Aru called her sisters and filled them in. Long story short they were now at 'The Artist Alley- villa #1' and thinking about this.

Aru crossed off 3rd of December on her calendar.

"Hey, Aiden?" Brynne asked. "Doesn't your aunt work at the police station?"

"Your aunt works at the police station?" Aru asked, not looking up. She was too busy writing down everything on this chalk board. Don't ask.

"Yeah, she does. Officer Urvashi? Ring a bell?" Aiden asked.

"Ohhhhh Urvashi. Yeah it does. She's like my uncle's friend" Aru said, writing down 'LIST OF SUSPECTS' "Well he's not my uncle, but my mom's friend so you get the point"

"Yeah, I do" He replied.

"Wait, oh my god, you would not believe Aru's nickname for him" Brynne said, laughing.

"His name is Shakhuni, but he goes by Subala, and Aru made it 'Boo'" Mini laughed.

"Boo?" Aiden asked.

"Boo." Aru said back. "I'm not ashamed."

They laughed for a bit before Aru cleared her throat.

"Possible suspects?" She asked.

"Uh, your dad." Brynne said.

"Yeah, him" Mini said.

"Okay" Aru said, writing down 'DAD' before rubbing it off. 'SUYODHANA' she wrote instead.

"Anyone else?" Aru asked.

They quieted.

"Lovely. Just lovely" Aru murmured as she looked around.

"Do we ask the police if they have any leads?" Mini asked.

"We can't, remember? They dropped the investigation" Aiden said.

"And even if they didn't, I'm pretty sure they'd tell us to stop investigating. After all we're just a bunch of '18 and 19 year olds'" Aru said.

"To be fair" Mini started, chewing on a muffin that Brynne made. "You and I are the only ones who are 18"

"Helps a lot, thanks" Aru rolled her eyes.

"When's your birthday?" Aiden asked.

"Feb 15" Aru replied.

"Okay, so I was thinking if it was any time soon, then that would help" Aiden slumped, defeated.

"It's not that far away" Aru interjected. "It's like, 2 months."

"GUYS!" Brynne shouted. "Point is, that doesn't matter. As long as we have the 'teen' part in our ages they're gonna say we're too young. And the fastest one of us can turn 20 is next year and-"

"And we don't have that kind of time" Aru looked down.

"Exactly"

"So what do we do?" Aiden asked, looking at the three of them. But they all turned to Aru.

"What?"

"You make all the sneaky plans. What do you have in mind?"

"Well uh" Aru paused. She thought.

"The first thing we can do is" She looked at Aiden. "Call Urvashi."

"Are you sure?" He asked. "She'll get suspicious"

"Just say something about me worrying. I don't know. But it's worth a try"

"Okay" He replied, taking out his phone.

"Okay"

Brynne and Mini shared an unreadable look, and then faced them.

Thankfully, Urvashi picked up, and Aiden put it on speakerphone.

"Hey masi" Aiden spoke.

"Aiden, beta? What's up?"

"Do you think you might be able to resume the investigation?"

"Aiden, I already told you. We can't"

Aiden looked at them sympathetically. They all slumped.

"Why not?" someone asked. It was only when they all looked at her, Aru realized she had spoken.

"Excuse me?"

"Why not?" Aru asked louder. She was livid again. She felt the same way as she did before when Boo said they dropped it.

"Aru, is that you? Listen, be-"

"No!" Aru shouted. "I won't listen until you listen to us. It's your job as the police to protect innocent people, so why not? Why the hell not, Urvashi?" She hissed the last part.

"Aru, I'm telling you" Urvashi said. Aru heard a hint of remorse there. "Subala protested-"

"Of course he protested! He's the only one I can trust-"

"No, Aru listen" Urvashi pressed. "He protested when we said we should continue the investigation. He said we shouldn't"

Silence. Aru was taken aback and she stared at the phone. 'Boo...lied to her?'

"What?" Aru asked feebly. She heard, 'is that Aru' in the back and Urvashi replying 'yes' and the line going dead.

They were all silent.

"I'm sure he had a good reason" Aiden started. "But even so, maybe we should put him in the list?"

"No" Brynne stressed. "I'm sure he wouldn't"

"We still should" Mini said quietly.

They all looked at Aru. Again.

"I think...I guess we should" Aru mumbled. As much as it hurt her to do it, this was too suspicious.

She guiltily wrote 'Boo' on it.

"We'll prove him innocent" Brynne said.

"Yeah. We will" Aru repeated quietly. "But we still have to suspect him I guess"

Aru's phone rang. It was Boo.

"Aru, are you alright?" He asked.

"Just peachy"

"You're not safe."

"I know"

"Would you mind telling me your surroundings when I call? I need to make sure you're safe"

Aru frowned. She had to suspect him, so would she? She asked her friends. Mini and Brynne voted yes, so she said okay.

"Where are you then?"

"I'll send it to you" Aru replied. She sent him the address. Boo replied with a 👍.

But Aru couldn't help feeling something was wrong.





OK THAT IS IT.

I'm just gonna do double updates from now on honestly.



So uh, second language exam tomorrow. But after that, I'M FREEEEEEE.

FREEEEEEEE.

FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.



Anyway, updates like everyday?



What do you think?

-Loife