Some minutes after Jessica left, I turned off the tv and headed upstairs to rest. Even though I napped earlier, I was still feeling sleepy. Odd, right?
And it wasn't as if I partied all night yesterday, I was home and I slept well. Anyways, I shouldn't be complaining. After all, sleeping is good. And having a good night sleep improves one's health.
After dropping my phone on the bedside table, I changed into my nightgown and jumped unto the bed. Thus, I shut my eyes off and before I knew it I was already sleeping.
The following day, I woke up to some noise. The noise wasn't coming from outside the house from inside, and it appeared to be from the downstairs.
What was going on? I didn't know, hence I withdrew from the bed and headed out to check. When I arrived at the stairway, I peeped and oversaw Jessica being scolded by aunt Vicky.
"Now what do you want me to do? You heard exactly what Lorraine said, her hands are tied. This means we shouldn't expect any kind of support from her, you may end up in jail together with your friends!" Aunt Vicky said.
"But mom, we didn't steal those jewelries. Someone must have rubbed the store after my friends and left, but we didn't steal anything" Jessica kept defending herself and her friends.
"I know, you didn't do it. You would try that shit, or would you? I know you are not that stupid, but how about your friends? Do you trust them? Stop defending them, I think I warned you about defending the rest?" Aunt vicked scolded her.
"Okay mom" Jessica muttered.
"Yes, stop defending them. It's everyone for himself, let the cops do their investigation" Aunt Vicky said and sighed, "If I say I am happy with what you did, then I am as crazy as you and your friends. What were you even thinking? Didn't you see Laura? She stayed, you should have stayed too. Now she has saved herself from all these, and here you her"
"Mom, please... you just said it, the police will handle the case. Let them handle it, I am sure they will fish out the culprits" Jessica tried to calm her mother down.
"Whatever, just stay out of trouble and lay low for now. Otherwise, you are on your own!" Aunt Vicky said as a matter of factly and began walking towards the stairway.
On seeing her, I ran over to my room and gently closed the door. The whole drama made me nearly choke, even though I was sorry for Jessica and her friends, especially poor Fred and Shirley.
After brushing my teeth and taking a warm shower, I changed into an armless top and a pear for jeans trousers before heading downstairs for breakfast.
Unfortunately, there was no breakfast yet. I really thought aunt Vicky had already prepared. That was odd, perhaps she was so angry with Jessica that she even forgot about preparing something to eat for dinner.
With my grumbling stomach, I walked up to Jessica in the sitting room and asked what her mother said about breakfast. Actually, it wasn't as if I couldn't prepare breakfast alone. I just didn't want to do something that may piss aunt Vicky further.
"Are you asking me?" Jessica glared at me, "Where were you when she was ordering for pizza and burgers online? Sleeping?" she rolled her eyes and continued swiping through her phone.
This girl, she could have just told me her mother ordered for breakfast and save herself the stress. Anyways, I didn't mind saying anything to her. She was really stubborn, hopefully she would get back to her senses soon.
I turned about heading to the stairway when I saw aunt Vicky walking down the stairs, "Laura, is that you?" she uttered, staring at me.
Of course it was me, or was she seeing someone else? "Good morning, aunt" I greeted her politely.
"Morning, did Jessica told you about the order?" she said as she walked over to me.
"The burgers and pizza for breakfast? Yes, she did" I responded.
"Good, they are on their way. But before then, I would like to talk to you prevently. Do I have your time?" she wrinkled a brow at me.
"Well, sure!" I said, after all I it wasn't as if I was busy or something.
"Okay, let's go upstairs please" she said as she turned, leading the way to the stairway.
"Alright" I said and began trailing behind her gently.
When we arrived in her room, she told me to close the door and come sit down close to her on the edge of the bed.
I obliged and did as told. Thus, she heaved a sigh started, "Laura, I know you have a very good heart and you like your sister, Jessica" she said, prompting me to began thinking what the whole thing was all about, "Please, I would like you to help us with something"
"What's that, aunt?" I asked out of curiosity.
"It's about the case, if Jessica's father was alive I believed he would do all it takes to protect her against what awaits her. And I am very sure Lorraine and other deputies there would do the same, but since he's no more none of them is willing to help us. All I need is someone to clear Jessica's name, someone to testify that she's clean. I hope you get what I am saying?" she said.
"Yes, I kind of get it but... do I have the power to clear her name? I am a nobody, aunt, remember?" I reminded her.
"I know, but not when you testify that you were with them but didn't enter the store with them" she uttered, rendering me speechless. In fact, I was dumbfounded, "I would like you to testify to the cops that you were there but you stayed outside the store to keep guard, and when they came out you didn't see Jessica and other girls with jewelries. However, you suspect the boys in the group of hiding something"
"You want to make false testimony?" I muttered, confused.
"Something like that, you don't have to worry about anything. I will make sure you don't get into trouble, after all you didn't enter the store with them in the statement" she said, trying to convince me. Has she gone mad? I wondered.
"But aunt, what if the others testify against the testimony? The guys you are asking me to frame, one of the girls is in love with him. And the other one has some that cared for him too, it's not going to work. Did you talk to Jessica about this?" I said, scared of being forced to nail myself.
"No I didn't, but don't you think we can still make it work? We should figure something out before it's too late, I don't want my daughter to be jailed over what she didn't do. I am sure one of her friends is the culprit, and it has to be among the boys. Who else would have the guts to do that among the girls?" she bespoke.
"Calm down, aunt. People are jailed every blessed day for the crimes they didn't commit, however that's not the end of life. I believe the police are already investigating the case, her friends would be interrogated too and the police would make use of the information they get. Hence, whatever we plan here won't work. The only thing is for us to wait and see..." I said as she cut in,
"It's okay. You may leave now" she said, obviously dissatisfied. I could see the sadness in her face, all she wanted was to save her daughter from the dangers that probably awaits her.
"Okay aunt, I will leave. But please, don't do anything rash. Everything will be fine. If Jessica's is innocent, the police will find out and even if she's detained, she would be freed afterwards" I advised her. She didn't say anything though, she just sat there speechless. Hence, I stood and left the room.
When our breakfast arrived, it turned out to be separate deliveries. I didn't know why but something told me there wouldn't be lunch, or even dinner because what was ordered for breakfast was too much for each and every one of us. None of us would be able to devour it at a go. Three pizza packs, two burgers, two can drinks, and some chicken wings.
I took mine to my room and ate while thinking the conversation I had with Aunt Vicky. Why was she so desperate to help her daughter, who didn't even care about helping her own self? To be honest, Jessica had no conscience. They didn't care about anything except how to do things that will hurt other people's feelings.
That was why, I was always reluctant when following her to do things. I believe she was the person that brought the idea of taking pictures with jewelries and posting them online. I also believe if she had followed them to Downey's clothing store, she would have done the same and the situation would have been worst.
I was busy thinking when suddenly, Shirley's call bounced in. "Hello" I said the moment I picked the call.
"Hi" she responded, "Laura, did you heard what happened? That some jewelries were missing from that store?"
"So I heard, and Jessica has been interrogated already. How about you?" I asked.
"Same here, the police came and took my statement. They also warned me to stay around, and not to leave town" she replied, obviously scared.
"That's bad, you guys should have listened to me. Anyways, I hope none of you took the jewelries?" I said, trying to confirm if my hunch was right.
"No, I didn't. I also didn't see anybody hiding anything. If one of us had taken anything from store, someone would have known because we were together and we partied all night" she said.
"Okay then, in that case you have nothing to worry about. Just make sure you don't end up altering your statement, doing that will prompt the police to suspect you of hiding something" I warned her.
"Thank you, Laura. I will surely stick to my statement" she assured me.
"Good!" I gulped, "So, how about Fred? Did you heard anything from him? Is he still unconscious?" I curiously asked.
"Yes, I was told he regained his consciousness and is currently asleep. However, I was told not to visit him for now" she said.
"By who? Who told you not to visit him?" I was confused, "The doctors?"
"The police. Suzanna, Vivian and Jack were told the same thing. I don't know about your sis, but I am pretty sure she was told to stay at home too" she said.
"Yes, I heard her mom telling her to lay low. But does that mean none of us would be visiting Fred?" I wondered.
"Us? Yeah, but you? Of course you can, after all you are free" she said, reminding me of the fact that I had no case with the police, "When you get to him," she continued, "please tell him I am greeting and that I missed him"
"Okay, I will make sure I do that" I promised her, and before ending the call I reminded her about what I told her earlier, "Don't alter your statement, doing that will get you into more trouble because the police will compare your own version of the story and others'. If they don't match, it's gonna be hell upon hell" I said.
"Thank you, Laura. I will make sure I stick to the truth. Bye, see you soon" she said.
"Bye!" I ended the call.
It was so unfortunate that they all had to go through that. I mean, house arrest. I just hope things ends up well, I wouldn't like to see them all thrown into jail. They deserved a second chance, I am pretty sure they would make changes.
