"I wish I had answers. I can't imagine what you're going through."
She turned to face me. A flicker of resentment in her gaze. Anger. "No one can."
I swallowed. She was right. I hadn't lost Mia, but I felt her slipping away. A dark shameful part of me was relieved it was Vivienne's daughter and not mine. Guilt gnawed at me for the traitorous thoughts, but I couldn't help it.
"I'm here for you," I offered. "Whatever you need."
An uncomfortable silence settled between us. Apollo padded over and rested his head on Vivienne's knee. She absentmindedly stroked his fur. "The detectives haven't told me much, but there's no sign of an outside intruder. Nothing on the security cameras, not the neighbors', not Rowan's, and they've checked all the Ring camerasand security footage of everyone's homes. They interviewed the community security team, too."
She paused, her gaze fixed on the darkening horizon. "I can see it in their eyes, Dahlia. They won't say it out loud, but I know what they think."
My stomach knotted. "What do they think?"
She turned to look at me, her expression raw. "They suspect it's someone she knew. They think it's one of the girls."
I went still. One of the girls. Chloe. Alexis. Peyton. Zara.
And Mia.
"How could they think that?" My voice came out thin. "They were her friends. And they're practically babies, still kids."
Vivienne gave a sharp, bitter laugh. "Younger children have killed before. I looked it up on the internet. Bad idea."
My hands went cold. I clasped them tighter in my lap.
"I keep wondering what I missed."
"You didn't miss anything. You're a wonderful mother, Viv."
She ignored me. "There was an incident just before Christmas. Leah came home with a chunk of her hair cut off, that beautiful, waist-length hair she'd been growing for years. She was terrified, not embarrassed. Terrified. She said Alexis cornered her after school in the bathroom and cut it with art scissors."
I remembered the drastic change. Leah's long locks were abruptly cropped into a bob just before winter break. I thought it looked cute on her, edgy even. The new cut fit her full, round cheeks and accented her beautiful dark eyes.
"I demanded a meeting with the principal," Vivienne continued. "Mrs. Nelson claimed she'd look into it, then a day later, she called back and said it was a misunderstanding. The girls had talked and agreed it was mutual, that Leah had asked Alexis to do it." She shook her head in disgust. "When we talked to Leah again, she said the same thing. That she'd wanted it cut, regretted it halfway through, and was upset with herself. Everyone had the same story."
"What do you think really happened?"
Viv snorted. "Someone got to her. Brooke, maybe. You know shecan't show any cracks, how everything always has to be perfect, even her kids. The school wouldn't want the scandal, that's for sure. But I know my daughter. The way Leah looked when she first came home, it wasn't regret or embarrassment. It was fear."
My chest tightened. I thought of Mia's silence, her withdrawn behavior. What things had she been afraid to tell me? What secrets had she been keeping, too?
"After that, Leah changed. She stopped wanting to go to school. Stopped drawing, stopped painting. I'd find her crying in her room, but she wouldn't tell me why. She kept a diary. I'd see her writing in it late at night, but I can't find it now, and I've searched everywhere."
My pulse quickened. "A diary? Do you think Mia knows where she kept it?"
"I don't know. The police didn't find it, either. They've already taken her phone, though Detective King told me they found nothing useful on it, just the usual teenage girl stuff, Instagram and TikTok. Whatever was bothering her, she only wrote it down in that diary."
"I'll ask Mia if she knows where it is."
Vivienne's hands twisted in her lap. "I kept asking what was wrong, kept pushing, but she shut me out. I thought it was teenage moodiness, that it would pass, then a few days before the slumber party, she started acting happier. When Chloe invited her to the sleepover, and Leah wanted to go, I thought maybe things had turned around, that I'd been overreacting. I was wrong. I should have trusted my instincts and kept her home that night."
"No, Viv. It's not your fault. Someone did this to Leah. Someone is responsible. Not you."
She looked away and wiped her eyes. "It's too late. Leah's gone. Nothing matters anymore."
"Justice still matters," I said. "The detectives will find whoever did this."
"Will they?" Her voice was hollow.
