I know you guys are used to my quick updates, sorry I haven't updated in a while. I have been pretty busy. I'm back at university, tons of work - blah blah. I don't have classes on Wedsnday's though so I will at least try to get a few chapters in a week. I want to finish this within the next week or so because I have other ideas I want to get in before the winter premier. Hope you guys enjoy. Read and review(:

Danny woke up to the pleasing aroma of mouth-watering chocolate chip pancakes fluffed to perfection, deliciously scrambled eggs, bacon, and fresh fruit. Knowing that his mother had never been one to cook such elaborate meals, Danny grew in suspicion.

"Mother." He walked into the kitchen to find his mother sitting at the table, breakfast decked out in front of her while she was sipping on her morning coffee. "I see you cooked, who died now?" He asked blandly.

"No one died silly," she laughed. "I just, you know, don't get to cook as much as I like to," she explained.

"That's because you don't like to cook," Danny smiled ungenuinely. He scanned the room trying to find a sign of why his mother was in such great mood. His eyes wondered to the kitchen counter where he saw book, and read the title aloud. "Sociopaths for Dummies," now that sounds like an excellent read. Do you mind if I borrow it when you're done?" Danny spoke very casually masking his anger and frustration with dry humor. He flipped through some of the pages, and pulled out a brochure which was being used as a bookmark. "Sound Minds: Institution for the Mentally Unstable, he read. Sounds like a bit of a contradiction, don't you think?"

"Danny, I'm only considering the options. I have your best interest at heart."

"Right," he shrugged, "because having a mother treating me like I'm some nut case is really in my best interest."

"Danny I-"

"Save it, you know what? I don't even care anymore."

Karen sat back and sipped her coffee which she'd spiked with rum to ease the tension she had already prepared herself for. "Sit down. Have some breakfast." She spoke calmly.

"I'm not really hungry for your pity food." Danny remarked snidely.

Karen's voice grew louder and more stern. "Sit down and eat your breakfast!" Shocked by his mother's sudden aggression, Danny obeyed. "I could get sick and tired of cleaning up after your messes: getting you back into Green Grove after you, you know, did what you did to your Aunt Tara. Defending you in front of the school board when you were accused of poisoning another player, falsely confessing to a murder I didn't commit, only to protect you. Oh and-" she added, "when heartbreak Lacey tried to pry her way back in life, I sent her away, for you Danny."

Danny was now looking confused. "I didn't ask you to do any of that and what are you talking about with Lacey? She and I are still-"

"Oh." Karen realized she was rambling too much. "That's not the- the point is, I don't care what I have to do, no matter how crazy it may sound. To protect you, I will do it. And I know sending you to this institution may seem like I don't believe in you, but it's only because I don't want to see anything terrible happen to you, again. Somebody's after you Danny, obviously somebody that knows why you did what you did five years ago, and they're killing these other kids to make sure that you stay detained."

Danny sat quietly for a moment then walked over to where his mother was sitting to embrace her. "You're right." Karen smiled through the tears she had been holding back for too long. "But I have to fix this. Everything I love and care about is right here."

"Danny, I don't think this is something you can just fix. I can't even fix it, or I would. That's why I think it's best that you go-"

Danny cut his mother off, "I can try though. You always told me to exhaust every effort into doing what I know is right. I know I didn't do this. You know it, Lacey, Jo, even Chief Masterson knows. All I have to do is prove it. Just give me one day to prove my innocence, and I promise if I fail I will accept my fate at the cuckoo asylum."

"One day? Danny what are going to find in only one day?"

"Please mom." He pleaded with sad, hopeful eyes.

"Okay Danny, one day, but be careful please. I can't stomach the thought of losing you son. You're all I have." Karen broke into subtle tears.

Danny reached out to his mother with warm, comforting arms. He dried her tears with his hand and finished eating the breakfast she had prepared for him. When the moment was gone, and his mother headed off for work, Danny threw his backpack to the side. School wasn't on the agenda. He had other plans for the day.

...

Lacey was feeling uneasy about Danny not being at school, but she understood why he hadn't come. He could have at least called her though, right? She was beginning to worry. Danny had been acting so defeated lately; he was losing his confidence and charm. Lacey could not imagine being the suspect in a murder, two different murders, both in the same year. Danny had barely gotten to step foot back in Green Grove, and all of this was happening to him. It was just tragic, and unreal. She thought about what he said about not wanting her to get involved, that he could handle it himself, but Lacey knew that no person could handle this alone. She needed to talk to Cole.

"Cole!" Lacey called out to him after class. "Hey I wanted to talk to you about some things."

"Like?" Cole narrowed his eyes. He knew Lacey, mutually as she has been involved with more than one of his fellow soccer team mates, but the two of them had never really exchanged words.

Lacey had yet to formulate a plan as to how to approach him with her suspicions and realized simply asking him flat out whether he killed Archie or not would not be wise. She could have kicked herself for her impulsiveness of approaching him before she knew what she was going to say. "I uh," she looked down at his pants where his cell phone was slightly hanging out of his front pocket. "I was just wondering if you had Danny's home phone number. I mean since his cell phone was taken by the police," she reasoned.

"Um, yeah," he looked strangely at her then pulled out his phone to search for Danny's number. "I figured you'd know it by heart. You guys have known each other for so long."

"Yeah, well know, some things just slip your mind." She remarked casually, grabbing Cole's phone. Lacey scrambled to scroll through his recent text messages. There were several recent messages from a some of the guys on the soccer team asking if practice was cancelled because of the vigil for Archie. A few relatives expressed their condolences, and he had received a text from his mom asking what he wanted for dinner. Lacey kept scrolling until she found messages dated to the day of homecoming. She noticed he had received a text from Archie. It was a group message.

Party's at my place. Cut the stupid dance and come rolling with the big shot. I got a couple of kegs, good music, no supervision. Definitely beats rocking to some corny pop music, and trying to find a place to make out with your date where Mr. Tang is not creepily watching nearby. See you all there.

Lacey gasped, had Cole attended that party the night Archie was murdered? Moreover, she wondered, why she was not invited, but that was irrelevent, she reminded herself. Clearing her throat, she exited out of his messages and pretended to transfer Danny's number into her cell phone. "Thanks," she quickly headed off.

Lacey was never one to cut class, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She texted Jo from the restroom at school.

Jo, what class are you in now?

It took only a few seconds for a reply.

Study hall, why?

Meet me in the fort in five minutes, I just found out something major.

...

"Okay, so there was a party at Archie's house. Do we know if Cole actually went?"

Lacey sighed, "No, that's what we have to find out."

"Well did he respond to the message?"

"I don't think so."

"Well, let's think, who else could have been invited to that party?"

"I don't know, probably Sarita, Scott, some boys from the soccer team."

"Okay that's good," Jo said. "Maybe you could talk to Sarita, see if she can give us anything useful."

"Have you met Sarita?" Lacey said condescendingly. Sarita was already hateful and cruel by nature, and on top of that she was upset with Lacey for standing up for Danny at the diner. It also didn't help that Lacey had won homecoming queen over her.

"Well what about Scott?"

"Scott could be useful, but I'm sure he still hates me for calling him and Archie out about poisoning Cole. Although he only got like three days of suspension. Maybe you could talk to him."

"Me?" Jo asked in disbelief. "What would I even say to him?"

"I don't know just have a casual conversation. Tell him he looks good. Scott loves to have his ego stroked."

"What, so you want me to flirt with him? Have you seen me flirt with anyone...ever."

Lacey smirked, it was true, Jo was no master of seduction, but it also bothered her that Jo always sold herself short. "You could talk to him at the vigil tonight, casually. I'm sure he'll probably show up drunk so you won't have to say much to get him to spill on details."

"Okay," Jo said, still a little bit hesitant.

...

Danny rode the bus to Connecticut, traveling back to the apartment where the letter to Regina containing some cash and a note was addressed. Last time, he'd visited the apartment with Lacey and Jo who discovered that Danny's father was a resident there, and the letter had been sent from his address. This time Danny needed to get into that apartment. He wasn't sure what exactly he was looking for but hoped to find something, maybe a trace of evidence of who killed his father, because perhaps the three murders were connected. Danny picked the lock to apartment 413, a skill which he'd picked up during his time in juvie. He looked around the apartment which was still intact. He flicked on the light switch, which, to his surprise, illuminated the room with light, but Danny's dad had been dead for months. Somebody was still paying the electric bill, someone must have still been living there.

"Hello?" Danny greeted the silent apartment, but no one was there to reply. He proceeded to walk inside. It was a rather exclusive place, he wondered how long his father had been living there. Danny wandered around aimlessly, admiring the the elaborate design, and the well-refined artwork that decorated his late father's secret apartment. Danny found himself in what appeared to be Vikram's bedroom. An old picture of him and his dad was sitting in the nightstand. Danny glanced at it and smiled. In the picture he had just caught his first fish and was grinning from cheek to cheek, his father held up his thumb in approval.

Danny rambled through a desk beside the bed. He came across more photos, some of people he didn't recognize, and more of himself. Then he fumbled acrossed a picture of Regina. There were holes punctured all around the face of the photo, as if some had attacked the image with a pen. Danny also found a hand written letter signed by Regina:

I still know what you did, and I'm not the only one. You're going to need more than a couple thousand dollars to shut me up. Really Vikram, I've bought bubble gum more expensive than that. Hmm, your precious little son should be released from juvie soon. I'm sure he'd be dying to know your little secret. If he looks anything like his father, he might just be able to get it out of me in bed.

Smooches,
Regina

Danny wrinkled his eyebrows. What secret was Regina threatening to expose? Their affair? But why would she want to tell him in bed that she was having an affair with his father? She said someone else knew, could that have been Archie? Danny remembered the video Regina had, displaying a rather odd closeness between the two. Maybe she had told Archie whatever secret she was supposed be keeping private. Maybe, he cringed at the thought, his father had killed both of them to keep them quiet. That would mean, Danny thought to himself, his father was still alive.

...

Meanwhile, Lacey and Jo showed up together at the vigil for Archie. Jo wore a pair of black slacks and a cream colored blouse that she'd borrowed from Lacey. Lacey was dressed in a simple, but classic black dress.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jo noticed Lacey's somber facial expression.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she lied.

"It's alright. I'm going to talk Scott and we're going to figure out who did this. Danny will be fine."

"Right," Lacey said weakly. Of course Danny was on her mind, and solving this for him, but she was also lamenting on her history with Archie. It wasn't all bad. In fact, most of it was good.

When they got inside of the auditorium, there was music blasting from the speakers, people were laughing and socializing as if Archie's death meant nothing. A group of boys loitered around the snack table, and a few people were even dancing on the stage. Lacey was repulsed.

"I'm gonna go find Scott." Jo said. Lacey watched as Jo tried to speak to Scott, but he couldn't hear her so he led her out of the auditorium. The music stopped as Cole got up to say a few words.

"Not all of you here tonight knew Archie, many of you probably didn't even like the guy," he joked. "And I'll be the first to admit that my former soccer captain was not really anyone to look up to." The crowd stood silently, reflecting on Cole's words as if he was delivering some profound message sent directly from God. "But one thing we all knew about Archie is that he loved to party!" He enthused. The crowed joined in, nodding and clapping their hands in agreement. "When he died, it was after that epic homecoming after party he threw." They cheered with enthusiasm. Cole held his finger up, he had clearly been drinking. "He was even named homecoming king." Cole picked up a fake crown that mimicked the one Archie would have received. "Long lives the king! Long lives the king!" He chanted and everyone else joined in. "Thank you," Cole said before stumbling off stage. The music started to play again:

Now she want a photo
You already know though
You only live once: that's the motto, YOLO
We bout it every day, every day, every day

"What was that?" Lacey approached Cole. Cole just laughed.

"Don't go acting like you cared about him, you cheated on him. Archie deserved to die like that after the way he treated me and Danny, and pretty much everyone who's not in his circle of 'super cool, macho friends, Cole said using air quotes. "The guy's gone, who even cares?" Lacey stood silently. "Let's party! Cole threw his hands in the air." Lacey stood silently as he walked off.

"Lacey," she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. "Hey are you okay?" Justin was looking at her with concern.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"I know this must be rough for you. With you and Archie having-"

"I'm fine!" She insisted.

"Okay," he held up his hands apologetically.

Lacey sighed. "I'm sorry for snapping at you. It's just, everything with Danny," she trailed off.

"I get it. This has got to be stressful for you with Danny being a suspect and all, but you and Archie were close too, huh?"

She paused before giving a resonse. "Yeah, we were."

"Hey, if you ever need to talk to somebody. I'll do anything to help." He smiled. "I-I mean as a supportive friend, nothing else," he assured her.

Lacey returned with a smile. Unlike with her relationship with Danny, she felt no pressure opening up to Justin as a friend. He was so honest and understanding. She trusted him. "There is actually something I could use your help with. What do you know about that party at Archie's house?"