Murder at School

Crossing off suspects

The next day, we decided to catch up with each other at break: usual space, usual people. The sun was still shining despite the weather forecast predicting otherwise; the grass was a glowing green.
"Hey guys, glad you're here," Hartness' voice sang out. "Guess what I found out!"
"What?" I asked, running the last few metres and dropping onto the grass next to her. "Someone's guilty?"
"No, that would be too much to hope for," she pulled a face, as if it was obvious. "However, April and I confronted Vesper and Camilla and they said they'd both gone to the toilets by the PE rooms for a few minutes before leaving for the train station. This backed up by their reaction when they were told that Brooklyn was murdered earlier this morning, that I'd say gives them an alibi."
"Yeah," April agreed. "They looked terrified for their lives. Plus they went round all day repeating: there's a murderer on the loose."
I listened as I unzipped my bag and fished out my lunchbox. It sounded like we could cross them off the list.
"I spoke to Tazmin; she was super unhelpful. She just said that she had no reason to care about her death.  She also straight-up admitted that Brooklyn deserved it. I'd say that's extremely suspicious, wouldn't you?" I asked to the group as a whole, picking up my ham sandwich. Everyone nodded.
"What about Saffron?" Melody questioned.
Summer shook her head, "the same sort of filler: they clearly don't want to tell anyone the truth." We all agreed. "May, what about you?"
"Melody and I spoke to Betsy, Steven and Tatiana. They all said they walked together out of the main entrance as they were getting lifts. Apparently, Betsy's mother was already waiting, and the others both live close so Steven's father took them both."
"Since we asked each of them separately and their stories lined up, it's doubtful that they had any part in it. Plus, they're all nice," Melody added.
"Good, that's four people off the suspect list already!" exclaimed Hartness, excitedly. "Ivy?"
Ivy looked over, her black make up contradicting her pale skin just as much as usual. "Sylvia and Madison claimed to have walked up to the bus stop by that fish and chip shop; they said you, Brooklyn and Emerald came with them-or at least to start with." She motioned her hand towards me.
"Yeah, I walked with them before splitting off with Brooklyn," I nodded.
"So those lot are off the list-" April began when Hartness cut in.
"Wait a minute, did Sylvia and Madison group Emerald together with the people that 'started' with them?" Ivy nodded. "So there's still a chance Emerald could've split off from the others and done the deed, right?"
Yeah! I thought, although Emerald isn't a psychopath!
...but we're considering every possibility...
"Couldn't they just mean she turned off or stopped walking with them because she needed to go to a different bus stop? I don't believe she could have done it but, I guess we still need proof to cross her off; since she's in today, I'll question her."
Hartness nodded, firmly, before signalling to Alex that it was his turn.
"I only had to keep an eye on Jay, right? Well, he apparently went to the back gate and his mum picked him up at 4:25. But that could be a lie; why would he get a lift when he's within walking distance of his house?"
"Suspicious indeed," Ivy hissed, mysteriously, making May giggle lightly.
"Okay guys, so we have four suspects left: Jay, Emerald, Saffron and Tazmin. I guess we continue with our plan of action. Any suggestions of things we can add to it?"
I shook my head at Hartness, "nope: just find alibis for the remaining few."
The five-minute bell went so I got to my feet, swinging my bag onto my shoulder and folding my blazer over my arm. After saying my goodbyes to the others I made my way to French, each step I took sinking into the soft grass. I was about half way across the field when I passed Emerald sitting with Vesper and Madison.
"Hey, you coming?" I called over to her.
She looked up, as if she was surprised to see me. "Yeah, hold up!" She jumped to her feet, brushing down her jet black shirt and the front of her pale blue blouse before grabbing her bag and running over. "Hi!"
"Hi!" I replied, a grin sneaking onto my face as we continued walking. "How are you?"
"Oh good," she answered. "And you?"
"Still shook up about Brooklyn-I can't seem to forget it. I'm positive the police suspect me," I sighed. Next to me, Emerald gasped, shocked. "I guess that's the first you heard of it, huh?"
"No, actually. I got tonnes of texts asking whether I'd heard or not."
"Why weren't you in, by the way? Were you sick?"
"I felt really ill," she said, as if the words were burning her tongue. Did she just rush through saying that because she's upset, or because of her guilty conscience? I wondered as we reached the door.
I opened the door, insisting that Emerald enter first, when Tazmin and Saffron came into the corridor. Emerald quickly ducked into the French room.
"Hey, Christmas. Glad you could make it, unlike your French partner," Saffron smirked.
"What do you want?" I sighed. Why do they persist in making my life hell?
"Nothing, really," she continued.
"Then why keep talking to me about Brooklyn?" I turned to face them, my arms wrapped firmly across my chest.
"Why not?" Tazmin reasoned before they shoved past me into the classroom.
I shook my head and rolled my eyes, then followed them. I sat down in my seat, dragging my bag onto the table and yanking out my stuff. As I put my bag on the floor, I knocked off a small, folded square of paper, that looked like it had been ripped out of a book. I picked it up and opened it.
On it was one word, written in all caps in a dark red felt-tip pen.
STOP