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Chloe
Back in twenty minutes.
Chloe stared at the paper sign taped to the glass entrance of the tattoo parlor. The handwritten note dangled on the inside of the glass pane. Unfortunately, it could have been placed there one minute ago or nineteen minutes ago. It was too cold outside to place a bet on the latter, so she decided to walk the two blocks to her apartment. With a decisive turn, she began to head toward the yarn shop.
Questioning Simone Langley was on hold for the moment, but something told Chloe that the woman had information that could help them. If Ethan had been truthful with them regarding Simone shadowing Jenna in the weeks before she died, Simone could have witnessed something crucial without ever realizing it had something to do with Jenna's death.
Chloe and Phoebe had made a pact not to go anywhere alone, but there were enough people on the street to help if someone tried to kidnap her. Not that she thought someone would dare do something so extreme in broad daylight, but she could admit that the stun gun in her purse gave her a sense of security.
The walk back to her apartment was brief but welcomed, and the brisk movement helped her mull over what she and Phoebe had learned in the past couple of days. Chloe couldn't really blame the chief of police for ruling Jenna's death an accident. Jenna sneaking around with the town's bad boy didn’t hold that much significance in the long run. Most teens lived their lives behind their parents' backs.
Chief Bennett had nothing to point him in any other direction, which meant that it was up to Chloe and Phoebe to present him with enough evidence to warrant another look into the investigation. As Chloe neared her apartment, she noticed Lilith's car parked out front.
The bell above the shop's door announced Chloe's entrance with a gentle tinkle. Inside, two customers were indecisive over the numerous skeins of yarn in various hues of cerulean and coral that were piled high in the sales bin. Their quiet chatter filled the cozy space, but Lilith and Trish were absent from the aisles.
Chloe edged toward the back of the shop where the stairs to her apartment were located to the right of the cash register. Just as she was about to veer in that direction, murmurs of conversation drifted from the small office on the left. She took a few steps in that direction just to say hello to Trish and Lilith when their voices became somewhat clear.
"...time to come clean with Phoebe." Trish's tone was insistent yet hushed enough to suggest secrecy. "Lilith, I'm serious. It's not right to keep her in the dark."
"It isn't your place to tell me how to handle my own daughter," Lilith snapped back. "Kenneth and I are both in agreement that now isn't the time."
"Then when?" Trish asked, clearly not wanting to drop the discussion. "It's bad enough that—
"Do you work here?" The question jolted Chloe, and she quickly spun around. "I noticed the sale is two for one, but does that include the red yarn?
"I'm sorry," Chloe responded smoothly, her gaze flickering toward the office door. "I’m not sure. I don’t work here, but I know the owner. I rent the apartment upstairs. I was just coming home to drop something off."
Lilith emerged from the office first, followed by Trish. Both women regarded Chloe with neutral expressions. It was as if they hadn't been discussing some deep dark secret that was being kept from Phoebe.
"Look at that," Chloe said cheerfully, making sure her smile was bright. "One of these beautiful women can answer your question. This lovely lady is wondering if the red yarn is part of the two-for-one sale. I was just going to drop something off upstairs. Lilith, I didn't expect to see you here. Phoebe drove over to the house to see how Kenneth is doing."
Lilith hesitated for only a moment, but she eventually made her way to the front of the checkout counter. Trish took that to mean that she should attend to the customer, and it wasn't long before Chloe and Lilith were left alone.
"I had to come into town to pick up a prescription for Kenneth," Lilith said as she carefully regarded Chloe with an intensity that would have set most people on edge. Not Chloe, though. Not after having been witness to Phoebe having visions of dead people. "Do you know if Phoebe plans to stay long?"
"I'm not sure," Chloe replied without missing a beat. Phoebe only intended to remain at her parents' place long enough to find out what else they might have kept from her. Apparently, that included some deep, dark family secret. "I do know that we're supposed to meet up later to speak with someone about Jenna's relationship with Ethan Turner. I bet if you drive home now you can catch her, though."
Chloe monitored Lilith’s expression upon hearing Ethan’s name.
"You knew, didn’t you?" Chloe asked in disbelief, though she had softened her tone. "Lilith, why didn't you tell the chief that Jenna was dating Ethan? If Jenna was sneaking around, then maybe—"
"Jenna was about to go to college in New York City." Lilith glanced down at the set of keys in her hand. "Every teenage girl believes that she's in love at that age. Jenna was no different, but we weren't going to stand by and allow her to be distracted from following her dreams of being an artist. Yes, we figured that she was sneaking around, but we also knew that such rules would limit the time that she spent with him."
“Lilith, they had made plans to go to New York together.” Chloe hadn’t wanted to be the one to fill in Phoebe’s mother on what they had discovered so far, but the conversation had taken a turn. “Ethan had been accepted to Syracuse for a football scholarship.”
"We didn’t know that at the time. It wasn’t until Ethan’s grandmother had mentioned his plans at Jenna’s funeral that we had an inkling of just how serious it had been between them." Lilith lifted the corner of her lips in recollection. "I caught sight of them one time when they were together near the marina. I was so angry that Jenna had defied us like that, but I stopped myself when I noticed that Ethan was trying to save a seagull that had gotten trapped in one of the nets. Later that day, Jenna came into the shop with a course selection for art school. She was spending what days she could with her crush, but she was also planning for her future. I let things be, hoping that the situation would right itself. In the end, it didn’t matter. Jenna had died, and it was all we could do to help Phoebe after…"
Lilith inhaled slowly before focusing on Chloe. The woman narrowed her eyes in contemplation.
“Are you saying you think that Ethan Turner might have been responsible for—"
"No," Chloe quickly stated, not wanting Lilith to jump to the wrong conclusions. "But we did find out from Ethan that Jenna thought she was being followed in the weeks leading up to her death. Once Phoebe and I have more information, we'll hand it over to the chief of police."
Lilith had lost some color in her face upon hearing the news.
“Followed? Who told you that?”
“Ethan mentioned it when we were speaking with him earlier today,” Chloe replied honestly, not seeing the harm. “Phoebe and I plan to talk with more of Jenna’s friends from high school. There is a chance she might have mentioned her concerns to them.”
