Riverside

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Monday during lunch, I met with Ronnie in the library. That was where we started eating now because Peggy insisted on all the cheerleaders sitting at the table we had been sitting at ever since we started high school.

Ronnie and I didn't even bother arguing with Peggy. There was no point when she was a very stubborn person.

Ronnie was sitting at one of the tables, writing in her notebook and occasionally taking a bite out of her sandwich. I sat down beside her and pulled out my own lunch. "What are you working on?" I asked.

"A list of suspects," she said.

"What?" I asked.

"A list of suspects," she repeated. "For the crime."

"Really?" I asked. "Well, who do you have so far?"

"Not much," she said . "It definitely couldn't have been the maid because she said she really needed the job and she didn't really have motivation to do it. In fact, she lost her job because of it and nothing good came out of it."

"Right," I said.

"So it might have been a murder-suicide," Ronnie said. "Maybe the mom or dad did it before killing themselves."

"No, I don't think so," I said. "For one thing, they definitely wouldn't have left River if they killed Emerson. I hate saying this, but I'm pretty sure they loved Emerson more than River. And another, the door was unlocked after it happened, so someone did come in."

"That is true," Ronnie said before crossing it off her list. "Next is some kind of secret lover."

I raised an eyebrow. "A secret lover? Really?"

"Hey, I'm honestly out of ideas," she said. "Nobody was seen around the house at that time, and River definitely didn't do it."

"Well, if River was right about hearing the doorbell ring, then it might have been someone they knew," I said. "Someone who had it all planned. They went in, shot the family, and left without being spotted."

"Right, while leaving River because they didn't know he exists," Ronnie said.

"Or they didn't know he was home," I said.

"No, I don't think so," Ronnie said. "They wouldn't have risked him being home. They would have checked to see if he was if it was executed properly. I really don't think they knew about River."

"Okay, so then who did it?" I asked.

Ronnie shrugged. "A murder-suicide and a secret lover was all I had. The maid didn't do it, and I don't know anybody else who knows the Gillespies."

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "I just really want to get River out of prison. He doesn't deserve to be in there, and he's really hated in there because he doesn't talk at all." I then took out my phone and opened up an article about the murder. "And I hate what they're all saying about him. He doesn't seem like a murderous kind of guy at all. In fact, he's really sweet."

Ronnie leaned over and looked at my phone screen. "Is that a picture of his parents and little brother?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"Uh...."

"What is it?"

"I think I may be right about the secret lover thing," she said.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What are you talking about?"

"The little brother is either adopted or he was conceived by an affair," she said. "Both parents have blond hair and blue eyes, like River. The boy had blond hair and brown eyes."

"So?"

"So with both parents having blue eyes, there's a ninety-nine percent chance the child will have blue eyes and a one percent chance he'll have green eyes. That means there's a zero percent chance he'll have brown eyes. So either he was adopted, or River's dad isn't the father. I'm not saying the real father, if he wasn't adopted, is the killer but it could give us a lead."

"I need to go talk to River," I said, packing my lunch back into my bag.

"What?" Ronnie asked. "Arden, it's lunch. There are still two classes afterwards?"

"Yeah, English and physical education," I said. "We rarely do anything in English, and I can always miss physical education. Besides, it won't take forever and I'll be back in time for last period."

"Fine, I know I won't be able to stop you," she said. "When you come back, make sure you tell me everything."

"Thanks," I said. "And since you're also in my English class, can you tell the teacher I....I don't know, went out for lunch and my car broke down, so I had to wait for it to be fixed?"

"Yeah, sure," she said.

I thanked her again before leaving the school and heading to the prison. The guards were so used to my visits that I didn't even have to tell them who I was visiting. They immediately led me to the visiting room, then told me to wait for River.

When River was sitting on the other side, he looked confused as he picked up the phone. "Okay, I know for a fact that it's Monday," he said. "And it's not even noon. Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Yes, I just came from there," I said. "My best friend, Ronnie, think she may have a lead. I hate asking you this, but....Was Emerson adopted?"

River furrowed his eyebrows. "What? No. I distinctly remember my mom being pregnant and giving birth to him, which I definitely couldn't have forgotten since it was only four years ago. Why would you think that?"

I sighed. "Ronnie, she's a very intelligent person and she noticed something when I was looking at an article online with pictures of your family. Emerson had brown eyes, right?" River nodded. "Ronnie said that's impossible for a child to have brown eyes when both of the parents have blue eyes. Literally, there's a zero percent chance."

River didn't reply for a bit. "So....You're saying that he's....my half brother? That my dad isn't his dad?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

River leaned back in his seat. "That....actually makes sense. For the first few weeks when Emerson was born, it looked like my dad sort of....resented him. It didn't take him long to get over that resentment, but I definitely saw it. Are you....do you think it was....Emerson's real dad?"

"We're not sure," I said. "We just thought it might be some sort of lead because right now, he have nothing."

"Well, it's better to have a small lead than no lead," River said.

"Exactly," I said. "I know I've said this before, but I will get you out of here."

"I know," River said with a small smile. "I trust you."

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That moment when you already know what's going on if you're reading this on Radish *wink wink*

Lol, so I'm doing so bad in my classes this term. cx I keep getting around 55% in my assignments. I never did that bad in high school, or even last term. Idk why it's so hard this time.