"Did they see you?"
"I don't think so. But I told Kristen I saw them together. I think she told her stepdad I saw. I overheard them talking."
Ms. Wietz removes her glasses and sets them on the table. "Ms. Halliway, this is a very serious accusation. Are you positive you saw the two of them together?"
"Yes. I'm one hundred percent sure. I confronted her about it because she kept telling Jackson her stepdad was abusing her, like touching her inappropriately. She used that as the reason she had to stay at Jackson’s house."
"Why would Ms. Reynolds tell Mr. Novak one thing and you another?"
"I think it was just another way for her to try to break us apart. Make us fight with each other."
"Is that what happened?"
"Yes. She knew I didn't want her staying with Jackson but she'd show up at his house, crying, saying her dad did all this stuff to her so Jackson would let her spend the night. She had him so convinced she was being abused that he didn't believe me when I told him the truth. And she knew he wouldn't believe me, which is why she wasn't worried about me knowing the truth."
Mr. Daniels types even faster.
"Rumor, I need you to understand that telling the police this could help your case. And Mr. Novak's. A lot of murders are committed by someone who was in a relationship with the victim. If Ms. Reynolds was indeed in a relationship with her stepfather, the police need to know."
"They wouldn't believe me. I don't have proof. They'd think I made it up. Even if they believed me, it wouldn't help. Principal Edwards was at home when Kristen was killed. Jackson would still be the main suspect."
Ms. Wietz's phone rings and she answers. "Yes. What do you have so far?" She nods. "Anything else?" She pauses. "When will you know more?" She pauses again. "We'll be in touch. Thank you." She turns to Mr. Daniels. "They found some evidence but won't release details yet. She definitely was in the water. As we suspected, it washed away any prints."
"She was found in the ocean?" I ask.
"She was in there at some point," Ms Wietz says. "Most likely dumped there after her death. She washed up on the shore, right behind Mr. Novak's house."
"That alone proves he didn't do it. He wouldn't kill her then dump her in his back yard."
"People make mistakes when their emotions are high. They panic and do things they wouldn't do if they were thinking rationally."
"He didn't do it," I say.
"Have they started the autopsy?" Mr. Daniels asks Ms. Wietz.
"Yes. Her mother paid to have it done quickly. She doesn't want to wait."
"They don't know how she died?" I ask Ms. Wietz.
"They have an idea but they need the autopsy to confirm it."
"What do they think happened?"
"Strangulation."
I stare at her, my mind swirling with thoughts and ideas of who might have done this. Kristen claimed her stepdad strangled her, and she had the marks to prove it. But he did it during sex, not to kill her, or at least that's what she said.
Principal Edwards wouldn't kill Kristen. He had no reason to, and if he did, he wouldn't drive all the way to Jackson's house to do it.
Maybe she was doing that stuff with someone else. What if it was an accident? What if it started as a sex thing and the guy ended up actually strangling her? But who else would be into that? Brock is, and I'm sure Braden is too, but Brock wouldn't be with Kristen. He barely knew her. Braden did, and he wanted her back, except she wasn't with him that night. Maybe he was so angry at her for leaving the other night he killed her and—
"Rumor, pay attention," Ms. Wietz scolds. "We don't have much time left."
"What did you ask me?"
"I didn't ask you anything. I told you to read over your script." She points to the laptop that's now in front of me.
"You seriously expect me to memorize this?" I ask, looking at all the words on the screen. I read the first answer. "I don't talk like this. They'll know I'm lying."
