A guy with wild curly hair and freckles popped up. “We all know about Alex here,” he said. “He had this ex-girlfriend, Cleo, that he just couldn’t get over. Practically stalked her. And one night he hurt Cleo’s new boyfriend, Brett, really badly. Brett was hospitalized for a month.” His mouth wobbled. “Brett’s my best friend. I was so worried about him.”
The newscast cut to the reporter again. “Channel 11 tried to contact Cleo Hawkins and Brett Greene’s parents for questioning, but they couldn’t be reached at this time.”
Ava’s mouth dropped open. She stared at Mac’s phone. “How can this be true?”
Julie felt a pang. It was clear Ava hadn’t heard this piece of the puzzle, not from her own lawyer, and certainly not from Alex. She looked like someone had just slapped her hard.
Mac winced. “I’m sorry you had to hear it like this.”
Ava said nothing. She pressed PLAY, and the video started over. “Alex isn’t like that,” she said after it finished.
“It fits, though,” Parker piped up. “He sees you doing a striptease for Granger, and he snaps and kills him.”
Ava glared at her through tear-blurred eyes. “Alex isn’t the type who snaps.”
Caitlin bounced her balled fists on her knees. “Actually, my attorney told me the same story about the kid from his old school. Apparently the cops found a text from Alex to Granger saying ‘Stay away from my girlfriend or I’ll kill you.’”
Ava was growing paler and paler by the second. “What?”
“Alex sent it after you confessed that Granger hit on you,” Caitlin said in a small voice. She peeked at Ava. “Your lawyer didn’t tell you any of this?”
Ava made a face. “I haven’t even heard from my lawyer yet. And he’s supposed to be the best.” She looked down. “Even with a verbal threat and a motive, and a supposedly violent history.” She said supposedly as if she didn’t fully believe it. “It still doesn’t seem like enough to arrest Alex.”
Caitlin coughed awkwardly. “Well, Alex’s prints are all over Granger’s doorknob, too.”
“Wow,” Mac exhaled.
“Why didn’t I know any of this?” Ava exclaimed, her voice shaky.
“Maybe your lawyer or your parents were trying to protect you?” Julie volunteered.
Ava shook her head, looking shocked. “I just don’t understand.”
Julie looked around at the others. “But this means that we’re no longer suspects, right?”
“That’s what my lawyer told me,” Caitlin said quietly.
Julie had to admit she felt relieved. If she never visited that police station again, it would be too soon. Still, Ava’s face made the victory bittersweet. “So, if Alex killed Granger,” she began, working something out in her mind, “and if he did it for jealousy reasons, does that mean Granger did kill Nolan? And the two murders are unrelated?”
“Maybe.” Mac pulled her knees into her chest. “Maybe it’s all cleared up after all.”
No one spoke for a moment. Julie looked away from Ava. Then Parker cleared her throat. “Someone else was killed recently, too.”
Everyone looked at her. Suddenly, Parker couldn’t speak. Julie took a breath, having a feeling she knew what Parker wanted to talk about. “Parker’s dad was killed,” she said.
The others gasped. “Oh my god,” Ava said. “How?”
Parker cleared her throat, regaining her voice. “He was stabbed in the prison yard. They haven’t figured out who did it yet, but obviously it was another inmate.”
“Wow.” Mac ran her fingers along the stitching on Ava’s comforter. “There’s a lot of death going around.”
Caitlin cocked her head. “You don’t think that’s an awfully weird coincidence?”
“How so?” Mac asked.
Caitlin looked at Julie. “Julie, you said you wanted him dead in that same film studies conversation about Nolan. And now . . . he is.”
Julie suddenly remembered what Caitlin was talking about. Before they’d plotted how to kill and then prank Nolan, they’d each gone around and named someone they would kill, and how they would do it. Julie’s pick had been Parker’s dad. And, come to think of it, hadn’t she said, he could be stabbed to death in the prison yard?
“I don’t want to be paranoid, but the timing of it is eerie,” Caitlin said quietly. “First Nolan dies exactly how we planned, and then Parker’s dad does, too?”
“Guys get killed in prison all the time, though,” Mac said, looking around the room.
“Yeah,” Ava seconded. “They’re probably not connected.”
“But let’s play devil’s advocate a minute,” Caitlin argued. “Let’s say it isn’t a coincidence. Say someone . . . I don’t know, heard that conversation.” She looked at Julie again. “I wish we still had those notes Granger had written about our conversation. Do you remember what they said?”
Julie flinched. She’d found a yellow legal pad in Granger’s office, which had notes that were clearly from their conversation that day. She looked at Parker to confirm.
Parker nodded. “It said ‘Nolan—cyanide.’ If Granger killed Nolan, then that’s how he got the cyanide idea—and how he knew he could frame us.”
“Did he have all of our other names on it?” Ava asked.