Kitty practically twirls through the door, her pastel pink pleated skirt a blur. She looks the best I've seen her in a while; dark circles wiped clean from under her eyes, her wavy brown hair scraped back into a high ponytail with a few stray strands framing her face. She's wearing a over-sized white T-shirt tucked into her skirt, knee high white socks, white sneakers, and her lips are lined with pastel pink gloss. She's sporting a radiant smile and a twinkling eyes, as she places a large stack of files on the desk as they almost fall out of her arms.

"Urgh, happiness, they say it's contagious," Midnight says sarcastically, shriveling into a corner.

"What got into you?" I ask, as she swings herself over the desk and pops a large bubble of gum.

"The spring dance, that's what." she says, twirling a strand of hair. "You know Aster and I organized it every year, but this year," she says, her eyes looking off into the distance, as her hands clear a path in the sky, "I have complete creative freedom."

My face falls. Aster. But Kitty quickly pipes up, "Not like that of course. Anyway, you're all going right?" she scans the room.

Midnight raises an eyebrow, "You really have to ask, Katherine?"

"Oh, come on, we'll all go as friends," says Kitty, smiling still, "The theme's Aster. You know, commemoration. It means a lot to a lot of people."

I look up at Kitty, whose grin is fading. "We'll go." I say, making eye-contact with Midnight and Eilon. "I know you put a lot of effort into the organizing."

"Oh, don't I!" says Kitty, "Now, blue and white where her favorite colors, but an Aster flower is lilac and yellow...Oh, the color scheme's always the hardest part!"

Midnight walks over to Kitty, seeing her fake facade. "What really happened?" she asks, leaning on the desk, beside her. "Not even Kitty Roseavelt gets this excited about a school dance."

Kitty sighs, her breath blowing the wisps of hair around her face up. "The detective on my Dad's case was his best friend. Jonathan Seymour; he was the one who discovered him, bleeding at the scene. It's always been his biggest regret not catching the guy who shot him. I guess the stress of it all got too much for him and he's been in Hawaii with his wife, Debra for the past five months; completely abandoning the case. That's why everyone's been worshiping him in his office shrine and being all nice. They all feel guilty. We got a post card last night, and Jon's coming back soon!"

"Oh, my God, Kit, that's great!" I say, giving her a supportive rub on the shoulder. "Finally clarity about your Dad's death!"

Kitty nods. "When I find that b*****d that murdered him...I'm gonna kill him!"

***

I'm helping my little brother with homework when I hear a sharp knock on the door. I leave Joey at the table as I rush to the door. Kitty? Midnight? Eilon?

I open the door to find Detective Casterwyre. I'm speechless before I remember Mum talked about accidentally scratching a car in the town center parking lot the other day. I clear my throat, "Um...my Mum's still at work."

Detective Casterwyre coughs and scratches his stubble. He's a middle-aged man, with a little bit of hair around a bald dome. "Actually, we're here to see you, Son."

"Me?" I asked, taken aback, lowering my voice as Joey looks up from his homework, curiously.

"It's about Aster," says the detective. "We've found a new lead."

"Oh, of course!" I say, excited, "Do you want to come in? We, ah, we have coffee?"

"No, no, Kiddo, I'm gonna have to take you  down to the station."

I gulp, and turn back to Joey, who quickly looks down at his work again. "I can't leave my brother here, can he come too?"

Drew Casterwyre chuckles, "Of course!" he peers down round the corner of the door, "How 'bout it, Joey? Fancy a ride?"

That's the beautiful thing about a small town like Eastmore. Everyone feels like family. Well, almost everyone.

Joey excitedly packs up his things and we pile into the police car. The siren's on and the blue and red lights flashing; echoing throughout the town, not necessary, but at my little brother's request.

We arrive at the police station, the sky dark. We park Joey and his homework with Detective Lane in the hallway, and the two start chatting quickly. "Have you got everything?" I ask him a second time, and my brother nods. "Duh, Fox, you already asked me."

I smile at him, and wave goodbye. Nervous jitters I guess.

Drew opens the door to the questioning room and ushers me in. He takes out a plastic zip-lock bag with a slim black object inside. A phone. Aster's phone!

"Oh my God!" I say, clenching my hair, "When, where did you find it?"

The detective smiles to himself. "We found it today in the bushes outside the Deramaine's residence, after a second search of the property."

"Do you know how long it's been there?" I ask, anxious and curious to know whether Lila had something to do with this.

"It's hard to say," he says, unzipping the bag and pulling out the phone. "Mr and Mrs Evans identified this as her phone, but they didn't know her password. We were hoping you might?"

I feel the phone between my fingers, recognizing it's slim minimalist case with a single palm leaf. I enter the password. 4319. Our first date.

The phone unlocks and we're welcomed by a smiling selfie Aster took of us. 

"Do you mind writing the password down?" Drew asks, and I jot down the number. "Her tracking and mobile data turned off the night she went missing," says Drew, stroking his chin, "We have no way of tracking where she and the phone could've been."

"Maybe she dropped it at the party?" I say, scrawling through her photos. Happy memories, us, Kitty, smiles and sunshine.

"It wasn't there last time we checked, but it's possible," the detective mutters.

A shiver runs through my veins. Does that mean foul play was involved?

I come to the last photo. A video, really from last year; September. Strange, considering she loved taking photos so much.. I press play and Drew and I watch with horror and dread. I feel sick and uneasy as the video ends.

What on Earth could this possibly mean?