Riding home, I bumped into Jim again. Suspiciously. He was at the entrance to the park again. I stopped when he waved at me. He held up his board before I could say anything. "Can I ride?" he asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "Can you?" I asked in return. I turned and started rolling slowly into the park. He was wobbly, but he kept pace with me. "I didn't know you could ride at all."

He made a face. "I learned after Anna and I broke up last year."

I raised both eyebrows. "I didn't know you guys had problems."

He shrugged. "It was a doomed relationship from the beginning. I mean, she liked me, but the distance and time worked against us." We rolled a moment in silence. "I could see it coming, if I'm honest." He shook his head.

"So she broke up with you?"

He shrugged and wobbled on his board. I reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him back upright. He gave a breathy laugh. "Thanks. Um, yeah. I hate to say it, but I was kind of relieved."

My brow furrowed. "Why?"

He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and gnawed on it for a long moment. "Because she's the reason I lost contact with you," he says quietly.

I was speechless. I had no idea. "Why didn't you look me up afterwards if that's the case?" The one thing I probably shouldn't have said, but was almost desperate to know.

He shrugged. "I guess I just didn't know where we stood at the time." He gave me a long look. "I kind of still don't."

I stopped. After a couple of feet he stopped and came back over to me. "Jim, you're one of my closest friends. Nothing has changed. At all." I smiled at him and he returned it.

---

I was putting the finishing touches on the plaster I'd used to fix the hole in my bedroom wall when the doorbell rang. It was time for Officer Jarvis and his fiance to show up, so I knew that it must be them.

There were white smears all over my hands, so I wiped them on my pale jeans as I walked out to greet our guests. Officer Jarvis was standing at the end of the hallway when I got there. There was a girl I'd never seen standing with him.

"Officer Jarvis," I said. 

He turned to me and smiled. "Brenda! Let me introduce Kathy."

She was a heavyset brunette with blue eyes. Her outfit was very similar to mine. "Nice to meet you," she said in a very sweet voice

I shook the hand she held out to me. "You, too," I said cheerfully. 

"Oh," Officer Jarvis said, sounding as if he'd just remembered something. "I have something for you." He handed me an envelope after glancing at Ben and Lilly, who were both in the kitchen. "I assume this is on the dl?"

I nodded. "That's right, officer."

He shook his head. "Kev. Call me Kev. I'm only Officer Jarvis when I'm on duty."

"You're right, Kev. I don't want anyone to find out." I glanced at Lilly. "Yet."

Kathy's brow was furrowed. "Find out what?" she asked.

I shrugged. "A side investigation of mine that Kev's helping with." She nodded, still looking a little confused. "So, what's in here?"

Kev glanced over his shoulder. "The information you wanted, plus a little something else I saw while I was looking it up for you. Just don't tell anyone."

I nodded solemnly. "I won't." I stuck it in the back pocket of my jeans. "I'll be right back," I said in a slightly louder voice as I saw Lilly coming closer. "I need to change my jeans and wash up a little." 

In my room, I slid the envelope into one of my desk drawers and hoped I wouldn't forget it was there. After a quick change and a quick wash-up, I rejoined everyone in the kitchen. 

---

Kev and Kathy stayed until nine. By the time they were leaving, I was itching to go see what was in the envelope. The moment they were out the door, I went straight to my room and locked the door behind me.

The envelope didn't have any writing on it, so I left it on my desk and took the papers inside to my bed. I flicked on my bedside lamp and began reading.

The first sheet was a police report. It showed the time the silent alarm sounded and the time a car was dispatched to the scene. Then it showed what time the officer reported to the scene. I frowned. Something wasn't adding up with the timeline.

I got up and went to my desk. A pen and a piece of paper later, I drew a line on the paper - the only thing I honestly could draw decently - and marked one end as 5:00 PM, which was when the office closed and Ben usually left. The other end was 6:00 PM, when the story I saw aired. I marked the time when the alarm sounded - 5:28 PM. A nearby car was alerted less than one minute later. The arrest reportedly happened at 5:30 PM. The news had footage of Ben being led out of the building, so they were there and ready to film at that time. 

I sat back and stared at the timeline. Everything Ben had told me lined up with this timeline. I knew it had to take a little while to get all the money out of the safe, more than a minute. Ben couldn't have been lying about that. He really had been set up. 

But why?

Kev said he'd looked up some other things, so I went through the rest of the papers. Only two remained: an insurance policy and a handwritten note. 

I looked at the policy first. It was a business policy with various things it covered that I didn't know what they were, so I Googled it. Five minutes later two potential pieces of evidence fell into place.

First, Rob was insured against theft by employees. He was going to get his money replaced so he didn't really lose much of anything except Ben. 

Second, it was possible motive for him to set Ben up. 

But why set him up? That made no sense. They'd been friends for years now. Maybe not the best of friends, but friends. What could he possibly hold against him? Not Lilly - she's only ever had eyes for Ben, and vice versa. Love and money are usually the biggest motivators, but Ben didn't have money and I highly doubted Rob was in love with Lilly. Besides, to get her he'd have to kill Ben, not just get him arrested. He underestimated her if he thought anything short of death would pry her away from Ben. I've never seen two people more in love.

Also, I felt pretty certain that insuring a business was a pretty common practice, so that wasn't anything too important. In fact, if the places offering it was anything to by, it was recommended. I sat that to the side and picked up the note Kev had stuffed in the envelope. 

Brenda,

I was nosing around some of the crime scene evidence and noticed a notation about cameras. I don't know where the camera was or if it even works, but I wanted to pass that on. No one is looking into the incident since it seems pretty open and shut, which is strange. We're supposed to investigate all crimes to find enough evidence in case it should go to trial. If any case is going to trial, it's Ben. I honestly don't think he's guilty, not after seeing that timeline. I think he was set up, and I'm glad you're at least trying to look into things. Please, if you need anything, come see me. I want to help as much as I can.

Kev

I let a slow smile spread. At least someone agrees with me. I thought back to my knowledge about Invested. When I was there earlier in the week, I hadn't thought to look for cameras. I didn't remember any from prior visits - not from visiting Ben, not from an interview that took a nosedive. 

Don't ask - it's a long story.

The point is, I couldn't remember if there were any security cameras. If there were, they likely were hooked up to the computer in Rob's office. I frowned at the note. How could I get in there to check? I couldn't simply walk in there and poke around without being suspicious. Maybe I could get Kev to help out?

No. He technically can't unless he has a warrant, but he has no reason to get one right now. I'd have to do it myself. 

---

Invested opened at 8 AM every weekday. By 8:01 I was rolling up on my skateboard. Rob was in the back by a coffeepot with a cup in his hand. He and a couple of other people were smiling and laughing about something. So that I hopefully wouldn't come across as suspicious, I went right on in. 

At first, no one noticed me. I managed to look at every corner of the room. Only one camera was on the ceiling. It was inside a reflective cover so you couldn't see where it was pointed. It's not something obvious, so I wasn't surprised I hadn't noticed it before.

Rob turned and saw me once I was waiting outside his office. He calmly walked over to me with a single raised eyebrow. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" he asked. His voice was cold and unwelcoming.

"I was just apologizing," I blurted. I hadn't thought of any excuse, and those were the words my mind decided should be put out there. Oh, well.

The other eyebrow rose to join the first. "Were you, now? Please, continue."

I cleared my throat, nervous. "I'm sorry for the trouble this whole accusation against Ben has caused you-"

"Accusation?" he asked, cutting me off. "Brenda, he stole from me. The police caught him in the act of letting whoever his accomplice was escape. There's nothing to prove he didn't do it. He's guilty, unless someone can prove otherwise."

"You have it backwards," I told him, straightening. "He's innocent until proven guilty."

Rob smirked at me. "I think, in this case, it's quite the opposite, don't you?" He leaned closer. "I know he did it. He knows he did it. The police know he did it. Why would he have been in my office when the alarm went off if he didn't do it?"

I ground my teeth, refusing to show him any of my cards in this case. I chose to let him win for now. "I'll be back, Rob," I said in a low voice that I hoped had a hint of steel in it. "He didn't take a thing from you. He wouldn't, and you know it."

The smile I got in return could only be described as smug. "Are you so sure about that?" He let his attention slip to something behind me for a moment before returning to me. "I think we're going to find out soon enough whether you're right or wrong." His expression hardened. "Now get out of my building." He turned and stalked into his office, slamming his door behind him.

I turned and immediately saw what caught his attention: a uniformed officer, at my brother's old desk, boxing what he probably thought of as evidence. A picture of him and Lilly was soon followed by one of me, him, and Dad. I watched as scraps of paper were put in there, and some other objects I didn't recognize but didn't need to.

"What are you doing?" I asked the officer in an accusatory tone. "You have no right to take any of that!"

He froze, but then he met my gaze. "I'm only doing what I've been told to, ma'am."

"Stop!" I tried to grab the box, but he batted my hand away.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you tamper with evidence."

"Evidence? These are my brother's things!"

He sighed and looked at me with pity. I could feel my anger growing. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but this is evidence. I do have a warrant for it, if you'd like to see it."

I clenched my hands into fists. "That's okay." I stormed out of there and rode to my spot in what was possibly record time, surprised I didn't melt all of the snow around me. I felt literally hot from the anger burning through me. I had to cool down - physically and emotionally.