𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐔𝐒 . . .
❛𝗁𝗒𝗌𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗂𝖼𝖺𝗅, 𝖺𝗏𝖾𝗇𝗀𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗏𝗂𝗋𝗀𝗂𝗇❜

𝗮 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗴𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘀 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 —
episode two

𖡡 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘇-𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲
𝟱:𝟰𝟱 𝗽𝗺

Poppi laid out on her bed, listening as Pip replayed the end of Nat's interview over and over again.

She had hidden the note as soon as she read it, for fear of telling Pip that she snuck around and messaged Atticus without her.

Pip stood, grabbing a sharpie and leaning down into their Persons of Interest note.

"Is it possible, Pip, that there's more than one killer?" Poppi suggested, sitting up and moving toward the board. "Or at least more than one motive?"

"You could be right..." She trailed off, eyes trained on the picture of the Bell family at the press conference.

She moved toward her laptop, and Poppi moved with her, her head on her sisters shoulder as she typed.

"Little Kilton Police Officers"

Ravi stood in Poppi's room, silent as his eyes scanned their murder board.

"You think we're crazy?"

"Hundred percent. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. So, what have you got? What am I looking at?" Ravi moved toward the wall, and Poppi jumped up, following him over.

She pointed to the picture of the press conference, "It's Dan da Silva, Nat's older brother. He worked as a police officer on the case." Ravi leaned in closer.

"Oh shit, I remember him, he's a right prick."

"Yeah. He's the guy that warned me off at the party." Poppi subconsciously grabbed her wrist. It was beginning to heal, but she was still terrified of the whole situation.

"Could he be Secret Older Guy?"

"Rav, you genius!" Poppi pushed his shoulder lightly, coy smile painting her lips as they continued the conversation.

"I don't know, but then you have Nat being all 'You seem nice, Pippa, be careful.'" Pippa mocked. "Could he be covering for Nat or something?" Poppi suggested, watching as Ravi began to rip the instagram posts off the wall — much to the Amobi twins dismay.

"Hey!"

"I'm just putting them in chronological order," He reasoned, "A little surprised you haven't done it already, to be honest."

Poppi watched him move the pieces of paper, the alarms going off in her head as she realized — Nat disappeared from the photos two whole weeks before Andie went missing.

Ravi counted through, coming to the same conclusion. "They definitely fell out about something," Ravi nodded. Pip and Poppi made eye contact, their minds clearly going to the same place.

"When were the nudes leaked?"

"It was April. I remember 'cause we'd lost 5-0 in the under 14s. Everyone was passing them round on the coach back." Poppi was disgusted – her brows were furrowed, and her arms crossed.

"You said it was a mystery who sent them." Pippa stared up at him, a beat of silence following as Poppi cleared her throat. "What if it was Andie?" She voiced, even if she knew they were all on the same page by now.

"Would she do that to her best friend?" Ravi pursed his lips.

"I don't know, but if she did, it gives Nat a pretty good motive." Pippa leaned forward slightly, before a smile broke out on her lips.

"I'm gonna need your phone again."

Poppi sat outside the ticket office, legs cross crossed on the chair as she leaned over Pippa's body for snacks.

"Next time we need to get the stakeout food right." Poppi told them with her mouth full, hand coming up to cover it as the crisps threatened to fall out.

"What's wrong with crisps?" Pippa asked, dipping her hand into the bag again. "Way too noisy," Poppi pointed. "We need something quiet." Ravi finished in agreement.

"Like a donut?" Pippa suggested, to Ravi and Poppi's dismay.

"Too sticky." They both disagreed, a crunch of crisps following after. "I mean, think of the fingerprints."

Pippa nodded, "Mhm, true." She thought for a moment, before deciding.

"What about marshmallows? That's got to be the quietest food in the world." Poppi nodded in agreement, her lips slightly pursed. "Perfect." Ravi concurred, before their attention was redirected to slamming of a car door.

Nat scrolled on her phone, walking toward the door. She had seemingly not seen the trio, until Pippa popped up with a greeting. "Hi, Nat!" Nat waved her off. "Hi. I'm just meeting a friend so I can't really talk."

Poppi took that as her cue to speak. "You mean Emma?" Ravi stood, pulling his phone from his back pocket. "Emma's us." He said.

Poppi couldn't lie, she felt really cool right now, Ace Bell level cool.

Nat's brow creased, and she shoved her phone into her back pocket. "What the fuck?" She mumbled. "We know it was Andie who shared your nudes." Pippa cut to the chase, and Poppi and Ravi looked at her for a moment.

"I'm sorry?"

Nat scoffed in realization, stepping toward the three of them. "You think that Andie released my nudes and I killed her in vengeance?" Nat spit the words out.

"It's been considered," Poppi crossed her arms, brows raised at Nat as she studied her reaction. "That's so dark. Andie was my best friend." Nat sighed before moving toward her car.

"You and Andie fell out, didn't you?" Ravi questioned in a last ditch attempt to keep her there longer. This caused Nat to stop, and that gave Ravi all he needed to continue. "Just before she disappeared." He shrugged his arm.

Nat turned to look at them, a mousy expression on her face as her eyes lined with tears.

"I had a row with Sal the night before he died." Poppi furrowed her brows, the information news to her and Pippa. "Still feels bad."

Nat nodded her head once, signaling she was ready to secede the information to the three. "She changed." The sentence was short, but it was all Poppi needed to hear. "How?" She piped up, hands shoved in her back pockets.

"I dunno. Before she died, she'd just gone into self-destruct mode." Nat's gaze was far off. "She started hanging out with this guy who was a nasty piece of work."

Poppi's brows quirked up.

"I told her to stay away from him but . . . she didn't listen."

"Who?" Ravi questioned. The silence that followed was uncomfortable, a moment stuffed with a million unsaid words.

"Max Hastings." Nat's tone was slightly sharp, "He's twisted." That was all she said before she turned over her shoulder and moved back to her car.

"Could Max be Secret Older Guy?" Poppi threw out, steps in line with Pippa's. "All Nat said was that they were hanging out." Ravi replied.

"Yeah, but Max said he literally never spoke to her." Pippa recalled her interview with him. "He lied." Pippa's tone was final.

"Well, maybe he just forgot."

"I don't feel like you forget hanging out with a dead girl, Rav." Poppi looked over at him.

"Max may be a dick, but he was round our house all the time. He taught me how to do a rainbow flick!" Ravi reasoned, and Poppi watched as the gears moved in her sister's head.

"Do you still see him?"

"Not really. Not since the funeral." Ravi shook his head. "Okay, I'm this way." He nodded his head down the path, "Do you want me to walk you guys home?"

"We're fine, but thanks." Pip smiled wide, and Poppi looked over at her nervously. Ravi began to walk down the steps, looking back at the two girls.

Once he turned around, Pip grabbed her sister's arm, pulling her along quickly back down the sidewalk.

Poppi stood in the doorway of the Hastings house, heart moving faster than it ever had before as she waited for someone to open up.

"Hello." Someone, who she assumed to be Max's father, greeted – his arm rested on the doorframe as he smiled softly at the girl.

"Hi." Poppi breathed out, "I'm a friend of Max's." His dad looked her up and down, "Lucky old Max."

Poppi's stomach tightened at that, the swirl that had been stirring all night worsening as she stood in silence. "Is he in?" Her voice was meek, and she tried her hardest to appear calm.

"Toby?" A woman called from inside the house. "We need more wine from the cellar." Max's mother came into view, her gaze hard on Poppi's frame.

"Max is upstairs. Just follow the smell of Paco Rabanne."

Once Poppi had successfully found her way to Max's room, she thanked the stars that he was in the shower – giving her enough time to snoop freely.

She closed the door behind her, trying her best to keep quiet. His room wasn't what she was expecting — the walls were painted green, and the lights were dim, similar to her own.

She started by searching through his wardrobe, to no avail. She stifled through drawers, and his bookshelf — her whole body shocked with tremors as she waited for the inevitable.

The water turned off, and Poppi skittered toward his bedside table, hands immediately landing on a picture frame. The photo had him, Naomi, and Sal, plus a couple of other people.

She turned around the picture frame, eyes landing on a white piece of paper. She slid it out from the clip, only to realize it wasn't paper, but a picture.

A picture of Andie Bell in lingerie at that.

Poppi rushed to grab her phone, taking a picture of the photograph before the voice sounded out behind her.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

She jumped slightly, turning around to see Max and a little grey towel. She regained her composure slightly, rocking her hips side to side in an attempt to calm her nerves.

"Did Sal know you were sleeping with his girlfriend?" She questioned, holding the photo up. "Who're you?" He questioned, hand moving to his hip.

"I'm Poppi Fitz-Amobi. Who're you?" She knew it was weak, but it was the best she could come up with under the circumstances.

"Really? You're breaking into my room and you 'don't know how I am?'" He air-quoted. "You're funny, Amobi. Like some hysterical, avenging virgin."

"Well, I'd take that as a compliment." She raised her brows, crossing her arms over her body.

"I didn't sleep with Andie." Max shook his head. "I found it in a classroom at school. I keep it by my bed for . . . inspiration."

Poppi scoffed, "So your bedside spank bank is a dead girl? Real classy, Hastings."

He laughed, before moving to sit down. "Just cause I can appreciate the female form doesn't mean I'd screw my best friend's girlfriend."

Poppi moved toward him, pulling up Sal and Andie's messages and shoving it toward his face. Max read through for a moment, before scoffing.

"Oh. So, he finally caught on." Max took a deep breath, looking up at Poppi before he spoke. "Andie sold drugs." Poppi wasn't shocked, per se, but it wasn't something she was expecting out of the Bell girl either.

"And how do you know, Hastings?" She spit out in skepticism.

"I was one of her customers." He spoke honestly. "She sold them at Calamity parties mainly. Sal hated drugs."

No matter who it was, Poppi hated the look in people's eyes when they had to talk about the two teens. There was always something off – a sheen of tears covering their eyes, a half hearted attempt to disassociate from the conversation.

"So who'd she deal for?" Poppi questioned. "I don't know his name." Max shrugged, looking away from Poppi.

"How would I find him, by chance?" Poppi shoved her hands in her back pocket. "At a calamity, I guess." He looked back up at her, a teasing look in his eyes that Poppi didn't appreciate.

The room was silent for a moment, before Max stood up, chuckling. He leaned in toward Poppi, and she instinctively jerked back – eyes wide as she stared at him in fear.

"A calamity is hot and sweaty and noisy and just a little bit fucked up in all the best ways." He looked down at her lips, "You're such a good girl, Poppi. Are you really ready for all of that?"

𝗥𝗢𝗥𝗬 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗦 !
sorry for the lack of updates
i've been trying to finish my other book
and also figure out updating and when i can in terms of school !!!

calamity is next ,,, which means ace babyyyyyyyyy

𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗗 𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗧
2073 words