The play was put off for a week. Ms. Albright debated canceling the play altogether, but the club convinced her otherwise. They barely got anything done at play rehearsal on Monday. A few people worked on fixing the set peace the arrow damaged. "Why was Martin targeted?" Abby asked. "I thought whoever was doing this had a sexuality motive, unless Martin's-"

"No," Cal said. "If he is, he wouldn't have outed Simon."

"Simon being outed feels like it happened a decade ago," Abby sighed. "It's only been a month, but so much has changed. There's going to be a search party for Martin tonight. Are you guys going?"

"I don't know," Cal said. "My parents have been strict about letting me out of the house. When I got that threat, I got almost locked in the house. They'll probably go, but forbid I attend."

"I know I'm going to attend," Leah said, entering the auditoruim. She was going to be a volunteer usher at the performances. "Even if you don't find any clues, you can tell a lot by whose there. Usually, the guilty party attends to look less suspicious. I'm going to make a list of everyone there. I've been watching my mom's true crime shows, and I've picked up on recurring themes for cases like this."

"But also expect the unexpected," Cal said.

"You're right," Leah said. "Usually, there are more layers in a crime like this. Maybe the kid's parents screwed the guilty party over in high school, but that seems unlikely here. The search party is meeting at the Starbucks in the mall if you guys can make it."

"Okay," Abby said. Then, Ms. Albright decided to finally get play practice going.


Simon sat on his bed, doing his homework. He would return to school next week. His doctor said it would be better if he did this week at home since his head was still recovering from hitting the pavement. His hair had slowly started to grow back.

Bram was coming over after soccer practice to help him study. He couldn't pay attention to his homework since he found an online playbill for the original Creekwood production of 'Oliver!' An alumni had managed to save their playbill, and posted photos of it on Facebook for the twenty-year anniversary. It was a simple playbill, with the poster on the front, the cast list, and a few sponsors.

He recognized one of the names. Larry Cullen was the guy who played Fagan. He was now a janitor at the school after dropping out of the University of Georgia. He always seemed angry about something.

Emily poked her head through the doorway. "Bram's here," Emily said. "Remember to keep the door cracked open at all times. At least three inches."

"I will," Simon said. Bram walked into the bedroom and sat beside Simon on the bed. "Hello."

They shared a brief kiss before getting to work. Neither of them could focus, which was a rarity for Bram. He could usually study without a problem, even with his boyfriend cuddled into his side.

Two hours later, they finished up with Language Arts. They were about to move on when Leah called them. "She's at the search party, we should answer this," Bram said. Simon nodded and answered the phone.

"Hey, Le," Simon said.

"Simon, I have bad news," Leah said. "They found a body. And it was missing a finger."