Sam wasn't in the Finnegan House the next morning, but Stoll assumed he went groundskeeping early. Or, at least, he hoped so. His janitor duties didn't start until 7:30 AM. I need something to distract me, Stoll thought and his mind flickered to Orchid. Okay, something else to distract me. Why not find a new target for the Shades of Gray project? Maybe that would take the heat off him.

He went to the dinner table, lit another candle, and got to work with a notepad and a pen. As a janitor, no one paid attention to him, but boy has Stoll seen his fair share of gossip.

Fareeda Patel—possibly cheating on her exams? Confirm with G. G.

Ruth 'Ruthless Barlowe—cheated in girls' cross-country, confirm details and proof with O. G.

Killer of Professor Green? No leads.

Killer of Scarlett Mako? No leads.

No leads.

Stoll frowned, the last two dawning on his mind. Could Sam truly have murdered Professor Green? A part of him wanted to deny it, but at Silverleaf, anything was possible. Also, Scarlett. She and Green didn't have any connection with each other unless he counted Ivory Kee.

Ivory Kee. Maybe he was worth looking into, since Saira's friends with Ruth, which is part of the Stanley Crawford scandal, Stoll assumed Saira could find some sort of dirt. Speaking of dirt, his thoughts flickered to Scarlett and Saira.

Saira's secret was jeopardized, if it was his secret at risk, he would have flipped out the way she did. I overreacted, he thought, ashamed. He couldn't fix anything now, he didn't dare to show his face.

He was now frustrated, getting nowhere. He just decided to pick Ruth as his 'victim' and got to work on his laptop. He scrolled through articles and searched a bunch of different videos with different angles of the Girls' Cross-Country Race at regionals.

Ruth and another girl were neck-and-neck mid-race. That's when the girl tripped, crashing into the earthy ground, and scraping her chin. Stoll replayed the video in slow motion and edited a choppy bit. Behind the roped-off section, a man bent down to tie his shoelaces. Except, the same man produced something from his shoe and rolled it onto the track, making the other girl stumble. So that's how Ruth won, he thought. He double-checked and realized the same man had connections to Ivory Kee's family. Bingo.

Stoll zoomed in, taking screenshots and recording. Now, to send them to Orchid. They used random Gmail accounts, nothing that can be found on their regular school accounts.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Hey, you'll see a few attachments below, they're about Ruth Barlowe's track race. You were right, she cheated with the help of Ivory Kee's family friend. We can all use some normalcy right now, and you're a crazy-fast writer, so get typing.

Stoll paused briefly before his fingers glided across the keyboard.

I'm sorry for being rude to you and G. G. last night. I lashed out and ran away like a jerk. I am a jerk. I'm not even going to show my face to you in the washroom meeting, I'm too ashamed. There's a little chance I'm going to hit SEND anyway, so I'm really sorry.

He hesitated, but in the end, didn't hit SEND and went to get ready for the day.