"So?"

He stared back at me, folding his arms across his chest. "So."

"You know what I'm here for," I smiled sweetly and leaned back in my seat as if this were my cabin and not his.

Inspector Bryant huffed, "I'm not telling you where the Queen case is heading, kid."

I raised my eyebrows, my smile not wavering even for a second. "That's a pity. I would've been devastated if I didn't already know where that particular case was heading."

"Right," he arched an unbelieving eyebrow.

I locked my fingers together on the table and smiled confidently at him. "Your main suspect is someone from Elektra's family."  He rolled his eyes as if this was an obvious answer, so I continued, "Selene Jacobs to be precise. Anthony Jacobs, her husband, was in love with Elektra; that was the root cause of Selene's jealousy." My fingers played with a dolphin-shaped paperweight as his posture tensed.

"You guys found a text chain between Elektra and Selene, in which Selene spewed some not-so-nice words at her cousin. But that's where the evidence against Selene stops," I tilted my head as I gazed at Inspector Bryant's tense form. "Selene and Anthony have pretty airtight alibis for the time when Elektra was murdered. That night they were both attending some huge Redwood function as chief guests. I've heard her lawyer is pretty good. So now, you guys are kind of at a dead-end," I finished, making the dolphin spin.

Inspector Bryant glanced at the door to see if anyone was listening in and glared at me. "How on earth do you know that?"

I smiled. Of course, everything I had said were only loosely based assumptions but I liked to think of them more as educated guesses.

The first assumption about Anthony being in love with Elektra was based on a few photographs I had noticed at Elektra's house the night we had met her for the first and the last time.

Then there was the matter of the text chain that I had briefly glimpsed the last time I was here. A few words like 'stay away from him' and 'bitch' had jumped out to me. The initials E.Q. and one lonely J that was visible, allowed me to put two and two together, or, rather assume as some non-believers would say.

The part about Anthony and Selene being chief guests to a Redwood function the night Elektra died was true though. A friendly chat with a few locals during my camp was enough to obtain that little piece of information.

Ah, yes, the camp. We came back three days ago. I thought back to Rhea and Mason (since they were the teachers' pets in our group), going to the teachers to ask about the bus drivers. As suspected, the drivers who had driven us to Redwood weren't the same as the ones who were driving us back to Paradise.

The dead-end thing was actually the biggest assumption but I'd only said that because it was fun to see Inspector Bryant tense up so much.

"Why do you even care about Elektra Queen so much?"

Inspector Bryant's question broke me out of my thoughts. He was looking at me suspiciously as if he didn't trust my intentions and I wouldn't blame him if he did.

"She was strangled to death. I would love to see her get some justice," I leaned forward with a serious expression on my face.

He returned my look with ten times more intensity. "And what if she wasn't a good person?"

"Does that necessarily mean she deserved to be strangled to death in her own house?" I answered him with a question of my own. Then I leaned back in my seat more comfortably and pouted, my demeanour changing from serious to playful as if a switch had been flipped. "Also, my mom is now convinced that if I ever get a mansion and live there alone, I will definitely be murdered. How is that woman the best lawyer in Paradise?" I muttered the last part under my breath.

Talking about my mom, she was Selene's lawyer but the woman never discussed any of her cases at home. That was truly disappointing. Inspector Bryant knew better than to think I knew so much about the case because of my mom.

"Why aren't you enjoying holidays like a normal teenager? No, scratch that. You are no normal teenager, a demon would be a more fitting description," he grumbled. "Don't teachers handout homework anymore?"

"Why? Will you arrest them if I say they did?" I blinked at him innocently. Then I remembered something Matt had said a few days back and raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the buff inspector everyone in the police station was afraid of. "Word on the street is that someone else from the Queen family has inherited the Cursed House now. "

He snorted with incredulity.
"What street?"

"Ugh, nevermind."

I leaned toward the radio on his desk and switched it on. The song We Like To Party by the Vengaboys came on. I nodded along to it before I remembered why I had switched the radio on in the first place. Inspector Bryant glanced cautiously at me as if he suspected I would get up and start dancing on his table. I saw him subtly inch his computer closer. I swiftly shifted all of the stationary lying on the table along with the dolphin-shaped paperweight to one side of the desk.

"What leads do you have on the suppliers of Powder?" I ventured and Inspector Bryant started choking on his own spit.

Pouring him a glass of water from the jug nearby, I handed him the glass. He coughed for a few more moments as his dark complexion reddened.

Then, he scowled. "How much do you know about that drug? Be honest, Aria."

I smirked. "Only that it is a drug. I mean, you confirmed it for me right now."

He cursed under his breath as soon as he understood what I meant. "Why, you little manipulative—"

"Goddess?" I suggested. "Aria the Goddess of Singing, Learning and Manipulation. You gotta admit that has a nice ring to it," I nodded in satisfaction.

"I swear all my nightmares have you in them," Inspector Bryant growled. Then, he closed his eyes and breathed in and out, which, I admit, must've been a little difficult with the lyrics, 'So if you like to party, get on and move your body,' playing in the background.

He sighed, "You gotta stop asking around questions like these. If you go off asking the wrong people..." He trailed off, knowing I was intelligent enough to realize the meaning behind his unsaid words.

I nodded back, telling him I understood. "Well, the only reason I even asked was because what I know might be a lead."

He raised an eyebrow, urging me to continue.

"You should ask Paradise High about the identities of two certain bus drivers who drove the seniors to Redwood last week." I told him about what had taken place that night in the forest in a few sentences. He stared at the glass of water, his expression guarded.

"That's all?" He asked when I finished.

"That's all," I nodded.

"Hmm, I need an official statement from both you and the other guy, Terry—"

"Torryn," I corrected him.

"Yes, whatever. Also, I need at least one of your parents with each of you," he stroked his chin, still lost in thought.

All of us had already discussed that we would go to the police if Powder turned out to be some kind of drug, so telling Torryn wasn't the problem, but the last part had me grimacing. "Is the parent part necessary?"

"Yes," he grunted. "You both are still minors, aren't you?"

"Yes," I mumbled. Leaning over the table again, I switched off the radio. A weird kind of silence set over the room. I reached towards the dolphin-shaped paperweight and spun it around in my hands, studying the bottom.

"Pretty dolphin," I murmured, setting the paperweight in front of the inspector. "You might want to have it examined."

Inspector Bryant froze in his seat, his gaze flitting between the paperweight before him and me, as if he couldn't decide which one was more dangerous. In the end, he chose me.

Pressing his fingers to his temples as if preparing for an oncoming headache, he groaned. "What did I ever do to be tormented like this?" He asked, maybe to God or maybe to me. Personally, I didn't think there was much difference between us two.

"Not reconsider my offer to work as your personal assistant," I replied.

"There's no way that's happening. You already know too much about police business, I'm not going to give you that kind of power," he shot me a determined look. "Besides, don't you already work at Alan's cafe? Or did they fire you because you were burning up too many things?" He snorted at his own pun.

I frowned. "Hey, stop being so salty. I only burned down part of your backyard. Also, I'll have you know, my job is still very much intact. I'm going there today, in fact."

He shook his head. "Seriously, do your parents know where you are, kid?"

"Yes, actually," I grinned as my mom's name flashed up on my phone. "I told you at the very beginning, Inspector. You know why I'm here," I stood up from my place. "Mrs Bryant wasn't home so Mom dropped me here on her way to Mae's house. I'm here to invite you both to dinner at our house for Christmas tomorrow." I snickered as the inspector grumbled to himself.

"We'll be there," he murmured finally as if a conversation with me was physically draining for him.

"Great. I'll go now. I have other people to manipulate, you know?"

                         ×××××
    
"Here you go," I set down the cup of latté in front of a guy who was smirking at me for some reason. Probably because smirking was the equivalent to flirting in his dictionary, which he did a lot even after I told him I wasn't interested. 

He took a sip and smirked again.

I hope his lips get stuck like that, my subconscious whispered darkly and for once, I agreed with her.

"The drinks here are always so good," the smirky-guy smirked.

"Thanks, I spit in them," I said with a straight face. Not giving him a chance to reply or smirk, I walked away from that table.

Since it was Christmas tomorrow, the cafe was bustling with customers. It was just my luck that both Betty and Eric had been unable to make it to work, which meant that the servers had to both take orders and serve.

I grinned as I saw my friends occupying a large table near the door. They must've come in while I was in the kitchen, I thought smiling. But my smile vanished as soon as I saw Katie.

Katie was a fellow waitress, a junior at Paradise High and a good acquaintance. She liked to flirt with all the good-looking guys who came to Mad Batter, so it should've been no surprise to see her hand on Torryn Cole's shoulder as she fluttered her eyelashes at him. Suddenly, I wasn't feeling very friendly towards Katie.

Without thinking at all, I quickly strode over to them. Torryn was staring at Katie with an expressionless face. As soon as I reached them, I quickly but subtly tugged on Katie's hand, making her other hand drop from Torryn's shoulder, all the while making it seem like I just wanted to hold her hand in a friendly gesture.

"I'll take it from here, Katie. Thanks," I smiled even though my eyes said walk away. And that's what she did.

Turning to my friends, I narrowed my eyes as they all looked away trying to hide their smiles. Torryn gave me an amused smile, highlighting the dimple on his right cheek. He did that a lot nowadays, I noted. I also noted that it did weird things to my stomach.

"What?" I demanded.

"Nothing," Mason chirped. "When does your shift end?"

"Uh, in a few minutes actually," I stated after looking at the large candy-shaped clock in the middle of the cafe. "Why?"

"Owen has something to show us," Ethan gestured at the huge rolled-up sheet on the table.

"Oh," I nodded at it. "First tell me what you guys wanna eat."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Rhea smirked. "Katie already took care of it."

I had to fight back a snarl at that. Then I froze, confused by my own actions.

"Oh, okay," I leaned against the table. "What do you wanna show us, Owen?"

"So let's make sure this stays between us okay?" Owen started, trying to roll out the sheet and hitting a sleeping Mae on the head in the process. She awoke immediately, cursing Owen to painful deaths before settling in her seat.

Matt decided to entertain us by being suicidal and laughed at Mae. She retaliated by throwing a box of tissues at his head. He kept quiet after that.

"As I was saying before," Owen continued, shooting wary looks at Mae."These are the Town Plans of Paradise from the 1950s; the oldest I could get from the city library."

"I thought it took some special pass to even look at those and no one was allowed to remove it from the library. They just let you take that?" Mason raised a curious eyebrow.

"Er, not exactly. The City Library kind of belongs to my parents, so the librarians and everyone knows me. It wasn't hard to smuggle it out. Which is why it would be great if my parents didn't find out about this," Owen laughed nervously.

"Gotchu," I smiled and looked at Owen eagerly. "So are you allowed to check out more than one book at once?"

"Yes, that's the awesome part," Owen grinned. "If you'd like I could talk to the head librarian into allowing you to do that too."

"That," I grinned back, "would be amazing."

"I don't even know if I should label this as improper use of power," Matt shook his head.

"Wait, did you say 1950s?" Mae yawned, finally more conscious than before. "I'm pretty sure that Thomas dude inherited the bakery in those years. Also, why did you even get the City Plans?"

"I was curious to see how much Paradise has changed over the years," Owen shrugged.

"Who's Thomas?" Ethan frowned in confusion.

"Thomas Lake?" I raised an eyebrow at Mae.

She nodded. "I was thinking of trying out one of those recipes in his diary and he was babbling about inheriting the family bakery."

"Wasn't he like in his late thirties by then? Why did he inherit the bakery so late?" Mason asked.

"His brother died or something, I think," Mae answered.

"What year was this?" Owen asked, a curious glint in his eyes.

"I'm not sure, 1950 something," Mae shrugged.

"Interesting," he murmured.

The little bells at the door of the cafe jingled, signaling a new customer. All of us turned to see a guy in his early twenties walk in.

"Damn, son," Mae whistled under her breath and I completely agreed with her. I mean, this guy made a simple blue tee look good.

"Oh please," Matt scoffed, glaring at the guy. "I'm way hotter than that guy."

Owen, who was bi, snorted. "Sure. I would totally go and talk to that guy if I didn't already have my eye on someone else." All heads turned to him but when he didn't elaborate, we all faced the guy again.

Even as he sat down at the table, women of all ages around him seemed to drool at his flexing biceps. Electric blue eyes looked around as he combed his hand through long blond locks and sighs echoed from everywhere.

"I should go and take his order," I murmured in a daze.

"No," Torryn exclaimed immediately, causing all of us to jump at his loud voice.

"No?" I frowned.

He cleared his throat. "I'm sure Katie is more than capable of taking his order."

My eyes narrowed instantly. Is he saying Katie's better at this job than me?

As if realizing what was going through my mind, Torryn added quickly, "I mean, you shift has already ended, right?"

I glanced at the Candy Clock and it was, in fact, past my working time now. "Huh," I smiled, immediately forgetting what we were talking about before. "You're right, Cole. I'll go get my bag quickly, you guys." I rushed away after shooting a weirded-out look at a smirking Ethan.

Emerging with my bag—sans the apron—a few minutes later, I made a beeline for the table my friends were sitting at. Looking away from them, I made eye contact with the blond guy. Giving him a polite smile (it was either that or awkward staring), I turned away immediately.

Dude was hot, sure, but he was also drowning in bad vibes. Besides Torryn Cole looked better to me.

Stop comparing every guy you pass with him, I scolded myself.

It was true. Nowadays, anything could happen and my mind would immediately jump to him. It was like all my thoughts seemed to arrive at the same point: Torryn Cole.

It's getting frustrating really, my subconscious complained.

Shut up, I thought as I sat down next to Rhea.

"You went to the police station today, didn't you? What happened?" Torryn raised an eyebrow.

He had perfect eyebrows, my subconscious cried.

SHUT UP!

"Miller?" Torryn waved a hand in front of my face.

"Right," I muttered, lowering his hand. I told them everything that had happened as I ate Mae's muffin.

"So it was drug deal," Rhea scrunched up her nose in distaste.

"Uh-huh," I nodded, taking a sip of Torryn's chocolate milkshake.

"Yeah, just drink away all of my milkshake. It's not like I mind," he grumbled darkly.

"Oh, I'm sure you don't," Ethan smirked.

Torryn slapped him upside the head and turned to Owen. "The Town Plans?"

"Oh, yeah," Owen mumbled, spreading the sheet out again.

The Town Plans seemed impossible to decipher. It was like a map of Paradise in the 1950s.

"Okay, so the police station and the main church were in the same place as they are now," Torryn the Pigeon announced after studying it for 2 minutes. "We can figure out other places from that. For example," he traced his finger along the plans and stopped at a point. "This is roughly where my house is now."

"Oh, so that means, my house is there," Rhea pointed at some point on the Plan.

Pretty soon everyone was pointing out different places and their current locations.

I calculated the route to my house in my head. "So, my house is there?" I tapped the plan on a point and saw that it said 'Cemetery'.

"More like here," Torryn grabbed my hand and moved my finger to the other end of the map.

I tried to ignore the tingling sensation in my stomach and murmured, "So close."

Everyone deadpanned at me and I pouted.

"Is that Thomas' bakery?" Make asked.

"Yeah, " Owen nodded, squinting at the little block with the label, 'Lake's Bakery' on it.

"Huh," Torryn frowned as he traced his finger around a few times as if trying to remember a route.

"Oh," his eyes lit up in realization. "Wow."

"What?" Ethan asked through a mouthful of cheesecake.

"Well," Torryn looked up at us. "Thomas Lake's bakery was in the same place as this cafe, Mad Batter."

********************************

Dun! Dun! Dun!
Haha, I just love this book sometimes! I know, I know, it's not even October yet and the book's already at Christmas but I can't control the story sometimes, ya know?

Also, check out the new cover!! I made it myself!!! Lemme know what you think!

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Aria: Vote because you love my manipulative side too!