on the map//spencer 'spider' white

26

It's been a few days since Quinni came home from hospital. Darren, Amerie, and I are going to check on her before school.

Darren is the one to knock on the door. "Hello. How you feeling?"

"Better now that I've been home a few days," Quinni tells us.

"We have something for you." Amerie holds the get well card out to Quinni. "We got the whole year group to sign it at school yesterday."

"Oh, my God. This is genius," Quinni says. "This is such an obvious way to crosscheck handwriting samples."

Quinn stands up and walks to the other side of her room. One the wall is a full detective level web of string and photos and everything about Bird Psycho suspects.

"Wow," I remark.

"Whoa, okay, that is a lot of string," Amerie says.

"Yeah. How long have you been doing this for, babe?" Darren asks.

"Since the first attack," Quinni informs us.

"Oh..." Darren says.

"Okay. Well, you know, there haven't been any more Bird Psycho attacks since camp, so, I think we might be in the clear, Quinn," Amerie tells her.

"Hang on," Darren says. "It probably takes a lot of time to plan all those attacks." I clear my throat. "Right. I think it's over. They probably freaked out when they nearly killed you, so..."

"Or they realized I was closing in on them," Quinni argues.

"Okay, well, either way, you don't need to investigate anymore, babe," Amerie tells her.

Quinni laughs lightly. "The case hasn't been solved yet."

"I know, and I really appreciate all the work that you put in, but I think we want you to focus on getting better now," Amerie tells her. "We'll help you pack it down."

"No, I'm fine," Quinni insists. "If you guys want to help me, ask Jojo if she knows where my phone is. You can also get me some more red string and Post-it notes." Quinni sighs. "I wish these crime shows were more honest about their production resources."

I stand at Darren's locker with them.

"Are you worried about Quinni?" I ask.

"Of course I am," Darren tells me.

"I mean that was kind of an impressive string filled investigation wall-board thingy," I state.

"It was actually impressive," Darren agrees.

"I don't know what else we should have expected Quinni to be doing for the past few days," I offer.

I see Quinni all of a sudden walking down the hall.

"What the hell?" I ask.

"Is that Quinni?" Darren remarks.

We follow Quinni into Jojo's classroom. She's asking about her phone.

"No, it wasn't picked up. It was stolen," Quinni insists. "

"That's okay, babe," Darren tells her. "We'll sort it out."

"But you really shouldn't be here," I tell her.

"They're right," Jojo agrees. "I'll speak to Principal Woods and see if we can get an update. But right now, you need to go home and rest up, okay?"

Quinni sighs. "Can you authorize a locker search?"

"I'll see what I can do," Jojo assures. "Maybe Darren can walk you home."