Nora's POV

I couldn't believe it. One day later and I still refused to come to terms with it. It just wasn't possible. Elias couldn't be gone. To me that was a permanent, unchangeable fact. Yet every moment that passed was a constant reminder that I would never see him again.

Liam cleared his throat, and I was drawn back into reality. "Are you sure you didn't see anyone acting suspiciously? Nobody at all?" he asked. I shook my head. "For the thousandth time, no. And I don't think it was one of us. We wouldn't do that to each other." He frowned and looked at his paperwork. "Ella testified here that she locked the door once everyone was inside, and Steven had the key. When the victi– I mean, Elias went to get sandwiches he locked the door behind him and brought the key. All the evidence points to someone inside the house." Tears started to well up in my eyes. It wasn't enough that someone was dead, but the fact that they were killed by one of us? It was too much to handle. "Wait, what if someone else was inside before we came in? They could have waited in the closet and when they saw Elias they attacked him or maybe–" He cut me off.

"If all you have to offer me is baseless conjecture then I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I still have two more people to interrogate and it's almost 6 o'clock." I sighed and sauntered glumly out of the room. Hana was on the other side waiting for me. "Well? Any developments?" she asked. I shook my head. "Just more of Liam's badgering..." We began to walk.

"I know we moved the body and all so the police wouldn't suspect any of us, but I'm getting kind of disheartened by the job they're doing," she said. I nodded in understanding. The police were barely taking this case seriously, ruling it as an incident of "gang violence" or something of the sort. We hadn't complained, both because we were confident in our abilities and because we didn't want to get caught for breaking and entering. "I mean, I guess we did make it harder for them, but it seems like they're almost disinterested in the investigation."

We walked in silence for a while, occasionally sharing speculations on the murder. I tried thinking about it from every angle, but I couldn't think of a single thing that would lead us to the killer. Whoever did it had done a very good job covering their tracks.

Eventually we made our way back to my house, which was where the department of defense was conducting the interrogations. I noticed that Gregor had just been discharged and I jogged to meet him.

"Well?" I asked. "Did you guys uncover anything in there?" He sighed and shook his head much like I had. I invited him to walk with Hana and I. "I wish we had taken better care of the weapon," said Hana. "If we hadn't disposed of it so quickly we might have been able to check it for fingerprints or something." I responded, "Or maybe we could have checked to see who bought the knife or has a kit with similar ones. That would be more realistic, anyway." Gregor nodded, then shivered. I chuckled. "Why aren't you wearing a jacket?" He shrugged. "I lost my Lego hoodie and I don't really have any other jackets..." Hana and I both laughed maliciously. "I'm​ pretty sure I saw you wearing it yesterday," Hana said. "Maybe you left it in the interrogation room?" He thought about it and then shook his head. "It's no big deal. Anyway, um, who do you think... Did it?" he asked tentatively. I shrugged, but Hana looked like she was deep in thought.

"I really don't want to suspect anyone... For all we know, it could have been someone else entirely. I mean, we didn't check every room, and someone else could have been hiding or something." I tried to remain optimistic, and for the time being I truly believed in this logic. Gregor also seemed to believe it. "Yeah, we shouldn't be so quick to suspect each other. After all, there isn't any evidence that it was one of us. I think we should let the police do their job as best as they can and hope that they find the real killer." I nodded, but Hana had a... dark look on her face. It seemed like she was working something out that she didn't like.

After a while of speculating in futility, we all went our separate ways. "I need to go do some research," said Hana. "And I need to get home," Gregor replied. "I'm already pretty late." I said goodbye and walked back to my house once more. As I reached the patio I saw that Liam had finished interrogations. "Did we accomplish anything today?" I asked him somewhat angrily. His brow furrowed. "Actually, yes," he said. However, he was less than enthusiastic. He pointed towards the inside of my house. "We... found a suspect who is currently the most likely candidate for the murderer."

Holy shit, I thought. I was definitely not expecting that. "W-where are they?" I demanded. "And... Who is it!?" He pointed towards the inside of my house once more. I was frozen for a moment, then I sprinted towards the door. I threw it open and saw...

"I swear, it wasn't me!!!" Ella screamed. She was squirming on the ground, trapped inside of a thick cocoon of duct tape. Charles stood over her with a baseball bat in hand, presumably guarding her until she could be taken to a secure location. Tears poured out of her eyes like a waterfall, and she continued to proclaim her innocence. Liam walked in behind me.

"W-was it really her?" I asked in horror. Liam slowly nodded. "Right now, all the evidence points towards her (which admittedly isn't much)," he explained. "A hairpin was found at the scene, and Elizabeth testified that it belonged to Ella. We assume that it was knocked out during the struggle. We've kept it perfectly preserved, so you can take a look at it if you want." He tossed me a small bag with the pin in it. I took it out and looked it over before returning it to him.

"In addition, the stab wound was near the top of Elias's torso. Ella and Steven were the only ones tall enough to reach that area without Elias immediately noticing that someone was attempting to stab him. However, we have proven that during the time of the murder Steven was vomiting in the upstairs bathroom due to 'the taste of the white bread.'" He sighed. Tears began to stream down my cheeks. I couldn't believe that Ella was the killer. The evidence seemed to place the blame squarely on her, yet I felt in my heart that Ella didn't have it in her to kill one of her friends.

"It's not 100% decisive," Liam told me. "There's still a chance that she'll be released, but right now things look pretty bad. We're going to have her testify, and a jury will decide if she should be convicted or not." He tried to make me feel better, but I wasn't reassured. I hoped that I was on the jury or at least some nice people, but with the way things had been going in the past few weeks I doubted that I would get that lucky

I shakily sat down in my living room. I watched as Ella cried for mercy, and she was then interrogated further. An hour passed, and she was finally taken away. A few people lingered to collect materials and evidence, and then finally I was left alone with my thoughts.

It's not possible, I thought. There was no way that it was her. I contemplated things for a while before curling into a ball in my bed. Please, please don't let it be her... I wished it with all of my heart. We were her friends. If there was even the smallest chance that it wasn't her, we'd let her go, right? I thought and wished and prayed for what seemed like hours before finally drifting into a blissful, dreamless sleep.

A/N: If you guys want to speculate or ask me specific things about the plot, I might respond in PM to avoid spoilers for others. In addition, I've started putting lots of clues in the story as to the murderers identity and such, so if you figure something out and want to ask me about it please do it privately.