"Why would I know anything about her death?" 

Goldstone looks shocked at my words and begins to pace back and forth in front of the sofa. Part of me wants to tell him to sit down, but I think he knows that we have him in a headlock. There's not a chance that he will get out of this. Not without admitting to the murder. 

Not without turning himself in for being a predator. 

"Because it had to be you," I state. "You are the only one that makes sense." 

"Oh my god," he says as he jumps up and down in place. He begins to jerk his body in a way that makes him look like a five-year-old who's throwing a tantrum at the grocery store. "Oh my god, this can't be happening. I'm about to wake up, right? Tomorrow I'm going to wake up in my bed and everything is going to be okay. None of this is real." 

He repeats that line to himself several times, and each time makes my veins fill with fire and fury. It takes everything in my power to not get up from my spot on the sofa and slap him. Chip seems to be working just as hard as I am to restrain himself as his hand is clenched into a white knuckle fist on his thigh. If he loses control I'm not sure that I'll be able to stop him. 

And I'm also not sure that I'd want to. 

"Shut up," I say to Goldstone as he continues to self-soothe by saying this isn't real. "Shut up and sit down. Now." 

He looks surprised at my sudden burst of anger, but looks at me and Chip confused before he decides to sit down on the floor. He crosses his legs and puts his head into his hands and begins to cry. Loud sobs fill the living room, and I know that if he continues at this volume the neighboring teachers are bound to hear and come check on him. 

And I'll lose any chance I have at asking him real questions. 

"Bryan, I swear on everything if you don't shut your damn mouth," I say sternly. 

Goldstone ignores me and continues to weep loudly on the floor. Chip gets up from the couch with a huge sigh, and walks over to him. He grabs Goldstone by the back of his blonde hair and slaps him so hard in the face that I'm sure people in the dorms could hear it. Goldstone stares at us in shock and instantly throws his hand to his face and curses. 

I instantly tense up when I see Chip slap him. Granted, I want to as well, but if we get a confession for murder out of him his lawyer could argue that it was coerced through violence if we continue down this path. 

I refuse to let this man walk on a technicality. 

"What the hell man?!" 

"Shut up and own what you did," Chip says impatiently. 

"Chip we can't hit him anymore," I say to him. Chip nods and walks over to the couch and sits down next to me. First still clenched on his lap. Goldstone sniffles as he uses his arm to wipe his nose. He takes a few deep breaths before he looks me in the eyes. 

"I didn't kill her." 

That's what any murderer would say, right? No one wants to go down for murder. Especially the murder of a rich pretty girl in the rich pretty school. If getting a confession from a killer was easy anyone could be a detective. 

"I loved her," he continued. 

I scoff. "You didn't love her. You don't fall in love with a minor when you're their teacher, Goldstone. That's...that's icky," I cringe at my word choice, but I can't think of a better one. "Bryan, you were her teacher. Someone that she was supposed to be able to trust and you took advantage of that. And when she started to pull away you couldn't take it anymore. So you killed her." 

"No!" he screams standing up. "I wouldn't have harmed a hair on her head!" 

He walks into his bedroom and Chip and I immediately get up and follow him through the wreckage of his house. Goldstone walks over to his nightstand and begins to throw tiny rectangular-shaped papers onto the bed next to him. His drawer reminds me of Mary Poppin's bag, in that anytime you think it's about to be empty he produces another slip of paper. 

"All of this was hers," he says. "Two thousand dollars at Gucci. Four hundred dollars at Michael Kors. Six hundred at Ulta. All of this money was being spent on her, and I knew that I was going into debt from it, but I couldn't stop. I just wanted her to be happy!" He begins to tear up as I walk closer to the bed and begin to shift through the receipts. He wasn't kidding when he said that he was spending a lot of money on her. Four hundred and fifty dollars at Express. Two hundred and thirty-six at target. 

And those are just the top two that I grabbed. 

Victoria, what a tangled web you weaved. 

"So you killed her because she was spending your money," I tell him throwing the receipts back on the bed. "This doesn't change anything. Just shows you make bad financial decisions." 

"No," Goldstone says. He reaches out and grabs my arm, but Chip is there in seconds shoving him off of me and into the wall.

"If you want to keep your hand it stays off of her," he challenges. "I'm not telling you again." 

Goldstone sighs and walks back into the living room with Chip and I hot on his trails. I thought he was going to make a run for the front door, but to my surprise, he sits down on the couch and leans back all the way, slumped over. "How did I end up like this?" he asks me. "I was happy once. I had a wife. I had a stable home life." 

"How did it all start, Goldstone?" I ask him. "What made you do this?" 

He looked at my eyes with a dead expression. "I don't know," he says softly. "I wish that I did. One second I was just an ordinary man, and the next I became someone I couldn't bear to look at. Yes, Victoria began to pull away from me. Yes, I know that being with her was stupid, but after crossing that boundary, I couldn't just let everything go back to normal. I couldn't be the man that risked everything for something that didn't work out." 

"Is that why you left your wife?" I ask him. "To be with Victoria?" 

"She left me," he tells me. "She found the receipts and thought I was cheating. She was right. But she didn't know who with. Since I wouldn't tell her anything she just left. I've lost both of the women I loved." 

"Victoria was a minor, Bryan," I tell him. Not letting him avoid that fact. "You didn't lose two women. You lost a woman and then you killed your dirty little secret." 

"I didn't kill her!" he says exasperated. "How many times do I have to tell you?! She was everything. It was like, it was like I had an obsession," he blurts out. Shame instantly fills his face and tears well up again. "Suddenly she was all I could think about. From the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep. Chip, you knew Victoria. When she gave you attention you just felt special. You know what I'm talking about, right?"

I grimace as Chip shakes his head in disgust. 

Icky. 

"If you loved her so much why are you with Anne-Marie?" I ask him. "When you heard us sneaking out of your room you called her name. Why are you with one of her old best friends." 

"You're going to think I'm stupid," Goldstone says. 

"Bryan, I promise you, I already think you're stupid," I assure him. "And that's the least offensive of the things that I think." 

"I wanted to feel close to her again," he says bowing his head in shame. "Anne-Marie isn't Victoria, but she tries to command a room in the same way she did. She tries to run the school with the same efficiency and strong hand, and it just reminds me of her." 

Tears well up in his eyes, and as much as I hate to admit this, I don't think Goldstone is a murdering predator. I think he's just a predator. 

I look at Chip and I can see it on his face he's having the same thoughts. I feel my chest tighten as the reality sinks in. I was so tunnel visioned on Goldstone, that I hadn't even given thought to the idea that someone else could have killed her. I thought I knew who I was dealing with, but the reality is, the game of chess the killer is playing with me seems to constantly have me in checkmate. 

I'm no closer to finding out who killed Victoria than I was at the beginning. 

"We can put this behind us, right?" Goldstone asks. "I didn't kill her. I can tell you believe me. You and Chip can go and I'll give you an A in my class for the year. You won't even have to turn in an assignment. Just make it look like you did and you're passing literature for the remainder of your time here at Riveroak." 

I laugh in his face. Does he seriously think he's getting away with being a predator to two girls with grades? Like I'm so desperate to get good academic standing here that I would give up my morals to get the upper hand? 

No, this man was turning himself in.

"Bryan, you'll turn yourself in tomorrow morning first thing or I will," I tell him. "You're a bad man, and you have absolutely no business working in a school ever again. I will make it my personal mission to ensure that you don't." 

"Elena," he says grabbing my arms and shaking me. "Please! You don't understand-"

He's interrupted by Chip slamming his fist into his face. Goldstone whimpers as he falls back onto the couch craddling his right cheek that is sure to have a mark in the morning. Chip shakes his hand out and winces. "I warned you to keep your hands off of her," he says. "Do it again, please. I would love to knock your ass out." 

Goldstone sighs and puts his head in his hand. He doesn't move for several minutes before he clears his throat and stands up from the couch. "I'll meet with Dean Withers first thing in the morning and turn myself in for my relationship with Victoria." 

I resist the urge to remind him that it wasn't a relationship, but instead, I interject, "And Anne-Marie." 

Anne-Marie might be a bitch, but she's just as much a victim to Goldstone's game as Victoria was. She is also young and impressionable, and Goldstone knew the game he was playing when he also got involved with her. 

He nods slowly and pulls out his phone. "I'm going to go to bed now," he says slowly. "I just need to lay down." 

He doesn't even wait for Chip and I to leave as he gets up from the couch and walks into the bedroom. He closes the door and Chip and I sit there in the messy living room for what feels like forever before he finally stands up. 

"It wasn't him," he says. 

"Yeah," I say as I get up and we walk to the front door. "It wasn't him." 

We walk out of the room when a flash from the side of the house catches my eye. I walk toward the side of the house and see a hooded figure in all black looking into a window in Bryan's house. Their face is covered by a deep hood, and my blood runs cold as I realize who it is I'm standing in front of. 

They're the person who broke into my room and stole the pages from my diary. 

They're the ones who murdered Victoria Caldwell. 

I refuse to breathe in fear that they'll notice me as I inch closer to them.  They continue to snap pictures and still haven't noticed me standing there inching closer to them. In just a few feet I'll be able to rip the hood off their head. 

My heart is beating so loud I'm surprised they haven't heard it when Chip rounds the corner of the house and gasps. The hooded figure freezes and turns towards me. I'm a solid five feet away, and all three of us are standing perfectly still as I stare into the darkness of their hood. 

"You killed her," I say. "Didn't you?" 

I start to walk toward the hooded figure before they turn on their heel and take off behind the staff housing with surprising speed. It takes me a second to register that they ran before I'm running as fast as my legs can carry me hot on their trail. 

We run into a field that is surrounded by large trees and bushes just thirty feet from the backdoor of the closest house. The hooded figure runs toward the trees and disappears into the forestry. My vision is tunneled as I watch where they enter, and I do my best to follow them before I feel a strong body slam against mine and tackle me to the ground. 

Fear envelopes me as I swing my arms in every direction in front of my face determined to not go down without a fight. I have no idea how the killer got behind me to tackle me, but they won't kill me. Not like this. My hand tingles as my palm hits skin, and Chip's voice curses as he rolls off of me and lays down on the grassy field. 

"Elena, did you seriously just try to follow a murderer into a dark forest?!" Chip hisses at me. 

I relax as Chip's voice brings me back to reality. It wasn't the murderer that tackled me. It was just Chip.  I turn around and look at the trees and slam my fist into the ground. "Damn it, Chip!" I say as I sit up and begin to walk toward the trees. Chip is on me in seconds and pulling me back toward the houses. "Let me go! They were right there! Victoria's killer was right there and you just let them get away!" 

"I saved your life!" Chip says angrily. "There's no telling what would have happened if I hadn't tackled you, Elena! You could have ended up exactly like Victoria!" 

Tears well up in my eyes, and Chip's face softens as he wraps me into a hug soothes me. "I'm sorry," he says. "I know this was a busy night, but we'll get them. I promise we'll get them." 

"They broke into my room," I whisper. 

"I know," he says. "We'll get them though. They're getting sloppy." 

I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I suddenly feel like eyes are on me. I spin around and look at the trees but there is nothing there when I look. Chip tenses, and grabs my hand as he leads me back toward the houses. 

"We should get back to the dorms," he whispers. 

I nod and slowly begin to walk back toward the staffing houses when my phone buzzes. 

I look down and see another anonymous email with an attachment. 

You're lucky he tackled you. We'll meet when I'm ready, Elena. I sent an anonymous email to Dean Withers about Goldstone. He's making a run for it. I'd get out of there unless you want to have to explain yourself. 

I click on the attachment and a video comes up of Goldstone frantically throwing clothes into a bag. I run back to the front of the houses and see Goldstone running with a duffle bag to his car. He opens up the trunk and throws the bag in, but before he's able to get into the front seat two police cars come swarming into the teacher's parking lot. Goldstone looks terrified as Chip grabs me and pulls me into the flower bed on the side of the house right as two cops jump out of the car with arms drawn. 

"GET ON THE GROUND!" They shout at Goldstone. "GET ON THE GROUND NOW!" 

Goldstone begins to weep as he falls to his knees and lies down on the ground. Dean Withers suddenly appears in his own red pickup truck and watches from the sidelines as the officers rush to get cuffs on Goldstone. 

"Bryan, I assume you know you're fired?" Dean Withers asks as they duck his head into the car. He looks out at the house and makes eye contact with me for what feels like forever before they close the door in his face. 

Multiple staff members stand at the doors of the houses as they look at the scene in the parking lot confused. Chip pulls me in closer to him, and I'm praying that no one sees us hiding in the bushes in front of Goldstone's house.

"What's going on, Withers?" asks Wendy from her porch next door. 

"Staff meeting," says Dean Withers with a solemn face. "Staff meeting first thing in the morning. My office." 

The teachers murmur. Too distracted by the cops and their boss standing in their parking lot in a robe to notice the two teenagers who shouldn't be there. We stand perfectly still until the last of the staff disappears inside a house. Dean Withers lingers with the cops for what feels like forever before they all finally drive away into the night. 

Chip and I sit there for another five minutes before my phone buzzes again. 

God, don't you just love a good show?