Suicide Tree || ✓

6. "Euthanasia"

"What?" I whipped around.

"You won't find any letters there," he repeated.

"Why?" I asked slowly. Maybe the better question to ask would be how he knew. For a few moments he looked unsure before he reverted back to his emotionless self. That was the longest I had seen him without an expressionless face.

"Because I have it," he replied. I gaped at him incredulously. It was so silent you could hear a pin drop on the carpeted floor. He clenched his jaw before opening the door a little bit more and going inside. I took that as a sign to enter his room. I haven't been there in almost a year and it didn't look half as different as before. The walls were still white and green, his room still tidy, and his desk had a neat pile of notebooks and papers. The only things out of place were the three black notes on his otherwise immaculate, white desk. He watched me silently, as I walked hesitantly to read the notes.

"What the hell?" I spluttered. Jasper raised an eyebrow. "These two are identical to the ones I got!"

"Identical how?" I glanced at his confused expression and refrained from smiling seeing as it had been a long time since I saw him display such a range of emotions.

"The slanted letters, the handwriting, the words – everything is exactly the same!" I exclaimed. Beside the black notes there was a white paper with scribbles that came to the same conclusion that Sam did. I killed them all.

"I got the first letter when I went to see the tree the day after you did and the second a week later in the same place."

"I got the first when I saw the bodies for the first time and the second a couple days later when I went to see the tree because Sam worked out the riddle and I just had to... Nothing was there at first, but then I heard sounds near the edge of the clearing and went to see if someone was there...by the time I came back someone had pinned the note there. I bolted and Sam almost crashed into me with his car...the killer used my phone to text him," I said quickly. Jasper gave me a sharp look.

"How much does Sam know?"

"Almost everything..." I trailed off before telling him about the third note I found around Adri's neck as well as the frozen digital clock and the log book.

"What did the time mean?" I hesitated, wondering if I should tell him before I shook my head.

"It isn't my story to tell. All you need to know is that she told me and only me, something important on the third of July...no one was there in the house – it was just us. Somehow this killer knew exactly what happened because I said the exact same words, a month is a long time and-and," I groaned with frustration and started massaging my head as I sat down heavily on the edge of his bed. Jasper remained unmoving, clenching and unclenching his fist.

"We can't trust Sam," he stated tersely.

"What?" I wanted to have more conviction in my tone but with the log book – even he could be a suspect. But I was still in denial; I didn't want him to be untrustworthy. He could've been visiting his dad. Jasper gave me a hard stare.

"Your phone has a lock," I nodded even though it was rhetorical. "And within the few seconds that you walked away, the killer nailed a note, took your phone from your bag unlocked it, went to your text messages and texted Sam," I opened my mouth to make a half-hearted protest but he didn't let me start. "Then, in those few minutes after the killer used your phone and you ran, Sam miraculously shows up and almost runs you over and the text message has been deleted from your phone, have you even checked his phone?" I closed my mouth and dropped my head in my hands, letting out a deep breath. Why does he have to be our number one suspect?