The mood in school was uneasy.
Though time had moved forward, the atmosphere had not. Whispers about Mike's death still lingered like the smell of burnt plastic. The fire in the dump site had been extinguished, but no one really felt safe anymore.
Not with detectives walking back in through the front gate.
Amanda saw them from the second-floor corridor. She paused at the railing, her heart thudding once—then settling back into its cold, mechanical rhythm. Brian was back. The other man, Paul, too, following behind with his usual notebook. She watched them enter the principal's office without a word.
Around her, students buzzed again.
"Why are they back?"
"Did they find something new?"
"What if it was one of us?"
Amanda didn't flinch. She just walked away.
In the principal's office, Brian adjusted his collar and sighed.
"This isn't routine," he told the principal, "but we reviewed the forensics report again… and a few things don't add up."
The principal nodded gravely. "Do what you have to do."
"I'd like to speak to Amanda Evans again," Brian said. "And the class president. David Turner, right?"
"Yes, that's him," she confirmed.
"And this time," Brian added, looking the principal straight in the eye, "don't tell them it's just routine questions. Let them know we're circling in."
Amanda's Interrogation – Round Two
Amanda walked in slowly. This time, she didn't look uninterested—just detached. Her gaze was steady, her shoulders relaxed.
Brian gestured to the seat across from him. She sat.
"So, Amanda," he began, voice calm, "I've gone over your statement. There are a few inconsistencies."
She didn't blink. "Like what?"
"You said Mike handed you the bags of trash and asked you to burn them, right?"
"Yes."
"But your teacher said she gave Mike that task. You were never told to carry trash at all."
Amanda didn't respond immediately. She tilted her head slightly.
"Well… Mike was never good at following rules," she said. "Maybe he didn't want to do it and pushed it on me."
Brian narrowed his eyes. "So you just did it. No complaints?"
"I've learned not to argue with guys like Mike."
"And you say you didn't see him after that?"
"No."
"But your classmate—David—said he saw Mike heading toward the dump site after you."
Brian didn't flinch as the lie left his mouth. He needed to rattle her — even if it meant playing dirty.
Amanda's gaze darkened for just a flicker of a second.
"I didn't see him."
Brian leaned back. "Amanda, someone killed him. We found accelerant traces on the ground. Someone poured gasoline on him. We can't find the jerrycan so we assume that was also burnt . Someone wanted it to burn clean."
Amanda didn't move.
"Are you sure," Brian continued softly, "you didn't see anyone? Didn't hear anything strange? A scream? A noise? Smoke?"
Amanda shook her head. "I was in a hurry to leave the site. It smelled awful."
Brian looked at her hard. "No one's accusing you—yet. But the silence… it won't protect you forever."
Amanda smiled faintly, almost mockingly. "Then maybe you should talk to the people who posted a video of me getting beaten nearly to death. I bet they know a lot about silence too."
Brian paused. He wrote something down. "You can go."
She stood. "Thanks."
Before she left, Brian added one more thing: "Amanda… if you ever change your mind. About what you saw. Or what you did. You can still talk to me. We always find the truth eventually."
Amanda didn't reply.
David's Interrogation
David was nervous the second he walked into the room.
He sat stiffly, his hands folded too tightly on his lap. His knee bounced slightly under the table.
"You're the class president, yes?" Brian asked.
David nodded.
"You arrived at school after Mike?"
"Yes. I was third, I think. Amanda came before me."
Brian tapped his pen. "Did you see Mike that morning?"
David hesitated. " No I didn't".
" Are you sure?"
David frowned. " I already told you everything I know the first time you asked."
Brian nodded. "So you had no interaction with Mike that day."
"No."
"Have you spoken to Amanda since she got back?"
David hesitated again. "Yeah… I visited her in the hospital. She didn't want me there."
"Do you think she would have hurt Mike?"
That made David sit up, his eyes darted around . "No. Amanda's not like that."
"But you do believe Mike was cruel to her?"
David nodded tightly. "Yes. He was one of the worst."
Brian studied him. "Is it possible Amanda snapped? You were there after the attack. You saw what they did to her."
David swallowed. "Anything is possible, I guess. But that doesn't mean she killed him."
Brian leaned in slightly. "Sometimes good people do terrible things when they're cornered."
David looked down.
Brian's voice lowered. "If you know something, David—if Amanda ever said anything to you—now's the time to tell me."
David shook his head. "She didn't. She doesn't even want to see my face "
"You still care about her?"
David looked up. "Yes."
Brian let the silence hang.
Then: "You can go."
When David stepped out into the hallway, he saw Amanda leaning against the wall, arms crossed. Their eyes met briefly.
She didn't say a word.
He didn't either.
But the silence between them said everything.
.