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Darcy felt wrong stepping into Tracy's bedroom. At the school, on the way here, it hadn't seemed like such a bad idea, but now something pushed against her chest, telling her to turn around. The caution tape wrapped around Tracy's bed posts wasn't helping; the yellow coloring and all-caps lettering were pretty hard to ignore. Everything about this was a complete invasion of privacy (and yes, stalking Theo was different... kind of). She had to remind herself it was to help not to harm.
Lydia's simple, "Don't worry about it," hadn't comforted Kira or Darcy.
"Okay, so what are we looking for?" Kira asked as the three stared at the room before them, standing just on the inside of the doorway.
"I am not sure," Lydia admitted and Darcy fought the urge to groan. That was the problem with Lydia's banshee side: it never told them anything explicitly, so they had to sleuth their way to an answer. "I'm mostly just following a feeling."
"That's reassuring," Darcy muttered to Kira before splitting off.
"Your feelings usually lead to dead bodies," Kira said as Lydia turned on a lamp.
The redhead seemed to be in an inappropriately timed, silly mood at the moment as she replied, "Well, let me know if you find one."
Darcy scoffed. "Jesus, Lydia." She bent down at the waist, her steps slow as she sniffed for anything suspicious on the other side of the bed. Nothing but dust, perfume, and clean laundry batted at her nostrils in her half of the room, so she switched to a visual take-in.
After a few minutes of coming up with nothing interesting, Darcy sighed and resigned to sitting in Tracy's desk chair. She fiddled with a pen, watching it blur with the fast movement between her fingers.
"Hey, look at this," Kira suddenly said, breaking the silence that had fallen over them. Darcy didn't hesitate to stand and make her way over to Kira's left. The kitsune held a dreamcatcher in one hand and a piece of paper in the other. Upon closer inspection, Darcy realized it was a letter and the two items had come from a pink box Kira had found.
The other girl started to read the letter out loud: "Remember, Tracy-Bear, it only works if you believe it... Hope this helps. Love, Dad."
Darcy's stomach dropped at the last two words. Tracy's father had been Donovan's lawyer, the only one killed in the attack on the van. This letter had been written with her best interest in mind. He was a father who cared for his daughter and wanted to help, and here his daughter was: a suspect in his murder.
"This is beyond depressing," Kira said and Darcy nodded.
"He was just trying to help her."
"Just trying to help," Darcy repeated softly, her gaze focused on the dreamcatcher. She gently slid it out of Kira's grasp and held it up to examine closer. The string woven in the ring was simple yet mesmerizing, and a single bead was suspended in the middle. Three thin leather straps hung from the bottom of the ring and on each one were multiple white feathers and beads.
