“I hope they are,” Devon muttered. “I want this over.”

They made their way to Ms. Christie’s class. Only she was in there that early, the first bell still a few minutes away. Devon, Gem, and Lia took seats in the very back, and Ms. Christie handed them a packet outlining what would be happening over the next few weeks. After today, school was canceled for a week to give everyone time to grieve and the police time to find the killer. If the cancellation lasted longer, the school had prepared another packet to send out to students by email. How bleak for everyone to be prepared for weeks of a murderer carrying on. Lia didn’t read the whole sheet.

They would end this today.

“We have to leave our bags and phones in homeroom during lunch,” Devon said. “That’s annoying.”

Gem turned the first page over. “Is orchestra still meeting tonight?”

“We are,” Devon said, “but only for a few minutes to vote on what we want to do about the spring concert and rehearsals.”

“Maybe we should steal the key to homeroom so we can come back during lunch and go through bags,” Lia whispered. She mapped out where everyone was sitting in the back of her journal and circled the eight they needed to investigate. “Serial killers keep trophies. Maybe they’ll have one, and if not, maybe they left my account open on their phone.”

It would be hard to unlock the phones but not impossible. Probably. Whoever the killer was had guessed Lia’s password. How hard could it be?

“Okay, second idea: we ask Ms. Christie if we can do some work in here during lunch,” Gem said. “She’ll still have to leave to heat up her food and supervise the start of lunch like she always does, and she’s not going to say no to us.”

“She won’t?” Lia asked.

Gem sighed. “You’re so used to your parents saying no that you dismiss the idea of asking adults for help entirely.”

Devon leaned over Lia’s shoulder, one hand on her arm. “I’ll do it. She won’t say no to me.”

“Do it at the end of class,” Lia said. Her hunt for schedules last semester had taught her that people were more likely to agree to something simple if they wanted to leave quickly.

The other students began to trickle into class after the first bell rang. Hannah and Penny were first, taking their seats in the middle row in somber silence, and Mateo, in a hoodie and sweatpants instead of his normal ugly sweater, nodded to Devon as he slipped into his seat a few desks over from Devon. Faith stopped at Ms. Christie’s desk as she entered and took two of the handouts. She wore gray leggings and a red University of Arkansas fitted T-shirt. Her black tennis shoes looked new.

“Georgia’s sick,” Hannah said. “Her mom said it looks like food poisoning.”

Lia glanced at Gem and mouthed, “Poisoning?”

Maybe the killer was stepping out of their comfort zone of blitz attacks and trip wires.