chemistry. | SWEET PEA [1]

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

THE day of Midge's funeral was cold and bleak.

Snow frosted the grounds of the Riverdale cemetery, contrasting sharply with the mourners' black clothing. Becca stood between Reggie and her mom, holding a rose as white as the falling snow. She clutched the stem in her pale fist, her knuckles growing white and the thorns digging into her skin. The sharp pain reminded her she could still feel, even if her body had gone numb from her realization with the Sheriff last night.

In short, Rebecca Mantle had killed Midge Klump.

Maybe not directly, but certainly indirectly.

"Alright Becca," Sheriff Keller sat down in his low-lit office, a recorder sitting on his desk, "Let's start from the beginning. Jughead told me about those letters you two got from someone alleging to be the Black Hood."

"We thought it was Ethel," She replied, sitting across from him and still in shock of the previous night's events, "But she never seemed like a killer."

Kevin's dad had called up the Mantles soon after the murder, wanting to speak with Becca since Jughead had spoken of her involvement in the mystery letters. Since the case was still an on-going investigation, Sheriff Keller had glossed over the fact Becca had hacked into the school security cameras. He warned her not to do it again though, as she could face legal action for it. Becca only reluctantly complied, knowing the only reason she'd been caught was because Jughead had to give the police every single detail of their own investigation.

"We've spoken to Ethel. She claims she only did it because she wanted the part, and didn't intend on following through with the threats," Sheriff Keller replied as-a-matter-of-factly, "You said you looked through the school's security cameras when you and Jughead were investigating. Is that correct?"

"Yeah, but I didn't find anything," Becca sighed, "Whoever did this must have done it before or after Cheryl's almost-accident."

"Well, just in case," He turned around to the TV behind him and pointed a remote at it, turning it on, "We have the footage on file now. This is what you went through, right?

The footage from earlier started to play, the screen split between the cameras in the theatre.

"Yeah that's it. From the first day of rehearsals up until the incident with Cheryl..." Becca trailed off, her eyes trained on the footage again.

"Wait," She suddenly said, and Sheriff Keller shot her a confused look, pausing the video.

"Go back a couple minutes," Becca stood up from her seat, wondering if her eyes were playing tricks on her.

The Sheriff complied, a questioning look on his face, but she didn't give any sort of answer. Becca's eyes widened as she watched him hit play, carefully looking at the numbers on the bottom of the screen that indicated the running time. Just as the video hit three hours and fifty-seven minutes, the time jumped to four hours and thirty-five minutes.

"Stop!" She said in a commanding voice, blinking several times.

"What is it Becca? Is something wrong?" Sheriff Keller asked her, getting up to stand by her.

"Look," She pointed at the numbers, "There's a whole thirty-eight minutes of footage missing from this camera. Which means..."

"The killer must have erased that moment in time," He finished for her, the two of them sharing a look.

Becca felt a sinking feeling her stomach at this. How had she not seen this earlier when she was going through the tapes? She'd been sloppy, in so much of a rush to get it over with that she had glossed over the most important piece of evidence in the investigation so far. If she'd seen this before, maybe Kevin would have told his father about those letters. Maybe the Sheriff would have cancelled the musical, deeming it too 'dangerous'. Maybe Midge Klump would still be alive...