Slightly Amazing (Slightly series---Teen Wolf)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN---Silverfinger

Stiles, Scott and I walked into Mr. Harris's--well, no longer Mr. Harris's--chemistry room as Stiles said, "So then she starts talking about phosphors and the key having chemicals on it, right? And so that made me think of the chemistry closest and the fact that someone had to let Barrow in . . . "

We all looked at the blank board, no chalk marks or numbers or a code of any kind on it.

"It's gone," Stiles said. "Okay, it doesn't matter, though." He backed toward me and Scott, grabbing his keys. "It doesn't matter. I still got the key."

We walked past us to the closet, flipping through the keys on the key chain, not finding the right one.

He turned back, whispering, "What the hell? I had it . . . I had it here. I had it here this morning." He looked up at me and Scott. "I swear to God I had it here this morning before Stacie used the Jeep."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, shaking my head, too tired to understand. "Stiles, I never used the Jeep."

"Yes, you did. Did you take the key? Or did you put it there in the first place to make me think it was me?"

I shook my head in confusion as Scott asked, "The key you were talking about last night?"

"Yeah, I showed it to you, right?" Stiles asked, looking up again. "Didn't I show it to you?"

"No, you just told us about it," Scott answered.

"We never actually saw it," I agreed.

"You had to have seen it, Stace," Stiles told me. "You had the keys this morning. And I'm still wondering if you put it there in the first place, and then wrote the message in my hand writing, because I know how good you are at forging signatures. You did it on field trip papers all the time, using Dad's signature, and I know you know what my hand writing looks like."

"Stiles, I swear to God I didn't have the keys or take the Jeep anywhere this morning," I told him. "I didn't put the key on your ring," I pointed at the blackboard, "and I sure as hell didn't write a coded message on the board telling Barrow to kill Kira."

Stiles looked away, both of our breathing a little heavier as he looked at the chalk board as I put my hand back down at my side. He walked closer to the board. "You dropped me off here a couple of hours ago, and you asked to use the Jeep, and the message left to Barrow spelling Kira's name was right there on the board in my hand writing or you forged my hand writing and I had the key to the chemistry closet before Stacie used the Jeep, came back and now they're both gone."

"So you're saying either you unlocked the chemistry closet so Barrow could hide in it from the cops and then you wrote him a message to kill Kira? Or that Stacie unlocked the door, putting the key on your key ring, and then forged your hand writing to make it look like you wrote the message telling Barrow to kill Kira, all to make it look like you did it all, and then she erased the evidence?"

Stiles shook his head, looking down. "I know how it sounds. But look at this." He looked down, unfolding a newspaper piece. "This is the news article about Barrow when they caught him, okay? About the shrapnel bomb he used. See this? See what he did? He put nuts, bolts and screws. And then he hid the bomb and the detonator in a box that he wrapped as a birthday present. What does that sound like to you?"

Oh, my God, I thought as I said, "Coach. The joke we played on Coach."

"That was your idea, Stace," Stiles said. "You remember that was your idea? That's no coincidence. It can't be."

"I didn't . . . " I trailed off, my hand going to my head as I turned away. "I didn't know, I swear."

"She's not lying, Stiles," Scott told him. "She had no idea. Her heart, she's not lying. And I don't want to sound like I'm trying to tell you that you're wrong, but I don't think either of you are trying to kill people either."