I'm not the only one in my reflection.

Part twenty-four

— I agree. I need to see every suspect, and the only one I haven't been able to analyze from the new characters is Oliver Milton, who has suddenly appeared. Call him, Katherine, let him come to our meeting tomorrow, we will meet him accordingly.

Katherine nodded gratefully to Mindy, who agreed with her words about Roman's brother, and everyone else nodded after her, although less confidently than the girl Meeks-Martin.

Sam grumbled about having to keep an eye on another suspicious guy, but when she saw Macher's offended look, she cleared her throat and apologized, taking back her words. She didn't want to accidentally hurt her lover's feelings by saying that maybe the only living member of her family who wanted to see her might have ulterior motives.

The next day. Katherine and Samantha, seeing their friends from afar, and it wasn't difficult, quickened their pace and reached them in a few seconds. The only one who stood out, not only because of his age, but also because he was sitting a little apart, was Oliver.

The man perked up when he saw his niece, breathing a sigh of relief at seeing someone he knew. He was getting tired of being around students, and he didn't fully understand their new slang, so he couldn't fully engage in the conversation. Not that he really wanted to.

— Sorry we're late. I needed a caffeine fix. — Macher apologized with a smile, holding up a takeout coffee cup, the same one that Carpenter had.

— You didn't get enough sleep, did you? Although, no, wait, don't tell me, I can already tell you why. – Mindy piped in, being the only one standing while everyone else was seated, including the two girls who had just arrived.

Smiling a separate greeting to her uncle, the former redhead took a sip of her coffee and turned her attention to Mindy, who was giving Sam a very unsubtle side-eye. — Oh, you're a detective, Minds, well done.

Ethan, looking between the three girls, opened his eyes wide when he realized what Chad's sister was hinting at. He puffed out his cheeks angrily and looked down, blushing, ignoring Chad's whispered question about his strange reaction.

— I don't want to hear the reason. — Landry, the shy one, said surprisingly loudly.

— No one cares what you want, Ethan. — Mindy interjected.

— Can we focus? — Tara coughed, pointing her finger at Meeks-Martin, implying that she should start telling them why they were here in the first place, rather than bulling Landry.

— Oh, come on, I wanted to hear the details, Tara. — Quinn pouted this time.

Milton shook his head, covering his face with his hand, as if either ashamed or embarrassed. — Modern teenagers are like that...

— Okay, let's focus, nerds. — Mindy clapped her hands and raised her voice so that each of her friends could hear everything she had to say and not miss a single word.

Leslie's daughter, after kissing her beloved on the cheek, leaned back, pressing her back against Tara's older sister's chest, comfortably nestled in Samantha's pleasant, loose, and gentle embrace. She loved feeling Sam's hands on her.

Also remembering how needy and tactile her girlfriend could be, Stu's niece lightly placed her hand on Carpenter's thigh, not squeezing or stroking, but simply allowing her hand to rest there.

As her friends around her responded to Mindy's assumptions and jabs, adding their own guesses and speculations, Katherine chose to remain silent, simply observing the gathering with a keen gaze and sipping her coffee slowly.

Oliver looked lost, looking from one student to the next, feeling as if he were nineteen years old and they were all thirty+, because it seemed to be the only one having trouble keeping up with the thought. Ghostface trying to turn a sequel into a riquel? Eee, requel, sequel? He's never been particularly interested in movies and is only here for his niece.