Alexis sighed. "Mia was poking around in my stuff. In my toiletries bag. At the slumber party."
I stilled. Alexis was being honest, finally. "What did she find?"
"Just a vape and a couple of pre-rolls. For later. For after I got out of that Stepford sleepover." She flicked her gaze to me. "I wasn't going to smoke there."
"But Mia saw it. And you would've gotten into trouble."
"My mom. She goes nuclear about everything…" Her voice trailed off. "That's why I was walking in the rain the other day. Things just get really intense sometimes, and I need a break, okay? That's all."
"I get it," I said, and I did. It made sense why she happened to be outside our house in the rain, walking off the tension, escaping the stress of her home life. "You were afraid your weed use would get back to your mom."
She shrugged, attempting nonchalance. "I reminded Mia that if she opened her mouth, there would be consequences. That's all. To make sure she didn't say anything. But that was before the police said that Leah was… that she'd been…"
Before the homicide announcement. The space between the words pulsed.
Across the field, Apollo yelped triumphantly as he found the ball again. Falcon clapped his hands in approval.
"And the LakeshoreTea account, is that yours?"
Her eyes flicked away. "Nope. No one knows who runs it."
"But you took photos of us with your phone that day in the rain."
"It's an anonymous email account. People can send in photos, and whoever runs it posts them. I didn't send them in, though."
"But you were planning to?"
She shrugged. "I dunno why I did that, okay? I was maybe going to, but then I decided not to. "
A lie? Or a deflection out of guilt? I checked my phone. 7:55 a.m. I only had a few minutes before Alexis had to take her brother to the bus. Time to focus before I lost her. "Tell me about Friday night. Did you take Mia's camera?"
"Nope. I never saw it again after the photo shoot."
"What about her slippers? The pink ones with the sloths?"
Alexis frowned. "Why would I take her stupid slippers?"
"They were wet. Sandy. Like someone wore them down to the beach."
"Wasn't me." She sounded genuinely confused. "I brought my own shoes. Black Converse. Chloe was pissed I didn't wear heels with my dress. I've told her a million times that I don't do heels. And I definitely don't do furry animal slippers."
I studied her face. Her eyes were steady, no flinch or blink. Alexis wasn't lying about this. I could feel it. I believed her about this, anyway. "Did you see anyone else with the slippers?"
"I don't know. I don't think so. And none of us went down to the beach, anyway."
That corroborated Mia's story, too. "Mia said you were out of your sleeping bag in the middle of the night."
She exhaled, long and slow. The fight left her shoulders in increments. "I couldn't sleep. I checked my phone when I slid out of the bag. It was around 12:30 a.m. Something like that. I remember because I thought, if my mom checks my location now and sees I'moutside, she's going to lose it. But she was probably asleep. Or drunk. So, I slipped outside for a while."
"Did you leave through the basement French doors?"
She shook her head. "I saw that a few of the sleeping bags were empty, and I didn't feel like talking to anyone, so I went upstairs and left through the side door beside the garage, off the kitchen."
"Whose sleeping bags were empty?"
"Mia's, for sure. I thought maybe Chloe, and maybe Leah, but it was dark. I wasn't sure."
"Where did you go?"
