Who Killed Sarah Foster?

10. How's Life Treating You?

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George Wayne was in his office. As much as he wanted to take a break and be there for his little girl, he couldn't as he had an important conference which required him to be there for it and it wasn't something he could miss or postpone. He did get an earful from his wife and mother for the same. His mother was being the paranoid grandmother she was as usual, worrying more than necessary about her grandchild's well-being.

She talked as if the grief of losing a friend would physically harm Leah and she will die or something. He was not going to lie, he was scared out of his wits when he was contacted, being informed that she had collapsed and was hospitalized, but she was fine now and his mother did not need to worry.

Linda closed the front door behind her and was removing her coat when she heard a thud upstairs.

She froze in place, a sudden fear bubbling in her chest. What was that?

She quickly grabbed her taser from her bag and tiptoed upstairs. She didn't know from where the voice came from so, she first went to check on her and her husband's room but couldn't find anyone or anything in there.

She then turned to her daughter's room, tiptoeing over, stepping around that one creaking floorboard so as to not alert anyone who might have been in there – if anyone was in there.

She quickly pushed the door open, aiming her taser but was surprised to find the neighborhood cat looking up at her, equally surprised. One of her daughter's scented candles lay on the floor next to it, which could be the cause of the thud she had heard earlier.

Linda sighed. She had always told her kid not to get too friendly with the stray cat but it was evident that she hadn't listened. Linda let the cat be. If it made her daughter happy, that was all she needed.

She turned around to leave the room but stopped, turning back around. The food bowl was full, as if it had been recently filled. But how was that possible? Leah had left for school in the morning.

Maybe she was thinking too much into it. She might have refilled it after feeding the cat in the morning and it knew when its meals are. That could be it.

But why would Leah refill in advance? She was supposed to be home by this time if what had happened hadn't happened.

Maybe she had plans with that boy, Sarah Foster's brother. And they might have stumbled over the corpse then. Yeah, that was exactly what the boy had told the cops.

Were they wrong about their daughter being a social outcast? Did she have a secret social life?

Linda smiled. Again, she was happy as long as her daughter was.

So still lost in her own ignorant bliss, Linda went out to pack some goodies for her child and mother before she came back to pack her stuff.

All the while, her dead son watched her, happy that she was happy and sad that he didn't have a part in her happiness anymore. He took the wrong step and now, every time his mother and father thought of him, they will only feel sorrow and grief.

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"EEEEEE MY FAVORITE HUMAN!!!" Vanessa Claire was jumping on the patio along with her four huskies Almond, Biscuit, Coco and Donut as Linda pulled over at her driveway, laughing at her mother's energy.

"My precious little princess!" She hopped to the passenger's side and had her arms held out for Leah as she stepped out of the car, straight into her hug.

"I MISSED YOU MUNCHKIN!!" She hugged her tight and rocked both of them while Leah laughed out loud, feeling like herself already. "I missed you too Grandma."

"Oh please, call me Nelly." She flipped her hair. "I look no older than you anyway."

Linda rolled her eyes while Leah laughed. Vanessa pulled her grandchild in and briefly turned to her daughter. "Chauffeur, get the bags from the trunk and keep them in her room."

"Mom!" Linda gave her mother an unbelieving look while the two other ladies laughed, making their way into the cabin followed by their canine army.

"So, tell me everything. How's life treating you?" Vanessa asked as she sat down on her favorite creaking couch.

"I am taking a break from it actually. Don't wanna talk about it." She shrugged.

Vanessa nodded in understanding. Her daughter had filled her in on the necessary stuff. "Why don't you watch these four while I help your lazy ass mother out and get all of us some snacks and drinks?"

Leah nodded and turned to the four darlings she had missed a lot in the past month.

"Hi my babies!" She grinned at them and they howled back in unison, showing their excitement.

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"It wasn't a suicide, Uncle Lewis. I am telling you; it wasn't." Calum said for the hundredth time but no one was taking it seriously. His godfather, Sheriff Lewis McPhee was closing the case as suicide.

"That's what I thought at first too Cal, but then we found all the proof we needed." He explained, rubbing his own stray tears off. "She got up to the tree house and got rid of the rope ladder. We found it on the ground nearby. And she also bought the rope she hung on from Crest Hardware."

"That's not possible, Uncle Lewis." Calum kept saying. "I made the tree house. And the rope cannot be removed from the peddle unless you undo the whole mechanism and it was intact."

"It looks intact son. The ladder was cut off from the peddle. Parts of it are still on it. I would ask you to go check it out but I really don't want you anywhere near it." He said.

Calum was frustrated. He knew she didn't commit suicide. His little sister would never. He also knew the rope's exposed portion were a little far below from the peddle and hence cannot be cut from the tree house so someone had cut it from below, probably using another ladder or something.

And even so, why were they closing the case? Even if it was suicide, they still didn't know why she did it.

There were a million more questions he wanted to hurl at his parents and uncle but he knew how insensitive that was.

His mother was in her room, attached to an IV drip as she had fainted from all the crying. His father had locked himself up in the library. His godfather and father's best friend, Sheriff Lewis McPhee, kept going despite his grief. Maybe he should have left this case to someone else because it seemed like he wanted to get it over with as soon as possible, probably because he couldn't deal with it any longer. It hurt too much.

But even the other cops insisted it was an open-and-shut case but why weren't anyone trying to find out the reason behind her supposed suicide.

She hadn't left behind a note. She wasn't mentally or emotionally disturbed. She had s**t going on and Calum and she had fought over it but it was not something she would commit suicide over!

Why were everyone trying to close the case as soon as they could?

Calum realized only he wanted to know the truth and he decided he will get to the bottom of it.

And he realized that he needed the help of that one person.

The freak who knew where Sarah's body was.

He knew she had nothing to do with it, but yet she knew where his sister was. And between the lunch break when she said she will find him answers and evening, she was unconscious most of the time because she had run into a freaking wall! So when did she find it out?

He needed to know how she knew. Who told her. Maybe her informant knew who his sister's culprit was.

He needed her help.

He needed Leah Wayne.

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