((Warning! Death in this chapter! Also, I'm very curious as to who you guys think the murderer is.
Connor leaned over the candlestick, gently picking the object up with a purple handkerchief he had found stashed in his suit pocket.
"So you just happened to find this secret passage?" Ms. Peacock said skeptically.
"Like I told you, I leaned on the statue and this passage just opened up." Jared told them from behind Connor, who seemed to be protectively standing in front of him. "The killer must have known about this passage and hidden the candlestick in here!"
"How do we know you're not the killer?" Ms. Peacock questioned, raising her eyebrow at Jared.
"If he had done it, wouldn't he have not shown us the passage?" Zoe snorted. From beside Zoe, Jared noticed Evan was giving him a distressed look.
"That's to fool us-" Ms. Peacock began, but Jared simply pushed past Connor and the rest of the group to get to Evan, who was panicking and hyperventilating now.
"We'll be right back." Jared dragged Evan away, exiting the passage through the study and going into one of the bedrooms so they could talk.
"What's wrong?" Jared asked, sitting the boy on the bed as he continued to breathe heavily.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry-" Evan gasped, a hand clinging to Jared's shirt.
"No need to be sorry, Evan." Jared sighed. "C'mon, just tell me what's up."
Evan looked up at him with big watery eyes, "I found something out, and then I realized something."
"Jesus Christ, just spit it out dude!" Jared said, exasperated.
"Sorry, sorry." Evan mumbled, hastily taking his hand back. "So, Ms. Peacock, or well, Alana, that's her real name, she told me-"
"Get to the point." Jared said bluntly, slightly wincing afterwards at his own sharpness.
"Well, uh, she told me her secret, and well, she's killed somebody before." Evan said quietly, fingers fiddling with the blanket on the bed. Jared pauses, inhaling sharply.
"She told you that." Jared whispered, leaning in so close his nose almost touched Evan's.
"Yes." Evan rasped, licking his lips slightly as he leaned in a little closer.
"We have to tell everyone." Jared pulled away, and Evan's face scrunched up. "We know who the murderer is now!"
"Wait-" Evan grabbed Jared's arm. "We don't know that for sure."
"I've heard enough to know that you haven't done it, the same with most of the others." Jared tried to shake Evan off his arm. "It must be her."
"No, Jared-" Evan held on tighter. "What if, what if you don't know everything-"
"What does that mean?" Jared demanded.
"Well, what if Connor isn't as good of a person as you think-"
"He is!" Jared shouted at the boy now. "He is! He's perfect and he loves me for who I am! He doesn't pity me and he treats me like I'm my own person! He's innocent!"
"Do you think that you just happened to end up here!" Evan yelled back. "You think you just showed up at a mansion and Mr. Boddy happened to just have your information! Connor knew about the party from the beginning!"
Jared paused, staring at Evan with bloodshot eyes, "Wait... how could you know his name?"
Evan gaped at him for a minute.
"I never told you his name was Connor instead of Professor Plum." Jared said hoarsely. He began to back up into the doorway. "Alana did it, you hear me."
Evan sat on the bed still, watching him go. "Jared-"
Jared dashed away, he needed to just think this through. He didn't know what to think anymore, or who to trust for that matter.
Surely his Connor wouldn't do anything, right?
As he ran through the hall, he wasn't paying any sort of attention, and ended up running smack into the others.
"Ow, fucking Christ, Jare." Connor's voice sounded from underneath him after they had crashed to the floor.
Jared was just so relieved to have Connor close again. He hugged him tightly, burying his face into Connor's chest as he tried to hide his tears.
Connor's voice softened when he realized something was wrong, "What's up, babe?" He ran a gently hand down Jared's back.
"It's Alana!" Jared's voice was muffled. "She's the murderer!"
Connor looked up at Alana, who was looking horrified.
"You're mistaken-" She began, but Jared cut her off.
"No! Evan told me! He told me you killed someone before!" Jared clung to Connor like a child. Connor awkwardly sat up so Jared was resting in his lap and gently stroked the boy's hair.
"Is that true?" Zoe asked.
Alana pushed up her glasses, tears threatening to force their way down her cheeks. "It's not what you think, okay!" Her lip trembled. "You weren't there-"
~~~
Alana leaned over the edge of the crib, staring down at the sleeping infant. At age 5, she was not allowed to hold her newborn brother, no matter how much she wanted to.
Her mama stood behind her, "You're going to have to be gentle with him, okay?"
Alana nodded her head eagerly.
"When he gets a bit older, you'll be able to play with him." Her mama smiled.
"He'll play doctor with me?" Alana turned around to grin at her mother brightly. "Or barbies?"
"I'm sure he will." Her mama laughed. "Alright, let's get you to bed."
Alana was lead down the hall to her bedroom, and tucked into bed. Her mother went downstairs to watch tv.
Quietly, Alana snuck out of her room and headed back down the hall to her brother's nursery.
Alana tiptoed in, pressing her face against the bars of the crib. Then, as quietly as possible, she began to climb. She pulled herself up by the top bar of the crib, silently landing next to her brother.
"Mama says we'll get to play when you're bigger." She whispered, lifting her brother up. The baby had now awoken, and was squirming slightly. "I wanna play now."
Still holding her brother, she attempted to climb back over the bars. She struggled, she didn't understand why he had to be so big, he was supposed to be her little brother!
The baby began crying as Alana held him by one hand to grip the edge. She frowned, throwing one foot over the bar. She felt her grip on her little brother slip. Desperately, she tried to hold on, but it was no use, she just wasn't strong enough to hold him up for so long. The baby fell to the floor, hitting his head with a loud lump. Alana stared at him, horrified.
From downstairs her mother's voice called, "Alana? What are you doing up there?"
~~~
Alana was crying now, taking off her glasses so she could wipe her face. "I didn't do it out of meanness, I was just little and stupid."
Jared had taken his face out of Connor's chest to look at Alana.
"I'm sorry." He said after a long silence. "I didn't know the whole story."
"It's okay, I get it." Alana pushes up her glasses, her eyes were bright red.
Jared pushes himself off of Connor and made his way to Alana, raising his hands in peace.
"I lost my brother too." Jared whispered.
Alana stared at him for a second before bringing him into a tight hug. "I don't think it's you." She whispered into his ear. "Do you still think it's me?"
"Of course not." Jared whispered back.