Lily shrugged. “The tree hollow wasn’t that deep, and it’s nearly impossible that someone searched all the trees in the orchard. The recipe must’ve fallen out. Then the killer must’ve planted it in the kitchen, hoping the police would find it.” She shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself. “What if the killer comes back? I don’t know how I’m going to sleep—”

“I’ll come over,” Jack said, still feeding pages to the copier. Page after page, file after file, they made their way through the stacks. “After we’ve finished here, I’ll come back with you.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to—” Jack began, but Lily cut her off.

“No, I mean… you don’t have to pretend you’re coming over for me. I know you want to see him, Jack.”

“He’s my oldest friend,” Jack said simply, not looking at her. “Of course I want to see him and hear about the past three years.”

“You two haven’t been talking?”

Jack stiffened, then shook her head. “You said Belle and I wanted to forget everything that happened? Everything we’d almost done? I think Raven wanted to forget too. First his mom was taken from him, and then he almost took his own—”

“He’s been in contact with Belle.”

Jack spun around, her breathing gone shallow. Lily could see it in the way her chest jerked up and down. “How do you know that?”

“Belle came to visit me once,” Lily said, pulling the last of the papers from the tray. She put half the copied files in her purse, handing the other half to Jack. “She wanted to destroy the Recipe for the Perfect Murder so we could finally move on.” Lily huffed, returning the original files to their drawers and locking the cabinet. “If I’d told her where I’d hidden the stupid thing, none of this would’ve happened.”

“Belle wanted the evidence,” Jack said, her voice a hollow whisper.

“Yes.”

“And she’s been in contact with Raven this entire time? If she knew he was coming home, she could’ve searched the grounds for the recipe. We were out in the orchard when you first hid it.”

“Belle’s not the killer.” Lily strode over to the desk, signing out of her mother’s email. Jack was still standing by the copier, a distant look in her eyes. Quickly, Lily searched the hard drive for the name Andrew Kane, and when she found a digital copy of her father’s file, she deleted it. Then she emptied the trash folder. As far as anyone knew, he’d never come into this building. Never sat in the chair across from Lily’s mother and spilled his darkest secrets.

He’d never be a suspect.