Ben doesn’t answer any of the half dozen texts I send overnight, and just as I’m pondering whether a seventeen-year-old can have a heart attack, finally my phone buzzes.

Suzanne’s out of surgery. Maura wants to stay the night and I can’t talk her out of it. You okay? What’s so urgent?

Of course I didn’t text my wild theories to Ben, but I did say we need to talk ASAP. However, in the hours since I read my mom’s paper, doubt has settled in. It is a wild theory that Grace is coming after us in some fifty-year-delayed revenge plot against the next generation. We don’t even know that someone tampered with Suzanne’s brakes.

But what if.

I’ve been looking for an explanation as to why Natalie’s murder was staged as a copy of my grandmother’s book, of the original murder, and if it’s a message from Grace—you will all pay—that would explain it.

I picture her, a sweet old lady in a cherry-red cardigan. But then there she is, hovering over my shoulder at the top of the front steps, the twist of her nose at the sight of Suzanne’s car. Asking me pointed questions. Cataloging my responses.

Like a plot out of one of my grandmother’s books. It beggars belief.

And so I text Ben back—false alarm, just freaked out—and fret, waffling between absolute belief in my theory and mocking self-doubt. I need to do more research, get a better handle on Caroline’s murder and Grace herself before I go warning Ben of some imminent attack. He’ll think I’ve lost it, and that I’m definitely not girlfriend material. Plus, there’s still the whole blackmail thing. Plenty of reasons for Natalie to wind up dead.

But what if…

I Google “Caroline Quinn murder” on my phone on the walk to school, nearly get hit by a car when I step off the curb with eyes glued to the search results screen. Imagine the utter waste, dying for basic information. Every link I click regurgitates the same facts I already know, that any fan of Maura’s work knows: Caroline Quinn was found strangled in the pool not an hour after being crowned homecoming queen. Janitor Joe Bedecki was convicted a year later and sent to prison for life.

There are a few Reddit threads on r/UnresolvedMysteries with some mild conspiracy theories, but nothing of real substance. The sheriff did it, Mayor Bergen, secret boyfriend, secret girlfriend, principal, homecoming-queen runner-up, even Maura. The runner-up theory is compelling. I make a mental note to find out who it was.