The Night It All Went Down

I put my hand up to block the flashes of the paparazzi and tried to follow Niall as best as I could. They were being kept behind a barrier but it meant that we weren’t going to get out unless they moved. Sighing, Niall cast a look over at me.

“I think we’re going to have to talk to them. You alright with that?” He asked sympathetically, tightening his grip around my waist.

“I’m going to have to be. We’re never going to get through any other way are we?” I shrugged as Niall shook his head.

“No. There’ are some British and American paps there too though. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to but you’ve done it before.” He chewed his lip nervously.

“It’s fine Niall. Come on. Let’s just try and get to your car, see how it goes from there yeah.” He reluctantly nodded and followed the boys towards the long line of fans and paps.

“Kayleigh! Is it true that you killed Paul Higgins?” A noisy journalist shoved a microphone into my face. I was expecting that question.

“Kayleigh! Over here! Did the boys bail you out? How much was the bail boys?” Some American pap enquired. Again, not unexpected.

“Skank!” A girl from behind the barrier yelled at me. Well, I guess you could say that one was brought on Niall holding my waist. I rolled my eyes at her and she spat on the ground in front of me. It was so tempting to flip her off or tell her where to take her rather large arse to but I knew it wouldn’t look good if any of the men or women with cameras got it.

Then, out of the blue, I saw a fist extend towards me as I passed. It was headed towards my face and I instantly ran my training through my mind. Roll with the punch as it hits your face, tense your cheek bones and keep your feet flat on the ground. Look ahead and brace yourself for impact. The fist hit me and I did exactly that, keeping my feet shoulder width apart. It didn’t hurt as much as it would have if I hadn’t taken Systema as a teenager.

The girl who had thrown the well aimed punch just stood there, dumb founded, as I continued on through the crowd seemingly unhurt. I would have happily just continued on but the boys were now beyond pissed- Niall most of all.

He handed me to Zayn and walked over to the fan behind the fences.

“What did you just do?” He asked her quietly, raking his eyes over her trembling body. “You could have seriously injured Kayleigh and it was all just because I’m escorting her out. You know, I love you fans most of the time. But if I ever see you again,” he extended a finger towards her “I swear I will report you for harassment. Got it?” He spat at her, before turning away.

“C’mon,” he muttered, keeping a hand firmly on the small of my back as he pushed his way through the crowd.

My body was tense and shocked at what Niall had done. I hadn’t minded that much. It was him who was mad and he possibly just jeopardized his whole career. I didn’t want him to throw that away just for me so I turned around, much to Niall’s horror, and walked straight through the crowds as they parted for me.

The girl was sobbing now on her friend’s shoulder but she seemed equally annoyed with her friend as Niall.

“Hi.” I whispered quietly to the girl. She looked up, shocked and slowly retreated behind the mass of bodies. There was a lull in the noise around me and it became much easier to talk. The boys had made a semi circle behind my back should I need assistance and security was keeping a watchful eye, but I barely noticed any of them.

“Hey, I’m not going to get mad at you, I just want to talk. What’s your name?” I tried to ask her.

“Alisha,” she mumbled “I’m sorry for hitting you.” She reached up and wiped a stray tear away.
“It’s okay, I took Systema classes as a kid, it doesn’t hurt when I get in a fight as much as it would had I been undefended.”

“Oh.” Alisha sniffed. “Why are you talking to me? Most girls would be beyond pissed had somebody hit them!”

“I’m not exactly most girls.” I shrug. “Besides, I saw you were upset and Niall didn’t really have a right to get so mad at you. It should have been me if anyone. I’m very sorry about his behaviour. I guess best friends are protective of each other.” I throw a look at her friend who responds with a sideways smile.
Alisha let out a small laugh and her chocolate brown eyes began to shine, the tears that had been swimming there earlier no longer threatening to run down her pale face.

“Why are you apologising? Niall was perfectly warranted to tell me off. I shouldn’t have done it, I’ll regret that for sometime after this.”

“No you won’t. But what you have to understand Alisha, is that your words and your actions can have massive impacts on people’s lives. Next time, the next person you hit may not be trained as well as I am; they might get hurt. And since that punch you threw was pretty accurate and hard, it could possibly mean serious injury or death next time okay? I’m telling you this to warn you,” I lean over and whisper in her ear, not wanting the oddly silent crowd to hear what I was about to say. Especially not Niall.

“Can you keep a secret?” I ask as she nods.

“Well, when I first joint the boys, people trolled me and sent me hate messages, some days I thought about stopping eating to stop the fat comments. Don’t ever do that to somebody.” I lean back and take in her expression. She’s shocked.

“I…I won’t. I’m really sorry Kayleigh. I shouldn’t have done it. I promise I’ll keep my hands to myself next time.”

I crack a small smile. “Good. What’s your Twitter name? I’ll follow you.” She gives me her details and I eventually say goodbye to her, causing the crowd to start screaming and hollering again.

When I reach the boys, I can see they’re all pretty mad but it’s not until we reach the car and buckle in that I realise just how mad they all are.

“Why the fuck would you do that Kayleigh?” Liam said. “That girl HIT you with a punch even the security team would have felt! Why did you go over to her?”

“You are insane, Kayleigh, I swear, you have a death wish. Don’t EVER do that again!” Louis shouts. “El would kill me if we lost you for god’s sakes!”

Zayn and Harry glare at me from where they sit but it’s Niall who surprises me the most.

“How, Kayleigh? How did you not get hurt by that punch?” He speaks quietly, barely letting a breath escape his lips. I can tell he’s upset with me, but best friends get upset with each other. It’s what they do. He’ll get over it.

“Systema.” I reply simply and roll my eyes when everyone looks at me as though I’m speaking gibberish. “Systema is an ancient Russian martial arts technique which has a strong focus on taking and throwing punches. When you get good, a punch like that feels like a tap on the cheek. Your security team is probably trained in it.”

Harry casts a look towards the driver who nods.

“It’s true boys, it’s a good skill to have. But I didn’t know Kayleigh knew it. You should come train with us sometime girl, heck, you could probably train us! You’re fricking good at it!”

I blush furiously and Niall laughs. “I thought best friends told each other everything!” He pretends to look affronted.

“Oh, yeah. That’s why Harry know everything about me.” I say simply, trying to lighten the mood. Niall narrows his eyes at me but smiles and shakes his head.

“My adoptive parents wanted me to be able to hold my own in a street fight so they made me train. The area of Essex we lived in was known for gang and knife fights so they wanted me to survive them. I did and the other guy generally came off looking worse.” I shrug, trailing my gaze to the darkened window.

“I’ll leave you guys in peace,” the driver laughs, rolling up the separating screen.

As soon as it clangs into place at the top, Liam starts to speak.

“Okay, so we monitored account information on Twitter and we’ve not got anything useful.” Liam looks downwards. “You got anything even remotely helpful?"

“No, only that they found something at the crime scene that could make the whole case more difficult to crack. I tried asking them what it was but they wouldn’t tell me. The only way we’re going to find out is if we look at the files on their system but you can’t access them remotely unless you have a password. And even then, you get three minutes before it chucks you out.” I sigh.

“How do you know that?” Zayn asks.

“I do my homework.” I had seen the system the receptionist was working with and put two and two together, like my dad had taught me to do.

“So, we need a password?” Harry questions, disbelievingly.

“Yes, that’s exactly what she just said Harry.” Niall rolls his eyes.

“I think I can help,” Zayn says thoughtfully “my sister knows how to hack. She can probably get us a password and get us in but we’d have to be careful. I don’t want her getting into trouble.”

“You sure your sister would agree to do that?” Liam asks, appearing worried.

“It’s the only chance we’ve got and I don’t usually encourage her doing it so she’ll be happy to have a chance to do it.” Zayn shrugs.

“Well, call your sister when we get to the hotel. Niall, Liam and I can go snoop around the tour bus, see if we can get any clues from there.” I suggest.

“What about me?” Harry exclaims in protest, looking very annoyed at being left out.

“Calm down Harry, she’s getting to you.” Niall growled beside me, raising his eyebrows at me to continue. How does that boy know me so well?

“Harry, I want you to compile a list of who would have had access to the tour bus at the time of Paul’s death. Then, try and question each one but don’t make it appear like you really are interrogating them. Try, I don’t know, try playing truth or dare or do what you usually do.” I shrug.

“Got it.” He tells me, as the car draws up outside the hotel. The crowd outside seems quite subdued when we arrive and I eye them cautiously, suddenly realising they must have caught wind of what happened at the police station.

Niall resumes his position next to me, slipping an arm around my bony waist and pulling me easily through the horde of people. We glance at each as we step inside the hotel, heading straight towards the lift and going upwards.

“Liam’s room.” I voice what they’re all thinking. It’s the biggest room they have and that makes it that much easier to have a private conversation.

Liam pulls a keycard from his back pocket and waves it against the automatic locker. It clicks after a few seconds and we step inside the room. Wow. Was all I could think. I’d been in the boys’ rooms before when we went on tour so it wasn’t like I didn’t know what their standard of living was but the crew generally have standard quarters and this was amazing.

The breathtaking view of the Eiffel Tower could be seen from the balcony and soft, net curtains billowed around the frames of the doors. Pristine, crisp sheets covered the bed and a crystal lamp sat on the oak bedside table. But, predictably, the other suitcase that Liam HADN’T packed was sat open on the bed with clothes strewn all around it. It looked like a moment frozen in time that we were all intruding on.

“So.” Liam began. “Where is the tour bus? Is it still where it was?”

“They can’t risk moving it because they could possibly contaminate the scene. So it’s still behind the venue which, I assume, is cordoned off.” Niall answered. “That leaves the question as to how we are going to get in.”

“My sister can get you guys in. I’ll phone her now, she’ll put you on the list of people allowed to enter the crime scene though Kayleigh you’re going to have to wear a disguise and have my sister change your name. They won’t let the prime suspect…” Niall clears his throat before Zayn backtracks “a suspect onto the scene. What do you want to be called?”

I sat for a moment, deep in thought. “Disguise I can do. Name? No idea. Harry, you got any thoughts?”

“Are you sure it’s the wisest choice asking Harry?” Liam asked, brow furrowed.

“Good point. Niall?” I turn to him.

“Well, you always liked the name Gracie. I remember you telling me you wanted to call one of your kids Gracie.” He shrugged. How did he remember that conversation? He can barely remember to get dressed in the morning!

“Gracie it is then. And I’ll use my old surname Long. Zayn!” I yell at him because he’s in the kitchen talking on the phone.

“Yep?” Zayn pokes his head round the door.

“Gracie Long is going in.” I tell him, letting Zayn slip away back to his conversation.

“That brings us to the question of your disguise.” Niall looked at me.

“Hmm. If I had my phone with me that would be a major help but the police took it to search through it. Any of you boys got a Hollywood Life account?” I ask, knowing full well none of them even know what it is.

I roll my eyes. “Fine then. I’ll just go back to my room and get some clothes. I think I’ll be able to find a hat and some dark sunglasses in there too.” I open the door and slide into the corridor, hurrying down it to my own room. I flash the key card and let myself in, running to the wardrobe where all my clothes were.

I imagined I was dressing somebody for the first time where getting their look exactly right was key. Gracie Long had to be outgoing, courageous and strong too- so dainty dresses were out of the picture. In the end, I decided on a baseball cap, dark, large sunglasses, an army jacket, ankle boots, jeans and a plain, grey t-shirt.

As I turn to leave the room, I spot something lying on my bed, glinting in the afternoon sunlight coming in through the window. I walk over to it and stop half way, my breathing becoming ragged as I did so. Because there on my bed lay a note with a blade next to it.

“Niall!” I scream, banging on the room next to me, knowing he could god damn well hear me. I stood there for a moment, paralysed with fear, my heart beating out of my chest.

“Kayleigh! Kayleigh! Open the door or I’m going to kick it down!” Niall yells at me from the opposite side of the door. I hurry over to the door, unlocking it with trembling hands and letting all five boys pour in. Niall grabs me by the shoulders.

“What is it Kayleigh? Was someone in here? Did you get hurt?” His eyes are panicked and he searches my face. I shake my head, breathless and allow him to pull me in to a crushing embrace.

“Some….someone…someone left me a note.” I struggle out, lifting my hand to indicate the bed.

Harry walks over to it and stops dead in his tracks, putting his hand out and signalling the guys not to come any closer.

“We need to report this Kayleigh. What you’re about to do just became ten times harder- are you sure you are still able to do this? The killer just left you a note.” Harry asks, gaze still fixed on the paper.

“Yes. Because as it gets harder, it gets more important. Louis, how long will it take to get El here?” I ask him suddenly.

“Couple of hours at the most, I can fly her in pretty quickly if it will help.” He replies. I nod, breathless.

“Good, I’ll pay for her trip if I have to. Just get her here, there’s a reason I need her.” I reply. Only Harry will understand since he’s actually read the note.

“We need to do this NOW.” Niall says. “Harry, get the police on the phone asap. Kayleigh, Liam and I will go now seeing as Zayn’s sister sent us the files she could hack. Some are encrypted though, sorry Kayleigh.” He apologises, scratching the back of his neck.

“Not important Niall. What we’re about to do is stupid and reckless but we need to do it. Harry get the police to look at the note, they can take samples of the handwriting there. Louis, El needs to be here now. Liam, Sophia does too.” I say, rushing.

Liam gives me a confused look and puts a hand on my arm. “Are you alright Kayleigh? You seem breathless. What’s up?” I gulp.

“The…the note.”

Kayleigh,
Huh. You got out- why do you always insist on making the job harder than it needs to be? Paris is a place for lovers, you know where I’ll strike next if you don’t comply.
Me

Notes

Hehehe :) I promised another update didn't I?

I know, I know, this update is pretty crap but oh well :)

How are you all?

Has Kayleigh finding that note given you any suspicions about Paul's killer?

I'm going to be an annoying author here and say:

COMMENT, COMMENT COMMENT!

Please? :)

Ill probably update again on Wednesday although, if I have time, I may get a chance to write the next chapter :)

Have a great Saturday! :)