Cypress Alley

Chapter 32

After dinner, I'd considered bringing my phone back to my room, since we wouldn't be discussing the case anyway. But I didn't think my roommates would appreciate having their conversations recorded and sent to a murderer, so I decided to leave it on the counter.

It turned out that it was for the best because the conversation I'd walked into was not one I'd want Phoebe's mother to hear.

Henry ambushed me at the door. "Dude, look at this." His phone was in my face, open to a browser. "Remember you told me that girl was murdered? Read this."

The headline was simple: "Natalie Tanner: Prime Suspect for Student's Murder"

Tanner. Phoebe's surname... It must haven been her mother.

Sure enough, upon scrolling down I found her photo bearing its eyes into me.

"That's what a murderer looks like," Henry informed me.

"Not necessarily," I said, trying to divert him. "She's only a suspect."

"Well, she's the prime suspect. What does that mean, huh?"

"It means that it might have been her. But not necessarily."

"She even tried to kill someone else, like, a few days ago. Apparently from the same school."

"What? Give that to me." Grabbing his phone I scrolled down hastily. Officer Michael had disclosed my testimony without my permission. Was that even legal?

Then again, I thought to myself, I signed a bunch of stuff while I was there, without reading any of it. Maybe I had unknowingly given him my permission.

Henry snatched his phone back. And headed back to his bed, presumably to play games on it until he fell asleep. The others followed suit, intermittently throwing words at each other, as I pretended to fall asleep.

But I was wide awake. So Michael had taken me seriously, and now Phoebe's mother was a prime suspect in The Case of Cypress Alley. Maybe we wouldn't even have to continue with the case if things were progressing this quickly. 

I pulled my poster away from the wall to tell Eliza the good news. Her poster was still up, so I wasn't able to see.

"Eliza," I whispered. "I need to tell you something."

No reply. She must have fallen asleep. I decided I'd let her know tomorrow. I needed to sleep, anyway, since I hadn't been doing very much of that since this whole thing began. Replacing the poster to its original position, I pulled my blanket over my face and closed my eyes.

Only to be awakened soon after. Unable to fall back asleep, I crawled out of bed to check the time on Dylan's phone. It was only 11 pm, meaning that I'd been asleep for approximately an hour.

I decided I'd check to see if there had been any more news from Phoebe's mother. My phone was exactly as I left it, and other than a couple of app notifications, there weren't any new messages. 

While I was here, I decided it might be a good idea to search up her name and see if any more news had arrived. Although I'd have to use the computer, I decided, since I wasn't sure if she could see my browsing history. 

The computer, however, was being used. When I arrived in the study, Eliza's face was aglow with the computer light, her fingers typing furiously. When she saw me, she stopped immediately and looked up.

"Aren't you asleep?" she asked.

"Yes, I am," I deadpanned. "When are you doing?"

"Working on my English assignment. See?" She turned the screen slightly so I could see.