When 17-year old Scarlett Adair is found dead, having been brutally attacked with an axe, at a house party, the local police find themselves in over their heads. Now, nearly a year has passed and no new leads have been discovered and they have no su...
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Song of the chapter... The Prophecy by Taylor Swift
12 MONTHS AFTER THE MURDER...
"What do you mean 'what if they didn't do it?'" Carly seemed completely confused.
"Well, they may have been shitty, but that doesn't make them killers, just like loving Scarlett doesn't make Everly a killer. If we want to do this the right way, we should do it fairly and look into other people. So, who else would want to hurt her?" Vivian's eyes darted around the table. No one said a word.
"Me," Zander replied, breaking the silence. Vivian was more than shocked at his response. Him?
"Did you do it?!" Carly took the words out of her mouth.
He shook his head. "No, but I was in love with her, meaning I technically have a motive. Put my name on the list." She complied without a word.
"Since no one else seems to be able to come up with another suspect, why don't we try to get some more information and meet back here later?" Carly said, and with that the meeting was over.
~~~~~~
Vivian's thoughts swirled as she stared out the passenger window. Everly was driving them back towards the main part of Harborough after their meet-up at the lodge. Could Zander really have had something to do with it? Or was it Pierce and Winter? Was it somebody else? If so, then who?
"You wanna go get some ice cream and head back to my house?" Everly piped up.
"Sounds nice." she replied weakly. Vivian's energy was completely drained from the stressful few days. Between the person she was in love with, who was also one of her closest friends, becoming a social pariah and throwing herself head-first into a murder investigation, her life had turned completely upside down almost over-night.
~~~~~~
The rest of the drive was silent and uneventful. However, the mood shifted as Everly's car pulled into the parking lot of Angel's Ice Cream. As usual, the parking lot was packed. Despite it being the first week of November, nobody seemed to care. It wasn't uncomfortably cold, at least not yet.
"Your usual?" Everly asked. Vivian nodded, pulling out her wallet from her purse.
"Here, I'll pay for it," She handed Everly a twenty dollar bill. Everly seemed a little bit surprised at her insistence to pay, but took the bill anyways and headed to the counter. No more than two minutes later, she came back with a small banana ice cream, which she handed to Vivian. She then went back to retrieve her own ice cream, a small strawberry with rainbow sprinkles.
"Hey, are you okay? You seem a little off," Everly asked once she was comfortably sitting in the driver's seat. Her voice was tinged with concern. Vivian couldn't understand how she had the capacity to be concerned for her when Everly was the one being accused of murder. Sometimes, she thought she was too nice for her own good.
