Sitting cross legged in the middle of the floor of my spare room; newspaper clippings, old police reports and journal articles scatter the carpet. Gazing over the timeline I’ve put together so many times over the years, I notice something that hasn’t stood out to me before.

• 14 years ago - Missing girl - dad assigned to her case
• 14 years ago - Found man with the tattoo - tattoo linked to club
• 14 years ago - Dad went missing
• 12 years ago - Kyle died - news report - suspicious
• 10 years ago - Gifted Kyle’s journal for my 12th birthday
• 6 years ago - Mum’s suicide note
• Now - GEORGE WATSON??

Kyle’s last journal entry is dated the day before his death, this I already knew, but it’s the contents of the note I’m now seeing from a different point of view. I thought the note nodded to another rebellious night out. One where he had planned on sneaking out, meeting up with Jesse and keeping a secret about a girl they were both crushing on. He was thirteen, for god’s sake, anything is possible.

Tonight is the night, I’ve already called Jesse and I’m sneaking out through my window. I won’t lie, I’m scared as fuck but there is no turning back now.

As long as she knows she is the most important thing to me.

I don’t think Jesse knows it yet but I know he loves her.

If she can’t have me here for her, she will have him and that’s more than I can ask for. After all, he promised.

What if this wasn’t some love triangle they had been playing into, what if … No, it can’t be, could it? My head falls into my hands. If I’m right, this confirms one thing for sure; Kyle’s death wasn’t accidental. Someone killed my brother.

I don’t know where he went that night, or what he was doing but I am going to find out, because the girl he wrote about – it’s me. There is only one person who can give me the answers I need. Picking up my phone, I attempt to call Jesse … It goes straight to message bank.

Me - Hey, call me back when you get a chance.

Plan B. I flick back in the journal to when Dad went missing, focusing on the two years between his disappearance and Kyle’s death. Maybe there is something else I have missed.

I’m lost in the past when the sound of the front door opening startles me, pulling me back into the here and now. I immediately jump up and rush out of the spare room, closing the door behind me. This will have to wait.

“Kins, you home?”