"Fair enough," Thomas eventually says after a long moment of silence spent studying Liza. "Though for the record, your hair is pretty. I doubt anyone here will have much to say about me though. Nobody really knew me besides Sierra. Who knows that they'll make up or speculate though." Falling silent, he spends a moment chewing the inside of his lip and staring into space. Nobody here knew enough about him to present any real information that couldn't be taken from the school's database. That didn't mean they wouldn't bring up every suspicion and stray thought they had about him to the detectives.

"Everyone's got something to hide. Nobody is perfect." Not even the straight A honor student who never misses a day, never does anything wrong. Everyone's got a skeleton in their closet. Just so happens that the only person to see mine ended up dead, he added to himself, more than a little bitter about the whole thing. "Yeah, she was my friend. Only person here who really called me that," Thomas finished, eyes falling to the table. In the past, the only people to talk to him besides Sierra either hated him for the apparent ease with which he earned his grades, or saw him as an easy target. The list had given him a reason to talk to others though, and who was he to waste that chance? Besides, they all had a common tie already. Maybe now it was time to put together a full picture of who Sierra really was, to all of them.

"I know I just kind of showed up out of the blue, but I'm glad we can talk. I've been alone with my thoughts for too long, and I doubt anyone else would have listened to or put up with me." His mother certainly wouldn't have, not that she was ever around. The others on the list probably barely knew who he was, and everyone else avoided him for fear of being caught up in the whole mess.

Thomas had fallen silent for a while whilst Liza just kept eating casually. “Fair enough…. Though for the record your hair is pretty,” he finally decided to say. That got at least a half smile out of Liza as she punctured her Caprisun bag with the straw. Sure, maybe it was just his face-value niceness, but she was grateful for the compliment nonetheless. Compliments that weren’t either dripping with sarcasm or dripping with the intent to try and ‘get lucky with Loose Liza’ were pretty rare these days. …he wasn’t trying to get lucky, was he? Her smile transformed into a more puzzled expression.

Eh, he was pretty cute, but now really wasn’t the time she ought to be messing around—much less with a guy from Sierra’s list. Not unless they wanted to be the next Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito—sexing it up right after the death of a friend. Yeah, no… somehow she doubted that was why Mr. Picture of the Perfect Student was talking to her.

“I doubt anyone here will have much to say about me though. Nobody really knew me besides Sierra. Who knows what they'll make up or speculate though…," Tom's eyes seemed to get kinda distant, "Everyone's got something to hide. Nobody is perfect."

Truer words were never spoken. Although as far as skeletons in the closet went, it was a good thing most of them were only teenagers. They could probably chalk up most of the stupid stuff they’d done in the past to that inevitable foolishness that always walked hand in hand with youth. Then again, even if you didn’t have a history of getting into fights, like Liza did, if your background is full of violence—like say an almost permanently drunk father who once threw a beer bottle at his 10 year old son’s neck and permanently scarred it for life—you’re pretty much screwed. She secretly hoped she wouldn’t have to face any criminal psychologists. She didn’t want any of those guys probing her brain with their words….

"Yeah, she was my friend. Only person here who really called me that…. I know I just kind of showed up out of the blue, but I'm glad we can talk. I've been alone with my thoughts for too long, and I doubt anyone else would have listened to or put up with me."

Liza was silent for a moment before answering, “Don’t worry about it,” she shrugged, “I have a feeling we’ll all be a bit closer by the time this is over with… for better or for worse….” Her voice trailed off as she stared down at her open bag of Lays.

“Chips?” she offered, tilting the bag towards him. She knew how much it sucked to be on that mysterious little list Sierra had written. Liza considered herself pretty good at coping with things on her own, but all the accusations were beginning to wear down even her. She couldn’t imagine what it was like for everybody else... although, she had to admit, it was somewhat amusing to see the "perfect" kids like Andrea, Cameron, and even, up until now, Thomas thrown for such a loop. Welcome to my world, she'd scoffed one day when she'd glimpses some kids confronting Andrea and Cameron about it-- although they weren't hardly as accusatory towards them as they typically were with her.

"I just wonder why she left a list of all things," she mused, taking a small bite of her spicy tuna sandwich, "Like is the murderer even on that list or did Sierra just get a kick out of confusing the shit out of everyone."

She scoffed, “If that’s the case, maybe I should’ve hung out with her more often because that shit would be hilarious.... But I also wonder if maybe it was a warning, you know?"

Her nonchalant smile faded, "If anybody on that list dies any time soon, I guess we'll know, huh?" She watched Thomas carefully, doing her best to look spooked by her own words, but couldn't keep up the act for long. She broke into a light chuckle and took another bite. Maybe some would call her crazy for making light of such a gloomy topic, but this was just part of how she coped. She wasn't about to get all mushy with a guy she just met, either. He had yet to gain even a semblance of her trust, which wasn't going to happen in a single day and she highly doubted would ever happen anyway-- so until then, this conversation was nothing but a silly dance to Liza. Thomas wasn't going to get anything more than a few shared chips and inappropriate jokes out of her in the meantime.

"I'll make sure that you can play, it's my fault you're here and not at school. I at least owe you that much." "I don't want to go back to Australia... But I want a reason to stay... Look, I know you don't feel for me what I feel for you, and it's nowhere near the best timing or how I imagined it in my head... But would you be that reason, please..? You said you want me to be happy and you make me happy." "I understand if you say no... You know, forget about it. It was stupid. Just... I'll stay."

Cameron hugged her tightly, taking a deep breath. He rubbed her back gently, staring off into space. He didn't answer her for a minute, and he wasn't really thinking about anything either. His mind was blank and he was completely content to let it stay that way for a few minutes. Finally, he took another deep breath and nodded to himself.

"I'll be your reason," He said quietly. His eyes narrowed as thoughts began to flood back into his head.

Thomas rolled his eyes as Liza chuckled, not really able to take the mention of others on the list dying seriously. If that was going to happen, it was very unlikely he or anyone else could do anything about it. Taking a chip as an excuse to pause in thought again, biting into it and taking note of Liza's expression. It's not exactly a laughing matter, but everyone copes in different ways I suppose. Only have to look at myself for evidence of that, I probably wouldn't be talking to Liza if Sierra was still around. Not that there's anything wrong with her.

"If the killer isn't on the list, it's most likely meant to be a warning. Or a sick joke, though I doubt anyone would have the presence of mind to pull a prank like that if they were about to die. For that matter, why would she make a list as a warning without explaining the reason for it? I mean, what exactly are we supposed to look out for?" he asked, his tone more conversational than serious. He wasn't going to make light of the situation, but he couldn't help a casual curiosity about the meaning of that list.

"At least the cops won't have to try very hard to draw up a suspect list, she basically told them who to look for. Makes me wonder if they're even considering anyone not on the last as a possible suspect. I wouldn't, to begin with. Not until I had a reason to. Then again, I'm no detective. They'll find out who did it, or they won't. In the end it won't bring her back."

Thomas shifted in his seat while considering his own words, laying one leg across the opposite knee. It was only a matter of time before the police decided to interview everyone on the list, that was for sure, but it still made him a little anxious. "Whatever will be, will be. Nothing we do now is going to change that, so we might as well just wait it out and hope her killer is brought to justice."

Liza smirked into her sandwich, noticing Thomas out of the corner of her eye, looking less than pleased with her little joke. He seemed to catch on well enough, though. She was glad he caught the slight seriousness in her jesting. They really ought to be more heavily considering what the list was exactly for. She'd been scratching her head over it for well over a week. Thomas seemed capable enough... maybe he could be the one to help her figure it out.

“At least the cops won't have to try very hard to draw up a suspect list, she basically told them who to look for. Makes me wonder if they're even considering anyone not on the list as a possible suspect. I wouldn't, to begin with. Not until I had a reason to.”

Bingo, Liza thought pensively. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again as Thomas went on-- deciding to let him finish.

“Then again, I'm no detective. They'll find out who did it, or they won't. In the end it won't bring her back….”

Oh boy… that was a bit morbid. Had Thomas had a crush on her or something? Liza wiped the corner of her mouth with her fingernail, careful not to smear her lipstick whilst she continued listening.

“Whatever will be, will be. Nothing we do now is going to change that, so we might as well just wait it out and hope her killer is brought to justice."

“No no no,” Liza shook her head, “That’s the problem. Don’t you see? What if the killer really isn’t on that list?”

She crumpled up her empty lunch bag, “You said it yourself. Why would anyone pull a prank right before they died? Assuming she saw it coming, Sierra, in her last seconds of life, chose to write down names. Our names. Who’s to say she didn’t die before she was able to finish writing her list? And, more importantly, why did she write it?”

Liza paused for a moment, tossing her crumpled lunch bag into a nearby trash can before turning to face Thomas again, her expression very serious, “If the police are using Sierra’s list as a list of suspects, then that means Sierra suspected each of us when she wrote it. Now, who really has a list that long of people who might want to kill them?” Liza was silent for a moment, seeming to reflect on what she’d just said, before chuckling sheepishly, “Uh—don’t answer that… but really. I mean, think about it.

“We were her friends… not her enemies... supposedly,” Liza couldn’t speak for the other people on the list, “She wrote her own sisters’ names on the list after all, you know? So if it wasn't a list of suspects, then what?”

She shook her head and sighed, resting her elbows on the table, “If what you said is true and the police really aren’t considering anybody not on that list I think we have a serious problem. The killer could be halfway to Tahiti by now....”

She smiled and leaned in close, "You know... we could do a little bit of snooping around on our own... see if the cops didn't miss anything."

Cameron looked at her as her warm hands settled on his chest, his face conveyed something similar to a blank expression. He wasn't used to sharing emotions and he wasn't quite sure he was doing it right. It didn't feel right anyway, he frowned, looking down between them.

"Uh Yeah, this is just weird ya know?" He asked, looking at her with a crooked smile, "I mean, talking about it, it's weird for me," He said, giving her a flash of a pained expression. He stepped closer to her, wrapping his arms around her, clasping his hands together and leaning his hip on the counter.

"But this is nice," He said with a grin. He let his eyes wander for another moment, "How are you going to make sure I play?" He asked, looking at her again. Perhaps she had some hidden talent of persuasion that he didn't know about. It wouldn't surprise him, she could be quite charming when she needed to be. It was probably the accent, he mused. He thought about it, yes, definitely the accent. It made people admire her more. Perhaps admire wasn't the correct word. Awestruck might have been a better one. Cameron was certainly fascinated by her when he first met her. Although, truthfully he'd never thought that she would have felt this way. Of course he wasn't exactly the best in the romance department. She had probably been extremely obvious and he never would have known.

Edwin was duly impressed with how Elise was handling the situation. She was not afraid to go toe to toe with Alexis and made it very clear she wanted nothing to do with the media. Edwin would've continued smirking but then he looked back in the kitchen and Elsie comforting her sister. It was at that moment Edwin no longer saw himself as a homicide detective, but he saw two girls who weren't much older than his own daughters. Edwin felt another aspect of his life in him coming to the surface, and it was time for Alexis to see that side of him, and that side was that of a protective father.

He looked at Alexis and said, "I think Miss Williams has made her feelings blatantly clear, and if she hasn't then allow me to do so." Edwin felt his backbone stiffen as he imagined his own daughters going through this and said, "The people in this town are a very tight community. They already have a low opinion of the media and all the attention that this has generated. They know what the facts are about the people who live here. They know these girls and the hell that they're going through and they want to help by giving them their space and dealing with the truth of the situation not the people who have been hurt by it. If you write one thing that is not true or causes these young ladies or their family any further distress I will bury you. I have a lawyer in the family works for a firm in Houston. She'd be willing to do dome pro-bono work for her little brother, and considering she's a mom herself she won't be happy with you."

Edwin pulled out the handcuffs and said, "You have to the count of five to be heading off of this porch and to your car. Otherwise I will cuff you and ride you in on my Harley. Your call." He took a deep breath and said, "1,2,3,..."

"What do I say..? I say that I feel as though you're threatening me. You may not be taking that tone, but I can feel it oozing out of your attitude." Alexis sighed, and shook her head. “No, no ma'am-”. She stopped, pursing her lips and letting the young girl continue. "If I let you in your going to use us and drop us; we're nothing but a stepping stone for you. I know about the media, they twist everything you say and make the innocent look guilty. I'm not going to put my family through this; your not going to put my sister through this. Detective please." With nimble hands, Alexis shoved the notepad back into her bag and raised her hands in the universal sign of surrender. “I would never do that.” She stated, a complicated emotion leaking into her voice. “I'm not that kind of person, and you're going to regret sending me away when the real goons start hounding you. They aren't going to be scared off by some tough words and a detective.” She was slowly backing down the stairs, eyeing Detective Rogers as she went. “Here's my card,” she murmured, thrusting a business card towards Elise. “I you ever want to talk, give me a call.”

"The people in this town are a very tight community. They already have a low opinion of the media and all the attention that this has generated. They know what the facts are about the people who live here. They know these girls and the hell that they're going through and they want to help by giving them their space and dealing with the truth of the situation not the people who have been hurt by it. If you write one thing that is not true or causes these young ladies or their family any further distress I will bury you.”

Alexis raised her eyebrows and, despite herself, smirked. “Okay, okay. But just so you know detective, I have been apart of this community for several years now. You're the outsider.” She put a hand over her chest, almost mockingly, and stared him in the eyes. “And I solemnly swear that I won't write anything that isn't true about this family...” Her eyes went cold as she dropped both her hands to her sides. “I'm not a monster.” No, she wasn't a monster, but she did know one when she saw it. "You have to the count of five to be heading off of this porch and to your car. Otherwise I will cuff you and ride you in on my Harley. Your call." As the detective's voice started counting, Alexis turned around and started back down the driveway. “If you have anything to say, Ms. Williams, call me!” Her singsong voice drifted towards the detective and the two sisters as she stepped into her car and disappeared down the road.

Resting his elbow on the table and his chin the the palm of his hand, Thomas considered Liza's point. It was entirely true that if the police only looked for suspects off the list, the person who actually committed the crime would get away if they weren't on it. The odds of that seemed fairly slim to him, but it was always possible. Even the most unlikely of events had a chance to occur.

"You might have something there. What if the killer planted the list on purpose, as a distraction? Or even saw their name on it and managed to remove it somehow? I don't see how we could come to that conclusion and the police might not though. Detectives have their jobs for a reason, right? The part that really gets to me about all of this though is that the list is of her friends and siblings, at least supposedly. There's only one name on there I don't recognize, but who's to say she didn't have friends, or enemies, outside of school? Why point the finger at her friends though? Which of us would really have a reason to do something so drastic as kill her?"

Drumming his fingers against his lower lip and narrowing his eyes, Thomas thought it all through, considering each name and what he knew of the person behind it. No likely motivations came to mind, but that by no means meant there weren't any.

"Maybe if we could get a look at the list, or even the other evidence... I don't know. I don't think anyone has enough information to really get a picture of what happened, or why. If they had, someone would have been arrested by now. I don't think we're going to outdo a trained homicide detective though. Especially without access to everything they will have."

“Some four million year old hot-shot detective from out of town?” Liza rolled her eyes, resting them on Thomas doubtfully, “He probably can’t see past his own nose.

“We’re the ones that knew her, right? So why not try and find out what we can? Don't we owe that to Sierra? The police don’t have access to everything. Not without having to do a bunch of paper work and walk the line of “laws and regulations” and whatever. All that shit, you know?” She sighed and tousled her bangs out of her eyes before picking up her backpack and standing up to leave.

“Look. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. I was only offering because you seemed capable. I’ll do it myself if you don’t want to help,” she frowned, shifting her weight to one side and staring fixedly at Thomas. Sit and do nothing or try to help Sierra? She hung the ultimatum over his head like an impending storm cloud. She'd been planning on going it alone as it was-- just like always. If he didn't want to help it was no skin off her back.

"Aren't you resourceful," Cameron said, a small smile on his lips. Her reasoning was good enough for him, he knew his parents wouldn't mind when he explained. Their best friend had just been murdered, they were a little lenient about certain things. Most people thought that Cameron's parents pushed him to play soccer, but they didn't. In fact, they repeatedly asked him to take a break, worried that he would burn himself out but he refused. He was driven and determined to get a soccer scholarship and play in the World Cup or even the Olympics.

---

Dylan sighed as she trudged into the lunch room, her half eaten sandwich in her hand. The scowl on her face projected more than irritation, it also portrayed a hint of anger. She'd gone to the art room over lunch to finish a painting and she couldn't finish it because her art teacher had decided to talk to her about the death of Sierra Williams. Really?! Dylan hadn't even known the girl, except for the few times she came to the house to hang out with Cameron and Andrea and everyone was looking at her like she was a lost puppy. It was so irritating. She couldn't paint with people whispering about how tormented she must be behind her back. Dylan did care that Sierra was dead, yes, what she was irritated about was all of the attention she was getting. She just wanted to paint and be ignored, but it was impossible with everyone thinking she was a walking depressed zombie. She growled to herself before she took another bite from her sandwich angrily. Out of the corner of her eye she saw two other students, who had been on Sierra's list. She wondered for a moment if she should talk to them, but she eventually decided against it. Her eyes scanned for an empty table to sit at and unfortunately there weren't any. She grimaced and looked back at the other two, one was standing and with a sigh she walked over and sat down gingerly.

"All of the other tables are full, ignore me," She said, taking another bite from her sandwich.

Edwin watched as Alexis walked away, but out of the corner of his eye kept an eye on Elise. Edwin hated more than ever that he was at her house, because now came the part were the vultures would come in looking for any morsel that they could get in their mouth. Edwin was there to gather information, but the information was personal but necessary for the case. This gave Edwin little sense of peace, and would be of cold comfort to Lyn and Elise.

It’s just part of the job, just part of the job. If I keep telling myself that enough maybe one day I’ll actually buy it.

Edwin was impressed with the way Elise not only handled Ashley, but her care for Lyn was what Edwin was most impressed with. Elise and Lyn were going to need therapy at some point to deal with all this, but the way they were holding together now was going to go a long way in their healing process.

Alexis didn’t worry Edwin in the least. As they made their way up the stairs Edwin said, “Alexis seems awfully sure I’m going to run into trouble.” He shook his head and said, “Not worried. I’ve gone toe to toe with a guy who had a bomb strapped to himself and was threatening to blow up the Pittsburgh Public Library.” Edwin shrugged his shoulders and said, “Although to be fair; I did have the SWAT Team standing behind me along with 15 other officers surrounding him and guns drawn. Besides anything happens to me Governor Pritchett will be down here with a task force to investigate, so the Sheriff is going to make sure I live to see the end of this case if nothing else.”

When he heard Elise’s question Edwin replied, “I’m looking for what we call an ‘odd sock.’ By that I mean something that stands out from the rest of the items in there. Something that doesn’t look like it belongs. Also we’re looking for something that ties the people on that list to Elise. I refuse to believe those names were just pulled out of a hat. You and your sister have the familial connection and that’s all I’m going on right now. I don’t see any issues worth pursuing with you two at this time, and I want to avoid too many direct questions right now. I just want to get a feel for whom your sister is. Basically we need to go over computer files if she has them, note books, books, you name it.”

Edwin handed Elise a pair of rubber gloves and said, “Please put these on. I want to avoid any cross contamination.”

Cameron was surprised as her lips pressed against his cheek. Shocked was a little more like it, but he played it off with a smile as Andie pulled him back into the living room. He sat down and rested an arm over the back, giving her a space to lean into his chest if she wished, but before she could sit there was a knock on the door. His eyes darted to it and he momentarily thought that it was one of the teachers, demanding that they get their butts back to school. He laughed at himself on the inside, teachers didn't do things like that.

"Why would I be expecting someone? This isn't my apartment," He said to Andie as she walked to the door. He heard someone ask her name, but he didn't move just yet, not until he heard someone asking her to go to the station and something about the William's case. When Andie looked back at him, he was already half-way across the apartment, coming up behind her. He looked over the officer, recognizing him, it was a small town after all. He moved to stand next to Andie, snaking a hand around her hip and pulling her in protectively to his side.

"I'm Cameron Anderson," He said, "I don't understand why Andrea would have to go to the station, like she said, she already told you everything she knows," He said lightly.

Edwin replied, "Thank you." He walked around the room just taking everything in one piece at a time. Sierra reminded Edwin of his daughter Lindsay. In the sense that everything was just so. Everything had a place and it would go in that place nowhere else. As he began his mental inventory Edwin thought it best not to do much moving of objects around without Elise being in the room. One Elise was Sierra's sister she might be able to tell some stories about the items that could be useful. Secondly Sierra was not too much older than his daughters. Edwin would not be thrilled if he saw detective just poking around either of his daughters' bedrooms so recently after their death. Edwin would not come right out and say it, but he worried about the moment that Elise just lost it. Yes right now she was being strong for her younger sister, but at some point that wall was going to come down. Edwin was hoping that it came down brick by brick, but at this moment it looked as though it was going to be a sudden crash. If that happened Elise would not be getting back up on her feet anytime soon.

Edwin looked around some the stuffed animals while he waited, but never touched any of them. He then noticed something in the back it was a raven.

After having been forced to sit through numerous screenings of "Snow White" with my daughters I know the one dominant animal was the evil queen's pet. Which was a raven again though not gonna touch anything until Elise comes back. Not to mention if for some reason Lynn comes in here that would just a crushing blow to her.

For Edwin though Elise held the possibility of some answers, but he knew he couldn't go but so far. Elise had every right to be protective of her sister's legacy.

Cameron listened to the officer, his lips in a firm line. He wasn't too happy about this, they'd already talked to the police. He sighed though, looking down at Andie as she spoke. He gave her a nod, tight and formal, before looking back at the officer.

"I'll get my stuff," He said simply before turning back into Andie's apartment. He grabbed his bag, and after a seconds deliberation, decided to leave the soccer ball on her couch. He'd get it later.

Cameron had left out the part about having feelings for Sierra, he didn't feel it was relevant and now he definitely wasn't going to tell. What if Andie found out? Would that hurt her? Probably, and it would explain why he didn't love her. He hadn't loved Sierra, no, but if he had a choice, he would have chosen her over Andie. He'd never speak those words aloud. Sierra was dead, it was time to forget about his feelings for her. He wondered if she had ever suspected that he liked her. He doubted it, he was always practicing or playing or working. He never had time for relationships, so why was he headed for one now? To keep his friend in town? He did care for Andie, but not like he had cared for Sierra.