A girl glared at Liam after he dropped a teacup on the ground. He apologized with a nervous smile and paid for the cup. "Well, Jane hates you now," Landon said in regard to the glaring girl. I recognized her as one of the cheerleaders from our grade. Jane took Liam's money and stuffed it into the cash register.

She glanced at all of us. "Try not to break anything else, okay?" she suggested. We smiled and nodded. Avedon's was a lot more spacious than I recalled, but I figured that I had not been there in several years. There was the addition of a small bar on the right side of the establishment, tables in the center, and artwork displayed on the left and far ends of the place.

"I'll try my best," Liam replied. Landon elbowed him on the arm and smirked.

"Okay, I'm gonna talk to Angela and try and see what they did to Carson's artwork," Dakota said.

"Who's this 'Angela'?" Landon inquired, taking a sip of tea that he ordered from the bar.

"Neighbor-slash-Avedon's manager," Dakota replied, rolling her eyes as she had told us who Angela was at least three times before we had entered Avedon's. "I'll go find her. You guys peruse around and try and find out some valuable info."

"Can do," Landon said with a slight salute. He walked over to a table where a clique of particularly good-looking girls sat.

"Can he get his mind off of getting a date for two minutes?" Landon uttered.

"Probably not," I said with a shrug. "Try not to break anything else while you're here, okay babe?"

"You heard Jane," he replied with a chortle. "I can only do my best."

"Which means you'll probably end up breaking several more glasses and ruining pieces of artwork on your way over to another table," I replied.

"Oh, most definitely," he said with a dazzling grin. He kissed me on the forehead and added, "I'll take right side, maybe see from Jane what Carson was doing last time he was here."

"Sounds good," I replied. "I told Matthew that I would show up, so I'll go up and ask him about it. Try not to be suspicious."

"Damn. That means I can't loudly proclaim, 'Who here is the killer?'"

"Exactly." Liam made a puppy face at me and I laughed. "Okay, let's regroup soon."

"Go team!" he said, also saluting me just as Landon did. I laughed and sauntered over to some of the artwork, taking in the amazing feats that people had accomplished. It was a slow day today, so there weren't many people critiquing the works or offering to buy anything, but every other magnificent work of art had a swarm of people around it. There was an unusual amount of buzz around a girl sitting on a stool in the corner of the room. I couldn't see what work she was presenting due to the dense crowd around her, so I shrugged it off and continued my search for Matthew.

"Avery?" I heard. I turned and peaked my head over to see Matthew waving me over. "I wasn't sure if you were gonna show up. I was getting ready to leave."

"What, you don't trust me already? After all, it's me, Uh," I replied with a smile. He laughed. "So, what do you have here?"

"Um, this is a painting I was working on a while back and finally got around to finishing," he replied, gesturing to a depiction of a sunset. "And then I have this one that I entered into a contest...for a scholarship," added Matthew with a slight cough.

"How did that go?" I inquired, inspecting his work. It was a truly beautiful painting, one with brush strokes that seemed deliberately going in random directions. It took some squinting, but I soon realized it was a dirty hand holding a rose.

"Not so well...some other kid won. My dad said he could just buy my way into winning it, but I'm not like him. I actually wanna try to get it. And yeah, I don't need the money, but the satisfaction would've been nice."

"Well, this is really good, Matthew," I replied, honestly. "And hey; maybe the kid that won it really needed the money." Matthew shrugged and nodded. I pointed to a depiction of a rose buried in a dirt mound surrounded by cars and infrastructure. "What was that for?"

"Oh, that. That's for Katherine. I just finished it yesterday," he answered. "She's been...upset lately, so I thought maybe I could make something for her that'll cheer her up."

I smiled. "I think this one's my favorite. She'll love it."

"Really think so?"

"Yeah, I do. Anyone would. You're super talented, Matthew." I chuckled at his blushing.

"Thanks, Avery. That means a lot."

"Avery!" Dakota yelled. "Over here!"

I glanced over at the kind Summers boy. "Hey, I gotta go. But I'll try and catch you before I leave. Okay?"

"Yeah, sounds good," he replied casually. He attempted to nonchalantly lean on the wall but ended up tripping on his chair and colliding his head with the wall. I giggled as he recovered. "I meant to do that."

"I'm sure you did. See ya, Matthew." I waved and he curtly waved back, rubbing his head and mouthing an "ouch". I walked over to Dakota, who was beckoning me over to a storage closet by the opposite side of Avedon's. "What's up? Find out anything?"

"Okay, apparently Carson's things aren't here." I groaned. "But wait, no groaning!--Because someone else has them."

"Who else would have his pictures?"

"That guy over there," she replied, pointing to the swarm of people by the girl sitting on the stool. The crowd had finally dissipated. "That guy is named Peter Walan. He's in charge of the Pennsylvania Scholarship for Young Artists. And they almost always find someone in Avedon's to give it to."

"And Carson got the scholarship?"

"Yup. It was going to help him get into and stay in Montclair."

"How did you find all this out from Angela?"

"She's sleeping with Peter, duh," Dakota replied, matter-of-factly. "Anyway, since Carson's dead, they needed someone else to fill in the spot. And she, Sasha Sterling, just happened to be next in line." The girl, Sasha, was covering her mouth to cover her gasp. It looked like she had broken down into tears as she vigorously shook a smiling Peter's hand. "And apparently, there were a lot of pictures of some girl."

"Who?"

"Angela doesn't know, but apparently she was in all of Carson's pictures."

"Katherine Summers?" I offered. Dakota shrugged.

"Maybe. Maybe if we can get a hand on those photos, we can find some incriminating stuff on Katherine? She's our lead suspect right now."

"I suppose. Maybe Angela can try and persuade Peter into giving them up?" I suggested.

"Ugh, she just went on break," Dakota said, stomping her foot. "You're his girlfriend. Why don't you ask him? Say it's for...sentimental value."

"Yeah, maybe that could work. Come with me for backup?"

"I am forever the Batman to your Robin."

"I'm Batman. Robin is the backup."

"Nobody likes Robin though."

"That's not true! You'll grow up to be Nightwing someday," I offered, patting her on the shoulder. "Okay, Robin; let's do this."

I approached Peter Walan (an abnormally tall man) and tapped him on the back when he was done congratulating Sasha. "Mr. Walan, is it?"

"That's me. Who are you?" he asked, a bit of an Irish accent apparent in his voice.

"My name's Avery Carter," I answered, putting on the act that Pierce Prescott helped me train for. I quickly added, "I know Angela."

"Ah, any friend of Angela's is a friend of mine. What can I do you for?"

I forced my eyes to get teary, thinking of puppies with only three legs, because that was tear-inducing (and if someone didn't even get the slightest bit sad thinking of that, then what is wrong with them). "I understand you handle the Pennsylvania Scholarship for Young Artists?"

"Yes, I am one of the people they send out to award the scholarship. Why? Is there a complaint you'd like to issue?"

"Um, not exactly. Do you know a boy that went by the name 'Carson Harris'?"

Peter frowned. "Yes, I know--knew, Carson. He had a brilliant eye. Why? What can I do for you?"

"I...I was Carson's girlfriend."

"Oh, I'm horribly sorry."

"Thank you. I was wondering if you had any of his pictures left over that won him the scholarship. I wanted to keep them, give some to his parents."

"Oh, I would hand them over in a heartbeat, but someone purchased them."

"P-purchased them?"

"Oh, yes. Once the art is done at the showcase event, the artist has the option to either keep it, put it in a portfolio or storage, or sell them to go towards funding. Carson chose to sell them. He said he could always take more pictures, but money was something that he needed."

"By any chance, do you know who bought them?"

"I'll get the name for you. One moment." He scrolled through his phone. "Okay, recipients, runner-ups, ah! Here we are: buyers! It seems like all of his pictures were purchased under the same name. By any chance, what do you plan on doing with this information?"

"Maybe I'll see if the buyer will negotiate prices or just let me buy the photos off of them."

"That will be challenging for you--they bought it at a surprisingly absurd amount. Nearly thrice as much as one would ask for a collection of photographs, no matter how brilliant they were."

"A name, please," Dakota butted in.

"Oh, of course. It seems like the buyer was...a Miss Katherine Summers." Dakota glanced at me with a furrowed eyebrow and confused eyes. "Does that help you?"

"Very much so. Thank you, Mr. Walan."

"Any time," he replied. "Again, I'm sorry about Carson. His works will be truly missed on the world. Now, I'll have to excuse myself, ladies. Have a pleasant rest of your evening." Peter walked away and made his way to the exit, probably meeting Angela on break.

"Katherine? Why would she buy the photos? She said Carson was a stalker."

"There's more to this," Dakota assured. Landon made his way over to us, a grin smeared all over his face.

"Just got three phone numbers. How'd you two make out?"

"Well, while you were off flirting, we found out what happened to Carson's photos," Dakota retorted. "Apparently, Carson won a scholarship for artists for his photos, which had a girl in a lot of them. Somebody bought them. And that somebody was Katherine. Katherine Summers."

Landon snapped his fingers. "I knew there was more to her. Carson wasn't just a stalker to her, I knew it!"

"Keep your voices down," I said. "Her brother is..." My voice trailed off as I noticed that Matthew, along with his painting for Katherine, were gone. "Huh. Matthew was just there a few minutes ago."

"Well, we've gotta talk to Katherine," Landon said.

"After that little show you put on for them?" I said, placing my hands on my hips. "No way are they gonna let us in there."

"Then how are we going to get the pictures?" Landon inquired.

"Um...I think I have an idea. I know a guy," I said, a tad unsure of my plan. Suddenly, my eyes lit up in alarm. "Oh god. I just realized something."

"What?" Landon and Dakota asked in unison.

"Matthew said someone beat him to the scholarship. He seemed really bitter about it. With a stalker after his sister and some 'poor' kid that beat him to the scholarship...he has motive, too," I said with a shudder.

"Oh god. Maybe you're right," Dakota said. "We need more evidence, though. We need a weapon, or a video of the scene, or a confession. We can't just keep jumping to conclusions."

"I know, but these ideas are better than nothing," I replied with a slight shrug. "Theories are gonna help Carson more than coming out with nothing."

"Why do you keep saying that?" Dakota inquired.

"Saying what?"

"'Help Carson'."

"Because...this isn't just about me. They don't have enough to convict me," I said with a whisper. "And I'm not going to lie my ass off just to get out of prison. If I'm gonna risk my reputation and sanity just on lying for myself, then I better put it to good use. If the cops can't find out who killed Carson, then I'll do it."

"Avery, you would be the best girlfriend in the world in this situation," Landon said. Dakota glared at him. "Sorry, love, but it's true. I could only pray for someone who would go this far after I got offed."

"If only Carson really had someone like that. Someone that wasn't a total stranger," I solemnly replied.

"Okay, so now about this 'guy' that you told us about," Dakota said. Liam finally rejoined our group. We quickly filled him in.

"What, getting friendly with Plain Jane over there?" Landon quipped.

Liam put his arm around me. "Not with this girl over here," he replied, tugging me closer. "So, what's the game plan?"

"We're gonna sue the Summers."

"What?" they all replied.

"Just...just bear with me for a second. I need to make a phone call."

"C'mon, Pierce!" I said. "I think I really have something solid on this one." I paced around the front of Avedon's, clutching my phone with shaking hands to my ear.

"So you just want me to waltz in there, half-drunk, and serve Mr. Summers?"

"You're always at least half-drunk," I replied.

"Touché," my lawyer said. "How is this going to help you get the photos, which probably won't even help you at all?"

"You say you need all of the Summers to do it...and then we kinda, um..."

"Break in?"

"I would prefer the term, 'Enter with justice in mind'," I said.

"So you're going to break in, while I concoct some bull story on how the Summers are being sued because of why?"

"C'mon, I thought this would be easy for you! What does Nathan Summers even do for a job?"

"I believe he invests in plenty of hedge funds and owns the biggest real estate company on the East Coast," Pierce replied. "I suppose he's been sued plenty of times before."

"Okay!"

"So then what's stopping the alarm from going off when you break--excuse me, enter with justice in mind?"

"Just open a window or something," I replied. "I already know how to get to Katherine's room; we'll just find the photos and get out."

"This is a really, really shitty plan, Avery. It's stupid and illegal."

"...I mean, I guess--"

"I'm all in. I've got a wide array of people who owe me favors. I'll call in one of them, ask for their business and their permission to use their name, and then just pretend my 'client' backed off," Pierce said.

"Oh, thank you thank you thank you!" I exclaimed.

"Swing by my place in ten. I don't drink and drive."

"Then I guess you never drive," I replied. He had already hung up. My friends gathered outside and piled into the car. "We are a go!"

"You realize we can all get arrested for this, right?" Landon said as he clicked his seatbelt into place.

"Yup," I said.

"What's encouraging you to break the law all of the sudden?" Liam asked.

"Justice," I replied.

"Okay, Batman," Dakota said with a chuckle and roll of her eyes. I grinned and pulled away from Avedon's. Dakota heaved and nodded, brushing her colorful hair out of her face. She triumphantly looed ahead. "Let's go sue the Summers!" she yelled.

We all echoed in nearing (illegal) victory, "Let's go sue the Summers!"