XX

I roared up to the Cooper's cute, blue-roofed, white planked cottage in a swirl of squealing tires and engine exhaust. Practically nose-diving the car into the curb, I shut off the engine, pausing as the entire frame of the vehicle shuddered and groaned.

When I was a hundred percent certain that the old banger wasn't about to fall down around my ears, I quickly jumped out, tumbled through the nifty, picket gate and made my way towards the Coopers' front door.

Clattering noisily up the porch steps, I took a hasty look at the windows bordering the front of the house. All of them were covered in a dark, neon fabric and the sills were layered with a thick coating of dust. It looked like no one had opened the curtains in this place for a few weeks at least!

Shaking my head to clear the cobwebs, I stepped onto the door-mat and raised my hand to rap my knuckles against the door when, all of a sudden, it was opened from the other side!

I stumbled backwards, gasping in surprise. Righting myself, I glanced up, straight into the steely glare of a blonde-headed woman who looked to be in her late forties.

"Who are you?" she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. "What do you want?"

I opened my mouth and closed it again, not exactly sure how to respond to such an abrupt question.

"Mum! That's for me! Don't worry, I'll get it!" a shrill, feminine cry echoed from upstairs and I could hear the hastened footsteps of Betty as she rushed downstairs into the hallway.

"Don't worry, Elisabeth, I've already answered the door!" Mrs Cooper shouted over her shoulder. "Who is this? Elisabeth? You know better than to invite strangers into our house!" Turning back to face me, she brushed her bangs out of her eyes as she repeated harshly, "Who are you?"

"She's not a stranger, Mum!" Betty complained as she pushed past her and glanced apologetically at me. "Hi Kenz. Come in."

"Kenz? What kind of a name is that?" Mrs Cooper continued to rant as I stepped inside.

"I'm Mackenzie," I returned shortly, finally finding my voice again. "Everyone just calls me Kenz."

"Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait," she shoved her finger in my face as she gaped at me. "Mackenzie? As in Mackenzie Jones?"

I nodded. "Erhm. Yes. That's right."

"I can't believe it!" Mrs Cooper slapped her hands down on her thighs as she marched through the hall into the kitchen. "Hal? Hal! Honey, we have a Serpent slut in our house!"

"Mum!" Betty yelled. "Just because she's FP's daughter it doesn't mean she's a slut!"

"She comes from the city, Betty, the god-damn city!" Mrs Cooper replied from the other room in a loud, obnoxious voice. "What else do you expect? Hal! Damn it! Where is that man? Hal!"

"Quick!" Betty seized my arm and practically dragged me up the stairs. "I am so so sorry!" she whispered as we reached the upper level of the house. "I - I had no idea she was going to react like that. Mum ... well, let's just say she doesn't like the Southside."

"Ha, yeah, she made that pretty obvious," I muttered under my breath.

"S-she - er - just has a bad history with the Southside and everything associated with it," Betty sighed and snagged her fingers through her long, blonde ponytail. "Again, can I just say, I ... am ... so ... sorry."

I sent her a reassuring smile and leaned over to hug her. "Betty, relax, it's not your fault. Now, what happened? What's wrong?"

As soon as I mentioned this, Betty stiffened up and her face drained of all colour.

"B-Betty?" I breathed. "Are you okay?"

Betty shook her head, trying to keep the tears from gathering in her eyes. "Come see," she spoke softly as she pushed open a nearby door and ushered me through.

I walked in and glanced around, pleasantly surprised by the pastel pink of the walls and the floral patterns on the bed covering. "Wow. Nice room, Betty," I complimented her. "Very ... girly."

"Thanks," she returned absent-mindedly as she began rummaging around in one of her desk drawers.

I turned around and cocked my head quizzically to one side. "What are you doing?"

"Getting this," Betty answered as she retrieved a crumpled envelope from the drawer and held it out to me. "I haven't told Mum about this yet. To be honest, I don't think I can."

My gaze shifted from her pale, frail face to the grime-streaked envelope in her hand. Quickly, I snatched it from her and opened it up. A tiny piece of yellow notepaper fell to the floor. Crouching down, I picked it up and flipped it over.

What I saw made me freeze in fright.

Dear Miss Cooper, it read, Stop snooping in a business that isn't yours to deal with. If you ignore this warning and continue to undermine the current murder investigation, you and your loved ones will pay. Sincerely, C.

"Betty, what the hell?" I yelped. "Is this a joke?"

Betty shook her head. "No! It was delivered this morning. Someone stuck it through the letter flap in our front door. I don't know who it was."

I shuffled over to the bed gracing the middle of the room and sank wearily onto the soft mattress. "Betty, this is really serious. This is basically a death threat! What have you been doing?"

Betty hesitated as she cast a quick side-glance towards her bedroom door, as if she were afraid that her mother was standing outside listening. "You can't tell anyone about this," she whispered as she scuttled over to me, "But Jug and I have secretly been working on..."

"Wait a sec ... did you say Jug?" my mouth fell open in shock.

"Yes," Betty nodded her blonde head importantly. "During the school year, we've been working on our school paper, The Blue and Gold. A guy that works with Mum at the town's local newspaper stand saw a story we did in the school paper. He wanted Jug and I to run an article for him on Jason Blossom and possible conspiracy theories concerning his death. He thought it'd spice things up a bit."

I groaned and flung myself back onto the bed. My head smacked against Betty's pillows and I rubbed my hands against my eyes. "Betty!" I howled. "Why would you agree to do that? Now you're getting threats! Do you have any idea who this might be from?"

Betty shrugged. "No. But I have my suspicions."

"And?" I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Sheriff Keller."

I almost choked on my own saliva. "Say what?"

Betty frowned at me. "I know it sounds ludicrous but he's been acting strangely lately. Even Kevin said so!"

"Okay, who on earth is Kevin and why do you trust him?"

"Oh, for the love of ..." Betty paused as she heaved a deep, even breath. "He's my best guy friend, okay? We grew up together. I can trust him. He ... he's the sheriff's son. He knows him better than any of us put together. He says his dad is sneaking out at all hours of the nights, getting basically nowhere with the investigation and visiting the Blossom house a lot more than is actually necessary. It's weird."

I furrowed my brow in thought. "And? That's it? C'mon, Betty. Going back to the Blossoms' house? It doesn't sound like a murderer's move to me. From what I've seen of Sheriff Keller, I doubt he'd even harm a hair on poor Cheryl's head, none the less kill her brother! You must have another suspect!"

"Look at the note again," Betty instructed. "Even the way it's written ... 'if you continue to undermine the murder investigation'? This style of writing is identical to Sheriff Keller's!"

"If you're so sure, why don't you get Kevin to give you a bit of paper with his Dad's handwriting on it so you can compare the writing?" I queried. "As serious as this is, though, you shouldn't go jump to conclusions. You have to tell somebody about this, Betty."

"I - I can't!" Betty exclaimed in frustration as she threw her arms up into the air. "Don't you see? I tell Mum, Dad, Mr Andrews, Jughead, Archie, anyone ... it all ends in the same scenario: they go to Sheriff Keller. If he really is the one sending me these threats, then what good is that gonna do? I - I just have to be one hundred percent certain that it isn't him. Then I'll tell someone, okay? You have to promise me, though, that you will not, and I mean never, ever, ever, tell anyone about this, not even Jug. Please? Kenzie. Please?"

I glanced down at Betty's clasped hands and upraised eyes and snorted with suppressed laughter. "Alright ... but just this once. If you get another threat, well, you're gonna have to tell someone other than me, okay? Oh geez. Now I'm worried about you. Locked up in this stuffy house with a psycho mother and an invisible dad and a threatening note ..."

"Archie's right next door," Betty smiled reassuringly at me. "Don't worry, he'll be right there to help me if I need it. I've been trying to comfort myself with that factor all day."

I let out a shaky breath as I glanced out of Betty's bedroom window. "Right. Cool. Oh, wait a sec," twisting my head around to eyeball the petite blonde, I asked, "Do you know what Sheriff Keller's first name is?"

"Tom," Betty waggled her thinly-brushed eyebrows at me. "Why?"

"Meh," I returned. "Just wondered if it had anything to do with the C on the end of the note. Oh well. Guess not."

"Elisabeth!"

Upon hearing Mrs Cooper's voice boom out from below stairs, both Betty and I jumped in surprise.

"Yes Mum?" Betty yelled back as she exchanged a quizzical look with me.

"It's almost time for dinner! Your father's out at a town meeting and I'm going to work with Jeff on the paper tonight so I won't be back til late. There's some two-minute noodles and leftover apple pie in the fridge. Ask that - er - Serpent girl if she wants to stay for a meal too before she goes."

A loud clink sounded and I assumed that Mrs Cooper was picking up her keys and purse. "See ya, Elisabeth, darling."

"Bye Mum!" Betty called after her as she heard the front door open and close. Turning to me, she smirked as she queried, "Sooo ... would you like to stay for dinner?"

I chuckled. "Why not?"

I stayed on at the Coopers for several hours after that. As it turns out, Betty was a fan of the series, Supernatural, as was I. We watched a few episodes, sucking on lollies and shrieking in fright whenever the show took a particularly creepy turn.

Even though I was trying to divert Betty's mind from the mysterious, threatening note she had received, I knew I couldn't stay for long, not with a murderer out on the loose and with a worried Dad and Jelly back at home.

Eight o'clock came and went and I had to get up and say goodbye. Betty was trying to make me stay for longer and I knew she didn't want to stay in the house by herself, but I had no choice. I had to leave. I had made a promise to Dad that I couldn't afford to break. Not right now.

Reluctantly, I headed out into the darkness and drove my dingy old bang-buster of a car back to the trailer.

After parking it around the back, I stepped out into the cool night-time air, laced with a hint of rosemary and summer. For a moment, I just stood there and inhaled a deep breath of the sweet scent.

Then, I made my way around the trailer towards the door. There were no lights on, surprisingly, so I just assumed that everyone was in bed already or had gone out to do some late-night shopping or partying.

Whatever the case, I didn't give it much notice as I bent my head to examine the many keys on my key-ring. Stepping up towards the front door, I reached down to insert the key into the doorknob when I glimpsed something red, something shiny, and something wet out of the corner of my eye.

Confused, I flicked on the torch on my phone and trailed the beam of light across the front wall of the caravan.

Suddenly, I let out a gurgling scream and stumbled back, almost ready to vomit.

For there, in huge, crooked letters dipped in a bright red solution that looked like fresh blood from a new kill were these five words: "Go back home, Serpent Slut."

Gif: Mackenzie as she talks to Betty in her room. (I love this gif so much. It's so cute).

*PLEASE REMEMBER to give this chapter a vote if you enjoyed and I'd love to hear any feedback from my readers; so pepper me with questions. If you're confused, I'll try and clarify it for you. If you want more information on a certain point, I'll do my best not to give you spoilers. If you just wanna chat 'bout random stuff, then I'm in*

Q: Who do you have listed on your suspect list? Who do you think was responsible for the threatening letter? For the vandalism?

XX