Chapter 13: The Ex Is Far Too Obvious

Alex had found everyone gathered back in the living room and someone had brought snacks from the kitchen. Sam was sitting at the piano though he'd quit playing to Alex dismay. Courtney and Tracy were no longer focused on the mess of a cold case they were supposed to be working on. Instead the two were talking about random things like school, movies, celebrity crushes, etc. Luke had already turned in for the night and no one was willing to bother him.

Alex grabbed a thing of carrot sticks and a soda from the snack pile and went to sit down next to Sam. He moved quietly as he did so that he didn't disturb anyone. Courtney looked up at him briefly though when he grabbed from the snack pile. Sam noticed him immediately however and was rather confused when Alex didn't choose to sit in one of the armchairs away from everyone not that he complained though.

“Where'd you go?” Sam looked over at Alex who was still rather quiet for his liking. Alex was eyeing the sheet music, his eyes following the lines as if he were reading a book. His grey eyes looked stormy in the low light of the lamp and his mouth was turned down in a scowl. Sam knew he was probably lost in thought; he just wished he knew what was going on in his head. Sam looked back at Courtney and Tracy whose giggles echoed in the quiet of the living room.

“I went to talk to Vivian,” Alex finally spoke, his voice barely a whisper. It still drew sans attention back to him. He was fidgeting with his sleeves, apparently debating how much to tell Sam. “I had a few questions.”

“Why’d you go alone? Are you crazy?” Sam reached out to turn Alex around so he could look him in the eye, “You could have been hurt. She's not exactly sane. What made you think you had to do it alone? I would have gone with you y’know.”

“You can't see her all the time like I can. I had to go alone,” Alex muttered his eyes wide as he stared at Sam's look of concern.

“You see the ghost,” Sam's eyes widened but he didn't laugh or poke fun of Alex.

Alex nodded rather tensely. He had expected Sam to at least laugh but he hadn't expected the warm smile that dawned on Sam's face.

“Shoulda told me sooner,” Sam looked back as the giggling stopped abruptly. Courtney and Tracy were busy trying to balance pencils on their noses. Who knew where they got them from.

“I...I just didn't want you to think I was weird or worse crazy,” Alex stammered out. He opened the carrot sticks and began munching on one, grateful that no one else seemed to be paying attention to their conversation. He was rather surprised at himself when he continued on to tell Sam everything he'd found out from Vivian.

Courtney and Tracy ignored Sam and Alex's conversation as they continued seeing who could balance the pencil longer on their nose. Tracy was confident she could win. They'd skipped dinner by accident because they'd all been engrossed in the investigation. Well everyone except Luke, who seemed to be in a foul mood today, was engrossed in the investigation. Tracy had done some light research but found very little to help with the case. Courtney found a few different articles they'd agreed to share with the group tomorrow after breakfast. For now everyone just needed time to relax.

Courtney had made a sudden move to grab a small bag of Doritos and her pencil fell to the floor, barely making a sound. They were all being quiet so they wouldn't wake Luke which Tracy didn't get the point. He napped for a while earlier which was annoying. He should have been helping like everyone else. Alex had done his part despite his quiet nature. Tracy just didn't get why Luke wouldn't.

Alex and Sam were over by the piano discussing something quietly. Alex looked rather tired in Tracy's opinion. She considered making him tea or something but she also wanted to know what had kept him up the night before. Her little brother had nightmares and stuff like that so that had been her first thought when she saw him up and about last night but she didn't want to ask and risk making him uncomfortable.

Courtney had pulled her hair up into a ponytail as she moved to the window to watch the sunset again. The view here was beautiful. It was quiet and woodsy; she had to appreciate it. The beautiful hues of red, pink, and orange stood out against the trees as the sunset on the horizon.

Courtney had planned to move somewhere quiet like this place when she was older, now that she was stuck here though she missed the hustle and bustle of the LA streets. She wondered if the others were homesick too. They probably were but Alex hadn't been the most talkative and Luke had just been rude today. She'd been glad that he chose to sit out the rudimentary investigation today

Tracy and her had spent most of the day roaming the halls and then there was a few hours they'd spent looking at old newspapers in the old paper bin they'd found in one of the old storage closets. Tracy had sneezed an awful lot today and she'd complained about a migraine earlier so Courtney had let her rest for a while. When she'd woken up Courtney had told her about a guy named James Morgan who'd been engaged to Vivian prior to her death.

It was rather sad that the two had never been married. Courtney loved romance stories. She got that from her mother. This one was rather tragic and she wasn't a fan of tragedies. She always felt sad whenever she watched a romance movie with her mom and the guy never got the girl due to unforeseen circumstances. In most of those scenarios the unforeseen circumstances were usually the deaths of the female or male leads. She hated any stories that ended that way.

“So she divorced him… then got re-engaged. Did she say who she was engaged to?” Sam was still processing what Alex had told him. Julia knew her mom was taking people away from their lives for no reason and yet she didn't say anything to anyone. So she knew they were there and she just didn't care.

“No I wasn't allowed to ask,” Alex shook his head as he spoke. He looked back silently when the girls said “good night” to them.

“Well Julia might not be much of a suspect anymore but she isn't much help to us. Aside from the food that is,” Sam commented, turning to lean against the piano. The cover was down so the keys were safe.

“True,” Alex yawned, covering his mouth. His eyelids felt heavy but he shook it off looking out the nearby windows and admiring the stars.

“That's like the second time you've yawned in the past few minutes, maybe you should go to sleep,” Sam suggested quietly so he wouldn't wake the others. Alex only responded with a short nod as he grabbed his cover and pillow off the floor and curled up in one of the armchairs to sleep.