The man pulled up to the station, then climbed out of the car. Belle counted heartbeats as he strode to her door. Five. Ten. Fifteen. She managed to get to seventeen, the exact number of years she’d been on this earth, when the door swung open and the man reached for her. “Why would there be other flowers?” he asked, guiding her out of the darkness. “Belladonna killed her.”

Belle lost a bit of time after that. They were in the local police station, but they wouldn’t be holding her there for long. She was a minor, so she’d be sent to the detention center up on the hill. It was kind of funny, if she thought about it. Once upon a time, there had been four of them: Raven, Lily, Poppy, and Belle. But three years ago, Raven went away to boarding school on the other side of the country. Lily left soon after that. Poppy didn’t split town so much as totally betray her, leaving Belle to pick up the pieces of their shattered friendship.

Leaving her alone.

“I hope she has the same number,” Belle said when the officer finally let her make a call. “She doesn’t even have the same name.She used to go by Poppy but…” She doesn’t anymore, Belle thought, realizing she was rambling. After Raven moved away, Poppy had changed her name to Jack. She’d started dressing in clothes that were typically relegated to the boys’ section of department stores, but she still went by she, and the cop wouldn’t have understood that.

Probably, he wouldn’t have.

Within seconds she’d dialed Jack’s old cell number, and to her immense relief, the phone started ringing. She prayed Jack would answer. She prayed Jack wouldn’t slam down the phone the second she realized who was calling.

“Hello?” That familiar voice came on the line and Belle’s hands started to shake. Tears filled her eyes.

“It’s, um… it’s me,” she managed, dashing away the tears with her free hand. “Please don’t hang up.”

“Belle? Why are you calling me from the police station?”

“I…” How much should she say? These conversations were probably recorded. But even if they were, they couldn’t be used in a court of law without her permission. Right? You had to agree to be recorded or it was inadmissible. She knew this, because three years earlier, she’d studied her rights. She’d prepared to be arrested after she put her plan into action. But the night before the murder, someone had gotten cold feet.

Now that someone was listening on the other end of the phone. “Belladonna,” Jack said, her voice low and hard. “What happened? What did you—”

“Raven’s stepmother was murdered,” Belle blurted. “Someone used belladonna to kill her. Only belladonna,” she added in a whisper.

“No. That’s not possible, unless you—”