He looked up and his expression grew instantly weary. Like he so didn't want to deal with me.
Well, life was tough. I so didn't want to deal with living next door to a psychopath.
"What are you doing?" I said through my teeth as I approached him. "How could you let her go?"
Detective Hauer squeezed his brow between his thumb and forefinger for a moment before
responding.
"I've told you before and I'll tell you again. She's not our girl," he replied.
"But what about the photos? And the box?" I blurted.
"They didn't hold a candle to the depositions we've been taking all afternoon and evening,"
Detective Hauer replied, pulling me toward the cozy seating area off to the side of the lobby. "We
found dozens of people to corroborate her alibi, Reed. She and this Coolidge kid stayed at the
Driscoll Hotel that night. We have bellboys, maids, managers," he said, lifting his hand to tick them
off on his fingers. "Room service receipts signed by her. There's a security tape that's being
reviewed as we speak. Ivy Slade had nothing to do with Cheyenne Martin's death."
209
I was so stunned my face stung from the shock of it. I had been so certain. The girl had the best
motive ever. Plus her behavior... the threats, the icy looks, the attitude, that freaky photo in her
room. It all added up.
"Well... what about the picture I gave you?" I asked. "I still say she's stalking me and maybe Noelle,
too."
"Her fingerprints weren't found on the print you supplied," Hauer told me in a soothing way. "And
she swears she didn't deface her own photo. However, we did find traces of white wool fibers on
both prints."
My heart seized. "What does that mean?"
"It means that the same person probably tampered with both pictures and wore white wool
gloves while doing it," Hauer told me. "It appears as if you and Ms. Slade have the same stalker.
This person is really getting around."
At that I leaned back on the rear of the couch behind me. There was no way I could wrap my brain
around this. My stalker was also stalking Ivy? How was that even possible? Who on this campus
had a vendetta against the two of us? We were enemies. We hated each other. Why would
anyone lump us together?