Pierce dug out a flask from his pocket. "Whiskey? Anybody?" he offered, waving it to my friends in the backseat.

"Jesus Christ, Pierce," I muttered.

"Right here, man," Landon said.

"Landon," Dakota uttered with a roll of her eyes. Landon winked at her and took a quick swig of the flask. "You're an idiot."

"He's not an idiot 'til he doesn't stop drinking it," Pierce replied, grabbing his precious bottle from Landon.

"Thanks, dude," Landon said.

"So you're the one who came up with the boyfriend scheme?" Liam inquired, uncomfortably squirming between Landon and Dakota.

"Yes sir," Pierce said, slouching back in his seat and busting out his briefcase.

"So you really think that'll work?"

"If I didn't think it would work, I wouldn't have come up with it," Pierce replied. "I'm very unsure as to how you four came up with this little 'plan', though."

"Well, they're not gonna let any of us in," I replied. "But they'd let someone who has something to due with their money in."

"I suppose," Pierce shrugged. "What am I doing again?"

"Keep the door unlocked, a window open, something like that. Just keep them all busy while we go into Katherine's room."

"Alright...my client Darren Walters is suing Summertime Realty for selling him a seaside location, which, without his knowledge, was completely bombarded by black mold. He's suing Nathan directly due to the fact that Nathan gave him his individual promise, over the phone, that the location would be the crux of his restaurant's success. I have the recording of the promise right here--which was recorded in New York, so it only required one party's consent to record."

"What recording--," I began.

Pierce pressed a button on his phone to interject. "Yes, I can assure you that your restaurant will thrive due to this purchase," Nathan Summers promised on the phone.

"How the hell did you do that?" Dakota asked.

"A lawyer friend of mine represented another case against Mr. Summers, so I had her send it to me. Quite simple, really." Pierce smiled to himself. "And the children will be involved due to the fact that...well, I haven't really decided that yet."

"We just need Katherine out of there."

"How do you even know that she's home?" he asked.

"We don't, but if she is, we need her out," Landon answered.

"I...I suppose that Katherine was present during the whole conversation and needs to act as a witness," Pierce replied, wiping his brow with his sleeve. Pierce looked at me and cocked an eyebrow.

"I'm sure," I whispered to him, knowing that in just facial gestures he was asking, Do you think this will work?

Pierce knocked on the door. "He'll text me what he leaves open," I said. We had parked down the street, away from the view of the windows by the front entrance. Pierce entered the house, quickly glancing around back at the car and flashing a smile. A few minutes later, my phone buzzed, with a text from the SSoaB.

4:34 pm
Door is slightly open. Window by the kitchen is open. Boy outside, boy in living room, Katherine with father. We are in the dining room discussing. Nathan getting pissed I'm on the phone and not listening to him. Good luck.

I gave my friends a thumbs-up. "Let's go." Landon and I exited the car and dashed up the driveway. "Door or window?"

"Window," Landon replied. Dakota and Liam stayed in the car, scouting the main entrance to see if anyone was about to enter. We scaled around the back until we found an open window, a breeze slightly shaking it back and forth. "Boost me up and I'll pull you in." I nodded to him. Landon jumped up and grabbed the windowsill. "Push me up, push me up, push me up," he whined. I groaned, grabbed his feet and heaved him upwards. Landon clamored into the mansion, turned around and then reached his hand out to me. I jumped up and clutched onto his hand, scampering up the wall and falling into the house. "Go team!"

"Shh," I said. I pointed out the door to exit the kitchen. "Let's just get to her room." Landon saluted me and crept towards the door. He creaked open the door and then immediately shut it. "Dining room" he gasped.

"Oh fuck," I said. "Which way do we go?"

"Um...shit," Landon said. He pointed behind me. "Over there." I performed a one-eighty to see a doorway. I nodded and we tiptoed through. My phone began to buzz. I pressed the green icon to answer Dakota. "What?" I hissed.

"An entire goddamn gang of maids and servants just piled into the fucking house," she hastily said.

"Oh, fuck. We'll be quick." I hung up and said, "Servants just entered the house. We've gotta be even faster." Landon nodded, and we made our way out of the kitchen and towards the next room. A fireplace crackled in the far corner, and a dog slept on a carpet next to it. I raised my finger to my lips and gestured towards the next room. We tiptoed forward as to not wake the slumbering pit bull. I quickly shut the door and turned around. "Should've known a place this big was going to need help around the house."

"Whatever; let's just try and Solid Snake our way around and then ditch this place," Landon replied. I nodded. It felt like we were in an episode of Scooby-Doo: each room had something odd in it. We bounced from an aquarium to an indoor pool to a room that had just birds in it. Nothing else. It just had birds in cages, like, all over the place. "Who the hell needs a room with birds? A Bird Room?" Landon inquired.

"I have no clue," I replied with a slight chuckle.

"Because this is a pretty...hawkward situation."

"Landon?"

"Yeah?"

"I hate you."

"That's understandable."

After a series of several more rooms, we finally found a staircase. (And no, it wasn't the same staircase that we had initially used to get to the second floor. This one was in a totally different part of the house. Yeah: they had two staircases. I supposed that wasn't too extraordinary after the Bird Room.) We quickly scampered upstairs. "Shit; where's her room?"

"You go down that hall and I'll go down this one--this place is frickin ridiculous."

"If I ever get this rich, and spend my money on this much idiotic stuff, please put me out of my misery," Landon pleaded.

"Oh, don't worry, I definitely will," I replied.

"Then you can just pretend that you were my girlfriend to get away with it."

"One: too soon. Two: over my dead body."

"No, it's over my dead body."

I ignored him and hurried down the hall. I passed several doors until I found one that resembled the one that I had entered before to reach Katherine's room. I sighed with relief when I discovered that it was indeed Katherine's room. I texted Pierce quickly.

4:46 pm
In katherines room. update soon. keep stalling.

4:46
Be on the lookout. Boy left. Might be headed upstairs. Mr. Summers isn't leaving any time soon.

I stuffed my phone away and began my search. I first looked in her closet, looking under racks and behind expensive clothes. I reentered the main room and rummaged through drawers and boxes. I've lied, and lied, and lied--and now I'm a thief. This whole thing was killing me.

I finally looked under her bed, figuring that's where I would hide something that I wouldn't want found. There were several wrappers and crumbled up pieces of paper thrown all about, but finally, my hands came across a small box. I wrapped my fingers around it and pulled it towards me. There was a heart scribbled on the side of it. I sat on the edge of the bed and examined its contents. There were, unsurprisingly, a wide array of photos within the box. I gingerly grabbed each one, holding them as if they would crumble away at any wrong movement.

At first, the photos were superficial. Nice, but nothing that I could use for Carson's case. Some flowers, some sunsets, some rivers. Some pictures.

And then came the hands. And then hair. And the smiles. Then came the photos of Katherine. Her hands. Her hair. Her smiles. Then came the photos of Katherine and Carson. Them holding hands. Him playing with her hair. Them both smiling. Them both kissing. The both of them...in love. I couldn't steal these. These weren't just photos; these were beautiful memories. I instead grabbed my phone and took photos of the photos--Photoception, I thought--and made sure that I captured every moment clear enough. Nothing could be blurry. Nothing could be out of place. Then, suddenly, one picture explained it all.

"He wasn't her stalker," I muttered. "He was her boyfriend." I held up a picture of Katherine snuggling with a blue bear--no, not a blue bear. The blue bear. The one that creepy Carson gave to Katherine to persuade her to finally go on a date with him. It was a gift, alright. But it was a gift that she cherished.

"She loved that bear, y'know," Matthew said behind me. I jumped. "I don't know why she got rid of it. That's why she's been upset. Not because of some stupid, petty reason. She's sad because the supposed 'love of her life', Carson Harris, died." Silence. Matthew sighed and closed the door behind him. I cautiously backed up from the bed, looking for something to defend myself with. "So, tell me, Avery: what is stopping me from telling the world that you're not Carson's mourning girlfriend? You're just some random girl. You didn't love him like Katherine did. You didn't keep their secret like Hunter and I did. You might've killed him, I don't know. So what's stopping me from calling the police right now?"

I paused. "Because he didn't just die, Matt. He got murdered. And he involved me for whatever reason that only he knows. So I'm gonna figure out why. And you'll need to give a reason why I'm not his girlfriend, and that reason is that Katherine was. And I'm assuming Katherine didn't tell me because she didn't want it getting out that they were in love. I'm guessing that it's because your father doesn't approve?" Matthew stared at me, eventually shrugging and shoving his hands into his pockets. "So that's why you're not going to. And why you all should help me."

"Why would we? You broke into our house, and you accused my sister of murder."

"She accused me of murder, too. So let's put a stop to the accusations and finally find out who killed Carson." Matthew seemed like he was thinking it over.

"You're right. My dad wouldn't approve. He's a racist, homophobic bigot, but he loves us. He loves his kids--even if he has a shitty way of showing it. He'll keep Katherine out of jail no matter the cost. And..."

"And?"

"And I love her too. Which is why I'm telling her you came in here today." I panicked. "And also why I'll convince her to help you--or, at least stay off your back. Carson was a good kid. He didn't deserve to die."

"No, he didn't."

"So get out. While you can. Before I change my mind." I nodded to him, grateful.

"I'm gonna find out who did it, Matthew. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," he said. He grinned. "It makes you look dumb, Uh." He opened the door and gestured for me to leave. "Come over this way. It's quicker and safer."

I quickly texted Landon our location. Matthew had led me down the hall to a balcony that overlooked the front yard. Landon just kind of awkwardly nodded to Matthew. A question seemed to be burning within him. I rolled my eyes. "Go ahead, ask him," I said. Matthew was about to inquire what it was when Landon suddenly burst out:

"Why do you have a Bird Room?"

Matthew just kind of stared at him and then laughed out loud. "Oh, you found that room. Yeah, my mom really liked birds. It was an anniversary present." I grinned at the thought. Nathan Summers, doing something for thought of the heart instead of the wallet.

Landon and I entered the balcony. "Um, it'll sting, but you can just jump in the hedges right there."

"You're serious?" I inquired, doubtful of the shrubs' ability to hold a human being.

"Yeah. I've snuck out a few times before like this. Just go one at a time." Landon, on the other hand, seemed completely sold by the idea and bounced over the balcony like there was no tomorrow. He landed with a thud on the hedges, rolling off onto the grass. He lied prostrate on the ground, eventually giving me a thumbs-up. "Avery?"

"Yeah?"

"I didn't tell you Carson won because it would look pretty bad for me...and then you'd probably wanna find the photos, which would make you realize the truth about Katherine. Sorry."

"It's okay. You're her brother. You're supposed to protect her." He nodded. I waved him goodbye and reluctantly hopped over the ledge. I recovered on the yard and dashed across the driveway with Landon. We jumped into my car, heaving and high-fiving.

"Well?" Dakota asked.

"Katherine was lying," I replied. I showed them a few pictures on my phone.

"So Katherine was in love with Carson the whole time?" Liam said.

"Why didn't they tell us?" Landon asked.

"Dad wouldn't approve." I texted Pierce to come outside. "Apparently, he's a racist. Probably wouldn't take too kindly to Carson. Probably why he spoke of him so poorly when we were asking about it before."

"Asshole," Dakota murmured. I saw Pierce exit the house. He confidently strode across the yard and climbed into the passenger's seat. "Speaking of," Dakota added under her breath.

"How'd it go?" he asked. I showed him my phone in reply. He scrolled through the pictures and then shrugged. "So, as of now, Katherine killed Carson after he broke her heart."

"Can you stop doing that?" I implored.

"Doing what?"

"Assuming everyone's guilty?"

"You're my client--everyone is guilty until you're proven innocent."

I shut my mouth. "How'd you do?" Landon asked. Pierce seemed as though he was waiting for the question to be asked. He shimmied in his seat and fixed his tie.

"I actually ended up convincing Katherine that she was there for the conversation, which really did piss off her father. He said he didn't know any 'Darren Walters' and called the whole thing 'ridiculous', but the man loves his reputation as well as his money. Tried to bribe me at one point; that was fun. Eventually, Darren dropped charges in exchange for another offer for another building. I gave him actual Darren's number to negotiate. My friend Mr. Walters will be having an excellent deal on a seaside building very soon." Landon began a slow clap in the backseat. Pierce looked at me and gestured to Landon. "Him. I like him. He appreciates the fine art of bullshitting."

"Oh, don't I ever?" Landon replied. Dakota elbowed him from across the seats.

"So what do we do now?" Liam inquired.

"Well, we need to question Katherine," I said.

"I have her Snapchat," Landon said. "Want me to tell her to meet us anywhere?"

"Coffee house?"

"Coffee house," Dakota confirmed to me.

We were driving down the road when I asked to Pierce, "Have the police found anything?"

"No witnesses, no weapon, no suspects. Interviewing the family, I assume. It's usually the family members when it comes to cases like this."

What a shame. What a shame that it was that a family member killing their kin was a recurring trend in murders. It couldn't have been either of them, I thought, thinking of Carson's broken parents. I don't know who it could've been.

I guess that I had to have the same mindset as Pierce:

Everyone was guilty until proven innocent.