Leo and I go to my house after school. A car is next to my parent's van. I run into the house. "Aunt Mel!" I yell, running into my aunt's arms. Aunt Melanie is my mom's younger sister and my new legal guardian.

"Hi, honey! I'm so sorry. Who is this?" She asks.

"I'm sorry too. And this is Leo, my best friend." I let go so they can shake hands.

"Okay, I don't want to keep you two waiting, but Kate, honey, I need to talk over some stuff with you." We sit down on the couch, and she tells me that for the time being, she's going to stay with me in my parents' house. It's left to her, but she's looking to sell the house and rent one until I finish high school, when she's going to move back home to Nebraska. She lets us go, and Leo and I head to my room. I grab my parents' older three books; Old School or New Cool, The Mystery Trials, and Above Average, along with my mother's How To Survive in Becoming Wealthy.

"What's this for?" Leo asks, sitting on my bed.

"Hope." I sit down next to her and open Old School or New Cool.

"Kate, be yourself. Be Old School. People don't need to like you. Know that. It's the New Cool. And your mother's incredibly cheezy. <3 Mom ~ Linda Adams."

"Kate, be you. Be an individual. Be weird. Be funny. Be talented. Yell what's you from the rooftops. (But not at three in the morning.) :) Love you, Honey Bunches (of oats)! Dad ~ Charlie Baker." I read what my parents wrote in Above Average and How to Survive Becoming Wealthy, and put them all back on my shelf.

"Hey," Leo says. "Have you read this one yet?" She hands me The Mystery Trials.

"No."

"Don't slit your throat over a boy! ~Mom (Linda Adams)"

"Kate, listen to your mom. I'll do it for you. ;) ~ Dad (Charlie Baker)"

"Um, Lee, you've read this book, right?"

"Yeah, I've read all of them. Why?"

"How did they die again?"

"Sally stabbed her husband, John then felt guilty and slit her throat. Wh... oh. Oh my god!"

"Yeah, that's what I thought. And then what happened?"

"Lola, Lily, and Lucas followed clues left by the murderer, oh my god."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Give it to me." She tries to grab the book, but drops it, a piece of paper falling out.

"Leo?"

"Yeah?"

"You see it too, right?"

"The note?"

"Yeah."

"I do."

"Call Zach."

"On it." She pulls out her phone and calls our friend. "Zach? Come here. I'm at Katie's house. We found a note. Well come over or you'll be one. Great, okay. Bye."

"What'd he say?" I ask.

"He'll be over in ten."

~~~

"Where is it, why are you pacing, and who's that lady?" Zach says, storming into my room. I stop and look at him.

"Here, note, and my Aunt Melanie. Sit down." He sits on the bean bag chair next to my bed.

"What does it say?" Leo asks.

"Finders, keepers, near the weepers. One man's trash, another's gold. Find the note, it'll be bold."

"Well, that's simple. It's the funeral," Leo says.

"Wait, what about the other one? The park? We haven't found that one yet."

"Yeah, so? We still have to wait 'till tomorrow. This will give us something to do 'till then."

"But we do have to watch out for red herrings," Zach warns.

"Ugh, okay. But what if it's not?" I ask.

"Yeah," Leo says. "It but, what if we're not ready yet? What if this one is supposed to come later?"

"Then we're one step ahead."

"But..."

"No buts. Let's vote. Everyone against searching for this note say I."

"We would spend time on both equally, right?" Leo asks.

"Yes."

"Okay."

"So everyone against say I." Silence.

"Now, everyone for say I."

"I," Leo says.

"Zach?"

"Ugh, I." He mutters.

"Great."