Threatening phone calls were one thing, but tracing a text message would take work and it had to wait until Betty was awake. I arrived home late which almost resulted in an altercation had Cherry not noticed me. She sat up, gun at ready finger on the trigger, pointing it at me. I stepped closer into the moonlight and she lowered the gun and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sorry I woke you," I whispered. "I just got in." I flipped on the hallway light

"It's fine," She yawned. "I was supposed to be keeping watch anyways."

"You don't have to with those reflexes."

"Betty taught me," She smiled. "She kind of rescued me,"

I yawned, stretching my arms out over my head. I didn't drink that night, but I felt as though I had taken a few shots, and my body was about to shut down. But Cherry had just revealed something she clearly wanted me to know. I walked into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. Then I checked the pantry for some more donuts and brought out two boxes—powdered and chocolate. After all, is there really a wrong time for donuts?

I poured both of us a cup of coffee and brought them to the table, then returned for the donuts and sat next to her.

"What did she rescue you from?" I popped two donuts into my mouth spraying powdered sugar everywhere as I spoke. Cherry kind of grimaced at my lack of decorum but I didn't care. This was my house, after all.

"I had this ex," She admitted. "We were great for a while, but then one day she just flew off the handle. It was actually when she found my Serpent jacket. She kept claiming that the Serpents were responsible for ruining her life. It was the screaming that brought Betty to the rescue."

She explained how they had really gotten into it, and how her ex started attacking, hitting, and throwing her around. She went into detail about the injuries she sustained, and then like an angel, Betty showed up, gun pointed at the back of her attacker's head. She muttered one warning and then Cherry was alone with her injuries. Betty picked her up, helped her onto the bed and assessed her injuries.

"I don't remember Betty telling me any of this,"

"Well I made her keep it a secret. Even had her swear by Serpent law, which I was surprised she knew."

"Yeah, she gets that a lot." I offered her a donut which she accepted. We chatted for about an hour, sipping on coffee, finishing off the box. "You should've seen her when she tried to join. Blonde Northsiders aren't usually Serpents for some reason."

"Plus, she's just so sweet." Cherry smiled. "She adopted me, I showed her the chapter by New Haven University since Yale would never tolerate gang activity."

"How did you join?" I asked. I sipped on my coffee trying to fight the exhaustion, but even a large dose of caffeine was not going to keep the sleepiness at bay.

"The Serpents run in my family. My mom is one, my dad isn't, but he doesn't care since he runs a crime empire so they kinda go together. Well they did until Betty showed up. She made us legit."

"She is my very own Tracy True," I smiled affectionately.

"She helped me get over Cindy," Cherry admitted. "I still keep a picture of us as a reminder. Wanna see?"

"Sure. But why do you have a picture?"

"To remind me," She scrolled through her photos and then settled on one.

There they were. Cherry's hair was longer and curled and if I didn't know any better she could have been Cheryl's twin. She stood behind a brunette who grinned widely as Cherry kissed her cheek. Cindy's features were familiar, but it was the eyes that caused a spark of recognition. The same icy blue that had stared up at me intently from the Principal's desk lit up in the photo. Her hair was different in the photo—darker, but I was almost positive that Cindy's ex was the principal who had it out for the Serpents. I needed to be sure, though.

"Hey Cherry," I looked her in the eye. "What was her major?"

"She was just finishing up her degree in education. Wanted to be a principal."

There it was. Another piece of the puzzle. The principal of Riverdale high school was Cindy. But why Riverdale? And why did she fly into a rage when she found out that Cherry was a Serpent? How long did it take her to find out? How long were they together? I realized that the questions I had were highly inappropriate but they didn't stop and the wheels kept turning. Cherry arched her back and yawned before settling back into the couch cushions.

"You should crash. I'll tell you more tomorrow."

She was right. As I yawned, tears ran down my cheek. My body was screaming for sleep but I had just come across such pivotal information. As I climbed the stairs and crept into bed, I felt myself shutting down. Sleep hit me as my head hit the pillow. Betty stirred in her sleep and reached for me. I pulled her close as I dosed off.

Sometime during the night or early in the morning, Betty got up. I rolled over enjoying the bed to myself. And then the sun rose and streamed through the blinds. I sat up yawning, feeling only half-refreshed. But it would have to do. Betty was downstairs at the kitchen table with her laptop. She squinted in thought as she typed away. The smell of coffee filled the kitchen. I poured myself a glass and then rummaged through the fridge. After making a couple pop-tarts I joined Betty at the table. I offered her one, but she shook her head. She removed her headphones and greeted me with a kiss.

"You got in late," She smiled "What were you doing?"

"I had an interesting conversation with Cherry, actually." I admitted. I dipped the pop-tart in my coffee and then popped it into my mouth. "She told me about how you met."

"Yeah, that was quite a night." Betty laughed.

"But what I wanna know is what you were doing at New Haven University."

"I'm sure Cherry already told you, but Yale isn't exactly known for its gang activity. Sure there are secret drug circles, but there wasn't a Serpent in sight. So I did some research. Cherry leads the New Haven chapter so I looked her up. She's not much of a fighter and she kinda reminded me of you." Betty admitted. "She got her chapter when she was young just like you, and was doing everything in her power to make it legit. But that ex…she's insane."

"Yeah, I know. And I think she's closer than we think." I finished my coffee and poured another cup. "Want one?"

"No thanks, I already had two. And what do you mean?"

"I think that Cindy the ex is the new Principal."

"I think you're right. Listen to this."

Betty handed me the headphones and played the audio from the bug I planted. I listened and my suspicions were correct. Cindy was involved with the Serpent disappearances. She spoke with such disdain for the group, but the question was why? What did we do to her? Why did she hate the Serpents so much? And why did she fly into a fury just from seeing the jacket? It almost seemed as though she was triggered only instead of a word, it was the Serpent insignia. Maybe Evelyn did have something to do with it, or maybe it was psychological. Until I was one-hundred percent sure I wasn't going to make a move.

"Hey Bets…can you trace a number based off a text?"

"I can try," She shrugged. "Gimme the phone."

I handed it to her and she entered the phone number into the database. The area code was Riverdale, and as I read the name on the screen, my questions were answered. Cindy Donahue, sister of Kurtz Donahue, also known as the little sister of Kurtz who was killed in an altercation back in Junior year. This explained her distrust and hatred towards the Serpents. It also gave her a motive. But I knew she had to be pulling the strings. She didn't look like the type to get her hands dirty. I knew she wasn't. Because Cindy was the type to exert control. And all she needed was somebody to control.

But the question that lingered over our heads is what did Cindy have to do with Penny? How did they know each other? The age difference alone was a concern because Cindy was closer to our age. That made Penny twice hers. So how did they know each other? And why was disposing of Penny a big mistake? There were too many questions, and not enough answers.

I poured another cup of coffee and brought the murder board down to the living room so Betty and I could both work on it. We connected yarn between Penny and Cindy after we added her. Then we went over the evidence from the beginning—from the first murder to the text message. We connected strings, added and removed names, and groaned in frustration. As I looked up at the board I noticed a lonely name: Polly. Polly's escape had to be connected. If there was one thing that we had learned as teens it was that there was no such thing as a random event. We had discovered that with the black hood, with G&G and the sisters and the farm. And there was nothing different, here. We only had to figure it out.