Zenon's Game Chapter 331

"At least try to read it properly," he huffed and read the title out for me, "Suspect list."

"Ohhh, well that makes more sense, doesn't it?" I said and scanned the list of names he'd written under it.

It felt cold-hearted to see the names of our friends and family on the list as 'suspects'. But it's what we needed to do.

"Why is there a cross next to Tamara and Stacey?" I asked.

"This whole thing began at camp, didn't it? The first letter you ever received talked about the photo they took of you," he said, "I think we should look at the beginning. Stacey's been snooping around ever since camp. She was even at the bar today."

Our knees knocked gently against each other as we bent over the notepad, trying to put this complicated story together. It's hard to know what events are coincidences, unrelated or actual clues.

"You're missing someone," I said, and picked up the pen to add her name to the list.

He leaned over my shoulder and watched what I wrote, "Lara? You barely know her."

"Yeah, but isn't it a coincidence that she randomly appeared in Dubai?" I asked, "I saw her yesterday with Layton Hayes and she was acting like she lived in the same building in Alpine, when Bryce said she lived in a mansion somewhere."

Zenon leaned back as he considered it, "Her sister dated Axel so there may be more to that back story."

"Maybe her sister dated Axel and she wanted to date you?" I asked, guessing randomly. "She also called me yesterday to ask if I could be her tutor."

Zenon frowned, "Did she? Then let's use it to our advantage. Spy on her. Something's odd there, I agree."

He put a cross on her name and said, "I'll focus on Stacey."

I stopped for a moment.

"Zenon," I said quietly, not wanting to bring it up again, but feeling like I had to, "Maybe you should put a cross on Axel. We need to know how that pill bottle got to where it did."

Zenon clenched his fingers around the pen, and I almost thought it would break. He didn't want to doubt Axel for a second, but we had to. Axel's name was literally on evidence.

"No," Zenon refused, "It's not Axel."

"Ok," I backed off, not wanting to upset Zenon more.

But in my mind, I had a star next to Axel's name. I've only known these boys less than a year, so I couldn't be too sure. I've had family betray me. Why wouldn't friends?

I didn't like the guarded person I felt myself becoming. But this time last year, I was too trusting and too quiet when people tormented me. I've become a bit stronger since then, a bit colder.

"Wait. Can we agree on the terms of our detective work first?" I asked, recognizing the determined look on his face. I knew he was willing to go to any length to catch the blackmailer and that worried me.

"No physical violence," he guessed right off the bat, giving me a look that begged me to be less predictable.

"That's a good one," I agreed, happy he volunteered it. I ticked the others off, "And no lying to each other. Or doing things that could make each other jealous."

I didn't like the idea of Zenon getting close to Stacey, even if it was just to get evidence. I knew Stacey liked Zenon. I remember hiding in the bathroom stall at the summer camp party and overhearing how vocal she was about it.

Zenon listened to my list, looking like a disappointed schoolboy being stripped of his toys.

"Anything else? Want to handcuff me right here just in case?" he mocked me.

"Well, can we agree on those terms?" I replied, holding onto his wrists playfully.

He leaned forward, letting me trap his hands, and kissed my lips. "We can agree."

Let the games begin.

We were going to come after everyone on that list. One by one, we were going to smoke the blackmailer out.

"You know something, Mildred," Zenon whispered, while our lips were still touching, "I like this badass version of you."

"You're corrupting me, Zenon," I replied, my eyelids fluttering open to gaze at the boy I loved.

"Reminds me of the time you came riding on a motorbike to save me," Zenon twisted his wrists and wrapped his arms over mine, pulling me closer towards him for a deeper kiss, "My heroine."

The blackmailer tried to break us, but our hunt to break them will bring us even closer together. Through the struggle, we needed to rely on each other. The blackmailer exposed our weaknesses but tackling them gave us the opportunity to grow.

The embers were dying in the fireplace and burnt wood was all that was left. Cans of coke were left open on the coffee table.

The sun was beginning to rise over the lake and the most magnificent colors shone in through the window.

We hadn't slept. After arriving in the middle of the night, fooling around on the carpet and going through the suspect list in the kitchen... we had missed the night.

"I can't believe it's 6am," I said, staring at my phone.

The adrenaline of the evening had kept me wide awake.

"Want to go for a run?" Zenon asked, standing up from the chair and cracking his back.

"Are you crazy?!"

"We're here for a week. We might as well enjoy nature and the time we have together," he shrugged, as if it was the most casual thing ever.

Run? Does he have no idea who he's dating?

"We need coffee and food," I muttered, thinking about the necessities, in that order, "There's nothing here."

No one had been to the jake house in months. The fridge only had drinks and a couple condiments.