Chapter 9

“Really?” asked Tristan hopefully.

“I guess so” replied Rebecca.

“What makes you say so?” asked Jaden.

“I met an old friend today” began Rebecca as Giselle grabbed a bottle of water. All of them were seated on the couch.

“Her name is Trisha, she is pregnant but her husband says that the child is not his”

Tristan lost his hopeful look and said, “How is it a case for us? He need s to get a DNA test done!”

“Tristan! Listen to me first!”

“Sorry, continue please”

“So here’s the thing, Trisha and Rob got married about 6 months ago. They were super happy and returned from their honeymoon about two months ago”

“Wow some honeymoon” said Tristan.

Rebecca rolled her eyes and said, “Rob couldn’t get an off after his wedding so they had a honeymoon later”

“Oh ok”

“Where did they go?” asked Jaden.

“Oh they went to Rinto creek. You know they have all those cute wooden cabins there by the creek in the woods?”

“Yup” said Jaden, “it’s also notorious for being haunted”

“Exactly” said Giselle speaking up.

“I still don’t know where this is going” said Tristan.

“So Trish said that they were pretty happy even after coming back from there but after a week or so Rob’s behavior changed”

“Changed?” asked Jaden looking interested, “how?”

“Well” said Rebecca becoming a little red in the face, “at night he would be in an awesome mood. He would be very very er passionate?”

“Whoa” guffawed Tristan, “give me details” as Giselle shot him a dirty look.

“Anyhow he would be very passionate there wasn’t rather isn’t a single night that goes by without them

making out but in the day he becomes very distant and outright rude!”

“Hmm” said Jaden thoughtfully “Becks did you feel any presence near her?”

“That’s what baffles me! I didn’t feel anything! And yet Trisha looked haggard. Its like her life is being sucked right out of her”

“Do you think she would be willing to let us into her house?” asked Jaden

“Yeah, I told her what we do and right now she is willing to try anything! Rob hit her today!”

“What?” yelled Tristan and Jaden at the same time.

“Yeah but what I don’t understand is that he is not this sort of a man, he was madly in love with her!”

“You had to see her guys!” said Giselle, “I mean I have never seen her before today but she looked terrible!”

“Well there’s only way to find out” said Tristan, “we have to go there”

“You sure she didn’t cheat on her husband?” asked Jaden.

“Yep”

“Alright and what does she plan to tell her husband?”

“I am her friend and I am visiting”

“With three more friends?”

“Yeah well that might be a problem”

“Ok you and I will go there first” said Jaden, “introduce me as your boyfriend. We can say Gisele and Tristan are a couple and they are meeting us over there. How do we stay over though?”

“Both you guys have to get drunk, well I mean pretend to get drunk”

“And we girls will pretend to not know how to drive” said Giselle.

“Well ok but what if Rob decides to drive us all back?” asked Tristan.

“Well we’re just going to have to pray that he doesn’t!”

“Cool then what time do we go?” asked Rebecca.

“In an hour, it will give me time to gather my stuff and do my research”

“So we have a new case?” asked Josh popping up right behind Giselle and giving her fright.

“Yup”

“Cool when are we leaving?”

“It will be a while buddy” said Tristan.

Meanwhile Jaden ran up to his rooms and pulled out all his notes. Rob’s behavior seemed suspicious but he could just as easily be bipolar rather than possessed. Still Jaden wasn’t taking any chances and he quickly narrowed down to three possibilities.

“Well if it isn’t one of these three then I don’t know what it is!”

He took all his tuff and put it in his backpack and came down.

“You ready to go?” he asked Rebecca.

“Not yet! And you can’t come dressed like that! Trisha said that she invited us for dinner”

“Great” groaned Jaden and went back to change into something more formal. When he was done he stepped out the same time as Rebecca did from her room. His eyes widened as he took in her appearance.

She was wearing a red dress that fell to her knees and was off shoulder from one side and had a short sleeve on one arm. She had left her hair open and felt wildly around her shoulders. She wasn’t wearing much make up except for kohl and clear gloss.

“Wow, you clean up well!”

“Thanks” she replied shyly and they both walked down together.

Tristan whistled when he saw Rebecca and she just rolled her eyes. “Wow! You look great Becca” said Giselle and then she eyed Jaden. He looked great in khakis and a black shirt.

“You too Jaden”

“Thanks, well we better be on our way, remember to show up after an hour or so”

“Yup”

They left and reached Trisha’s home in twenty minutes.

“Hi!” said a petite girl with black hair stepping out. She was really thin and her hair looked stringy. She had a huge bruise on her cheek. She might’ve looked pretty if it wasn’t for her haggard features.

“Well Rob was delighted when he heard you would be coming Rebecca”

“I am glad” said Rebecca smiling.

They walked in and Rebecca and Jaden sat down on two armchairs in the living room. “Rob should be here soon”

“No problem”

“So what would you guys like to have?”

“Beer please”

“Sure”

She offered it to them and sat down taking a glass of pineapple juice for herself. Nobody would guess that she was expecting a baby thought Jaden but the way she had her hands in front of her stomach protectively gave her away.

They sat chatting for a while when they heard a key being turned in and Rob walked in.

“Hi” he said looking at Rebecca and smiling at her.

“Hey Robbie! This is Jaden”

“Hi Jaden” he said shaking hands with Jaden.

Well he looks alright thought Jaden. Nobody would’ve guessed that he was a wife beater. They all settled down and began talking.

“So how long have you guys been dating?” asked Rob.

“Two months”

“6 months” said Rebecca. Rob looked at them in confusion, “well it has been 6 months but it seems like only yesterday that we met!” said Jaden.

“You forgot our 6 months anniversary was coming up didn’t you?” said Rebecca pouting and continuing their act.

Jaden managed to look sheepish and said, “sorry baby, you know me!”

“So” said Rebecca turning to Rob, “how is your work going?”

“Its going good!”

“Ok let’s eat people!” said Trisha in a falsely cheery voice.

“Sure I will just freshen up and be back” said Rob not looking at Trisha. It was so easy to make out that there is a problem going on between them, thought Rebecca.

They all sat at the table, Rob came out after freshening up and had removed his coat. He came and hugged Trisha from behind and kissed her cheek.

“How is our baby doing honey?”

Rebecca looked at Jaden her eyes widening. Trisha looked scared and uncomfortable.

“Good I guess”

“You guess?” he asked his voice taking a dangerous edge.

“Well I can’t feel it yet”

“Oh right” he said and sat down.

Rebecca felt the hair on her neck standing at his behavior and she glanced at Jaden who was acting everything was normal.

The doorbell rang and Rebecca said she would check.

“Hi Giselle!”

Gisele hugged her as if she was only meeting her and Rebecca whispered, “something is definitely up”

“Trisha this is Giselle and her boyfriend Tristan”

“Oh hi Giselle, nice to met you Tristan!”

“Hi Giselle” said Rob his eyes lingering on Giselle longer than they should. He then turned his eyes on

Rebecca and he leered at her as well. Rebecca shivered involuntarily, this was not the Rob she knew!

The night went on and as planned the boys pretended to get drunk and Rob said that they could use the

spare rooms. He was more than happy that Rebecca and Giselle were staying and it creeped them out.

Once in the safety of their rooms they tried to make out what was happening.

“We need to go down and spy on them” said Tristan.

“How?”

“The old fashioned way- eavesdropping!”

“No way!”

“Well do you have a better idea?” he asked Giselle.

“He’s right” said Jaden, “I mean I don’t like it any more than you’ll do but that’s how we will find out what’s happening”

Slowly they made their way down the stairs and stood outside the master bedroom. The noises coming from inside left them in no doubt as to what was happening in there. Rebecca and Giselle blushed furiously.

After a while all the noises stopped and Josh was asked to go inside and check what was happening.

“They’re sleeping” he said.

All four of them trailed upstairs and went to sleep. They were too confused and couldn’t make head or tail of the situation. They would have to sleep on it.

They were woken up in the morning to yelling.

“What the hell are you talking about? This is not my baby!”

Rebecca ran down the stairs in case Rob raised his hand on Trisha. She saw Trisha crying at the kitchen

table while Rob paced the kitchen looking livid.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“It’s not your business Rebecca stay out of this one”

Rebecca looked in shock at Rob but she stood her ground till Rob decided he wasn’t winning this one and got dressed and left. Trisha sobbed in her arms and the others came down.

“Something is definitely up” said Jaden