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“He thinks it will help figure out who killed Lily.” That should have been obvious. Everything Bryan did came back to his big investigation.

“I really wish you two would stop playing detective,” Andrea complained. “This isn’t a game, you know. You should leave it to the police before one of you gets hurt.”

Josh lowered his voice to avoid eavesdropping ears. “If I leave it up to the police, I’ll be the one who gets tossed in jail.”

“Do whatever you think you have to do,” Rosa told him. “Just be careful.”

“I will,” he promised, and bent down to kiss her cheek. “Now, I have to go find Bryan. Andy, save me a seat in the auditorium, okay?”

Andrea agreed. Finally, Josh made it to Bryan’s locker without more interruptions. He found him chatting with a few of the sophomores on the wrestling team. The younger boys practically pounced on Josh when they saw him.

“Grant was just telling us that you’re having a big party tomorrow night,” one of them said expectedly.

“Yeah, but it’s a private party,” Josh replied. It was almost comical the way their faces fell. “The wrestling team and their dates only.”

They immediately brightened as Bryan’s face turned red with agitation. “Sweet! We’ll be there!” the other kid exclaimed. Josh thought his name was Jason Silver, but he wasn’t entirely sure. All the underclassman looked alike. “We wouldn’t miss it!”

As soon as the two sophomores left, Bryan turned on Josh. “Why did you tell them the party was only for the wrestling team?” He lowered his voice before he continued. “Only two of our suspects are on the team. How do you expect to get the rest of them there? Or did you forget that was the reason for this party?”

“I didn’t forget,” Josh told him. “And don’t worry. They’ll all be there.”

“How can you possibly know that for sure?” Bryan demanded.

“Kevin is bringing Elena. Jim will bring Andrea. I’ll bring Rosa,” Josh explained. “That leaves Nadine, and if I know her, she’ll find a guy on the team to take her. But just in case, I plan on extending a personal invitation. Don’t worry, Bryan. All of your suspects are going to be there. But this way, I know my house will still be in one piece when my parents get home.”

“Wait a minute.” Bryan looked like he had a bad taste in his mouth. “Did you say Elena is going with Kevin?”

Josh shrugged. “Sorry, dude.”  He remembered too late that Bryan had a thing for Elena. It didn’t really matter. If it weren’t Kevin, it would have been someone else. Either way, there was no chance of Elena going out with a guy of Bryan’s limited finances.

“But she can’t! Kevin might be the killer!” Bryan said in a heated whisper. “Josh, you’ve got to stop her.”

Josh shook his head. It was just one problem after another. He had spent the whole morning cajoling people. He was getting sick and tired of it. “Listen, I can’t tell Elena what to do. She would never listen to me. Besides, she’s a suspect too, right? How do we know Kevin isn’t the one who needs protection? After what happened to Jazz, I never did get a chance to tell you, but I found out for a fact that the earring we found is Elena’s.”

Bryan couldn’t control the volume of his voice this time. “What? How could you forget to tell me something so important?”

Once again, Josh found himself the center stage of the school hallway.

“I didn’t forget,” he told Bryan. “I just had other things on my mind.”

Bryan still looked annoyed. “So how do you know it’s hers?”

“When I was working on the yearbook photos, I noticed her wearing them in one of the pictures. It’s definitely Elena’s earring. There’s no doubt about it.”

Bryan turned a sickly shade of white, similar to the day in the garage when they found the earring. He must have really had it bad for Elena to be taking the news so hard. Josh felt sorry for him and tried to do some damage control. “It doesn’t mean anything specific, you know. Like we said before, maybe it was planted.”

That thought seemed to cheer him up a little. “You’re right. Hey, we better get going. Looks like the assembly is starting.”

The hallways were thinning out which meant that most of the student body had already taken their seats in the auditorium. Josh and Bryan walked in together, but they were seated according to homeroom, so they separated at the door. Josh took a seat beside Andrea, who was biting her nails as she waited to find out if she would be a member of the court. Three seniors and two juniors would be elected, based on the votes of the student body. Josh was less than enthusiastic about the whole production, but he tried to fake it for Andrea’s sake. She had her heart set on being in the court. She would have liked to be queen, but she was too realistic to aim that high. After all, she had Elena for competition.

The auditorium was noisy. The voices of several hundred students mingled together, forming an incoherent buzz. It was giving Josh a headache, and he couldn’t wait for the whole thing to be over. Mr. Graves, accompanied by the student body president, a tall, skinny guy with brown hair and abundant freckles, were standing on the stage beside the red velvet curtains. The principal was asking for silence, and slowly the command was being obeyed. Eventually Josh was able to hear himself think.

“Good afternoon, faculty and students!” Mr. Graves called into the microphone with exaggerated enthusiasm. After twenty-some odd years of homecoming dances, it probably started to get boring. “You all know the reason we’ve gathered here today. In one week, we’ll be having the annual homecoming dance. And, of course, that dance calls for a queen! So without further ado, let me introduce Marvin Applegate, your student body president, who will announce your choices for the homecoming court.”

Marvin took over the microphone with the air of a would-be standup comedian. “Good afternoon, faculty and students,” he began in a perfect mimic of Mr. Graves. Then he continued in his normal voice, as he paced from one end of the stage to the other. “I know you’re all dying from suspense, so I won’t waste your time making any corny speeches about how these girls are more than just a bunch of pretty faces. Especially when we all know that wouldn’t be true.” There were a few scattered snickers in the audience. “So, when I call your name, please come up to the stage and take a bow for us. The members of the Homecoming court, in random order, are as follows. Tiffini Peterson!”

Tiffini, a blonde, blue-eyed junior wearing an extremely short skirt, climbed onto the stage. She waved and blew kisses dramatically which made Josh roll his eyes, but she was still greeted by a hearty round of applause, mostly from the section of the auditorium where the juniors sat.

“Charlotte Lawrence!” Marvin continued.

Charlotte was another junior who was shy, but tall and slim as any super model. She joined her classmate and everyone clapped. A few guys whistled, but she only stared meekly at the floor, her cheeks painted a bright scarlet.

“Elena Huber!”

The response was uproarious. The guys all went crazy, screaming and chanting her name. Elena walked calmly onto the stage, looking unconcerned with the whole affair. She did everything but yawn. What an actress she was! Josh knew how much the crown meant to her. Meanwhile, the student body president charged on.

“Andrea Carpenter!”

Andrea let out a little shriek of excitement, even though she had expected it. She ran up onto the stage, but tripped as she moved toward the other girls, falling right into Marvin’s arms. There was a lot of laughter mingled with clapping. Andrea’s face was almost as red as her hair when she took her place in line. Josh was embarrassed for her, but luckily, Marvin was quick to continue.

“And last, but certainly not least, and I mean that in more ways than one.” He made cup motions with his hands in the chest area, leaving little doubt what he was referring to. In his corner, Mr. Graves shook his head in disapproval. “Nadine Morris!”

That got Josh’s attention. He was surprised. Nadine had only been in their school for a week. He didn’t think anyone really knew her. Yet her response was almost as thunderous as Elena’s had been. Maybe Elena would have some competition after all. Nadine walked onto the stage, looking surprised and bewildered. Her large breasts bounced as she ran up the steps, and Josh was hardly the only one to notice. The clapping grew louder, outdoing Elena’s applause. Josh glanced in Elena’s direction, and from the disgruntled look on her face, she was far from happy about it.

It seemed to take forever for the applause to die down. Finally, Mr. Graves took the microphone back from Marvin after a feigned tug of war. The principal announced that the seniors were dismissed. The other classes would follow shortly thereafter, avoiding too much congestion in the hallways. Josh looked for Andrea to offer his congratulations, but he didn’t see her. Instead, he accidentally bumped into Nadine.

“Hey, Nadine!” Josh said. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” she replied, and actually smiled. It was a relief after the last few conversations they had. “It was a big surprise. Listen, Josh,” she added, her expression turning somber. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you. I want to apologize for the way I acted. I had no right to get so angry. You never made any promises to me.”

Josh shook his head. How could she think she was the one who needed to apologize? “You had every right to be angry. I was a jerk. As a peace offering, how about coming to my party tomorrow night?”

“I’ll be there,” Nadine promised with honest enthusiasm. “I hope we can be friends from now on.”

“Me too.”

Someone else came over to offer Nadine their congratulations, so Josh said goodbye and went to his locker to get his backpack. He figured he would meet up with Andrea and Rosa in the parking lot. He fumbled with the combination before finally getting the door to swing open. Something glittered on the top shelf and caught his eye. He reached for it, and a small scrap of paper fluttered to the floor.

At first he wasn’t sure what he was holding. It was a pink plastic tiara with some big gaudy plastic jewels. It was the type of thing he had seen in dollar stores for little girls’ birthday parties. It was practically broken in half, and the edges were sharp. Josh pricked his finger on the jagged point, and a few drops of blood welled from the small wound. He put his finger in his mouth as he bent to pick up the paper that had fallen. When he read it, the broken crown suddenly made sense and he wondered how he could have been so naïve. He should have realized from the instant he saw it what it meant.

“Josh decided to play around

Now one of his girls is under the ground.

Another has a big bump on her head.

And by the end of the dance, the queen will be dead.”

That Saturday night, the party proceeded as planned. Music was pumping from the elaborate stereo system. The living room furniture had been pushed into the corners, making a perfect dance floor. Some of the guests were dancing, some making out in hidden corners. All fourteen of the wrestling team members were there with dates. Bryan was the only one who came alone since he was only concerned with his investigation. All of the six remaining suspects were present and accounted for. There were a few crashers, but not enough to cause any problems. The party was a huge success.

Josh was sitting on the couch, snuggling with Rosa. He strained his eyes in the dimly lit room to find the rest of the suspects. Andrea had gone into the kitchen with Jim in search of a diet soda since she had no interest in the beer keg that was readily available in the living room. The same could not be said for Kevin, Elena, and Nadine.

Kevin was lounging on a reclining chair with Elena firmly planted on his lap. They seemed to be permanently joined at the mouth. Kevin had one hand laced around her waist, while the other was holding his plastic cup of Coors Light. It had to be at least his tenth, and Elena wasn’t far behind. Josh wasn’t the only one who noticed their intimacy. Bryan was staring at them and it was obvious that he wasn’t happy about the situation.

Nadine was on the other side of the room. After only four beers, she had slouched down in the corner and seemed to have fallen asleep. It looked like she planned on staying there for some time. Josh was a little concerned, but at least he knew she was safe where she was.

“Great party!” A highly intoxicated freshman shouted to be heard over the blaring music. He gave Josh a thumbs-up before stumbling along to the bathroom.

“Yeah, Josh, I can barely contain my excitement.” Bryan muttered sarcastically as he reached for the keg. Josh pulled away from Rosa long enough to stop him from picking up a cup.

“No drinking tonight, buddy,” Josh reminded him. “Believe me, I wouldn’t mind getting plastered myself. But there’s a reason we’re having this party. The two of us need to stay sober if we expect to accomplish anything.”

“I know, I know. But one little drink can’t hurt. Just so I can get my mind off Elena and her main squeeze over there.”

Josh arched his eyebrow. “When have you ever stopped at one drink?”

Bryan laughed with a little irony. “When have I ever stopped at twenty?” He turned to Rosa, apparently looking for a diversion. “How’s my friend here treating you?”

Rosa shrugged nonchalantly, but the wide smile on her face said more than words. “He’s all right.”

“He’s definitely all right,” Bryan agreed. “For a rich boy.” They both chuckled, remembering the fight they had just a few weeks ago. It was amazing how much had changed in such a short time.