LIFE
Original Concept and Coding by Crystal Tears
Brought to you by ChobiChibi

“Police have confirmed that the deaths of eighteen year old Brooke Patterson and office worker Kaitlyn Chen are linked.

Both were raped prior to their murders with foreign DNA found on both bodies. Forensics have revealed that the samples are identical. However, it does not match any DNA on record, and although there are no leads as of yet, Police believe the man may not be local to Riverside or has just taken up residency in the town.

There is no other link between the two bodies, both families have said that the women did not know each other.

The CCTV images from the train station have revealed that the man was wearing dark clothing on the night of Kaitlyn's murder, but otherwise the image is not clear enough to give any positive identification to the man.

A memorial service is taking place today for Brooke at Grayling Park High School, prior to her funeral on Friday. Kaitlyn Chen's funeral is taking place at 1pm at St Matthews Methodist Church on Wednesday. Anyone who knew her are welcome to attend.”

Jessica Weaver, The Daily Inquirer, 28/06/10

Never again, she vowed. Never ever again would she answer her cell phone at 4:31am on a Monday morning. Even if it was her editor. She would refuse to come in and go back to sleep instead. Even if it was concerning the Riverside Rapist/Murderer that she'd already written articles on and was so fascinated by the story and how it would eventually pan out.

She would ignore the fact that she'd told her editor to call her at any time of day concerning this so that she'd be able to write the articles about it. Alas, she was a hypocrite.

It had just gone 10 now, she'd managed to rush to work and get in at 5 to write the article before it went to print. She imagined there was some kind of dramatic “stop the press!”-like scenario in the printing room and some manic shuffling of articles in order to fit it in. This time it wasn't front page news, since the guy hadn't killed again, but she imagined it was still a pain in the ass to move things around.

She sat slumped at her desk, stirring her piping hot tea. It was the only thing keeping her awake. She had other things to do; emails to answer, photographers to arrange... But her mind wouldn't stop slipping back to the idea of sitting in her Pjs, playing Twilight Princess, getting a takeaway and then going to sleep.

The sooner you sort out paperwork, the sooner you can go home... You've been told this...

She picked up her phone, setting down her tea carefully, scrolling through the address book... She'd made a deal with Tami to give her first shout on photo opportunities...

Straight to voice mail... Bugger...

“Hey Tami, it's Jess, y'know, the Inquirer... Anyway, I was calling to ask if you could get us some pictures of the memorial service at Grayling Park for tomorrow's paper...” She paused, glancing at the clock. “But I guess it will have already started by now... If by some divine intervention you're already there, please send me the pictures! Oh, and if you're able to, the funeral on Wednesday of Kaitlyn... Give us a call back when you can. Thanks!”

Satisfied, she decided that it was lunch time. Yes, she was a couple of hours off midday, but it's not every day you get into work 4 hours earlier than you're supposed to. She quickly shuffled some odd bits of paper into more organised looking piles, grabbed her bag and headed out.

Jess was glad she'd dressed the way she did this morning, despite how cold it had been previously. She had a one of those shirts that was dress length on, white of course, reaching half way down her thighs with a thick black belt around her waist, black leggings and black leather pumps. Unfortunately, the only downside to this is she had no time to put her lenses in, so her glasses sat on her nose.

There was a shop just around the corner from her office that did the best sandwiches. It was a small, independent retailer, a newsagents... She liked it because they knew her by name, and normally knew what she wanted.

She hurried inside, making her way straight to the sandwich fridge, scanning it for her favourite. Chicken and stuffing with mayo. Yes! There it was! The last one, too! She picked it up and turned in such a frantic rush to get to the counter that she completely lost all spacial awareness and crashed into the man stood beside her.

She stumbled back slightly, giggling a little in an attempt to hide her flustered state. “I'm so sorry!”

“No worries.” The man shrugged, going back to whatever he was doing before.

She got a better glance at him as she walked towards the counter. To be honest, he looked like he'd just crawled out of bed, his shaggy hair giving off that kind of bed-head look. It suited him, she thought. As did the light stubble.

“Jan...” Jess placed her sandwich on the counter, snatching up a chocolate bar and putting it next to it. “Who is that?”

“What makes you think I know all the residents of Riverside, hm?” The shop assistant frowned.

“Because normally you do.” She smiled at her sweetly. “Since you take the time to get to know your most regular of customers.”

Jan had a thing about faces. Once she'd seen you, she'd never, ever forget you. She'd probably be able to tell you where she'd seen you before as well. “That's true...” She replied. “To be honest, girly, I ain't never seen him before. That'll be four eighty-five, sweet.”

“Oh? Is that so?” Jess handed her some money, trying to get another sneaky glance, but he'd moved.

“Hey, I read your article today.” Jan handed her the change she was due. “I can't believe they think it's someone not local... I mean, think about it, they were both murdered so far away from each other, this guy's gotta know where to run...”

To be honest, Jess had stopped listening when she'd mentioned the local thing. It bothered her that Jan didn't recognise the guy she'd crashed into. It wouldn't have before, but it just didn't sit well with her...

“Janet... Dear lovely Janet...”

“What do you want?”

“Would you do me a massive favour and find out a little more about that guy for me?” She asked, pouting a little.

“Why?” The woman smirked. “You want to ask him out?”

“No! Oh god, Jan! I'm not a schoolgirl any more!” She looked genuinely offended. “If I did want to, I'd ask him myself! I just wanna do some snooping, that's all... A background check, if you will...”

“Yeah, ya call it that... But that's not what ya mean... Go on! Get back to work!” She scolded, laughing and wagging her finger at her.

“Pleeeaaaasse?”

“Go! I have other people to serve, y'know!”

So she went to leave, only pausing in the doorway when she heard Jan say: “A new face! I ain't seen you before! I'm Janet, your local newsagent, who might you be?”

Jess smiled, heading happily off to work.

~~~

Blatant tag to Tami, slightly more subtle tag to Hayden 8D (lol Sie, have fun with the shop assistant XD)

Alright, so, to summerise:
- It's Monday the 28th of June, 2010... So most of you guys are probably at work/school
- Erm, my brain told me there'd be more points, but there really aren't because you can do what you like XD

ATTENTION STUDENTS/TEACHERS OF GRAYLING PARK HIGH SCHOOL: I want to be able to set up this memorial service, but I'm not well and has to go sleepies for work, so don't have time to post for Caine tonight. Please don't post these characters until I have... I'll do it when I get home from work tomorrow. Sorry about this ><

As for all you new characters in the sign up thread, you're all approved! 8D Hooray! Celebrations!

Again, sorry about the school thing... Just is a little important... ^^;