Trigger warnings- Drug dealing mention, blackmailing mention, swearing and gun mention.

Tuesday 8am. Jessica texted asking if we can meet in the detention room again. I was the third to arrive.

"So we're just waiting for Ryan" I say as I sit down.

"Um no actually," Jessica says "it's just the three of us. See, I suspect that Ryan is hiding something."

James looks sceptical "you don't think Ryan did it?" He asks "why would he?"

"Well if Mr Grey knew that he was drug dealing that would be a pretty good reason to kill someone right?" Jessica asks.

"Well then you could say the same thing about me" James replies.

"Yes but you were watching me in the cafeteria until 4:50 so you couldn't have killed Mr Grey," Jessica says "we know he died between 4:30 and 4:45. What we need to know is how long was Ryan out of detention for? And at what time? If he was out between 4:30 and 4:45 I think we would have a great prime suspect."

"There's no way Ryan would kill someone Jess," James says "I know he wouldn't."

I now decide to interrupt "then let's prove it. I'll go with James to try and find out if Mr Grey knew about Ryan selling drugs. He must have written it down somewhere. In a diary or on an email. Meanwhile you can check the CCTV footage for last Monday outside the detention room."

"Ok we'll meet back here at 8:45" Jess says, and we all leave the room.

James and I are in science lab 1, Mr Grey's room, checking for any sign that Mr Grey knew about Ryan. "I've got something" James says. It's a scrap of paper.

RJ AND JJ NEED TO BE REPORTED TO JR. SAW HM SENDING TEXT TO RJ ASKING FOR COCAINE. RJ WAS SEEN ACTING SUSPICIOUS AT LUNCHTIME.

"He knew" James says.

"Yeah," I reply "and he knew you were doing it too."

"We need to show Jess" James says. I nod and we both head back to the detention room.

When Jess arrives, she looks rather sad. "Ryan left the detention room at 4:27 and didn't return until 4:47, he was gone for 20 minutes" Jess explains.

"That's it then," I say "Ryan is officially our prime suspect."

When we meet again it's lunchtime. We're actually all meeting to confront Ryan, although he doesn't know that yet.

"Hey guys what's up?" Ryan asks as he enters the room. James told him we were meeting in the detention room again during the morning break.

"We've found some new evidence that points to a new suspect" Jessica replies calmly. From what I can tell she's going to enjoy this conversation.

"Oh really?" Ryan replies "that's good." He sits down beside James. I am sat opposite James and Jessica is sat on my right.

"Well we found this in Mr Grey's lab" Jessica says handing him the scrap of paper we found. Ryan's eyes flick down the page as he quickly takes in what it says.

"Ok," he says suspiciously "so he knew J and I were selling what else did you find out."

"Well," Jess continues "I checked the CCTV cameras and discovered that Laura did go to her locker and then straight to the detention room. She waited until 5 o'clock at which point she left the school building through the east entrance." I nod to confirm that this is correct.

Jessica continues "we know that I was in the cafeteria until 4:50 as was James. We also know that according to Mr Grey we four were the only four students in the school building. Ryan, you left the detention room to use the bathroom at 4:27 correct?"

Ryan is much more relaxed than I expected him to be "yeah," he replies "so what?"

Jessica doesn't waste any time "you returned to the detention room at 4:47, meaning you took 20 minutes. As you and James helpfully worked out, you can make it to the science lab and back here in 17 and a half minutes meaning that YOU are the only one who could have killed Mr Grey."

Ryan still doesn't seem to care. We have just accused him of murder and he honestly looks like we've just told him it's raining outside.

"How do you explain the notes? Or the fact that I'm the one who suggested we tell Rogers our darkest secrets. Or the fact that I also got blackmailed and actually did the stuff the blackmailer asked me to do. Would I have done all that just to make myself seem innocent? Would that have been a clever way for me to get away with killing Mr Grey?" Ryan says all of this in a calm and sarcastic manner. I realise he's right. There's no way anyone would go to that extent to throw us off the trail.

"Jess he has several points" James says.

I join in the conversation "yeah there's no way he would have gone to all the trouble of blackmailing us and faking being blackmailed himself. Besides what did he gain from it? Nothing." Jessica doesn't seem convinced.

"No, I know he must have done it" she says.

Ryan stands up and walks over to the window "Jess believe me if I had killed Mr Grey I would not have gone to this much trouble to hide it. Hell, I can't even be bothered to do homework let alone blackmail three people including my only friend and pretend to be blackmailing myself." James and I both nod. Jessica stands up and takes herself and her bag over to the door.

James and I stand up but stay at the table.

"I know he must have done this," Jessica says. She looks as if she's about to cry "there's no one else it could have been. I can't believe you believe him." Now she actually does start crying.

"Jess I know losing Mr Grey like this can't have been an easy thing to go through," Ryan says "but you can't look for someone to blame without having the evidence to back it up. I know you just wanted to find the killer and be done with all of this. So, I'm not angry at you. I understand why you tried to blame me. You're angry. You need someone to blame for all of this and we will find out who it was. But I promise you I had nothing to do with killing Mr Grey. We will find out who it was, I swear."

I cannot believe that the calm, reserved boy who is speaking is The Ryan Jamison. The school's drug dealer. He sounds so grown up and mature during all of this.

"I'm not looking for someone to blame Ryan," Jess replies "I'm simply stating facts and the fact is. I know that one of you had something to do with killing Mr Grey and I am going to find out who it was. I'm going to find out by myself. My way."

Ryan opens his mouth to reply but quickly closes it again when Jessica suddenly holds up a gun.