“Uh huh.” The girl turned and headed for the door.
As my vision returned, I could somewhat make out the shape of her pumpkin costume and the tint of her red hair. “Wait. Are you Eve?”
“I am.” Hesitancy filled her voice, but she paused by the door.
We’d found her.
“We need to talk to you,” I said.
“Why?” Eve said.
“It’s about Graham Duvall.” I took a step closer.
Her cheerful expression dropped. “Oh.”
“We heard you were with him at the Tea and Tarot the night he died.” I watched her carefully for any signs of guilt—whether she was the murderer or the one he might have cheated with.
She pulled on her long red ponytail. “Not this again. I already talked to the police.”
“You did?” I blinked at her, though I shouldn’t have been surprised. It was good that they were working through the same suspects as us. Hopefully, it meant that we were both on the right track.
“Yes, and I already gave them my alibi.” She put a hand on her hip. “Graham was totally fine when we parted ways, and I didn’t see him again that night.”
“You don’t seem too sad about his death,” Riley said carefully.
She twisted her lips. “Honestly, I didn’t know him that well. It’s sad that he was killed and all, but you can only be sad about a near-stranger for so long.”
I froze. They were near strangers? That ruled out my theory that Eve was the girl he cheated with. My balancingmagic didn’t react to her at all, and maybe that was worth paying attention to. It wasn’t exactly a lie detector, but the more I listened to it, the more I was learning how much it could tell me about others and their intentions—like how perfectly calm it was with Riley.
“Why were you meeting Graham?” Riley asked.
Eve glared at him. “I don’t think it’s any of your business.”
Riley smiled at her and pulled out a notebook that reminded me of the one Lizzy always carried around. Was that just a reporter thing? Didn’t they realize they could just as easily keep notes on their phone?
“I’m trying to make sure I have the story fully covered for my article for the paper,” he said.
Her eyes widened. “This is going in the paper? You should’ve said so,” she said. “Graham and I met because he asked me to tutor him for one of his classes. He didn’t like to meet anywhere near campus because he wanted to hide the fact that he needed help, so I suggested the tea shop.”
“If you didn’t know Graham very well, why did you two make plans to come to the party together?”
She wrinkled her nose. “We didn’t.”
“We heard that the two of you were talking about the party at the Tea and Tarot yesterday,” Riley said.
“We were just talking about it since we were both planning on going,” she said. “But nottogether.I’m dating someone, and I’m not interested in cheaters, anyway.”
“Where did you hear that?” The words slipped from me. I’d only mentioned my suspicions to Jaxon and Elaine, who’d told Caleb.
Eve shrugged. “It’s all over town.”
“I see.” My stomach sank. Even though it wasn’t surprising, it still sucked to hear. Had Caleb spread the rumor to throw suspicion off himself? “Do you know who he cheated on her with?” I leaned closer, trying to mimic her body language and make her think I enjoy gossip as much as she did. Maybe there was still a chance to figure out the identity of our other suspect.
Eve flipped her hair over her shoulder and held the flashlight under her chin like she was going to tell a ghost story. “That’s the real mystery, but whoever she was better hope it stays a mystery, or I could picture the ex-girlfriend going for her next.”
“Eve!” someone called from down the hall.
“Over here,” she shouted over her shoulder before turning back to us. “Well, I better go.”
