"Damn it!" Summer yelled. She stood in front of Jeremy Fitzgerald's house, assuming he would be there. She held the mysterious white note in her hand, staring at it with a deadly glare. She wasn't in the best position. "How could we have been so stupid?"

"Summer," Rose stopped her. "It's not our fault. Jeremy probably knew we would come. He has been leaving us a bunch of notes, after all."

"Well, where are we supposed to look now? We don't have anymore leads! We're screwed, Rose!" Summer said. Rose looked at the shabby wooden door, growing deep in thought.

"Just because Jeremy isn't here doesn't mean he didn't leave any clues." Rose finally said.

"Tha-" Summer began to retort, but decided not to. She might be right...she thought to herself. She sighed. "Might as well look. Not point in not doing it." Then, she remembered what Mike had said. "Wait! What about traps? We might die or get seriously injured if we go in there!"

"All we have to do is be careful." Rose said. Summer hesitated, then nodded, and the two girls walked inside. The house smelled of rot and mold. The whole place was a heavy, groggy atmosphere. Summer shook, scared to step anywhere. Rose carefully walked into the living room, exerting caution as well. "Look for any clues, and watch out for traps." Rose instructed. Summer nodded.

Summer looked around, but couldn't find anything that would help. She shuffled through a cracked wooden drawer next to a couch. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a bear trap on the ground. It glinted in the darkness. "Uh, Rose?" She warned.

"I know." Rose replied. She walked slowly into the moldy, ugly kitchen. It reeked of moldy food and something that smelled like tar. She looked around, and found a note attached to the white refrigerator. She pulled it off and read it aloud.

Ah, so I see you decided to look further.
I'm gonna let you off with a warning, you won't find much here.
I mean, why would I give away the game like that?

-J.

"Ugh!" Summer yelled in frustration. "Of course he'd know we would go in! This guy knows everything!" She stomped her foot, almost getting caught in the bear trap. She backed away slowly and sat on the striped, stained couch.

Rose looked around the kitchen for anything else that might help. At first, nothing is spotted. Then, she saw something resting on the counter. "Wait a minute!" Rose called.

"What is it?" Summer asked as she walked into the kitchen. Rose picked up the item. It was an old photograph. On it was a purple man-Jeremy-standing next to a woman. They were both smiling widely, happy expressions on their faces. "When's that dated?" Summer asked. Rose turned over the picture.

"Two years ago." She said. "I bet he killed the poor woman."

"Hey, there's something else, too." Summer said as she looked back to the counter. In the far right corner was a knife. Summer reached over and picked it up, inspecting it carefully. Blood stains covered its blade. "This must be what Jeremy used as the weapon." She said.

"Maybe we could take it back to HQ and see what we can find out about it." Rose said. "I bet that it'll at least have some thumbprints or something that could help us out."

"Good idea. Let's go." Summer agreed. Rose pulled out a plastic bag and put the knife into it, careful not to tear any holes in the bag. The two walked out of the house carefully, avoiding the traps from before. When they exited the house, Summer said, "I'm just wondering, how did he know we'd go looking for clues?"

"Face facts, Summer." Rose said. "This guy probably prepared for every possible situation. Honestly, if he didn't, I'd be surprised. For all we know, he might have left the knife there on purpose. But all we can do is play along right now and see what we can find out. As we do that, we can look for any holes in his system. We find one, we take advantage of it, and we capture this maniac. For now, we just have to act like we're his puppets." Rose concluded as they got in the car.

"Yeah..." Summer agreed as she started the car. She backed out of the cracked driveway and drove back to their HQ, which was about a thirty minute drive from the house. "What if it IS false evidence?" Summer asked as they pulled into the parking lot. Rose just smiled.

"Then we know where not to look." She said. They got out of the car and ran inside, the bag swaying from side to side. Rose had to be careful not to cut herself as she ran, because the bag swung awfully close to her. They ran into their office and approached a machine that analyzes fingerprints. Rose put on some rubber gloves and took out the knife. She carefully set it on the machine, and waited for results.

When they finally came, they were not as expected. "What the heck?" Rose said aloud.

"What is it?" Summer asked.

"I'm getting results that don't connect to Jeremy at all. These fingerprints aren't his." Rose explained.

"Well, if they aren't his, then whose are they?" Summer replied. She waited for an answer. Rose hesitated. "Well?"

"They...they track to Mike Schmidt..." Rose sighed. "But, I don't get it! Why would Mike's thumbprints show up on the knife and not Jeremy's? Didn't he tell us that JEREMY was the murderer?"

"Maybe it's false evidence." Summer suggested. Rose frowned.

"Or maybe...maybe Mike isn't as innocent as we believe." She said.

Author's Note: Uh oh! They were tricked! Is Mike really the murderer, or did Jeremy plan this all along? Read on to find out! Next chapter coming soon! Love you guys!