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03.04: sin city
02.❝rooted in guilt❞
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     Dinah Vincent was a risk-taker. There was something about her that loved it when the option of chance was involved instead of certainty. It was almost like an unhealthy craving that she had to fix. She lived off that adrenaline rush her entire life. Putting something on the line for something better in return. There wasn't a single bet or deal that she was ready to put to the test.

     However, this situation was quite different from the rest. She wasn't betting for food, money, or anything like that. Dinah Vincent didn't have a clue what she was getting into the moment she shook hands with Harvey Beckett.

     As much as she loved the idea of playing chance, this was a game that she didn't even know the rules to. To add more fire to the flame, she didn't even know the guy. All she knew was that she made an agreement, and she was going to do her part of the bargain. Well, she honestly had no choice, seeing that she didn't even have a clue to where she was, to begin with.

    The next morning had really such a blur of her. She remembered waking up from her sleep, a couple of hours earlier from her regular morning routine, thanks to her newfound friend. She took note that Harvey was an early bird. And by early, she meant early. Seeing that she really have didn't anything, but the clothes that were on her back, Harvey had stopped by a clothing store on the road to grab a couple of items for her before they head on their journey. Even though Dinah hated to admit it, he did have nice taste.

     The drive to their destination was definitely awkward. Harvey did a lot of things that didn't exactly sit well with Dinah. She couldn't tell if it was just her already annoyed attitude from being awoken from her sleep or it was the fact that she found him to be annoying in general. They didn't really share many conversations. Only speaking about the map coordinations and tape collections.

    Throughout their road trip, Dinah did learn that Harvey was obsessed with the band, Guns N' Roses. Although she didn't particularly have a problem with this, she did know that if she heard Knockin' On Heaven's Door one more time, she was sure that she would send him to heaven's door herself.

    And now, the engine of the car came to a halt as they turned swiftly into the parking lot of the small diner. Without many words, the two jumped out of the car and walked inside the restaurant. The lighting was dim, but through the windows that welcomed the passage of light, the diner was alive with the vibrant hues of midday. The air that traveled through the small space was thick as the scents of flavors and food lingered. Dinah tried not to gag as she watched a waitress carry a plate of seafood to a table. She never enjoyed the smell of fish. Let alone the smell of fish in a diner.

    It didn't take them that long before Harvey and Dinah were settled into their booth, the two of them sitting on the opposite side of each other. Once they were seated, a waitress had taken their orders and disappeared to the back, leaving them both in silence once again. Because of this, it didn't take long for Dinah to open her mouth to start asking questions. Questions that she had been dying to be answered the moment she even stepped foot in his car.

    "Okay, so when you mentioned me helping you out," she starts, "You forgot to mention what exactly I am supposed to be doing to help you out."

    On the opposite side of the table, Harvey pulls out a laptop from his bag. "I'd figured that if I told you, you wouldn't agree to what is it I'm asking for."

    "Well, I think now would be the greatest time to do so since you've practically dragged me out to God know where," she says. Before he could say anything, she pointed her finger at him. "And don't bullshit me either. No smart answers. No jokes."

   "We are in Greensville, Illinois," Harvey says. He doesn't bother to look up from his computer screen as he types along the keyboard of his laptop. "Last year, there was a sign of the supernatural. A ghost of a college student decided to go all revenge of the nerds and attack those who mistreated her when she was alive."

     "Okay, so what are we doing back here then?" she questions.

     At that, Harvey turns his laptop over to face Dinah. The screen displayed a local newspaper website for the town. Her eyes skimmed through the article and she raised her brow as she took note of everything that she read. While she read, Harvey grabbed the same familiar black journal out from his bag and placed it onto the table. "Talk around the town is that there has been a lot of mysterious freak accidents going around. Just last week, Liam Brown, a high school student, drowned at a high school pool during a swim meet."

    Dinah raises her brow. He continues, "It was six feet and the guy was the captain of the swim team."

     "Well then."

    According to the article, the series of unexplainable accidents had caused an uproar around town. Especially at the local high school. Parents had been scared to send their kids to school. Not to mention, many citizens of the town had already started to build assumptions that the school was haunted. As claimed by many, the property that the school was built on was eerie land, which only built on the speculation that the wrath of the spirits that once lived there were the ones who were terrorizing and causing this issue. But then again, this was just a theory.

    "You think that's crazy, listen to this," he says. He pauses for a brief moment as the waitress from earlier drops off their orders. Once she disappears, he continues. "Apparently, all of these accidents have been happening in some type of pattern. All of the victims are all members of a sports team."

     The girl crosses her arms over her chest as she sits back in her chair and smirks, "What? This thing isn't a fan of sports?"

     He pulls back his computer in his direction and begins typing again. He opens up the school's website, accessing the sport's page. Displayed on the site was a memorial list of the victims that had recently passed away. "I am not sure, but whatever is going on, we have to stop it before someone else becomes a victim."

     "Okay, fine. Let's say I do agree to go help put this thing to rest. There is only one slight problem," she says. Harvey gives her a look. "I didn't exactly come prepared. All of my weapons are back in my car. A place that you didn't want me to go back to, remember?"

     Harvey shakes his head. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. While you were asleep, I went back and I grabbed all your stuff." Dinah's eyes widened at his comment. He continues, "I figured that you were going to make an excuse to get out of this so all it's all stuffed in the trunk."

     Dinah's face lights up a bit. "What about the demons? I thought you said it wouldn't be safe to go back there."

    "Yeah, well technically what I meant to say that it wasn't safe for you to go back there," he remarks. Dinah scoffs at him. Her actions are quick as she grabs a fry and throws it at him. She knew where he was going with this. "After I am your knight and shining armor from the bar, so I handled it."

      "Thanks, but I can take care of myself, Prince Charming." she rolled her eyes.

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     Not long after Harvey and Dinah left the diner did they find themselves standing in the doorstep of the Taylor Corporn's house. Thanks to Harvey's extensive research, he was able to figure that Taylor happened to be good friends with the latest victim. They both figured that getting answers from one of his friends might help build their case in order to figure what exactly was going on in this town. However, just as they were getting ready to ring the doorbell of the home, a sudden panic comes over Dinah. She turns to face Harvey and gives him a look.

    "Wait, what exactly are we gonna say when they answer the door?" she asks. "We haven't really established a game plan."

     Giving her a confused look, Harvey answers, "I didn't think we actually needed one. We are just gonna ask about the accident and then move on."

     "What?! That's your master plan," Dinah scoffs. "We can't just ask about it. That just seems too suspicious."

     "Well, what do you suggest? We wear disguises and pretend to be police officers? That's kind of stupid."

     "Well, it would be better than going up and openly asking," she spits back. "And besides, even if we were pretending to be cops, no one would take you seriously with that cigarette hanging from behind your ear." She grabs the cigarette and throws it onto the yard.

     "What are you five?" he retorts. He runs back after the tube of tobacco, placing instead into his pocket. "These things aren't cheap, you know."

     "Those things can kill, you know."

      Harvey rolls his eyes at her, "Thanks for the unwanted health lesson. I'll be sure to remember that the next time I end up buying more." he states in a mocking tone. Dinah puffs at him.

     "Whatever. Let's just get this over with so you and I can just go back to our normal lives."

      "Fine by me."

    Taking a deep breath, Dinah knocks on the door and waits for a response. As their waiting, Harvey takes his time walking back up towards the doorstep. One minute turns into two as they continue to wait for someone to open the door. Irritated with waiting, Harvey takes the initiative to knock for himself, only knocking a little more aggressively than Dinah would like.

    She lifts her hand to look at the time and looks back at him, "You banging like that is only going to keep them from not answering the door. We aren't psychopaths."

     "Well, it's not like your knocking was any better. Your polite girl scout knock got us nowhere."

     Before Dinah could argue back, a noise from behind had caught both of their attention. An SVU pulled into the driveway of the home, immediately stopping at the sight of the two of them. As the door swings open, a frantic woman steps out of the car, along with two young kids and an older middle-aged teen. Based on the description, Harvey had given to Dinah earlier, she assumed that the teenager had to be Taylor.

      As the mother and her children begin to give direction to her children to help with their carry their luggage of groceries from the trunk, without a second thought, Dinah quickly rushed over to the car, grabbing the attention of the woman.

      "Oh uh, hi, can I help you guys?" she asked.

     Dinah smiled. "Hi, Miss Corporn, we are so sorry to bother you, but the school board asked us to stop by. We are grief counselors. We  heard about the incident and just wanted to stop by and check up on the families around town who happen affected by recurring accidents around town."

     Dinah glances over at Harvey to see him giving a look. Without causing too much attention, she manages to give him a quick pinch which causes him to alter his look. As if he understands, he quickly starts to play along as he says, "Yeah, what she said. We are grief counselors."

     The woman nods her head. "Oh, well, I didn't know that school requested grief counselors to do home visits. They didn't make that aware in the newsletter that they sent out."

     "Well, it's part of a new program that we are trying out," Harvey explains. "A new way to connect with people — just from the comfort of their home."

      "Oh well, that seems really nice," the woman smiles. She looks back at the teenage boy, who helping his two little sisters carry the bags of groceries into the home. She waits until he gets inside to continue speaking. "I think that this would be a great opportunity for Taylor. He's been distant ever since the accident happened. He doesn't want to seem to talk about it with anyone."

      "So, I take it that Liam and Taylor were best friends?" asks Dinah.

     The woman nods. "They've been friends since they were in diapers. Liam's mother and I were in the same book club. It's honestly just so sad that all of this happening. Just thinking about his poor mother. Poor thing has been a wreck since all of this happened."

        "Miss Corporn, do you mind if we sit down and talk with Taylor?" Harvey asked.

       The mother agrees and ushers the two inside of the home. Inside, the younger children had already been occupied by the television and toys that had been lying around the house. Taking in the scenery, Dinah scanned around the living room and had taken notice of the many photo family portraits that hung onto the wall of the home. The images of the smiling faces of the family placed an uneasy feeling in her. As she stares back that the photographs, she can't help to feel her heart sink a bit. The photographs brought back Dinah's own reality. Her family — her world — had been all torn apart.

      In fairness, Dinah tried her best to put the past behind her at times. But guilt was like gasoline in her guts. The more she thought about it, the more her consciousness died slowly in the toxicity that she placed herself in, needing no more than a spark to set it ablaze. Thinking about her last moment with Frank was the spark that broke the camel's back.

      For a brief moment, the flash of anger that Dinah put on herself protected her from the pain. The guilt that she felt sat not only on her chest, but inside her brain. No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't undo the last few moments she had with him. She couldn't go back and erase the harsh words that spewed out her mouth. She couldn't go back to remove the heartache she gave him. Only in her silent prayers did she hope for things to back to the way they were before. She believed in redemption, but apart of believed that she was far from even receiving it.

      "Dinah," Harvey whispers, pulling her out of her trace. She turns to him and blinks twice. He points towards the direction of the stairs. "Are you coming or what? Miss Corporn mentioned something about showing off baby pictures of kids and I'm pretty sure you don't wanna be around for that."

      The Vincent girl smiles slightly at him, nodding her head. Harvey juts his head towards to staircase and Dinah follows up the path, leaving her thoughts of iniquity for a later time.

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         "So, Liam didn't have any enemies?" asked Dinah. The boy shook his head. "Anyone who he might have pissed off lately?" He shook his head again. Dinah sighs.

       Taylor rubs the back of his neck. "Are you serious? Look, I don't understand why I have to keep going through the same thing over and over again. I talked to the counselors at school a couple of days ago."

      Dinah glances over to Harvey. He pulls a face as he tries to explain, "Well, uh, we are just trying to make sure that all of our bases are covered here, Taylor."

      "Yeah, we are just making sure that Liam's death didn't revolve around anyone trying to hurt him," says Dinah. "But unless it did then that's something that we need to know."

      The teen shrugs and shifts his weight on the bed. According to his body language, there was something that was eating at his consciousness, but Dinah didn't know exactly what it was. All she knew was that he was leading off more than he was telling. "No, that's it. Liam death's was just an accident. Just like all the other deaths."

      "According to your mom, the other victims were also some of your friends too," Harvey says. "You don't find it a bit strange that the deaths all revolve around the sports team at your high school?"

       Taylor tilts his head, "So do you think that maybe I'm next?"

        "No, that's not what we are saying — we're just —"

       "We're just trying to figure out everything that happened. Yeah, you've mentioned that like a hundred times. Liam's death wasn't anyone's fault, but . . ." Taylor pauses for a brief moment. He sighs heavily as he buries his head into his face.

       Sharing the same look of confusion, Dinah and Harvey sit in silence before one of them decides to push further the conversation. That one, being Dinah. "But what, Taylor?"

       He says nothing.

     "Taylor."

      Silence.

      "Taylor?"

      Without any warning, Taylor stands up and makes his way towards his bedroom door. He swings it open and says, "I'm done talking about this. You guys can find your way downstairs."

     Dinah opens her mouth to speak, but by the look of Taylor's agitated state, she thinks twice about her actions. With no other choice, Dinah and Harvey decides to follow his wish and head downstairs, leaving the boy alone with his thoughts. They bid his mother goodbye before heading back to their vehicle.

      Swimming in her own thought of confusion, Dinah still couldn't shake the thought of the boy's last words. There was something that he wanted to say. That was evident. The guilt that he tried his best to mask was something that she was already too familiar with. However, whatever her thoughts were about the current situation, her thinking had been disturbed by the slamming of Harvey's passenger side door.

      His hands move down to his jacket as he grabs the cigarette from earlier and puts it to his lips. Dinah couldn't help herself as her face plastered a look from his actions. Almost before the lighter could reach the tip of the tube, he catches a glimpse at her.

      "Look, I am stressed," he says, the cigar still dangling around his lips. "I just need to relax right now."

      "What you are gonna need is a set of new lungs." she retorts. She pulls the cigarette from his mouth and places it into the cup holder. "You don't think I am feeling the same way?"

      His eyebrows knit together. He opens his mouth to speak, but before he does, he stops himself first. Dinah is already assuming the worst at this point, but he surprises her as he says, "Looking at that kid was like looking at a reflection of me when I was a kid. I know he knows something. He's guilty of something."

      "Tell me about it," Dinah sighs. "But I don't see him budging anytime soon. Not yet at least."

      Harvey's shoulder falls as he leans back into his seat. "I say we head back and look into that friend group and see if there's something that we didn't pick up."

      Agreeing with his idea, Dinah watches as Harvey turns the key into the ignition. Once shifted into gear, two pull out of the driveway and onto the road as head back to put together the missing pieces of their cases.

      "Liam never really mentioned his extended family — too much family drama. He didn't want anyone to see that side of him."

      The girl nods her head. Dinah flips the pages of the Pinewood High School Yearbook she had retrieved earlier from the school's library. Looking through the book, she sought through the sports pages, pointing to all of the sports players that had become victims. She comes across a photo of Liam. His carefree smile indicated that he was mostly a happy-go-lucky kind of kid. In the picture, his arms are around two friends, Taylor Corporn and Brenda Hines.

     One of his friends, Brenda Hines, happened to be the next girl in question. According to talk around town. The three had been inseparable ever since they started taking swimming lessons together. The friend group had been fully known around the school so Dinah and Harvey figured it would be best to follow their instinct and cover their tracks by questioning all of Liam's friends.

      "So. . . we're kind of asking around, as a favor to Liam's mom. Was he acting. . . weird to you at all?" Harvey asks.

       Brenda gives him a look. "What do you mean?"

      "I mean. . . before the swim meet, maybe a couple of days before? Did he say anything strange? Maybe he was nervous. . . scared about something?"

      Brenda looks down at her feet. She kicks at the small pebbles on the sidewalk of the school steps. At this, Dinah looks up from the book and turns towards the girl. "Brenda, Liam was the captain of the swim team and a swim teacher for the recreational center. You can't possibly think that this was just an accident. Something happened out there. So if you know anything at all, now would be a great time to tell us."

      "About a couple of weeks ago, Liam mentioned that he was having these weird dreams about Billy Morton. He died last year. He said that Billy kept telling him that his guilt would be the death of him if he didn't confess to what he had done. We didn't have a clue of what he was talking about, we figured that he was just high or something?"

       "And Billy Morton is?" asked Harvey.

      "He and Liam used to be friends back in elementary. Billy was actually a part of our friend group. Hell, he was actually everyone's friend. The most likable guy in the school. Until one day, Billy was found dead in the locker room. No one knows how it happened, but ever since then it's like there is a curse around the school sports department."

      Dinah nods. "So, do you know by any chance if Billy and Liam had any beef with each other?"

       "Are you kidding me? Every sports player had beef with Billy. He was the most sought out player in our school district. Almost every scouting manager that came here was only looking for Billy Morton. Do you know how annoying it is for you to work your ass off just for anyone not to notice?"

      Dinah and Harvey exchange silent looks with each other. After finishing up with Brenda, the two start making their way out of the school lot. As they walk to the parking lot, Dinah flips through the yearbook, her eyes scanning for more information about Billy Morton. "It says here that Billy was on the road for the Olympics based on his performance on the swim team. The guy was practically a sports fanatic, anything the school offered, he was there."

       "Seems like Brenda knew what she was talking about," says Harvey. "If Billy was the most sought out player in all of Greensville, then that would've pissed a lot of people off."

      "Billy and Liam seemed like they were always tied neck and neck against each other. Liam was always becoming behind just by a little. After Billy died, all the attention went back to Liam and the rest of the players." explained Dinah.

           "Time to do a little digging on Liam Brown."

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  "Billy Morton, last seen by his swimming team was found unconscious in the boys' locker room and was later pronounced dead by officials." Dinah reads aloud. With Harvey's laptop, she had decided to take interest in furthering her research on Billy Morton. Clicking through the articles, she managed to find one discussing the death of the once-beloved teenager. "Although the case was investigated thoroughly, the police are unaware of the victim's cause of death — claiming it to be natural causes."

      Dinah clicks another article and begins to skim through it. "The swim team held a candlelight vigil just a couple of days after his death." A couple of photos accompany the article, a photo memoir of Billy Morton, a group photo of the swim team at the vigil, and Liam Brown, Taylor Corporn, and Brenda Hines front and center vigil — this photo takes Dinah's interest.

       "Apparently the candlelight vigil was Taylor, Liam, and Brenda's idea," Dinah mumbles, reading the photo caption. "I don't know, I find it kinda hard to believe that these kids had anything to do with Billy's death."

      "Are you kidding me?" Harvey scoffs. "Please don't tell me you're letting that photo get to you. I mean, it's kind of obvious that these kids had something to do with it."

       Dinah sighs. "Okay, well, I understand the jealousy part. But killing the guy? I mean, they are only kids."

       "Kids with killer motives," Harvey says. He walks to his bag and grabs something from it. Dinah cannot sketch out exactly what the object is, however, soon after Harvey makes his way towards her direction, she is able to spot it out. A book. Actually, a bright pink book. Dinah raises her brow.

      "Not that I am against it, but what's with the book?" she asked.

       Harvey sits at the table across from her. "It's not just any book. This book has the answers to help us solve this case." Dinah gives him a look. She doesn't understand his motive behind this. "Brenda was trying to keep something from us, but I guarantee that this book will tell us everything that we need to know."

       "Oh my God, please don't tell me that you—"

        "Yes. I stole her diary."

       "You asswipe! What the hell is wrong with you? You don't go around just stealing things that don't belong to you."

      Harvey makes a face at her. "Oh, so it's okay for us to lie and say that we are grief counselors and family members?"

       Well, he does have a point, but Dinah wasn't going to admit that. "This is different. We are talking about a teenage girl's diary. A very important factor in every teen girl's life."

       "So I take it that you have one yourself?" asked Harvey.

        The girl rolls her eyes at him. In fact, she was almost slightly offended that he would even ask that question. Of course, she did have one. Keeping a diary is a common thing among teen girls. Call it a phase, but it was a way to keep a girl from going insane. Writing about things either interesting or just mundane, having a diary was a way to write out your thoughts and feelings. And growing up in the shoes that Dinah Vincent had to walk in, keeping a diary was probably the most important thing in life to her.

       Even though Frank was a good listener and occasionally offered for the girl to voice her opinions and feelings, Dinah found it better to write about her troubles. Frank already had enough trouble as it was battling between the supernatural and trying to babysit a runaway teenager, she figured complaining about her problems would just be misery to his ears.

       "I did have one when I was sixteen. And not even Frank was allowed to read it," she said as she snatched the journal from his hands. "So if anything, I think that it would only be fair if a girl was to read it. It's practically girl code...at least I think it is."

       Harvey shrugs it off and sits back in the chair. He pulls out a cigarette and lights it up. "Fine. Just make sure you skip past anything to do with high school crushes. If I wanted to hear about it, I would watch the Hallmark Channel."

        Dinah opens the book and turns through the pages. Doodles and stickers were marked all around the pages of the journal. Everything listed from minor arguments with her siblings to romantic school crushes at her school. It was obvious that Brenda's entire life revolved around this journal. Across from her, Harvey puffs out a cloud of smoke from his lips, he asks, "Find anything interesting?"

        "Apart from the makeout session that Brenda had with Chad Harrison during gym class behind the bleachers. Nope," she says, turning the pages of the journal. Harvey cringes. A couple of pages into the journal, something occurs to Dinah. Harvey notices her expression.

        "What is it? Did she find out that Chad is the ultimate douchebag of the school when he doesn't ask her to the prom?"

        Dinah shakes her head. "No, it's worse." She flips the book over to Harvey's direction, allowing him to get a glimpse of her newly found concern. Dated around the time of Billy's death, Brenda had mentioned a very interesting entry in her diary.

        "....These last few days have been hell for me. I haven't been able to sleep or eat. My parents are starting to get worried about me because I've been jumpy the past couple of days. Liam has been acting strange. He keeps saying that Billy keeps paying him visits in his dreams. Taylor thinks that we are just overthinking it. He says that we have to get our shit together if we don't want to get caught. I think he has a point, but after all, we are all rooted in guilt."

         "Still don't think that these teenagers have the guts to kill?" asked Harvey.

         Dinah sighs. "So by the looks of it, we are dealing with a vengeful spirit?" she asked. Harvey nods. "Lovely."

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NOTES: 

   maybe its because i'm a fan of the mystery/murder genre, but I love the concept of revenge. not that I'm a revengeful person, but that concept in a story *chef kisses* its so good to me. that's probably why I watch lifetime movies in my spare time. but moving on...

  so what do we think? im still trying to vibe with this story. this is one story that i actually wanna write/finish because i actually have a mini series planned for it :) but we will discuss that at a later time!