Mr. Kleizmick,

We're so sorry about our misunderstanding. We realize our mistakes and will punish those responsible. Please forgive us.

Thank you for understanding and sorry for the inconvenience.

-Officer Smith

~Vera~

I wrung my hands together as they tangled with the cloth of my dress.

How the hell did I end up here? Why did we end up here? No one had known Jordan actually killed Jason and as far as we knew, there was no evidence of Jordan being at the crime scene. Even if there was, the police should've picked it up earlier. Why now? It didn't make sense.

And Julia's confession should've been enough to throw them off. They should be paying attention to Julia, not Jordan. So why did they, all of a sudden, decide to arrest him?

Julia sat next to me, leaning into Alyssa's arms. She stopped crying a long time ago, but she still looked ready to burst at any moment. Tyler paced in the middle of the hallway as police officers surged by.

"They can't keep him," he said, finally. "They're not gonna find enough evidence to keep him in jail."

"That's the thing," I said quietly. "They could."

Alyssa's head snapped up. "What do you mean?"

My eyes flicked to Julia's and she met mine. After a moment, she gave me a slight nod, giving me permission to tell them everything. Tyler sat down on my other side and I started in, hushed tones.

I told the two of them everything: how I pushed him and thought I killed him, how I started getting the Secret Keeper letters, how I searched the Kleizmick house, how Jordan actually killed him. I told them everything.

After I finished, the silence hung heavy in the air. Finally, Alyssa broke it.

"Dear god," she sighed. "So someone's been blackmailing you?"

I nodded.

"And they don't even have the decency to say who they are?"

"I guess not."

"Serves them right," Alyssa scoffed. "They know who we are and are afraid enough of our reputation to hide in the shadows."

"Yeah, but now we have no clue who Secret Keeper is or why their doing all of this. How are we supposed to end this?"

"We will find them," Alyssa said, determined. "We will drag them out of the shadows and make them pay."

I nodded along. Alyssa was right. We had to figure out who Secret Keeper was. And we had to make sure they never bothered us again.

Tyler's dad, Bryan Turnpike, a tall man with dark brown wavy hair and mischievous brown eyes approached us. With his care-free outgoing attitude, he was almost a spitting image of Tyler which always made him seem like more of an older brother to us than one of our parents. He even made us call him Bryan. But today his normally upbeat smile was twisted into a down turned frown. It looked strange on him.

"What did they say?" Tyler asked.

"Bad news: Jordan was arrested because of an anonymous tip that stated he was the one responsible for Jason's death."

The four of us shared a look, all knowing who must've been behind this.

Secret Keeper.

"Even more bad news: Jordan doesn't have another alibi during the time of death so in the court of law, there isn't much to go on."

Tyler leaned back. "Is there any good news?"

"If only you would let me speak..." he joked.

"Then speak," Tyler replied.

Bryan's lips perked up into a broad smile. "Good news: David got super pissed off when he heard that it was because of a mere anonymous tip so he called in some big shot lawyers and got them to make the police layoff on Jordan."

"Wait," I said, my mind processing the news. "So you're saying-"

"Jordan's going to be released."

Julia jumped up and squealed in delight, giving Bryan a hug. He chuckled and patted her back while the rest of us gave a sigh of relief. Jordan wasn't going to get arrested. He was going to be fine.

"Why didn't you just lead with that?" Alyssa asked with a smile.

"Always tell the bad news first," the Turnpike's replied in perfect unison. They really were similar.

Down the hall a couple of voices interrupted us, grabbing our attention. Jordan walked out of the interrogation room, hand cuffs removed, and was making his way to us. Julia ran up to him and gave him a hug. Jordan tightly hugged her back. Jordan tapped her shoulder, probably telling her that she was hugging him too tight, and she let go. The two of them made their way to us.

Tyler clapped his back and muttered a small, "Nice job not getting arrested," before leaning in to whisper something as the rest of the parents passed by. Jordan's eyes widened and set on me before he nodded. Tyler pulled away and we followed our parents to the back of the precinct.

Based on the looks Jordan was throwing the four of us, Tyler must've told Jordan how I told them everything. He seemed to be fine with it. I breathed a little easier, glad that I did the right thing. Now we would be able to fight Secret Keeper, who ever it was, together. We were working together. We would catch them and stop them.

We made our way to the back in a tense silence. Finally, Alyssa broke it.

"I can't believe they arrested you like that."

"Yeah," Bryan agreed. "They can't just arrest people because of an anonymous call!"

Jennifer van Hallen turned and gave her husband a pointed look. "Yes, they can."

"But that doesn't mean they should!"

"They can and they will," she argued back. "They were trying to do their job and catch a possible killer. They don't know Jordan like we do and had no reason to believe that he didn't kill Jason."

Jordan stiffened almost imperceptibly.

"So you're saying," Bryan said slowly, "that if I walk in there and say 'I think my beautifully lawful wife killed kids and then baked them in her oven and ate them for dinner', they would have to arrest you?"

"They may, if they had any reason to believe it."

"So they would take you out of the house and lock you up in a jail cell and make sure that you never come back?"

"Possibly."

"Great!" Bryan turned around and started heading back inside. "I'm just gonna go tell them real quick that you're a cannibal..."

Tyler's mother shot out her arm and grabbed his collar, pulling him forward before he could do anything else.

"You're so annoying," she muttered.

Bryan laughed and leaned in, whispering in her ear something that sounded like, "It's why you love me."

After a couple more moments of walking in silence, Tyler spoke up.

"You know what I can't believe?"

Jordan turned to him, curious. "What?"

"That your initials are JFK!"

Jordan rolled his eyes as Tyler lightly punched his arm. "I knew your name was a joke before, but now..."

"This was exactly why I never told you."

Tyler continued and raised his hand in front of his mouth as if he was holding a mic and pretended to be a newscaster. "Breaking News: Jordan Kleizmick's middle name, a long hidden one, has finally been revealed as Fredrick, making his initials the titular JFK. The only question America has left is: Do you plan to run for President, Mr. Kleizmick?"

Jordan leaned toward Tyler's hand, which was now pointed toward him, and sarcastically replied, "Of course. I would absolutely love to be President and then shot in the head in a slow-moving car by a guy who was assassinated before confession. That's always been a life-goal of mine."

"Fantastic! This the type of news America loves to hear."

Jordan gave him a light push and Tyler laughed even harder, making our lips curl upward ever so slightly.

The time on the car dashboard read 1:27 am.

My eyes were starting to close from exhaustion as I gathered my things. The Turnpike's decided to give me and Alyssa a ride home since her mother never came and my parents had to leave early from the precinct. They couldn't wait for Jordan to get released as Vince was already coughing and they had to put him to sleep. I think they also just wanted to give me some more space since I still haven't talked to them yet.

Already having dropped off Alyssa at her house, I climbed out of the car, ready to collapse into my bed. It had been a long night.

"I'll walk you up," Tyler said and climbed out of the seat next to me. His father said something that I didn't catch which ended with his wife smacking his head.

Still dreaming about my bed, I ascended the sidewalk, not watching where I was going. My heels caught in one of the gaps in the cement and lurched sideways, ready to plummet to the ground. But instead Tyler was there, catching me and holding me steady. Warmth traveled through me from where our skin met. I looked up at him.

"Thank you."

He quickly let go and stepped away, averting his gaze. "No problem."

I walked up to the front door and paused, turning around as I stared at him, unsure of what to say. He didn't seem to know either as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and stared back at me. Finally, he cleared his throat and turned away, "Goodnight Vera."

"Tyler, wait," I spoke out to him.

He paused and turned to face me again, eyes darting around before meeting my face.

I didn't know how to start this conversation. I didn't want to have this conversation. I wanted nothing more than to just continue as if nothing happened. But I needed to have this conversation. I spent most of my life running from my problems. I couldn't run from this too.

"About the ball..." I started, referring to when I almost tried to kiss him.

"It's fine," he said quickly.

"It is?"

"Yeah. It was an in the moment thing. Didn't mean anything. You were still reeling from discovering your DID and you got caught up in the moment..."

"Yeah. In the moment."

"It's fine. Mistakes happen."

"Right," I swallowed. "Mistakes."

Tyler gave one last stiff nod before turning back around and continuing back to the driveway. My face hot with embarrassment, I turned started to turn back to the door when an object on the ground caught my eye.

"Oh, Tyl-" I stopped myself as I registered what it was.

Tyler paused and turned. "Yeah?"

I stumbled on my words as I tried my best to stay upright. "Oh- I- it's nothing."

"You alright?"

"Yeah, fine," I lied.

"You sure?"

I forced myself to push down the growing panic and nod, giving a small smile.

"Okay..." he slowly turned back around. "Goodnight Vera."

"Goodnight Tyler," I barely whispered the words.

He disappeared from view behind the bushes. It wasn't until I heard the car pull out of the driveway that I bent down to pick up the object that must've slipped out of Tyler's pocket when he caught me.

It was a little red card.

Bryan: Vote if you think my wife is a cannibal.