Page 20 of Vanished in the Mist (A Mystic Lake Mystery #2)

“Jimmy the lock?” Kaden held up a pocketknife and flipped open one of the smaller blades.

Shanna shook her head. “I’m not feeling needed here at all.”

“What kind of Watson would I be if I wasn’t helpful? Want me to open it?”

She crossed her arms. “Go ahead. Don’t scratch or break it.”

He inserted the knife tip into the tiny lock and turned. The cheap closure snapped open just as if he’d used a key.

“That was a little too easy for you.” She took the now open diary from him.

“Perhaps I should run a background check to see if you’ve been cat burgling on the side.

I’ll take a quick look through this. Can you check out the bookshelf?

Maybe she hid pictures or books behind the ones in front that can tell us things she’s been doing that she might not have told her parents. ”

“You picked up on that, too, huh. They seem well-intentioned. But I imagine a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl might feel smothered by all that close attention.”

She stared at him, surprised to hear his words echoing her earlier thoughts. “Having been that young girl in a similar situation, I absolutely agree.”

He tilted some books on the top shelf, looking behind them. “Did you keep a diary, too?”

“Oh, heck no. I wouldn’t dare have put my secrets down in writing for someone to find.”

“Then what makes you think Tanya did?”

“Honestly, it was a toss-up as to whether we’d find a diary here.

I was more interested in looking through the books to see if she wrote her thoughts in some of those or slid pictures and notes in them.

But everyone is different. A lot of girls do keep diaries.

I just hope hers isn’t a cover and has some real information.

” She continued to turn pages, skimming through it.

“A cover?” He slid the books back and started checking the next shelf.

“Well, if your mom keeps close tabs, you might put a fake diary under your mattress. The real stuff would be…” She looked up as he turned toward her. “Don’t you dare tell me you found something.”

“I can put it back if you want.”

She blew out an exasperated breath and held out her hand.

He gave her two pictures, then bent down to examine the larger books on the bottom shelf.

Shanna’s heart seemed to squeeze in her chest as she looked at the photos.

They were slightly blurry, as if they’d been taken from far away or in a hurry and Tanya had zoomed in.

Both showed the five popular kids that she and Kaden were looking into.

The first one was of a bonfire in the woods.

The second was at an outdoor pizza joint.

There wasn’t a sixth seat waiting for Tanya to take it.

She obviously wasn’t part of the group. Did she long to be one of the popular kids?

Part of their inner circle? Or had she taken the picture for another reason?

Like maybe she couldn’t stand the group and was trying to figure out how to pay them back for some slight, real or imagined.

Shanna snapped her own pictures of Tanya’s photos using her phone.

After finishing flipping through the diary and concluding that it was indeed likely a made up rosy story of her life for the benefit of her snooping mother—because no one’s life was this sanitized and happy—she slid the diary back where Kaden had found it. Then she crossed to the bookshelf.

“Where did you find these?”

He was crouched down, studying the lowest row of books. “Top shelf, middle. Page eighty-three of The Scarlet Letter. ”

“Go, Tanya. I loved that book.” She pulled it out and inserted the pictures in the right spot.

“Seriously? You liked it? Wasn’t it required reading in high-school English class?”

“Yes, but I still loved it.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Please tell me you read Wuthering Heights . And liked it.”

“I’ll plead the Fifth.”

She shook her head. “I don’t even know what to say.”

“I sense five whacks across the knuckles with a wooden ruler in my future.”

“Now where can I find a wooden ruler.” She blinked at one of the books on the bottom shelf. “Is that a school yearbook?”

He tilted his head to read the spine. “Looks like. From last year.”

They exchanged a sharp look.

Kaden pulled out the book and set it on the bed. Shanna flipped it open, then sighed. “Oh, Tanya. Poor thing.”

“What? I don’t see anything.”

“Exactly. No one signed her yearbook. At least, not the inside cover.” She flipped to the end. “They didn’t sign the back cover, either. Even casual acquaintances sign each other’s yearbooks.”

“Maybe her mother didn’t want her messing it up by having people write in it.” He motioned around the room. “Look how spotless this bedroom is.”

“Good point. Where’s the senior student section?”

“She was a sophomore. Oh, you want to look for the popular clique.”

“Exactly.” She thumbed through the pictures, stopping at the section for last names starting with a C . “No way.”

Kaden leaned over her shoulder. “Four stars below Tristan Cargill’s picture. I’m guessing that means she liked him?”

“Did you even go to high school?”

He laughed. “Guess I missed some of the more important parts of my education.”

“I’ll say. Yes, she liked him. Really liked him. Although I don’t see how. Sounds like he was a jerk, God rest his soul. Ugh. I shouldn’t criticize the dead.”

“I don’t think he cares at this point.”

She lightly punched him on the shoulder. “Who’s next in the alphabet?”

“Jessica DeWalt. I’m guessing we skip her since she put the stars on a boy’s picture. Sam Morton is the next guy in the clique.”

“Morton, Morton.” She flipped several more pages, then stopped.

“There,” Kaden said. “Bottom right.”

“Oh, wow. I wouldn’t have recognized him. He sure changed since high school. A lot more clean-cut. A lot less hair.”

“And five stars. Looks like we have our connection.”

“Looks like. Just for kicks, I’ll check out Jack Neal. Want to bet how many stars before I get to his photo?”

“Wasn’t he the one Stella said was a bully?”

Shanna turned one more page, then froze. “Oh, my.”

Kaden shook his head as he studied the picture. “What the heck did he do to her?”

“Whatever it was, it was bad. I mean, you don’t draw devil’s horns and knives piercing someone’s skull unless you’re really upset at them.” She took a picture of that as well and then handed the yearbook to Kaden to return it to the shelf.

“I think we’ve got what we came for,” she said, when he joined her by the bed again. “We know there was a connection between Tanya and the others. Or, at least, Tanya wanted there to be a connection. The real question is whether they all knew it and took advantage of her in some way.”

“Like hurt her? Or killed her? You really think a group of seniors would murder a sophomore because, what, she was bugging them too much or got caught spying on them?”

“In my line of work, honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me. Just like people go nuts with road rage and do things they’d never dream of under normal circumstances. People can be horrible to each other, given the right conditions.”

“Or wrong ones,” he said.

She nodded her agreement. “Hopefully we can find out the truth about Tanya’s last day by aiming targeted questions and putting pressure on Peyton, Sam and Jack.”

He got up and held open the bedroom door. “Assuming we can find them.”