Prologue
A red dress, fishnet stockings, shiny red heels, her mom’s beloved pearls, and two red burettes.
That’s what Julie Evans was wearing the last time I saw her. She had talked about the country club party for months before the night actually came. The silk red dress was made to order, the heels were the most expensive money could buy, and somehow, Jules had even managed to wiggle her way between her mother, Nancy Evans, and those damn pearls she never parted with.
It was no surprise the night meant so much to her. It was, after all, the setting Julie thrived most in. A party dedicated solely to her and her Ivy League accomplishment: Harvard.
Everybody came. Jeremy Arthur from first period came, Mandy Green from trigonometry came, even unfamiliar faces from our rival school showed up.
Jules’ party didn’t exclude one Ellington citizen, and for just a night, the line between the elite and the unnoticed blurred, so much so that I wondered if on Monday, things would be different.
They were, but not for the reason I’d hoped.
At 6:35 the next morning, it was reported that Mrs. Baker from third street had taken her shiatsu Lola to Grover Park for a walk, the same walk they went on everyday.
But this time was different.
At 7:10, the news had spread that she had found a dead body floating in the lake. A dead body wearing an expensive red dress, shiny heels, and a beloved pearl necklace.
Nobody was excluded from Jules’ party that night, which meant nobody was off of the suspect list.
Anybody could have killed Julie Evans.
Even her dearest friend: me.
