Playing With Fire

The Plotting Begins

Here's a picture of one of my favorite actresses ever (Emily Osment) whom I have cast as Dani. Enjoy this chapter!

"Haylee Sparks? You seriously told her to look into Haylee?" Callie asked, laughing. After my little interview with the police, the first thing I did was call Callie, and we met up the next morning for coffee to discuss what I had told the police officer.

"I did, and I actually managed to get some good points in," I tell her with a smile.

"Like what? What could possibly have convinced a police officer that a completely innocent girl is guilty of murder?" Callie asks, her voice a mix between awe and confusion.

"Well, to start with, what we had talked abut earlier with Lorenzo. You know, our theories as to why she dated Dillon? I threw in one of my own," I told her.

"Which was?" she prompted.

"I suggested that she dated Dillon simply to plant evidence. I pointed out that she was convinced that he was the murderer for almost a year after Lacie's death, and that her complaints to the police only stopped when she dated him. I mentioned that she was silent for two weeks, just long enough to gain his trust and manage to get enough time in his room to hide the evidence. Then, she broke up with him, and all of her accusations began again. And I mean, the fact that she admitted to cheating on him with Jake basically the entire time helped too. After all, that basically gave her no reason to be in the relationship besides to frame him," I proudly told her the story, but instead of excited, she looked concerned.

"Calm it down there, Detective. You sound like you completely convinced yourself of his, and there's plenty of loopholes. First of all, she could have been dating and cheating on him simply to hurt him. Second of all, how do you explain the note addressed to her. And third, isn't it going to seem suspicious that a girl who's been here for a week knows all of this?" Callie questions.

"Good questions, it's a good thing I have good answers. Now, while you make a good point about Haylee cheating on him to hurt him, the two weeks doesn't add up. Two weeks isn't really enough time to really really hurt someone. However, at that point, I'm willing to leave my significant other in my room while I go to the bathroom, make food, or do something else. Say the floorboard was already loose, it takes next to no time to hide a few small things that she brought in in her purse under there. The note is a prime example of a criminal immediately erasing themselves from the search. Haylee wouldn't threaten to take herself out, now would she? And sure, I've been here for a week, but I'm dating one of Haylee's suspects, and best friends with the other. Of course I've heard the stories, how else would I have been able to trust them after a day of her calling them murderers?" By the time I finish my little speech, Callie seems to be pretty impressed.

"Alright, I'll admit you seem to have it all thought out. But pointing out that Haylee could be invoved isn't going to be enough. We could completely break down her alibi, get everyone to say she went missing for long enough to kill Lacie, and all support your theories, but the fact of the matter is Lacie's shit was found in Dillon's room, hidden. That's hard evidence, and it always trumps theories," Callie points out.

"That's where I'm hoping that, by some miracle, you guys were smart enough not to keep everything together," I said with a small smile.

"Yeah, well, we weren't. And even if we had more 'trophies,' what would you suggest we do with them?"

"Isn't it obvious? We plant them on Haylee. Not in her room, on her. That's evidence that they can't argue with."

"Planting evidence? That's a federal crime, Blaire," Callie hisses.

"You know what else is a federal crime? Murder. But it still happened, and now we need a way to cover it up," I growl back.

"Look, it doesn't matter anyways. Everything we took was under those floorboards," she sighed.

"Not everything." Callie and I jerk our heads up to see the two girls that I had been avoiding since around this time yesterday. Dani, the one who had spoken, nudged Mack in an attempt to get her to say something.

"We, um, may have something else. Something that was accidentally stolen. Well, not accidentally, but not to cover up the accident," Mack mumbles, tossing her dark brown hair over her shoulders.

"Sit down," Callie tells them, scooting over. I reluctantly do the same as Callie mutters something about them making her uncomfortable, standing like that.

"Thanks," Dani murmurs as she slides into my side of the booth.

"So, mind telling me what the fuck you guys are talking about?" Callie hisses.

"Um, yeah, it's actually pretty simple. Lacie had worn this super cute jean jacket to the party, but taken it off when she got there. So before Mack and I went to the river, I took it as a joke, and I was wearing it when the accident happened," Dani starts to explain. "And when Mack ran to get help, I was trying to make sure Lacie was dead, and I ended up getting a lot of her blood on the jacket. When I got home and realized that it was Lacie's jacket, covered in her blood, I took it off and threw it in the back of my closet. It's sat there this whole time, I still don't know what to do with it."

"Why do you guys need an extra piece of evidence, anyways? Dillon's already locked up," Mack asks, shrugging when she sees my death glare.

"Blaire may have just set us up with the best backup plan ever, one that gets all of us off, including Dillon. All we need is to plant that jacket on Haylee," Callie whispers excitedly.

"What? Haylee? Why?" Mack asks. Callie and I explain the whole thing to them in hushed tones, and we got so into our conversation that we didn't even notice when a certain blonde girl walked up to our booth.

"Wow, when you all talk like that it isn't hard to imagine you guys plotting another murder," Haylee's overly sweet voice breaks us out of our little world.

"What do you want, Haylee?" I ask, seeing as Dani and Mack are too shocked to say anything and Callie is obviously still off in another world, plotting.

"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering if the cops had spoken to you guys yet. They pulled me in today, asked me a whole bunch f questions about my friendship with Lacie. The weird part, though, was that they asked about my relationship with Dillon. I mean, that was two weeks of nothing. How do you think they found out?" she asks innocently, and I roll my eyes.

"It's a small town, Haylee. As I've discovered this week, word travels fast. Especially when it's juicy gossip, like the new girl dating the biggest bad boy. Or, better yet, a girl dating someone she had been accusing of murder less than 24 hours before," I say, mocking her innocent voice with perfection.

"Yeah, I guess so. Just like word of me cheating on him spread fast, huh?" she asks.

"Well, when you sleep around, people are bound to figure out," Mack finally manages to say something.

"Yeah. I mean, Blaire would know that, right? Any word on if you're pregnant or not?" she asks me, and it takes everything I have not to slap her across the face.

"Not yet, but I'm supposed to find out after you, you know. At least I would know who the father is," I say, trying to sound nonchalant. Haylee gasps a few times, sounding offended, but when she can't come up with a response she simply turns on heel and walks away.

"Well that was close," Dani breathes when the door closes behind the blonde little bitch.

"Tell me about it. Hey, thanks for the backup, Mack. Since Dani couldn't find her tongue and Callie is off in dreamworld," I say.

"No problem," Mack replies.

"Hey, I was trying to gauge exactly how much she heard," Callie defends herself while Dani just gives me a sheepish smile.

"Whatever. Look, obviously a coffee house isn't the best place to do this. Can we meet at your house?" I ask Callie. She nods, and we all stand up and head out the door, ready to begin planning the best murder cover-up to ever happen in small town Elkwood, Wyoming.

AN: Sorry if this chapter is a little short, I was just trying to get it up tonight. Please vote/comment/share! Thank you for your support!