The Usual Suspects

In 2018, a girl died.

We called it a tragedy.
We called it complicated.
We did not call it our fault.

At Valmere Academy, nothing is ever simple - not when your parents fund scholarships, not when reputations are inherited, not when loyalty matters more than truth.

There were eight of us.

A hierarchy perfected over decades.
Friendships sharpened into alliances.
Silences practiced until they felt natural.

The Committee had known each other since childhood. We grew up inside the same houses, the same summers, the same unspoken rules.

Tilda Lloyd arrived freshman year.

She wasn't one of us.
But she was close.

Close enough to sit at the table.
Close enough to know things.
Close enough to matter.

And then something shifted.

Now it's 2026, and the past doesn't feel finished. It rearranges itself when I try to remember it. The details won't stay still.

Some nights it feels like we missed something.
Other nights it feels like we saw everything - and chose silence.

Told between senior year and the present, The Usual Suspects unravels privilege, loyalty, and the quiet violence of belonging.

We survived Valmere.

She didn't.