* 9: The Old Mill Bridge *



"Jack?" JC repeated with doubt. "Are we talking about girly Jack who couldn't hurt a fly?"

"Couldn't or wouldn't?" Lance questioned.

"Both. There has to be some mistake." JC replied.

"I have to go look into this. JC, stay here." Detective Reed announced as he quickly left his office.

"Jack confessed to helping her." Lance informed him as he shifted from the position where he was standing.

"Why? I mean why would he help her? They hated each other." JC asked as he shook his head.

"I'm not too sure on the details. All I know is that Courtney confessed and then so did Jack."

JC sighed loudly as he thought about his so-called friends. "I trusted these people. I was close to Courtney. She was my friend. And Jack wasn't really my friend but I knew him. I don't know why they would want to hurt her or me."

"Well I know they didn't like each other by what I've seen when I've been at the club. Maybe Courtney said she would leave him alone if he would help her." Lance guessed.

"That's a big price to pay for someone to leave you alone."

Lance continued to ponder the possibilities. "Or, maybe she blackmailed him or something in that nature."

"Or something in that nature." Detective Reed announced as he entered the room.

"What did you find out?" JC quickly asked as Lance exited the room and closed the door behind him.

"Are you sure you want to know? It might make you uncomfortable." Detective Reed replied as he went behind his desk.

"Tell me. Tell me everything." JC demanded as his eyes burned and his heart ached for answers.

"Courtney was so jealous of Christina because she had you that she couldn't deal with it anymore. Her reasons for wanting to get rid of Christina is obvious. On the other hand, Courtney promised not to tell you something if Jack would help her. She had Jack in her hand and she used him like a ragdoll. He thought he didn't have a choice so he helped kill his best friend over one little secret."

"What secret?"

The Detective cleared his throat and continued. "Ok, well its clear to us that we all know that Jack is gay. He's open about it, it doesn't bother him and it really doesn't bother most people. But, the one thing that scared him the most is emotion. In Jack's words, love didn't come easy for him. The feeling scared him because he felt it so strongly for someone that he knew would never have."

"And Courtney knew who it was? Why would he be so scared anyway?" JC continued to ask.

"Because if anyone else found out he would have been so embarrased that he wouldn't have been able to show his face in the club again and he knew he would lose his close friends."

JC stepped back a bit and recollected his thoughts. "In the club? What does this have to do with the club? Would you just get to the point Detective?"

"JC," the Detective paused. "Jack was in love with you."

"What?" JC almost choked out the words. "Are you serious?"

"I'm serious."

"Oh my God." JC said under his breath as he tried to gather his composure. "I don't believe this."

"Not what you wanted to hear I'm sure."

"Not really what I was expecting to hear is more like it."

"Detective Reed?" Lance announced as he opened the door.

"Lance?"

"The snow melted enough to expose a body under the Old Mill Bridge. It's the same place that Courtney and Jack directed the officers to go. The body was well preserved enough to identify it as Christina's."

JC slumped in the chair and hid his head in his hands. The day was only getting worse but it was time to put some closure to this nightmare.



* the next day *



JC stood in the morgue in front of Christina's lifeless body. The sheet was pulled back, exposing her blue yet peaceful face. She was fully preserved even after being dead over a month. The cold ice and snow became her temporary coffin until she was discovered.

JC shed painful tears as he looked at the person who was once full of life and happiness. He was so angry at Courtney and Jack for ruining his life and he would do anything to make sure they payed for their crime.
"How did they kill her?" JC asked one of the men that was working in the morgue.

The man pointed to a part of her skull. "She was initially hit on the head a couple times with a blunt object. The large opening here caused a crack in the skull that would have eventually caused brain damage. It looks as though what caused her death was the strangulation afterwards at the murder scene."

JC closed his eyes as he started to get nauseous. He noticed the bruises that still lingered around her neck. "Do you know anything about the weapon used?"

"No, I'm sorry I don't." he replied as he covered her back up.

JC let a tear fall as he quickly left the morgue and went back to the police station.

***

"Detective Reed?" JC said as he knocked on his office door.

"JC. I'm really sorry about everything."

"Yeah, me too." he said softly.

"So, what can I do for you?"

"What can you tell me about the murder weapon?"

"Well, from what Courtney told us, she used some kind of small metal bar when she attacked her in your office." he replied as he sipped his coffee.

"So, Courtney is the one that was up in the office?" JC confirmed.

"Yes." Detective Reed paused. "The plan was to leave Christina by the bridge so that she would eventually freeze to death before she woke up. As you know it was only in the low 40's that whole day and it was supposed to dip below zero by the end of the night."

JC sighed as he yearned for more answers. "So how did she get strangled?"

"Well, much to their surprise, Christina did wake up as they layed her on the ground. Courtney freaked out and did anything she could so that Christina would not make it out of the night alive. She eventually threw the weapon into the stream which was just only trickling along at that point. I have some men out looking for it but it is probably long gone by now."

JC sat silent for a moment letting everything sink in before he spoke again. "Can I see her?"

"Who?" the Detective looked up at him.

"Courtney."

Detective Reed stood up and walked around his desk. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." JC bluntly replied. "I have a few things I have to get off my chest."

"Okay. Follow me."

JC stood up and followed him out the office and down to the lower level of the station to the holding cells. There he saw her hunched in a corner sitting alone in her cell.

"I can only give you a minute or two." Detective Reed told him as he walked the opposite way.

"That's all I need." JC said under his breath.

"JC?" Courtney smiled as she jumped up from her spot on the floor. "I knew you would come back for me."

JC's anger formed on his face as he stood a few feet away from her cell. "Are you fucking crazy?"

"We belong together, JC. You know that." Courtney pouted. It seemed that since she confessed she was slowly going insane. Her judgement was clouded by obsession.

"I hate you, Courtney! I fucking hate you!" JC yelled at her.

"You don't mean that." she smirked. "You love me."

JC wanted to reach through the bars and rip her eyes out. "You make me sick. How could you do this to me? How could you take away the one thing that ment everything to me? Why Courtney?"

"Because," Courtney replied as her mood instantly turned like Jekyl and Hyde. Her smile transformed into an evil grin as fire burned in her eyes. "You belong to me and I was never going to let that bitch have you."

JC smirked. "The only bitch here is you, Courtney. You are a fucking psycho!"

"I did it because I love you, JC."

JC looked away from her with a sickening feeling in his stomach. "Shut up, Courtney. I don't want to hear anymore of your sick twisted excuses."

"JC, you need to go back up now." Detective Reed interrupted.

"No problem." JC replied as he gave Courtney a mean glare as she stood behind the bars smiling at him.

JC walked back out of the station into the cool air. He took a deep breath and the crisp air burned in his lungs. After the funeral he would move on for the first time and try to put back the broken pieces of his life. It wouldn't be long until he could feel peace once again and finally say goodbye to his one true love.


* 10: Goodbye My Love *

Christina Main