Chapter 1

Maddie didn’t even tell me she was having a party, she just said she was inviting a couple of her friends over. I didn’t think anything of it because she had friends over a lot, and our parents didn’t have a problem with it–even when they weren’t in town. She must have used this to her advantage so we wouldn’t think anything suspicious would happen. I had gotten home from work at the bookstore downtown, and nothing was out of the ordinary.

I leaped upstairs and threw myself into my bed as I did almost every day when I got home from work. I had been so exhausted this time that I forgot to take off my glasses. My feet had been hurting, and I wanted to relax. With my cheek against my feather pillow, my glasses shoved into my temple, and my arm draped over the side of my bed, I embraced sleep as the warm pressure left my feet. 

All of a sudden, the house shook with the bass of an explosion–a bass explosion that continued with rhythm. That was Dad’s stereo. It was this moment, my worst fears were coming true. My sister was proving herself to be a rebel, and she was my responsibility this weekend. Watch your sister, Justin. Mom had said. She’s mature enough and can take care of herself, but just make sure you guys stay safe please.

The pulsating vibration of the music violated my ears as I fought my way to the kitchen in the substance cavern I called home. Mom and Dad went out of town for their anniversary, so it seemed my younger sister Maddie thought it would be the perfect time to take her right of passage as a sixteen-year-old idiot and throw a party. So there they all were–tens of pathetic high schoolers, in my home drinking, underage. Hell, I wasn’t even of age at nineteen, but even I wasn’t that stupid. 

After speeding past a couple leaning against the wooden stairwell, talking about whatever high schoolers talked about, I skidded into the kitchen. 

“Maddie, what the fuck?” I demanded as I attempted to snatch the half-empty bottle of Vodka she held in her dainty hands.

“Chill out, Justin,” she muttered through her gritted teeth and gripped white-knuckled onto the Tito’s. “It’s just a few friends.”

I pushed my dark, bushy eyebrows to my hairline, widened my eyes, and pulled my chin toward my chest in shock. “What the fuck kind of math classes are you in Maddie? What does ‘a few’ mean to you? This is, like, thirty people, and the music is really fucking loud.”

“People like to listen to music, Justin,” she said, as if unaware of the problem I was having with her. Even more people poured in through the front door, causing my blood to boil even hotter. “I’m taking care of my guests. Did you want to take a shot?”

“Maddie, you’re so fucking stupid. Someone is going to file a noise complaint, or someone is going to be stupid enough to get hurt,” I pleaded with her.

“No, they’re not Justin, just be cool, okay?” She flipped her kinky blond hair over her shoulder and tried to pretend like I wasn’t there. 

Exasperated, I brought my hands to my head and pulled my hair until it hurt. As I turned around to find things to hide from the high schoolers, a girl with a red plastic cup was in my path and walked up to me. 

“Hi, I’m Ashley,” she said as she bit her lip and looked me up and down. “You’re cute, what’s your name?” 

“No,” I gagged, shocked by the thought of this child trying to flirt with me. I turned my back to Ashley to glare at my sister. “Get your people out of here.”

“Justin, stop it, I wanted to invite them,” she said as she poured a bag of chips into a bowl and then took a sip of her drink. 

“Is this Mom and Dad’s?” I demanded upon realization. Was she stupid enough to use Mom and Dad’s alcohol?

“No, of course not,” she rolled her eyes as if that were obvious. Who the fuck was old enough to get you alcohol? I thought as the fists in my hands grew tighter. “It’s Carter’s.”

Carter was her boyfriend who she met at school. He was 17: only a year older than Maddie. “And how did he end up being able to bring you alcohol?”

Behind me, his familiar, husky voice answered my questions. “My brother hooked us up.”

I groaned, displeased at his willing to do this. He was a good kid, like I thought Maddie was. “Why’d you do this, man?”

“I mean, she would have tried to find a way anyway, man.” He said as he shrugged. “I figured it would be safest if I trusted where it was from and I was here to take care of her.”

“Please get your stuff and friends out of my house before someone gets hurt,” I pleaded to him, calmer than I had been.

Before Carter could respond or Maddie could interject, a blood-curdling scream came from the backyard. Maddie and I locked eyes and I shook my head. This is the stupid shit that happens when you have a party, I thought with rage. Now something is wrong.  

Maddie and I made eye contact, and she dropped the buzzed smirk from her face. I sped out the sliding glass door, nearly tripping over the door frame on my way. She threw her red cup into the sink, and she and Carter tailed after me. The patio furniture, which, on a normal evening would be basking in the summer’s dusk, was strewn about as its occupants rushed to the commotion at the fence in my backyard. 

“Call 9-1-1!” a young girl in pink hollered from the huddled group. 

“What happened?” I breathed when I pushed my way toward the front of the huddle. Teenagers grumbled and huffed at me for pushing them out of the way. “I live here,” I snapped. “I need to know what is going on.”

The group clasped their hands across their chests and their eyes averted in every direction except at me. Eyeliner dripping down their faces, and their bangs covering their eyes, each was more affected than the next. At the stones below the fence, a young girl in grey jeans, combat boots, and a leather jacket was laying on her side, with her long black hair drenched in blood. I recognized her–it was one of Maddie’s friends.

“Oh my god, Veronica!” Maddie gasped when she finally pushed her way through the growing crowd. She got on her knees beside me, checking for Veronica’s pulse and trying to wake her up.

“She’s definitely dead,” I mumbled, looking at the pool of blood pouring out of Veronica’s back. Maddie looked back at me, tears brimming in her eyes.

“I’ll call the police,” she said, standing up to go into the house, where the music had now been silenced.

I looked around to the group behind me and took a look at them. There was a tall, lanky guy in ripped skinny jeans and a checkered Vans shirt with shoes to match, another guy who was overweight and wore a shirt with Pokémon characters on it a girl dressed in black with outdated bangs that covered her whole face, a girl with a septum piercing black lipstick, and green make up on her eyes, and a girl dressed in pastel pink with straight blond hair and a face buried in makeup. Interesting crowd, I thought to myself. How does Barbie fit into this crowd?

“What are your names?” I asked the group.

“Sean,” said the guy in the Vans.

“John,” said the guy in the Pokémon shirt.

“Alana,” the girl with the bangs said.

“Jodi,” said the girl with the septum piercing.

Barbie announced her name as, “Hannah.”

“Were you guys out here when it happened?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

Alana looked from side to side, biting her lip, her peers mirroring. “We were outside, but we were over on the other side. We heard the scream from behind us and when we turned around, we saw Veronica.”

“She was already, like, bleeding and on the ground and stuff when we looked,” Sean, in the Vans shoes, said with a low, deep voice.

My eyebrows scrunched into the center of my forehead as I squinted my eyes.

“Was it just you guys out here?” I inquired.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure,” Alana said. I looked to the others’ faces to see if they had an answer for me, but alas, they stood wide-eyed, with their hands by their sides, silent.

“I think I should be getting home,” the one who identified herself as Hannah said, her lips trembling.

“Actually, we are going to need everyone who is here right now to stay here,” a booming voice from behind us all said. We all turned our heads in the direction of the voice, and it was a man in uniform with Maddie trailing behind him. We were silent in anticipation and could even hear possums run across the top of the fence. His boots made a thumping sound as they hit the pavement of the patio, and the badge on his chest reflected in the moonlight.

“I am Officer Craig,” the man said.

“Thank you for arriving so quickly,” I observed. It had hardly been 5 minutes since Maddie went into the house to call them.

“Don’t thank me yet. I was on my way already for the noise complaint, then got the call from Dispatch as I pulled into the neighborhood.”

“Right,” I pursed my lips, and made eye contact with Maddie, glaring I told you so into her mind. She looked to the ground in shame, her shoulders scrunched into her body as a reaction to the brisk evening. From inside the house, Carter emerged, with a hoodie in hand. He put a tender hand on her shoulder, and she looked at him, grateful for him thinking of her.

“Everyone in this yard right now is a witness and needs to be questioned,” Officer Craig said, his voice an octave deeper as he addressed the group. “I have sent home all of the non-witnesses. No one else is to leave the premises. I have forensics on their way to look at the body.”

“Are we suspects?” Hannah said, her voice the opposite of the officer’s, higher than the empire state building. Her jaw trembled and she grasped at her arms, shivering under her furry, pink vest.

“Not yet,” Officer Craig said. “But you are in the crime scene and we need to know everything, especially from those who knew the victim.”

The officer addressed Maddie now. “Is there a place in the home where I can question everyone?”

Maddie nodded her head and said, “Yes actually, our parents’ study.” Maddie led Officer Craig to the study in the front of the house, and he gestured for everyone to follow. Grateful for the opportunity to leave the cold, eerie yard, we made our way back into the house, this time sluggish, unlike the way we had attended to the scene. We moved around the patio furniture as it was now a crime scene, and we entered the house again through the kitchen’s entrance into the backyard. Our grand living room felt even bigger since all of the partygoers were gone, and it was so much quieter than it had been, even with our sneakered steps squeaking on the tile of the hallway. We could hear the ice maker drop more ice, and we could even hear the slow dripping of the faucet into the sink. Our walk to the office felt like walking through water.

After what felt like a mile, we landed in the front living room, where my parents’ study was across the hall from.

Officer Craig stopped walking and turned around so he could address the group again. “Have the owners of this home been told about the situation yet?”

“Um–” I started.

Maddie interrupted me to say, “I called both our parents, but they are not picking up the phone.”

“Keep trying,” the officer directed with a polite smile. “The first interview of the night will be you,” he said, pointing at me with the pen he had kept in his shirt pocket.

I froze, unprepared for this outcome. My heart dropped and I thought to myself, To think I only woke up an hour ago, and this is how my night is going.

Officer Craig walked into the study of which Maddie held the door open, and I followed behind. He sat in my dad’s chair which was custom made to fit his back like a glove. The chair cost as much as a mortgage on a house, which my mom thought was the stupidest thing, but to my father it was like another penny in the bucket.

I sat in the wooden, leather cushioned chair that my father kept on the other side of his desk for meetings and I looked at Office Craig, whose red face was unreadable under the dim light of the study. I put my hands on either arm of the chair and sat with my slender legs crossed. I was still in sweats and I wasn’t even wearing socks. I must have been in such a rush to scold Maddie and check the scream outside that I forgot to put even slippers or sandals on. This can’t be what you’re supposed to wear to a police investigation, I thought, embarrassed of my appearance.

“What’s your name, son?” he questioned as he flopped his notepad onto the desk.

“I’m Justin, sir,” I answered. “Justin Lerman.”

“Alright, Justin. Tell me what happened tonight.”

I took a deep breath so I could control my nerves, and then I told him everything from the point when I woke up to the point that he arrived on the scene.

“I woke up from my post-work nap to the sound of my father’s stereo, and it was that moment I realized that my sister threw a party. I ran downstairs to convince her to send everyone home, and as I was about to get through to her….” I trailed off, my voice getting quieter. It was finally hitting me that I saw a real, dead body. So much blood had been pouring out of her body, and she was still warm. “…we heard the scream and ran outside.”

Officer Craig scribbled on his pad and muttered under his breath, repeating fragments of what I told him. “…nap…. sister threw… a party… convince her… scream outside.”

I nodded my head with pursed lips, bracing myself for the next question. As he finished scribbling on his pad, it was silent. All I could hear was the squeaking of his chair as he sat more upright.

“Do your parents leave town often?” asked the officer, as he looked up at me, his blue eyes peering into mine.

“Uhh, not really,” I replied, taking a deep breath. “It’s their anniversary, so they left to spend the time together.”

“Oh really?” said Officer Craig, now leaning against the back of my father’s chair. “How long have they been together?”

“Twenty years,” I answered, pleased the questions were simple. Though what did this have to do with Veronica?

“Huh, no kidding,” he said, now crossing one foot over his knee, hands clasped over his stomach. “Where did they go to celebrate?”

“They went to the family cabin up north. We don’t go that often anymore because my dad became a partner at his firm.”  

“Have you always watched over your sister or would your parents hire a sitter?”

“I mean, we used to have a nanny, but around the time I turned seventeen or eighteen they started to trust us home alone,” I answered, growing confused by why this information was relevant. Voices began to emerge from the living room, but Officer Craig seemed not to notice. His eyes bored right into mine.

“How long have you known the victim?”

“Oh, I don’t know, I think Maddie met Veronica freshman year,” I answered, eager to get to the meat of the interview so we could finish. I do not like being interrogated, I thought to myself.

“What was your relationship with her?” he asked, sitting upright in his chair now.

“Veronica?” I said, my confusion growing deeper as my hands were now aware of every grain of wood on the chair I was sitting in. “She’s friends with my sister.”

“Have you ever been alone with her?” Officer Craig implored in a low, quiet voice as he leaned forward in his chair with his dark, hooded eyes peering into mine as if searching for a truth that wasn’t there. The voices in the living room became consistent chatter.

“What? No!” I was bewildered and my back was against the back of my own chair.  I didn’t understand why his tone became more aggressive with me all of a sudden. He doesn’t think that I could have killed Veronica, does he?

“Do you know anyone she would be alone with?” He asked sitting upright in his seat, his elbows now on the desk and shoulders square, facing me.

I struggled to answer the question. I was overwhelmed with sensation. The lamp behind him in the corner of my eye, which at first wasn’t bright enough, was now too much for my eyes to handle. “My sister, I guess?” I answered, dubious at his questions aimed at me as the voices in the living room grew louder, more passionate.

“Did your sister and the victim get along?” asked the officer as he tilted his head to the side.

“I don’t know, they’re high schoolers, man! I just work and come home. I drive them to school sometimes, but that’s it!” I exclaimed, frustrated that he continued to ask me such ridiculous questions. The voices in the living room became impossible to ignore when we heard a holler and the sound of something hitting the wall. Officer Craig rose at once, leaving his pad on the table and he opened the door for us to find the young students arguing.

“Hey!” Officer Craig boomed. “Settle down!”

It appeared no one had heard Officer Craig. Maddie was looking at Carter with tears in her eyes, and he appeared to be pleading with her. I couldn’t understand what they were talking about over the yelling at the dining table. In the middle of the room, the kids were all in each others’ faces arguing. Jodi and John squabbled. Jodi had tears in her eyes and was snapping fingers in front of John’s face. Hannah and Alana altercated with a lot of animation in their faces, while Sean just stood between them with hands in his pockets as he stared at his checkered shoes, biting his lip. I couldn’t understand much of their conversation over the ocean of bickering in the living room. All I could catch were bits and pieces of calling each other names. I had no idea what that was about, but it appeared to have something to do with Carter and Maddie’s fight since they continued to point at them.

“You’re such a fucking Barbie– so full of yourself I can’t even–”

“At least I… ”

“…fucking whore, Sean!”

“I can’t believe you would say that!”

“She’s dead, Hannah!” Sean exclaimed, his effort to keep his appearance invisible disappearing. He took the beanie off his head and ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “You think I’m going to shit on her still?”

Officer Craig cupped his hands around his mouth, preparing for another attempt at getting their attention, but right as he was about to do so, a man emerged from the kitchen area of the house.

“Finally,” Officer Craig groaned, as he dropped his hands to his sides and marched to the man. “Welcome, Detective.”

The detective was just what I thought a detective would look like from head to toe. He had dark, caramel skin and short, dark hair on the top of his head with the sides shaved. His eyes were dark brown and looked almost black under the evening sky. He wore a black trenchcoat, slacks, a light blue shirt with a navy vest stretched across his broad shoulders and his badge hung around his neck. All he was missing to top off the classic detective look was a hat.

“Brian, nice to see you again,” the detective said with a husky voice and a smirk, holding his hand out. Officer Craig shook his hand with gratitude, gesturing to the group of bickering high schoolers.

“Great timing,” Officer Craig said. “These kids are relentless.”

“Oh to be young again,” the detective said, as he strolled through the foyer. He brought his fingertips into his mouth and created a whistle so loud, it echoed my head. The high schoolers halted their arguments and froze, clenching their jaws and their fists.

“Thank you for your attention,” he addressed the group, in a voice much deeper than his original, husky greeting. “I’m Detective Rodney Williams. I’m here to investigate, but I see that we have a lot of juice to look at right here.”

Hannah rolled her eyes, and Jodi, Alana, Maddie, and Carter wiped theirs. Detective Williams looked as though he was going to say something else, but the front door opened, revealing a middle-aged, rosy-cheeked, pot-bellied man.

“Oh, perfect! This is my partner, Detective Jeremy Hullcox,” he informed us, as Detective Hullcox wiped his shoes off on the rug in front of the door. As I perceived his appearance, I caught a glimpse of our driveway behind him. There was an ambulance with its lights flashing, and paramedics exiting the doors, gathering their equipment, readying their vehicle for the body. My stomach churned from the shock of the reality check. Someone died in my backyard! What the hell! Someone is dead!

“I will continue the questioning from here on out,” Detective Williams said as their team came into the house behind them, passing me with cameras and duffel bags of materials to mark the crime scene. “Thank you for your time Officer Craig. I will help us get to the truth in no time. Who was closest to the victim? I would like to start on interviews right away.”

Officer Craig stepped forward and informed the detective that he was in the middle of interviewing me already. “He seems like he should have a lot more information,” said Officer Craig.

Detective Williams looked at me up and down, and I must have appeared as petrified as I was confused because he pointed at me and said, “This kid? No, he’s fine.”

“How do you know?” sneered Officer Craig.

“I just do,” answered Detective Williams, his back straightening as he shrugged. “Now where is the young lady who let me in the house?”

Maddie rose from her spot on the small couch in the living room, and pushed her hair behind her ears. “Right here,” she answered as she sniffled and rubbed her smeared mascara across her eyes.

“Let’s get you some tissues,” he said as she trudged her steps toward him. He stretched his arm across her back and put a hand on her shoulder with care as they turned around to have their interview. “Everything will be alright. We’ll find out what happened in no time. Now, where are your parents?”

As the detective and my sister walked into the next room, Officer Craig gave me the side eye, and I decided to walk to the couch where Carter sat. How did the detective know I didn’t kill her? I mean that’s good, but how?

“He will figure out who did it,” Officer Craig said to no one in particular, but he sounded menacing nonetheless. “Detective Williams is the best.”

A sound emerged from his radio and he stepped outside to attend to duties at his patrol car.

The tension was thick enough to be cut like a knife as I took my seat next to Carter.

“So what’s been going on out here?” I asked under my breath to him.

Carter took a deep breath and cleared his throat. He raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips in what appeared to be… anger? sadness?

“I love Maddie,” he said, hanging his head over his knees. Before he could say anything more, Alana bursted from her spot across the room to holler.

“Bullshit!”

I clenched my jaw and the rest of my body, bracing myself for yet another outburst of drama. My forehead hurt from raising my eyebrows in shock all night.

“If you loved Maddie,” Alana continued, “You wouldn’t have been fucking Veronica for the last five months.

It felt like I had been kicked in the chest by a horse. Carter was Maddie’s first boyfriend, and he was a good guy. I always looked out for Maddie. I knew how guys could be, but I thought Carter was different. I always respected Carter. He was in sports and did well in school. He always went out of his way to make Maddie feel special, he brought her new flowers right as the ones he previously bought her would die, he would go on day trips with her to the city…  They were seen as their school’s cutest couple, and they had been together for over a year. He and Maddie were happy–or so I thought. She always talked about him when Mom and Dad asked about her plans with school. “Heartbroken” barely scratched the surface of how Maddie must have felt.

I looked over to Carter who was avoiding eye contact with me. The muscle in his jaw clenched and he clasped his hands until they were white knuckled.

“Is that true?” I asked in a low voice, though it didn’t matter how quiet I was. Everyone in the room was silent and looking at me. Could they hear my heart beating as thunderous as it felt in my chest?

Veronica having an affair made this very spicy. It was time to find out who killed her. And Carter was my first person to talk to.

Chapter 2

“If you loved Maddie,” Alana continued, “You wouldn’t have been fucking Veronica for the last five months. 

It felt like I had been kicked in the chest by a horse. Carter was Maddie’s first boyfriend, and he was a good guy. I always looked out for Maddie. I knew how guys could be, but I thought Carter was different. I always respected Carter. He was in sports and did well in school. He always went out of his way to make Maddie feel special, he brought her new flowers right as the ones he previously bought her would die, he would go on day trips with her to the city…  They were seen as their school’s cutest couple, and they had been together for over a year. He and Maddie were happy–or so I thought. She always talked about him when Mom and Dad asked about her plans with school. “Heartbroken” barely scratched the surface of how Maddie must have felt. 

I looked over to Carter who was avoiding eye contact with me. The muscle in his jaw clenched and he clasped his hands until they were white knuckled. 

“Is that true?” I asked in a low voice, though it didn’t matter how quiet I was. Everyone in the room was silent and looking at me. Could they hear my heart beating as thunderous as it felt in my chest?

Carter’s jaw began to tremble, and he flashed his eyes at me quickly. That was all the answer I needed. The room was silent, and Alana stood, a smug smile upon her lips. 

“Who else knew about this?” I demanded as my face scrunched. I held my hand out, welcoming an answer. 

Sean hung his head, his blond locks covering any facial expression. Hannah pursed her lips and looked around the room, making eye contact with no one. 

“Guess what guys, someone is dead,” I snapped. “Your drama and he-said-she-said doesn’t matter anymore. Who knew?”

Silence was all that met me until Carter’s voice behind me mumbled, “They all did.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You all knew?”

Sean and Hannah finally nodded their heads slowly as Alana let out a long, drawn out breath. 

“I’ve been wanting to out this fucker for so long,” Alana grumbled, her eye glaring through her dark bangs. 

“Calm down,” Hannah snapped. 

“It’s your fault Maddie didn’t find out until today,” she responded, turning her feet to face Hannah once more. 

“Look, we can use that information—”

“For what, Hannah! Gosh you are such a—”

Sean interrupted, “Can we just stop, please?”

“Seanie didn’t want to tell anyone about it either!” Hannah cocked her hip to the side and licked her teeth as if to threaten Alana.

I became confused, and I briefly let down my wall of resentment for Carter to whisper: “Seanie?”

“Thrupple,” he whispered back. 

Hannah directed her clenched glare at us now and pointed a finger at Carter. “He is the enemy, Justin! Don’t entertain him.”  

“Oh, shut—”

“Guys!” I exclaimed, stepping forward. “It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. How did you guys know about this?”

“We saw them together,” Hannah said, as if that were obvious. 

“How long ago was this?” I asked, recalling Alana saying she had been withholding this information for a long time. 

“A few months ago,” Alana began, taking a deep breath. “We were getting ready to go to the movies. We got out of our car and walked toward the theater entrance, then we saw Carter’s car. Not like we knew Carter that well, but you really can’t miss that eyesore of a Mustang.” Alana glanced at Carter to gauge a reaction, but I didn’t look to see if she got one. I was too focused on her story. 

“Go on.”

“Hannah thought she saw the car moving—”

“It was,” Hannah mouthed, looking towards Carter suggestively.

“—so we wanted to see if he and Maddie were in it, banging one out, and she wanted to catch it on video so she had her phone out. We slammed our hands on the windows….” 

“Love making in the flesh,” Hannah said, completing the story. “Veronica and Carter kissing in a tree…”

“And you have it on video?” I asked.

“The video cut off at the last second and it was all fucked up and shit,” Hannah said, looking disappointed about this. 

“Good,” I said. Who would even video that? Ugh. “Carter, how long have you been screwing Veronica?”

Carter looked past the centerpiece of the coffee table in front of him with empty eyes and shrugged. 

“Carter, you have nothing to hide anymore,” I said, bending my back to try and meet his eyes.

“Unless he killed her,” Alana mumbled behind my back.

His empty gaze now became red like a bull.

“You think I killed Veronica?” Carter demanded, raising his voice. “Really, Alana? No.” He made fists with his hands and straightened his back. He turned his body to face us, and we saw a man who looked white like a ghost. 

“I loved her,” he said finally. “We’ve known each other since middle school, but never hung out until high school when we both met Maddie.We have always been really cool. I always thought she was awesome, but never anything more, other than, like, she was pretty. But even still, Maddie’s the one, ya know?”

He looked up at me for reassurance, as if “I knew” that Maddie was the one for him. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms, letting him know without saying that I “did not” know. At this point, the front door opened, and Maddie and Detective Williams entered the house. Maddie had her arms wrapped around her own chest trying to warm up from the heat. The detective gestured to her to sit on the couch, and she did. He leaned against the pillar separating the hallway from the living space and nodded his head for us to not interrupt what we were doing.  

“One day last summer, when me and Veronica were picking Maddie up from that soccer camp, we were sitting alone in my car, waiting. I was doubting myself, and Veronica was there for me. We inched closer to each other… it just sorta happened.” He frowned at the last sentence and snorted without humor. 

“That was six months ago,” Maddie said, sniffling. “You were fucking Veronica for six months?”

“Kinda, yeah,” Carter said, his voice cracking. “That happened shortly after. After that day it was really awkward when we drove you home. We played it off that the car ride was awkward because we don’t know how to be alone without you, but we just couldn’t look you in the eye. We also couldn’t stay away from each other after that.”

“Why didn’t you just leave me?” Maddie said, her voice wavering as tears flooded from her eyes. 

“I still loved–love you Maddie,” he said, approaching her now. He knelt at the floor beside her, pleading with her as I found them when I exited the office from my interview with Officer Craig. “I just loved her, too. I wanted her to let me make us public, but she just wouldn’t. She told me she was in love with someone else.”

“With who?” I asked, squinting my eyes.

“She never told me,” Carter said, turning his head to the rest of the room. “She always said ‘it’s an older guy’ and ‘you wouldn’t know him’ and all that bullshit. We went to the same school. I knew everyone she knew all her life.”

“Older guy?” I asked, confused.  

“Who could that be?” Maddie wondered, looking frustrated, though no longer at hearing about her boyfriend having an affair. Maddie and Veronica were best friends. Veronica would have surely told Maddie something about a guy she was dating. They’re girls. Of course they talk about that shit, right?

Carter glanced at Sean and cocked an eyebrow toward his hairline. Sean’s head shot back in shock

“Dude, I’m in the same grade as you,” he said. “She wasn’t talking about me.”

“You got two ladies right here, what’s one other, right?”

“That’s not what being polyamorous is, oh my–”

“Guys,” I interrupted, holding my hands up. “We don’t need a lecture on this right now. This is the 21st century, there isn’t any shame going around. This is clearly emotional for all of you.”

As soon as I had forgotten him, Detective Williams stepped forward with his hand on his chin. 

“Thank you for all this information, you guys,” he said. “We’ll find out who killed her in no time. Now, you are all free to go if you’d like, but I really recommend these guys get somewhere safe to sleep. No one should sleep in their house without their parents on a day like today.”

Detective Williams exited to the front yard. I looked at Maddie who was glaring at the back of Carter’s head. Carter was sitting on the floor with his  legs stretched outward and his back leaning against the couch she was sitting on. He put his hand to his mouth to stifle a yawn, and Maddie did the same. Behind me, Hannah, Sean, and Alana were checking their phones, likely texting their parents. I thought of his possibility myself, and I concluded that I should call them because I wanted to tell them myself. Maybe they’ll pick up if I call them.

Maddie looked up at me, and I grabbed my phone then mumbled, “I’m going to call mom and dad.”

“Knock yourself out,” she said, as she shrugged. “They’re not picking up.”

I bit the inside of my lip and opened my Dad’s contact and tapped the “call” button. As I walked toward the hallway to get some inkling of privacy, the line rang. It rang for minutes and it sent me to voicemail. 

“Uh, hey, Dad,” I mumbled into the phone. “I know Maddie called you, but there’s a lot going on over here… Veronica–Do you remember her? She’s one of Maddie’s friends–anyways, she’s dead.” My voice cracked at the end of the sentence. How do you explain to your dad that someone died at their house? “Uh, yeah, please call back.”

I dropped my hand from my ear and hung up the phone with more force than necessary, then I scrolled to Mom’s contact and called. She was also not picking up, so I left her the same message. I groaned and huffed my breath. I passed the group in the room and headed to the front patio for a break from reality. I opened the door and found Detective Williams sitting on the bench. 

“Hello there, Justin,” he said to me. He had his ankle resting on his other knee, and his arm was draped across the back of the bench. “We will take care of finding your parents and figuring out how to let them know about the situation. Your sister gave us the address that your parents left for you guys and our team is going to drive up to them to tell them in person. They may not be picking up the phone but they do need to know about the situation. We’ll take care of it.”

“Got it,” I said as I nodded my head. I pursed my lips and looked to the ground.

“Is there any place that you kids can stay tonight?” he asked. “It’s very late and this is pretty intense for you guys to stay here.”

“Uhh,” I stuttered. “Not really. Our grandparents all live outside of state.”

“Okay, well you should call them and tell them what’s going on, too.” 

“Thank you Detective,” I said. “Me and Maddie will be fine here tonight I think. I’ll talk to her.”

Detective Williams nodded and stood up to talk to the other detective and the team taking care of the crime scene. 

I walked back into the house, and the kids were all sitting on the ground, silent. I looked over to Maddie who was crying on the couch, with Carter still at her feet, trying to stay awake. 

“Carter, you can go home,” I said to him. 

His bloodshot eyes looked into mine, and he mumbled, “No, I wanna stay here.”

“Go home, Carter,” Maddie grumbled, fighting to keep her eyes open. 

[I would like help knowing how to get from point A to point B here. I want the Detective to come in the next morning, but idk if everyone should stay at this house or what. Let’s move on]

I was awakened by the sound of a door slamming. I shot up out of bed and ran downstairs, in hopes that it was my parents. Maddie and I met at the foot of the stairs, both anxious to see who it was. We reached the bottom of the stairs and saw Detective Williams. 

“How did you get in?” I asked. I had locked the front door last night. Detective Williams pointed to the kitchen without saying anything. Maddie and I looked to the kitchen and saw our father. 

“Daddy!” Maddie said in a hushed, excited voice as she ran up to him to hug him.  “Thank God you’re here! We’ve been calling you all night.”

“Hi, kiddo,” he said in a cramped voice. He was preparing a pot of coffee and was still holding the measuring cup from the coffee grounds.

“Did you just get home?” I asked, confused about his arrival.

“Yeah,” he nodded, not making eye contact with me. He resumed preparing the coffee. 

“Where’s Mom?” I asked, looking around the kitchen and living room. 

“Oh, uh,” he stuttered. “I’m not sure. She ran off in a tizzy.”

“Is everything okay?” Maddie asked in a worried tone. 

“We are doing everything we can to find her,” Detective Williams said from his spot leaning against the door. 

“Is that why you’re here?” I asked him. 

“Not exactly,” he answered. “I am here to bring your dad home. I found him at the cabin and told him about the situation, but your mother is yet to be found.”

I scrunched my forehead. I had no idea where mom would have gone. 

“Wait, you drove my dad home?” I asked. 

“Where’s our car?” Maddie asked, realizing the same confusion as myself. 

“Mom ran off with it,” Dad answered as he pressed the start button on the coffee maker then crossed his arms. 

“Oh my god,” I said to no one, and leaned against the fridge. What could this mean? 

Maddie and I made eye contact and she looked just as confused as I felt. The dripping sound of the pot was all that we heard until minutes later, a knock came at the door. Detective Williams walked to the door to answer it. 

“That’s probably Hullcox,” he said. 

Dad tapped his shoe on the kitchen floor and steered his eyes in the direction of the cabinets under the kitchen island. I heard a low murmuring of the detectives in the front room as well as the coffee. Maddie said nothing, and seemed to only be waiting for what was next, just as I was. 

One of the detectives clapped, breaking the silence, and they both strolled into the kitchen. 

“There has been a development in the case!” Detective Williams said excitedly. “Hullcox, tell them what you told me.”

“We found out more about Veronica,” Detective Hullcox said. “We looked in her room this morning. She had a diary, and we learned more about this ‘older’ fellow that the girl seemed to be in love with.”

“Well, why are you telling us this?” My dad asked from his spot by the coffee maker. 

“Well, we know who it is,” Detective Williams said with a smile stretched across his face. 

“Who?” I asked. 

“We don’t–” Detective Hullcox said. 

“Your Daddy!” Detective Williams said. 

“She said he was a big time lawyer,” Detective Hullcox clarified, looking confused about the excitement emerging from his partner. 

“She died here,” I said, piecing together what Detective Williams was getting at. “Dad, where is Mom?”

“I’m sure she’s at the bottom of the lake with the Beemer,” said Detective Williams. 

“You have no proof,” said my dad. 

“Oh we’ll get it,” said Detective Williams. “In the meantime, let’s just bring you downtown for questioning.”

“I’m saying nothing until I have my lawyer!” my dad said as he grabbed the landline.

“You didn’t want her to tell anyone about you so you killed her,” I said. “And that’s why you didn’t pick up the phone.”

“Or because it’s at the bottom of the lake,” said Detective Hullcox.

“She’s not at the bottom of the lake,” my dad spat the words at him. 

“Oh, yeah?” he said. “How do you know that?”

“Uh–uh,” my dad fidgeted with the landline in his hand. “Nothing until I get a hold of my lawyer.”