"You Officer Heller?"

I glanced up to see who that gravelly voice belonged to. A teenage girl in clunky Dr. Martens stood in front of me.

"You're Jade West, I assume?"

"Yeah, that's me." She sat down in the creaky chair. "I'm not an idiot, you know." I was caught off guard by her piercing eyes staring into mine. She seemed threatening, almost.

"I never said you were."

"Listen, I know what you're thinking. You think that I killed Vega. You think that I was jealous of her talent. That I just couldn't handle being second all the time, and that I finally snapped and killed her."

"Second?" I raised my eyebrow. This girl was tough. I needed to get as much information out of her as I could.

"I didn't kill her." She snapped.

"What do you mean by second?"

"I was friends with her, you know. Despite the fact that I never admitted it, she was one of my best friends."

"What do you mean by second?" I screamed.

"She was always the perfect one. Pretty and talented. I was the lead in every play before she came along. Everyone thought I was jealous. But you wanna know a secret, Heller? I was thrilled when she came along. I was the best, and I hated it. My mom pushed me to the limit with singing and acting until the point that I hated it. Once there was someone better, I didn't have so much stress. Sure, I got hit, but it's better than being stressed all the time."

"Your mom hit you?" I asked, making note that child abuse victims are 30% more likely to commit a violent crime.

"It's fine now." She said gruffly.

"So you say you didn't kill Tori?" I asked staring at her intently. This girl was impossible to read. She wasn't crying and seemed cold, but she claimed her and Tori were friends.

"No, I didn't." she stared right back. What was she thinking?

"Did you cry when you found out?"

She was silent for a moment. Bingo, I thought. "No." she held her head low, her voice cracking.

"Jade. Look at me." I commanded. She slowly turned her head up to reveal tears welling up in her eyes.
"It was my fault." She whispers.

"How?" I asked, quickly turning more pages in my notebook, pen in hand. She froze.

"Jade. How was it your fault?" I said slowly. She breathed heavily.

"I-" she started, choking up.

"You what, Jade? What did you do? "

"I told her." She cried.

"Told who? Tori? Told her what?" I asked anxiously.

My phone blared.

"Barry Heller." I called.

"Heller. We have some news on the Vega case." Answered a gruff, masculine voice.

"Who is this?" I ask.

"Marvin Amsher. I'm subbing for Officer Shalton." Officer Shalton? I thought warily. But I just saw him.

"What happened to him?" I asked, not convinced.

"I don't know, sir. But what I do know is we have news on Tori's case. Meet me by the Beverly Hills sign in ten minutes."

"What could you have possibly found about her case by the Beverly Hills sign?"

"Meet me in ten minutes." He said sharply, then hung up.

"Jade, can you stay here for twenty minutes?" She looked like a corpse, pale and fragile. She nodded her head slightly. "Don't move. I'll be back soon."

I couldn't shake how scared she'd seemed. What did she tell Tori? As evil as she seemed, and how bitter she was towards me, I have to admit it was peculiar how she just shut down when I asked if she cried. I suddenly regretted leaving before asking her what had happened. Whatever this is, it better help us solve this crime, I thought.

Just as I was about to turn into Rodeo Drive, I stopped.

"Can you repeat that?" I called into my police radio.

"This is Shalton. I need backup on Sunset." The radio buzzed back at me.

I knew he wasn't gone! Whoever called me was a fake, and I had a horrible feeling about why they called. I speeded back to the station as fast as I could.

I burst into my office as fast as I could, but it was too late. My worst fear was a reality. Jade West had been killed in my very own office.

****Short chapter, I know. But I figured the positive amount of action makes up for the lack of words. (: Anyways, I'm uber happy people actually like this. My language arts teacher gives me B's because she thinks my stories 'lack a certain spark.' Hahah, whatever, I'm only thirteen & I kind of wanna go to college for writing. (: Okay, so I'm seriously in love with all my reviewers. Review, please? I love you guys soosoo much. Greater than threeee (They won't let me make a heart.. :/) ****

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