Kapitel 8: +1

Jaxon got out of the car, leaning against the hood as he lit up a cigarette, his eyes narrowing in thought. The night was quiet except for the distant murmur of the cops and the rustle of leaves in the gentle breeze.

"Three minutes..." Jaxon murmured to himself, "Three minutes was all it took for the killer to run away from Helen's house and then somehow, make it behind us."

He took a long drag from the cigarette, the ember glowing brightly in the darkness. His mind raced with possibilities, each one more unsettling than the last. "The most logical thing, I can think of is that there must be more than one killer."

"Hey! What are you doing here?" One of the cops came over as he shined shining his flashlight in Jaxon's direction.

"Me? I am just chilling here." Jaxon replied, squinting against the flashlight's glare.

The cop frowned as he moved his hand toward his gun, "Do you have your ID with you?"

"What's wrong?" Julie and Helen came over seeing Jaxon being questioned,

The cop looked at the two girls, then back at Jaxon. "I asked if you have your ID."

"Officer, he's a friend," Helen assured the cop but he still didn't look convinced as if he had some sort of agenda against him.

"That still doesn't explain why he's here in the middle of the night." The cop said, "For all we know he could be the-"

"We were out on a date!" Julie stepped forward grabbing Jaxon's arms, "It just so happened that when Helen called us, we were nearby and worried we came over to check on her."

"Is that so?" Jaxon chuckled a little, pulling his arm away and then sliding it back behind her, as he grabbed her by her waist pulling her closer, "You don't need to be worried, babe. He's just doing his job,"

Jaxon reached for his wallet pulled out his ID and handed it over to the cop, "Here, you go officer."

The cop examined the ID, his stern expression softening slightly as he handed it back. "Alright, but stay close. We need everyone accounted for."

"I see that, the sheriff knows who I am so, no stranger danger here," Jaxon said as the cop nodded at him as he finally left.

"You know... you should really start telling the truth." Jaxon stared intently at Julie who was still in his arms, "Otherwise, I might have to bore you with the story of the boy who cried wolf."

Julie looked up at Jaxon, a mixture of frustration and gratitude in her eyes. "I know, I know. It's just... complicated."

"Complicated doesn't even begin to cover it," Jaxon said, his tone tinged with amusement.

"You son of a bitch!" A voice yelled from afar as the trio looked back to see a blonde woman with glasses running over towards him, "How dare you show your face around here?"

Jaxon squinted his eyes trying to remember the woman as Julie elbowed him slightly getting away from his arms, "That's Helen's sister, don't you know her?"

"Oh yeah!" Jaxon said scratching the back of his head as the blonde woman reached him and started getting in his face, "Are you fucking deaf? Not only do you ghost me, but you have the audacity to flirt with someone else in front of my damn house."

"And you!" The woman turned back towards Julie, "I didn't know college taught you to be a little slut!"

"Elsa! Chill out!" Helen dragged her sister who kept screaming at them, "I'll see you tomorrow, just leave for now!"

"You guys really do have your priorities messed up!" Jaxon shook his head as he earned a glare from Julie, "What is it?"

Julie shook her head, "Just take me home!"

"About that- I suggest, you stay someplace else for the night," Jaxon said his tone lacking in empathy, "I was going to suggest that you stay here for the night, with the cops patrolling the area after the incident you'd be safer here but I guess that isn't in the menu right now."

"Whose fault do you think that is?" Julie said shaking her head, before finally giving up, "What do you suggest?"

"You might not exactly like my idea-"

▬▬ι═══════ﺤ. ⌖ ╾━╤デ╦︻

"Are you serious?" Julie said as she looked around the room, "Are you an alcoholic? and why does it smell so bad!"

"Not exactly!" Jaxon said picking up the empty bottles of bear and the leftover food that was stinking up the place and throwing it in the garbage, "Just had to go on a binge to process some things is all."

After a bit of convincing, Jaxon managed to bring Julie back to his office/home, with Jaxon on the look out, he was breathing a sigh of relief as they luckily weren't followed back or involved in a another car chase.

"You can sleep here," Jaxon continued, "Or if you don't like it, there's always the couch downstairs."

Julie looked around the room one last time as she finally sat down on the mattress, "Sigh! Why can't I just go home?"

"I believe that the person who chased us had been following us from your home." Jaxon said as Julie looked at him with her eyes wide open, "It's just a suspicion, but I think there's more than one guy involved in this."

"Sleep tight!" Not wanting to explain further, Jaxon hurriedly left the room shutting the door behind him as he went down to the office and settled on the couch.

"Two guys, huh!" Jaxon murmured processing everything that happened today, "Maybe there are more... the only lead I have currently is the fact that the perpetrator is connected to David Egan, the only connection I can check as of now is the personal angle,"

"Melissa checks out, and there's no reason to doubt her considering her life is in shambles after he brother's death... the only remaining connection there is with the wife. Maybe her family, a lover... Sigh! why is my first case so troublesome!"

Jaxon shook his head as he called out his system looking at the +1 reputation point, "Well, at least, things are looking better on one side."

With Julie's closeness and trust, Jaxon had managed to gain a single point, which was a step in the right direction, Jaxon theorized that it might have happened during the car chase, that they had been through.

"Shared trauma, seems to do the job as well." Jaxon nodded to himself.

Checking that he still had his gun with him one last time, Jaxon laid down immediately falling asleep.