Ezra and I drove in silence behind Declan's truck. The last few days have been tense. Let's go over the facts:

1 Joel was murdered in cold blood.

2 Whoever is attacking us isn't just going for the physical. They want to humiliate us. With Ezra getting outed, and Briar and Declan's sex tape getting leaked. I can only assume that my dirty little secret will be on display for the town soon.

3 I need to consider talking to my parents about my pictures before my secret gets out. They deserve to know before the town does.

"You holding up okay?" I ask Ezra.

"I've been better. I'm glad Kenny stayed home tonight. He didn't feel right about going to the funeral after the situation with my parents given that it was their church."

"Yeah, that could have been bad."

I can't help but feel a little on guard at the fact Kenny isn't here. Wouldn't you want to be here for your significant other when they're going through a tragic loss in their life? It makes sense given what happened with his parents the other day, but if it were me, nothing would stop me from being there for my boyfriend.

Ezra scans my face. "What are you thinking?" he asks me.

"Nothing."

"Bullshit, Diana," he says quickly. "I've known you for years and you're arguably one of my best friends. If you're thinking what I think you are though it isn't Kenny."

"How do you know that?" I ask.

He throws his hands up in the air annoyed. "I knew it," he says. "You wear everything on your face," he looks at me, his eyes hot with fury and jaw clenched, "It isn't Kenny," says Ezra pointedly. "I know it isn't Kenny. He was with me the night that Joel died."

"He was with you the whole night?" I ask him turning into the parking lot. I pull my car up next to Declan's truck. When I look over I don't see them through the window. They must already be in the building. "He didn't leave your side for even a minute?"

"No, Diana," Ezra says annoyed. I park the car and he opens up the car door. "The only person that I can't place the night of Joel's murder during the time of the actual murder is you. Now that I think about it, you're the only one who hasn't had a secret leaked."

"Ezra, how could you even say that?!" I ask him appalled. "I was with you tonight when Briar was attacked!"

He looks at me dead in the face, there's no emotion, with a cold and cruel voice he says, "Maybe you're working with someone."

Ezra gets out of the car and slams the door and I stare at the now empty passenger seat flabbergasted. Surely he couldn't actually believe that it was me doing all of this? I would never do this to my friends. I would never kill someone. Especially Joel.

The secret leak comment was a low blow. I was the first and only person to know that Ezra was gay since high school. I told no one his secret. Even after he broke my heart, I understood it. It's not something that he could help. Plus, I knew what it was like to have high expectations from your family and feeling the need to meet them.

However, something he said did pique my interest.

What if we're dealing with someone in the friend group? These murders didn't start again until we were back in town. Declan and Joel were the only two who have remained here since everyone left for school. With Joel dying, and the killer going for Briar I think it's safe to assume both Declan and Joel aren't responsible for being the killer.

That leaves two options: Briar and Ezra.

Briar is an influencer. Maybe her content was getting dry and she needed a big story to help break into a new market of people. Or, possibly, she just had unspoken business with us that she wanted revenge for. It's not completely out of the question to fake your attack if you're trying to throw people off. Could Briar be the one who took Joel out? Did she release her tape? No publicity is bad, after all. Especially when the next big scandal is always guaranteed to put you in the headlines.

Then there's Ezra. The small-town Pastor's kid who never got to truly be himself here. Maybe he's bitter that he couldn't explore himself before he left town. Not to mention, if we're worried about someone working in a pair Kenny would be the perfect decoy. He's unfamiliar with us, he's nice enough to weasel his way into the group, and he's shown multiple times now he's okay with Ezra going out on his own and leaving him where they're staying.

"Or Diana those are two of your closest friends and you're being an idiot."

I slowly start to realize that I'm alone in a dark parking lot with a murderer on the loose. I take a deep breath. Fear creeps in my chest as I slowly get out of my car and close the door as quietly as I can. I take my heels off and begin to jog up to the front of the police station. I hear footsteps behind me. My heart begins to beat at a mile a minute as I begin to sprint as fast as I can to the door.

A strong hand wraps around my arm and I let out a high-pitched blood-curdling scream right at the entrance of the station.

"Mam are you okay?!" asks an older officer. "I tried calling to you, but you weren't answering."

I clutch my hand to my chest and take big heaving breaths. "Y-yes," I say. My heart is slowing down and he lets go of my arm. His eyes are full of concern.
"I'm sorry, my friend was almost killed tonight, and I was just coming from the funeral of another friend," I say quickly. "I guess my nerves are just a little shot."

"Is your friend in there?" he asks me. He opens the door and allows me to follow in. The lobby is old and dusty-looking. The furniture must have been nice when it was first purchased in the 80s, but the plush was officially out of all the cushioned seats, the light fixtures produced a yellow tint that shined everywhere, and at the opposite end of the room was a receptionist desk that leads to an office behind it. Ezra is standing a the reception desk. Briar and Declan are nowhere to be seen. I clear my throat.

"I don't see them in the lobby," I say.

"Reception is right there. She'll be able to help you."

The woman at the desk looked to be in her mid-thirties. She has short curly hair that doesn't fall lower than her shoulders. Her face is sunken in and has a cigarette dangling out of the corner of her lip. Her fingernails click against her keyboard at a rapid pace as I walked over to the desk.

"Can I help you?" she asks me as she pauses her clicking of the keys to take a drag of her smoke.

"Uhm, yes," I say resisting the urge to make a face as the smoke blows into my face "My name is Diana Garcia. I'm wondering if my friend Briar Oakland is already in the interrogation room."

"One second," says the clerk. She walks to the door behind her desk and shouts. "Hector! I have a Diana Garcia looking for a Briar Oakland."

A stout man in an old grey suit comes out of the room. He narrows his eyes at me and then sticks his hand out. "Hello," he says. "My name is Detective Hector Arroyo. I was planning on coming to talk to you after the funeral tonight before the attempt on your friend's life. Would you mind following me?"

I look at Ezra, but he's sitting in the lobby with his headphones in. He is staring down at his phone and doesn't seem to notice. I turn toward the detective who is standing in front of one of the two interrogation rooms in the building. Looking through the trick glass I can see Briar and Declan talking in the other.

This is probably the busiest night they've had all year here in the Grover View County Police Department.

I follow the detective into the room and he gestures for me to sit at the table. I slowly walk over to the table and sit down, and he clears his throat.

"I thought Detective Hawthorne was on this case?" I ask him as he sits down directly across from me.

"Detective Hawthorne is my partner. We're spearheading this case together," he says nonchalantly. "So, let's talk about what was going on the night Joel Ewing was murdered."

"There's not much to discuss. I went to the woods to pee and when I was there I heard a noise. I got freaked out and I ran."

"What kind of noise was it, Diana?" asks Detective Arroyo.

"I heard footsteps," I tell him.

He narrows his eyes at me. He loosens his tie and removes his jacket. "Look, it's been a long night, kid," he says. "I have five more hours until I get a switch shift and get to go home, but before then I would really appreciate getting this completed as honestly as you can. Your friends told me you were running when you tripped over Joel's body. What were you running from?"

His question was pointed, and his tone was harsh. Something about the way he was asking me what I was running from made me uneasy. Surely I couldn't be a suspect, right? I tripped over a body. Joel probably would have been found by anyone, or worse, not found until much later had I not tripped over him.

"I told you. I was peeing."

"We both know that isn't true. People don't just take off running when they hear footsteps when they're using the facility."

I scrunch my eyebrows. "Detective Arroyo, have you ever been a woman?"

"Excuse me?" he asks me. "What kind of question is that? Of course, I've never been a woman."

"So you have no idea how hard it is being a woman. Out in the dark by themselves. With their pants around their ankles and the most vulnerable part of their body on display for someone to see."

If you think about it I'm not exactly lying to the police. I was in the forest exposed and naked, but not in the way I was leading him to believe. It's the same concept, but a different stigma attached. No one thinks twice about the girl who had to pee at the party. The girl with a camservice site gets a reputation she can't fight off in a small town.

His eyebrows raise in surprise.

"I am a woman, so being familiar with that feeling, I was all too ready to run when I was naked and exposed in the middle of the forest hearing footsteps. I didn't know what was surrounding me. As far as I knew, all my friends were at the bonfire. Then all of a sudden There's someone where I'm using the restroom? That could have been anyone. I could have easily been ambushed and taken advantage of. Are you telling me that's not an answer that you find acceptable, Detective Arroyo?"

"I-," he begins but cuts off. "Ms. Garcia, I'm very sorry for the assumption-"

"You should be."

"I have some more questions, Ms. Garcia.

"Am I under arrest?" I ask him. He looks at me confused and shakes his head. "Then I think we're done with this conversation. I've explained where I was and what was going on. Joel was one of my closest and dearest friends from my teenage years. He was the one who was always there for us when we needed it. He always went out of his way and would have given a stranger the shirt off his back. We all loved him, and we are devestated over the lost of our friend."

Tears well up in my eyes, and I quickly wipe them from my face. I don't want the detective to see me cry.

He clears his throat and stands up. "Well, Ms. Garcia, if we have any other questions I'll be sure to contact you."

"Thanks, Detective," I say with a cold smile. He nods and I exit the room. Briar and Declan are standing in the lobby with Ezra. A big white bandage is strapped to Briar's neck, and her arm is wrapped in a large bandage that goes all the way down her forearm. Mascara is lining her cheeks, but I don't fail to notice her hand waffled firmly in between Declan's.

"Everything good?" Declan asks me.

I look at Ezra and he avoids eye contact with me.

"Ez," I call out and reach out to touch his arm. He shrugs away and walks toward the exit of the building.

"I'm driving with you guys back to your house, Declan," says Ezra.

He walks out of the building, and Briar looks at me confused. "What the hell is happening?"

"Don't worry about it," I say as I walk past them and storm toward my car. I can't believe how immature he's being right now. It was a valid question. He might know Kenny, but I don't. Not to mention, when it comes to love, people can be easily influenced and miss red flags that normally they wouldn't overlook.

I get in the car and lock the doors. Briar and Declan walk to his truck and Ezra lets Briar get into the middle of the seat before climbing next to her.

"Well, Diana," I say to myself as I put my car in reverse and follow Declan out of the parking lot. "You really stepped in it this time."