printer ink. The second drawer was all old notebooks, which I paged through quickly, finding
nothing interesting other than a couple of doodled hearts with Ivy's and Gage's names in them.
Ew.
Why hadn't those two just stayed together? They were so perversely well-suited for each other.
The bottom drawer of her desk was filled with snack food and feminine products. A weird
combination, but I had a hunch it wouldn't be of interest to Detective Hauer or Josh.
I stood up and looked around. Only the dresser and closet were left, and I was getting tenser with
each passing second. There had to be something here. Something...
And that was when my eyes found the photo. Hanging on the wall above Ivy's bed was a full-color,
eight-by-ten picture of four girls with their arms draped around one another. It wouldn't have
been remotely out of the ordinary, if not for the totally eerie and creepy lineup. Ivy was on one
end, then Cheyenne, then Noelle, then Ariana.
A killer, a victim, a friend, and a killer.
Just looking at Ariana's openly smiling face gave me chills, and I had to turn away. The girl had
tried to murder me. Had succeeded in
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killing Thomas Pearson. Why would anyone want a picture of her up in their room, let alone Ivy--
the girl who had told me she hated Ariana and Noelle above anyone? It just didn't add up.
Steeling myself, I studied the photo, looking for clues. Judging by the girls' clothes and the
blossoming tree behind them, the picture had been taken in the spring, but when? Why? Why
those four and only those four? I was about to pluck the photo off the wall for a closer look, when
down the hallway a door slammed, scaring the breath right out of me. My head whipped around
to look at the door and I took a few stumbling steps away from the bed, every inch of me shaking. I
couldn't stay here any longer. I was going to have to continue my search another time.
As I fumbled with the doorknob, I took one last look at the photo. Why on earth would Ivy want
the faces of the people who had betrayed her to be the last thing she saw before closing her eyes
at night?
There was definitely something freaky going on here. And I was going to figure out what it was.
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SUSPECT NUMERO UNO