XX

My vision was blurry. My mind was a hazed mess. My brain was spinning over and over in distraught, disbelieving circles.

Pushing down the bile that threatened to come up my throat, I slumped back against the red cushioned seat in Pop's Diner and let out a long, deep breath.

"Okay, Jug, start from the top," I uttered quietly. "I - I just need to make sure that I have my facts straight."

Jughead sent me an annoyed scowl before rolling his eyes and grunting, "Weren't you listening?"

"Jug!" Betty reproved. "This is important. If the person who killed Jason Blossom is the same person sending Mackenzie and I death threats, then I think we need to know."

Sucking on the corner of his bottom lip, Jughead chanced a quick glance over at Betty. With a sigh, he gave in. "Fine. Well...it happened on Saturday, the Fourth of June - the very morning Jason Blossom's body was found in Sweet Water River. The last week of term, after exams, one of my professors from school pulled me aside and complimented me on one of my latest projects which involved some photography. I received a few tips from him and, not wanting to forget them, I jotted them down in my notebook. Seizing the first chance I could find, which just so happened to be in the early hours of that specific weekend, I grabbed my camera and decided to have a wander and take some pictures.

"I hadn't been out there long, maybe a half hour or so, when I spotted a pale green Beetle parked by the bridge that crosses Sweet Water River. I recognised the vehicle and, upon closer inspection, I realised that it belonged to Miss Grundy, the music teacher from Riverdale High. I thought it was a bit odd that her car was out there at six in the morning but obviously I didn't think anymore of it...until a few moments later when I saw both her and Archie Andrews snuggled up together on a picnic blanket a few hundred metres away. By the looks of things, they had been out there all night."

"And this brings you to what conclusion exactly?" Betty probed.

Jughead hesitated before responding, "My best friend is having a full-blown affair with his creepy-ass music teacher. Isn't that enough of a conclusion for you? They were in the exact place where they found Jason's body! That can't be a coincidence!"

"So basically you're placing the blame for his murder on Archie?" I raised my eyebrows dubiously.

"No, of course not," he snapped. "But my suspicions surrounding Miss Grundy haven't been so easily appeased."

"Why did you keep this from me? From us?" Betty inquired, concerned. "You haven't been yourself lately and I was worried that something was wrong."

Jughead cast his gaze towards the ground and hunched his shoulders together. "I - I know. I'm sorry. It's hard having all of this pressure on my shoulders, you know. I have to be a respectable Serpent. I also have to excel in my studies. I have to keep a dirty secret so my best friend doesn't pass off as some dirt-bag loser. I find out that the captain of our football team was murdered in cold blood and every single person walking the streets of Riverdale is a suspect. It's getting too much to handle. I - I was just about ready to give up and leave for good."

"Yeah, we noticed," I huffed. "Seriously though, where would you have gone?"

Jughead didn't give me a straight answer. Instead, he muttered, "I would've figured it out along the way."

Betty pressed her lips together in a long, thin line and squeezed Jughead's shoulder affectionately. "I'm here for you, Jug. We both are."

Jughead nodded in response before turning his attention back to me. "I did confront Archie about it, you know. He confessed to hooking up with...ahem...Miss Creepy. He didn't want to disappoint his dad, though. He begged me to keep it a secret. I agreed but only because I wanted to do some investigating on the issue. To me, this whole thing just seems really dodgy."

Betty shuddered and ran both hands up her arms. "Tell me about it. Riverdale isn't what it once was."

Passing my tongue over my dried lips, I motioned towards Betty as I asked, "Hey, do you still have that list of suspects on you? You might wanna add Miss Grundy's name to it. In the meanwhile, I might do some snooping of my own and go talk to Archie and see what he knows."

"Be careful," Betty called after me as I got up to leave the booth. "You have a habit of getting into trouble."

"Whatever," I rolled my eyes and huffed exaggeratedly. Then, I exited the diner and set my face for the Andrews' home.

It was time to figure out what the hell was going on.

Fortunately, I didn't run into Archie's dad, which would've been extremely awkward under the circumstances. Instead, I cut across the front lawn and followed the loud noise of a sanding machine resonating from within the Andrews' garage.

Smacking my palm loudly against the wooden door-frame, I waved at Archie, stopping him mid-movement. Hastily, he plucked off a pair of head-phones from over his ears and switched off the machine. Straightening up, he wiped his fingers on a dirty oil rag that was lying next to him and shot me a broad grin. "Kenz. Hey. What's up?"

Leaning back against the wall, I cocked one eyebrow at him and shook my head. "I thought we all agreed - no more secrets."

Archie paused. "What are you talking about?"

"You know," I told him pointedly. "You. Miss Grundy. Hooking up. Ew. C'mon, Arch. You've got to be kidding me. She's like - how old?"

Archie's expression darkened and his jaw visibly clenched. "I didn't realise our friendship had reached the point of confrontation."

I sighed before starting again, "Look, Arch, all I'm trying to say is that if you're gonna have a 'secret' relationship with your music teacher you might wanna keep it a little more on the low side. Don't deny it. You were at her house this morning. I saw you."

Archie avoided my gaze as a heated flush rose to his cheeks. "Yeah. I know. I was. I - I didn't mean to break the pact or whatever it was but I didn't think it wise to tell you guys. If either of us get caught, the consequences could be severe."

"Mm," I hummed in agreement. "Jughead also mentioned, in passing, about you and her being at Sweet Water River the day Jason was killed. You wanna add anymore to that story?"

Archie threw back his auburn head and groaned in annoyance. "I told him not to say anything!"

"I practically forced him to spill the beans," I offered nonchalantly. "You know us Joneses - we're a bit on the stubborn side."

Archie let out a small chuckle. "Now that is something I can agree with." Settling back against the work-bench that ran along one side of the garage, the troubled youth ran a nervous hand through his thick tussle of hair before saying, "Miss Grundy and I ... we were together the entire night and most of that next morning. We - we ..."

Concerned, I leaned forward and looked Archie in the eye. "What happened?"

"We heard a gun-shot," he whispered as he lowered his head. "It sounded from right across the other side of the river."

"Oh my god, Arch!" I gasped. "Why didn't you tell the police?"

"What and have them wonder what I was doing out there at such an unearthly hour of the morning?" he guffawed. "I think not."

"Archie!" I countered sternly. "There is a murderer walking around Riverdale as we speak! Any information you could give the cops would be worth your while in the long-run, believe me. Do you want the same fate that befell Jason to happen to your other friends too?"

Archie shook his head vigourously. "Of course not. Who do you think I am? Mr Scrooge?"

As I sent him an annoyed glare and backed towards the door, he relented. "Wait! Kenz. There's something you should know...about the Blossoms."

Arching my eyebrows, I gazed fixedly at him. "What?"

"Mr and Mrs Blossom didn't want this information to go public because they were afraid of a scandal," he blurted. "They're very proud people and want to uphold their reputation as being the biggest, the best and the cleanest."

"And your point?"

"If I know Jughead at all, he is prowling around right now, searching to pull up some new mystery or uncover some puzzle or whatever," Archie stated seriously. "Tell him...tell him to go and look into Cheryl."

"Cheryl? What's she got to do with any of this?" I gaped at him.

"Miss Grundy and I weren't the only people at Sweet Water River that day. Cheryl was too. She was there...when her brother died."

What Archie ended up telling me shook me to my core.

Since Mr Andrews was a respected member of the town council, he had come about the secretive information and had related the gobsmacking news to his son.

According to Cheryl Blossom, she and her brother Jason went for an early morning boat ride on Sweet Water River on June the 4th. One of her white lace gloves fell into the water and Jason leaned over to get it. In doing so, he accidentally capsized the boat and the siblings were separated because of the strong current. Cheryl was swept downstream where she managed to get to land and call for help. It was only a matter of hours before the police found Jason's body with a bullet-hole straight through the middle of his forehead.

Hesitantly, my eyes trailed down the list of suspects that Betty had written up a few days previous.

Sheriff Tom Keller.

Penelope Blossom.

Clifford Blossom.

Gerald Petite.

Geraldine Grundy.

Cheryl Blossom.

Biting my lower lip, I stared intently at the last name scrawled across the bottom of the paper. Narrowing my eyes, I tried to recall every single time I had seen the tall, slender figure of the ginger-haired cheerleader.

For one, she hadn't seemed overly upset over Jason's death. She was unusually stoic about it. That same week, she came parading into Pops, with barely anything on, all smiles and hellos. Then, she pulled me aside and threatened me. That very night, I received a bloody message on the wall of my trailer and Betty, too, got a note signed by a mysterious person known as C.

I hated to think that a sister could turn against her own brother in such a way. I hated to think that the police believed Cheryl's story merely because she was the daughter of a rich and influential man. I hated to think that the cops were getting nowhere with the case because the solution had been right in front of them all along.

Cheryl Blossom was the one who had murdered Jason!

Slowly, I snapped the cap off a red pen that I had flicking around my fingers. Grinding my teeth together, I pressed the sharp point to the paper and circled Cheryl's name several times.

As I straightened up, I glanced over at Betty who was sitting, with her knees tucked underneath her, on the floral cover of her bed.

"What are you thinking, Kenz?" she queried.

Brushing back a few wayward locks, I looked Betty in the eye. "I think that we've found our murderer. Cheryl Bombshell is going down."

Jughead, who hadn't been present during Betty and I's discussion, needed to know the updated version on the case. Hurriedly, I picked up my phone and shoes, bid goodbye to Betty and left her house via the bedroom window.

Trying not to draw too much attention to myself, I stuck my ear-phones in and jogged briskly down the road leading towards the Southside. Once I arrived at my trailer, panting and out of breath, I trundled in to find that while Jughead was there, Dad and Jellybean weren't.

"Where did they go?" I got out between gasps.

"Dad's got something to take care of and will be out for a while," Jughead shrugged uninterestedly. "And Jelly was invited to a sleepover or something. She'll be back tomorrow."

"So, I talked to Archie," I offered as I kicked off my shoes and sank down onto one of the folding chairs gracing the cramped living room.

"And?"

"I think I know who the murderer is."

Hours passed like they were merely minutes. Jughead and I were deep in conversation, drawing connections, joining the dots, talking about the Blossoms' dodgy past. While I was relieved that Jughead hadn't left and excited that we were starting to bond, I was still in shock over the 360 degree twist in the case.

I hadn't expected Cheryl Blossom to be the culprit.

It was seven o'clock. Dusk was falling. Shadows were lengthening. The sun was disappearing. Jughead and I were sprawled across the floor surrounded by papers and pens and books of all sorts. I commented on the fact that I was hungry so Jughead used the home-line to call up the pizza place.

As I sank back against the wall and surveyed the mess that we'd created, my phone, which was in my back pocket, started buzzing. Surprised, I drew it out to see an unknown number gracing my screen.

"Hello?" I asked apprehensively as I accepted the call and lifted the device to my ear.

"Hi. Is this Mackenzie Jones? Sister of Jellybean Jones?"

"Uh...yes," I furrowed my brow in confusion. "Who is this?"

"I'm Officer Jamel from the police station in the Northside of Riverdale. I was calling to let you know that your sister is here under authorised armed protection from our law enforcement."

"What the hell?"

"I'm so sorry to convey such tragic news to you but something bad has happened. The Riverdale killer has struck again."

Gif: Mackenzie as she talks with Betty and Jughead in Pops.

*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: From all the evidence that has been gathered so far, do you believe that Cheryl Blossom is the killer? And if not, who, in your opinion, is?