring at the closed door. What did we do now?

"It definitely wasn't nice," Ethan grinned. I think he was happy about it, though.

"Understatement," Ariel quipped.

Troy was still staring at the door, "What was her problem?"

"Knock again," Ethan said.

"What?" Troy frowned at Ethan. "She just slammed the door in our faces, well, my face technically, but come on, I doubt she'll open it again."

"Let me try," Ethan said.

"Go for it," Troy stepped back and away from the door and then said simply, "Have fun."

Ethan frowned at Troy, but then turned and knocked softly on the door, "Miss? Miss? Please open the door. We need to speak with you."

The door opened a crack and the Asian girl looked out suspiciously, "Go away."

Ethan started talking rapidly, "Look, we're not trying to scare you. We're not reporters or police or anything if you're worried about that. We just wanted to talk to Tim about Nico. We're friends of his. It would mean a lot to us and..."

The Asian girl slammed the door in Ethan's face. He stared at it dumbfounded. I heard Ariel suppress a giggle. Troy was smirking.

"That worked well," Troy said.

Ethan ignored him and instead turned to look at me, "So, where do we want to camp out and wait for Tim?"

"Actually," I said. "I think we should see if any of the neighbors are home. Maybe one of them heard or saw something that day."

Ethan nodded. "That's a good idea."

"Ariel and I will take that one," Troy offered. Ariel didn't seem to care one way or another. She was texting someone.

"Okay," I said. "Then we'll take this one."

With that, Ethan and I walked toward the right side neighbors and Troy and Ariel walked to the left. I knocked this time. A guy answered the door in a towel. His dark hair was plastered to his head, he was all wet, and I couldn't help but think that he was pretty hot. Maybe it was the toned abs. Of course, my boyfriend was standing just behind me and um, yeah, this was embarrassing. I tried not to look shocked. I also tried not to look at anything. I stared up at the guy's face as hard as I could. I wondered what Ethan was thinking. He didn't say anything. He was probably just as shocked.

"You're not the pizza guy," Towel Guy said.

"Sorry," I said. "I actually just had a quick question. Sorry if I interrupted your shower. Uh..."

"What do you want?" Towel Guy said.

"Well, I know that a guy died next door to you," I started.

"Nico?" Towel Guy asked.

"Yeah," I said. "Did you hear anything that day?"

"Are you a cop or something?" Towel Guy asked.

"Do I look old enough to be a cop?" I asked him in return.

He looked at me.

"I'm just a friend of Nico's trying to understand what happened," I said.

Towel Guy shrugged. I was slightly afraid his towel would come off, but he didn't seem to notice. I was trying my hardest not to look at Ethan. He was awfully quiet.

"I was here that day. I heard a crash, but you know, that's pretty much it. Nothing else," Towel Guy said.

"No voices? Like someone was in the room with him or anything?" I asked.

"No," Towel Guy said. "I was listening to music, though. I wasn't paying attention."

"So, just a crash?" I asked. "But you didn't go look?"

Towel Guy shrugged again. I wished he'd stop doing that. "No. People make loud noises around here all the time. I had no idea he was actually hurt. I only found that out later after his roommate came home and found him. He started yelling and everyone came out to see what was going on."

"You're sure his roommate came home and found him?" I asked.

"Well, that's what he said," Towel Guy said. "And he was yelling for an ambulance. Are you sure you're not a cop?"

"No, I'm not a cop," I said again. "I just don't understand what happened."

"A horrible accident. They came in and checked my bookshelf yesterday," Towel Guy said.

"Alright," I said. "Thanks."

"Anytime," Towel Guy said and winked at me before he shut the door.

I turned to Ethan. Yeah, he did not look happy.

"That was...different," I offered.

Ethan raised his eyebrows, "You could say that."

"I noticed you didn't say anything," I said.

"He, uh, seemed to be way interested in talking to you," Ethan said. "I thought if I said anything he might clam up."

"Why?" I asked.

"You didn't notice that he was hitting on you?" Ethan asked.

"What?" I said. "No way."

"He definitely was," Ethan said. "See, you are hot."

I smiled and hit him playfully on the arm. I was bad at compliments.

"Thanks," I said. "I still don't think he was hitting on me. He was in a towel. How can you hit on a girl while wearing a towel?"

Ethan smirked. I hit him playfully on the arm again. Now I was wondering what he'd look like in only a towel. Sigh. I kissed Ethan on the cheek.

"What was that for?" Ethan asked.

"For being you," I said.

Then Ethan kissed me full on the lips. We made out for a second. I'll admit it. I also really, really wanted to see him in just a towel. I kissed him harder. He pulled me tighter and kissed me back. I lov...okay, like liked Ethan a whole lot.

Troy and Ariel were already waiting for us back in front of Tim's door. Ariel was texting again. Troy was just watching Ethan and I. I felt a little embarrassed. I wondered if they had seen Ethan and I making out. Ethan's hand was in mine. I guess it didn't really matter, although I knew my cheeks were burning pink.