The Killer Secret

5.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" I called, closing the front door behind me. I kicked off my shoes and placed my keys in the key bowl.

"We're in here!" My mom's voice echoed from the living room and I followed it's direction. "How was school?"

I plopped down, on the couch, between them and groaned. "I failed my QM test."

"Aw sweetie. That's okay."

I shot my mom a stunned look, raising my eyebrows. "Really?"

"We know you girls work hard so it's okay to cut you some slack once in a while," my dad spoke, elaborating on behalf of my mother.

Cool.

"I'm gonna head up to my room to do some homework before dinner."

After entering my room, I made sure the door was closed before pulling out the note from earlier. I read it again, hoping to find some kind of clue as to why, whomever wrote this, would chose this particular nursery rhyme.

One online source claimed that Three Blind Mice was a story about three loyalists who were accused of conspiring against Queen Mary I, and were burned alive because of it. Another source claimed that the nursery rhyme depicts violent acts of revenge towards a group of people in the early 1600s.

Reading this was a hard pill to swallow, because I now had a clear depiction of exactly what they were referring to. The night that ended my friendship with Tammy Oscar. Everything that happened, this far, correlates to that night.

I sighed, passing my hands through my hair. Only four people knew what truly happened, and one of them was dead.

The thought brought my attention to the blackmailed photo of Travis and I, from a few days ago.

Was it a coincidence that the same blue sapphire, I saw in the picture, was the same one drawn on the note from earlier?

I pulled up the photo again, zooming to the silhouette. I couldn't make out much but, from what I could see, the person was female. Her dark hair covered her face, hiding any facial features that would allow me to recognize her.

"Kayla! Dinner!" my dad yelled for me at the bottom of the stairs.

"Coming!"

Quickly closing my tab search, I tucked the note under my laptop and straightened out my desk before heading downstairs and took my usual place at the table.

I ogled the dishes of rice, fish, and string beans in the middle and was the first one to start digging in, piling a bit of everything onto my plate.

"Someone's hungry," Taylor stated, watching in disgust as I shoveled food into my mouth.

"What? I barely ate anything all day."

Taylor stuck her tongue out at me and I shook my head at her childishness.

"So, I have something to ask you guys," Taylor said, after she swallowed her first bite.

Our dad gestured for her to speak, while my mom placed her cutlery on her plate.

She was silent for a while and I could tell that it was going to be something disapproving.

"Eliot is visiting his dad, in D.C, this weekend and I was wondering if I could go with him?"