Jordan turned off her phone and set it down on her desk in English, taking a few deep breaths as she did so. After the events at the Marcum home three days prior, no one was really sure of how to go about the rest of their little make-shift investigation. At this point the five were pretty sure their siblings had been murdered; there would be no other reason for the mysterious text messenger and brick thrower to be so invested in what they were doing.

They had left each other alone for the past two days. Friday night was usually a time for the sports captains to have their big games and the Mary Hadden's and Jordan Conrad's of the school to show off just how amazing their athletic boyfriends were. Yet this Friday—being the first Friday of the school year—wasn't home to any games, and thus Jordan knew that Mary's text was referring to something else.

Jordan's mind flashed back to the events of Tuesday night, and she felt her stomach tense at the memory. She had never thought of herself as possibly being in mortal danger until that moment, when she had watched a brick sail through the window of a lower-class home she was already worried to be in for...other reasons.

***

"Victoria knew." Michael read the writing from over Roland's shoulder, "As in your sister, Lindsey?"

Lindsey had looked like she'd seen a ghost as she backed up from Roland, shaking her head.

"That's completely insane. Victoria was super close with my mom; she would never have hid my dad having an affair from her."

"Unless she was being bribed. Or blackmailed." Mary commented from Roland's other side. "I've heard of stranger things."

"That may be true in your world of rich people and infidelity, but it doesn't happen in mine." Lindsey snapped, "I live a normal life with normal people and nothing strange happens to me."

"Except for your sister being murdered." Jordan spoke for the first time in a few minutes, her mind spinning and her eyes skimming over the note, trying to find some sort of giveaway as to who sent it.

"We haven't even decided if we think it's a murder or not."

The other four turned to stare at Lindsey in unison, eyes wide and eyebrows raised.

"What do you mean we haven't decided if we think it's a murder? Marcum, an unknown person just threw a brick through your window and has a photograph of your father making out with Roland's mother, which your older sister knew about and is now probably dead for. Explain to me how this could be anything but a murder."

The police sirens were almost too loud to hear anything over at that point, so Mary stopped in her rant against Lindsey as cop cars pulled up outside the Marcum residence. Roland stuffed the envelope and photograph in his back pocket as Jordan grabbed the note that had been attached to the brick, stuffing it into her bra before a knock sounded at the front door.

Lindsey rolled her eyes and walked over to answer it, inviting two uniformed officers into her home.

"We got a notice about the security alarm going off. Is everything alright here? Are your parents home?"

"We're alright, officer, and no, my parents aren't home. I was having a study group with some classmates from school and a brick was thrown through that window over there." Lindsey pointed to the broken window and the cops walked over to it slowly, careful not to step on any glass.

"You must be some studious kids, studying on the second day of the school year." One of the officers commented as he picked up the brick with gloved hands. "Did any of you pick this up after it was thrown through the window?"

Michael raised his hand slowly.

"I did, sir." He answered, "I apologize if that messes up anything."

"That's quite alright." The officer replied, "Hadden, right? Michael Hadden?"

"Yes sir."

"Tell your father that Hayden Barlow says hello."

Michael nodded tensely.

"Will do, sir."

The cops continued to collect whatever evidence they needed, staying at the Marcum house for another hour before the five teenagers decided that they'd better call it a night.

Jordan started to leave the house without saying a word to anyone, before Lindsey called out to the four leaving her house.

"We'll figure this out." She said, careful not to say anything that would cause the cops to be suspicious. "We'll get back together soon."

The other four nodded silently before turning around and walking to their respective vehicles, none of them speaking to each other. No one knew what to say. No one knew who could be listening. Everyone knew that they were in way over their heads.

***

Jordan threw her phone on her bed and turned back to her laptop, search engine open and ready for her to use. She wasn't exactly sure what to try out, so she just tried to see what she could find out about the night of the accident. She realized that she didn't bring a whole lot to their makeshift sleuthing team, so she was going to try and be as big of a help as possible.

The blonde bombshell thought for a moment before typing.

Easton June car accident, four teenagers.

A ton of results popped up, mostly articles repeating the same facts about the tragedy over and over again. Nothing of interest, nothing new. It was the information that the public already knew, and had known for three months.

Jordan fished through a few pages of search results until the articles became less prevalent and instead she was met with crime statistics and information about the police reports from the accident. She opened up one of the reports from an Officer Hayden Barlow—the same officer who had answered the call to the Marcum house—and started to read.

"While it is still unclear to the police exactly what sort of vehicle hit Edward Hadden's LeSabre on the morning of June 5th, it is clear that it was a vehicle of similar size to the ruined one. Intoxication is believed to be the reason for the crash and the reason that the driver of the vehicle has not come forward and identified him or herself. No vehicles in the southern Maryland area have been brought in for repairs, so we assume that the driver knows what they did and wishes to remain under the radar for the time being. Nevertheless, this investigation has been ruled an accident and not a homicide, and is therefore closed unless sufficient evidence is brought forward proving that there was malicious intent or prior planning of the crash."

Jordan read the last line again, her brain starting to formulate an idea.

Nevertheless, this investigation has been ruled an accident and not a homicide, and is therefore closed unless sufficient evidence is brought forward proving that there was malicious intent or prior planning of the crash.

...unless sufficient evidence is brought forward proving that there was malicious intent or prior planning of the crash.

She was about to print the report when her Fitbit buzzed on her wrist, signaling that she was receiving a text message. Jordan reached over to her bed and grabbed her phone, replying to her boyfriend quickly and with little thought put into it—she had more pressing issues to deal with.

She turned back to her laptop and printed out the police report, highlighting the sentence she needed and standing up to leave. Sure, she had another two and a half hours before she was supposed to be at Mary's, but it was her best friend and she was sure that there wouldn't be a problem with getting there early.

They could always discuss the fact that at least their parents didn't have an affair.

A/N: Oooh they're gonna find stuff. Probably.

I finally have my laptop back so that's good, except that it still kinda sucks as a laptop but oh well, it's better than the other one. Sorry for the late update, this week has been CRAZY with picking up shifts at my old job and interviewing for a new one and trying to write and be productive and also sleep. What a time.

Let me know your thoughts on the chapter and let me know what you think they're gonna find if they try and get evidence!

Any guesses yet on who was driving the car?

-Katherine