[IC] Liar, Liar (Murder/Mystery)

[TheRider]

Reed sat alone in his room, glasses discarded on a bedside table and his clothes in varying states of dishevelment. A slender hand of fingers raked through the mess that was his hair as he looked down at the computer screen. His other hand held some bottled fire that he decided to gulp down to only keep him warm. He shivered, the alcohol burning as it went down his throat, before he tapped gently at the screen, the keys making the only noise in the room besides the faint whirr of his computers fan and the breaths that Reed took.

He knew he was going to be called in by the police at some point. He could feel that his decisions the nights previous and the words he spoke were not about to put him in the best light. He sighed gently, but then again….Nash knew about his past and about what Reed could do. Hell, Nash was probably thinking of asking him to help again…have a guy outside of the red tape. Reed gave another short sigh and resigned himself to handing himself in. He did kidnap, assault and evade police. He hadn’t even gotten any good information out of the little lesbian bitch that probably decreased his likelihood of becoming a father by half that night with the trauma she caused. He changed his clothes, straightened and cleaned his hair and placed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose before walking down to the precinct he knew Nash would be at.

The precinct was bustling as always. Noise that wasn’t essential being made by all manner of people. He sighed once more before entering the building. He walked up to the first officer he saw and gave a short smile “I need to speak to Nash…tell him it’s Reed Norman…” he said gently before turning and walking to a spare chair. He sat down and waited as he watched the officer scurry off. Seemed the officer knew not to make Nash wait for messages…lest his bear of a partner get angry.

[Konica]

Lucky amateur. How Lisa even made it out of that mansion was beyond her. That whole thing was a mess. She went in unprepared and half-cocked. She let grief and rage control her, when it should be the other way around. Two days is a decent amount of time. Enough time to sober up and get thinking. If Lisa was gonna find this killer, she'd have to play smarter.

A morning shower washed the weariness away. Lisa was still getting used to the reflection the mirror. Its funny how a dying her hair blond and a haircut changed her appearance so much. A single distinguishable feature changed and she hardly recognized herself. Returning to her room, her wall was plastered with pictures and newspaper clippings connected by threads and thumbtacks. She had collected all the stalker pictures of Mari and arranged them by location and time, both of which can be conveniently found in the photos' EXIF data. A pattern had formed, it showed a rough idea of where Mari went and what she did in the past several weeks.

Instead of chasing shadows, Lisa got to thinking about the murder. Trying to get into the killer's head. Why would the killer dump the body on campus, in such a public place? Was he trying to show off his work? No, that can't be it. Mari's hair was only half dyed, her cloths disheveled. The killer stopped with the job half finished, was he dissatisfied with his own work? If so maybe he was upset and confident enough to dump the body anywhere he pleased. And if he was dissatisfied with Mari, that means he'll look for another victim. Another chance to make his perfect little doll. That's where Lisa comes in.

Lisa needs to bait the killer. She needs to recreate whatever the killer saw in Mari, and use it to draw the killer in. It wasn't hard. She dyed her hair blond and got a similar hair cut. Most of her wardrobe was similar enough to Mari's, they had the same taste in fashion. In fact a couple of her sweaters were Mari's. The hardest part was the makeup. Lisa couldn't remember what kind of makeup Mari used so she went by the pictures.

There were two places she could lay her trap. First, she could and would go to all of Mari's regular hangouts. She needed to retrace all the places Mari went in the pictures, places she knows the killer was and hopefully still is watching. Second, she still needed to find Lilith Adams. Regardless of whether Lilith is the killer or not, she's connected. Just being around her might get the killer's attention. The only lead she had on Lilith was her phone number. After several minutes of going back a forth and contemplating what to say, she decided that the truth wouldn't be a bad place to start.

ring ring ring

"Hello? Is this Lilith? Hi I'm Lisa, I'm an old friend of Mari-- I mean Maria. After what happened to her... I guess I just have a lot of questions. I heard you knew her so I was wondering if you and I can talk in person. There's a cafe on campus we can meet. I know this is a weird thing to ask, I just... I hope you can clear some things up for me."

[Grimoire Gaming]

Lillith took her strides as calmly as she could on the way to the studio. It was a rather windy day, so the gusts stirred her freshly colored locks into her eyes. It still looked like rainbows threw up in her hair, but this time the color pallet was colder and less vibrant, changing from the hot oranges and yellows it used to be to darker blues, greens, and purples. She wore darker clothing than usual as well, as if she were more of a goth than a punk. She looked like she was in mourning, well, she kind of was in mourning...

Why does the studio have to be so damn far away? Lillith thought to herself as she walked, still more than a little paranoid of being attack. Her cell phone startled her out of the funk she was in. Her thoughts began to race, who could be calling her? She didn't know the number. Was it something to do with Cooper? Was it the kid that tried to kidnap her? Maybe it was just someone looking to score some weed... Lillith hadn't really been on the dealing scene since Mari's murder, but she guessed it wasn't too soon to get back on the horse. Life had to go on, right? With that in mind, Lillith answered her phone.

[/i]"Hello? Is this Lilith? Hi I'm Lisa, I'm an old friend of Mari-- I mean Maria. After what happened to her... I guess I just have a lot of questions. I heard you knew her so I was wondering if you and I can talk in person. There's a cafe on campus we can meet. I know this is a weird thing to ask, I just... I hope you can clear some things up for me."[/i]

The shrillness of the voice spewing out the speech was enough to make Lillith hold the phone from her ear a few inches. Definitely not the phone call she was hoping for, and with that, she sighed. Just as she thought she was about to start moving on, someone else pulled her back into this mess. Even still, Lily's heart pulled her to go talk to this strange girl. At least it was a girl, she wouldn't feel threatened speaking to another female, especially not in a public place.

"Sure, I'll meet you at the Urban Grind, it's one of my usual stops anyway. I'm about 5 minutes away." Lillith said and hung up promptly, not really polite enough to wait for a response. Manners were never really her thing, why would they matter any more at a time like this?

[Konica]

Lisa waited at the Urban Grind as she was told to meet there. She could almost hear the tick tocks of the clock on the wall as time passed sluggishly. Her foot was tapping out her nervousness and not knowing what might and what can happen. It was kind of like the time she went on a blind date, except her date wasn't a potential killer. Hopefully this meeting would end better. On her wrist was a bracelet she thought she threw away. It was a simple little band with lettered beads saying "L+M BFF". She didn't know why she put it back on. Maybe it was to remind her of the good memories that seemed so long ago. In front of her was a steaming cup of coffee, the surface of which was glassy and still. She could see her faint reflection in the darkness. The blonde hair and hair cut still felt strange to her, like she was wearing someone else's life. It reminded her of the time she decided to go for a new look and got a pixie cut out of impulse. A lot of people made fun of her, saying she "turned lesbian". And despite the rumors and name calling Mari stuck by her side thru all of it.

10 or maybe 15 minutes of waiting later Lilith walked in the front door. It took Lisa a second to recognize her, since she had only seen her in pictures before. She waved and motioned at her despite the cold nervous feeling in her gut. At first Lisa thought Lilith looked cool and exciting. She had to remind herself that the person in front of her is possibly a murderer, that she should keep her guard up.

"Hi, I'm Lisa" she said, extending a hand to greet her. Her voice was calmly apprehensive. "I'm just trying to put together the whole picture about Mari-- I mean Maria. That's just, ummm, a nickname I gave her. And I heard you knew her" Lisa watched Lilith's body language closely, looking for anything telling. "I guess I should start by saying I knew Mari for a long time, since we were kids. We used to be really close until a bunch of stuff and drama happened and we stopped talking. I'm just trying to figure out what changed between then and now." Lisa paused a second, finding it difficult to speak. "So, I guess to start I'm wondering how you know her."

[Grimoire Gaming]

Lillith turned a corner sharply to head over to the cafe that she so often frequented. On her way, some dick flying down the road sliced his way through a puddle on the street. The water rushed in a mini tidal wave towards her, coating her clothing and making them look all the more grungy. With a frustrated growl, Lilly flung up two middle fingers at the rapidly retreating driver. Now that she was thoroughly pissed off, this coming meeting was sure to be interesting.

The rush of caffeinated goodness met her nose upon entering the door, calming her slightly. The girl introduced herself as Lisa, and Lillith studied her. Something about the girl looked familiar, like she'd seen her in passing at a party or something. Lilly shrugged it off, she'd seen a lot of different people at a lot of different parties. The girl stammered on in her quest for knowledge while Lillith nodded slowly, as if she was listening intently. "Look, I don't really know what you're looking for here. I already talked to the police, and they're doing their best to figure out what happened to Mari. Anyway, if you really want to know... I met her earlier this year at a party. She seemed to enjoy the nightlife, and eventually she sought me out for the goods I can provide." Lillith said with a saucy smirk, although their was a deep sadness hidden in her eyes.

[Konica]

Silent Observer said
"Look, I don't really know what you're looking for here. I already talked to the police, and they're doing their best to figure out what happened to Mari. Anyway, if you really want to know... I met her earlier this year at a party. She seemed to enjoy the nightlife, and eventually she sought me out for the goods I can provide." Lillith said with a saucy smirk, although their was a deep sadness hidden in her eyes.

"I'm looking for closure. Truth. I need to know." Letting out an exasperated sigh, Lisa bit her tongue as not to say something she would regret. This girl was frustrating. She hated how Lilith called Maria "Mari". That nickname was supposed to be between Mari and Lisa! Why would Mari let this... person use their nickname? And it was obvious that Lilith wasn't telling everything. Lisa saw the pictures, she knew there was more to tell. But there was no way little Lisa was gonna get it out of her using strength or force, so how about a trade? A truth for a truth. Lisa had never told anyone her secret before, not even her mother, not even her sister, not even the big guy in the sky. But now that Mari was gone, there's no reason to hide it anymore.

"Listen, Mari and I were close. We've known each other since before we can walk. She's like a sister--" Lisa's voice caught for a moment. She never thought she'd open up like this to anyone. But once it started she couldn't stop it, like a crack in a dam that got too big. Whether she liked it or not, it was all gonna pour out eventually. "No, that's a lie. I never saw her as a sister. She was too wonderful and amazing for that. I loved her. I was in love with her. The kind of love that the church didn't like. The kind that had me sent to therapy to "fix" me. But it never worked. I think Mari hated me at the end. I think she was disgusted by me. That's why we stopped talking..." Tears were welling up in Lisa's eyes as she fought to keep composure. "Do you understand now? Do you understand why I need to know what happened her her? Who killed her? So please, just tell me everything you know."