Revelation (Private 8)

I let out a breath but didn't move. Glancing at my Nike watch, I forced myself to wait. And wait.

And wait. Until five full minutes had passed. Then I finally emerged from the closet and took a real

breath.

"That was way too close," I said to myself.

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I was about to flee the scene when something caught my eye and I paused. It was the picture--the

photo of Cheyenne, Noelle, Ariana, and Ivy. It still hung above Ivy's bed, but something about it

had changed. As I took a tentative step toward it, I realized what it was. Every single face had been

X'd out with black marker except for Ivy's. Just like the photo of me and Cheyenne.

My whole body trembled. What did these defaced photos actually mean? Was she close to getting

rid of Noelle? And if so, how did she intend to do it? Hands quaking, I lifted my phone and snapped

a photo of the photo. Then I took a step back and snapped the wider scene once again.

This was all I needed. I was going to the police. And this time, they were going to have to listen to

me. Noelle's life--and maybe even my own--depended on it.

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* * *

"I'm sorry, Reed. I don't really know what you think this proves," Detective Hauer said, sliding my

iPhone across the table to me. He pushed up the sleeves of his drab, tan sweater and folded his

arms on the table in front of his notebook.

I felt as if every muscle in my body had just atrophied all at once. He had to be kidding me. First,

the two officers at Hell Hall had told me that Detective Hauer wouldn't be on campus today. So

then I had been forced to skip an entire morning of classes, sneak off campus, walk all the way

over here in the freezing cold, and suffer on that cracked plastic chair in their saunalike waiting

room for over an hour. All of that for him to just dismiss me?

"I already told you," I said, sitting forward until my upper body was pressed against the edge of the

table, my hands clasped in my lap. " Ivy herself explained to me how much this silver box meant to

her. To her, it's the reason her grandmother died. Cheyenne not only left her

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alone at her grandmother's that night to potentially watch the woman die, but she took the box

with her. Ivy hated her for that."