Third period was always the worst. Not only did he have to sit between two cheerleaders that laughed back and forth and didn’t seem to notice that he was sitting right between them, but English and Composition weren’t exactly his strong suits. None of the words made any sense to him - though, he supposed that’s what all the after school work was for. It didn’t seem to be helping much yet. The program at Pierview wasn’t nearly as advanced as the one he’d started in Chicago and there weren’t exactly paid tutors here that really stood up to the challenges that he faced when it came to school and reading.

“Did you see that hickey on Kitty’s neck at practice yesterday? Ew.”

“Double ew. Her boyfriend might be the quarterback but he’s totally a low six.”

“I don’t know, he’s got nice arms. I’d let him plow m-”

The bell rang, indicating the start of class, before a voice came on over the old speaker system.

"RYDER LYNN, PLEASE COME TO THE COUNSELLORS OFFICE.”

He sighed audibly, standing up and picking up his backpack from where it had been tucked under his desk. Different students had been called down throughout the day and he shouldn’t have been surprised that he was one of the names on the list. Sure, he was new to Pierview but that didn’t mean he couldn’t know something about the case or the boy that was the topic of every conversation today. 

Ryder took a hall pass from the teacher before leaving the room and navigating to the small cubicle of a room that the school liked to call an office. It wasn’t nearly large enough to hold more than a desk and a few chairs, but that seemed to fit in well with the rest of the schools original, old school furnishings. He knocked before entering and furrowed his eyebrows when he saw recognition spark on the face of the Sheriff - sat with his feet crossed at the ankles on the corner of the desk.

“AREN’T YOU MARLENE’S SON? HOW’S YOUR MOM? I WASN’T EXPECTING TO SEE HER BACK IN OHIO.”

"Uh, yeah. She’s okay,” he dropped his bag to the floor and took a seat in one of the faded chairs that sat in front of the officer. “Wasn’t exactly planning on moving back but it seemed like the best thing to do, I guess.” 

“Makes sense. Wouldn’t be right to leave the family in distress like this. She and her brother weren’t always close, but she always knew when she needed to be around.”

“Yeah... How d’you know my mom, exactly?”

“We went to school together. You know she grew up in Pierview, right?”

“Yeah, right. Duh.” Ryder scratched the back of his head, rustling and messing up the hair there as he leaned forward. “So, what am I doing here, Sheriff?”

“We’re interviewing all students to make sure we get the full story. If I’d known you were here, I’d have called you in sooner. THIS MAY SEEM OBVIOUS TO YOU, BUT FOR THE RECORD - CAN YOU EXPLAIN TO ME HOW YOU KNOW SEBASTIAN SMYTHE?”

Ryder shifted in his seat and dug his fists into the pocket of his sweatshirt. He’d done well at keeping his exact identity a secret from the rest of the student body. If someone had gone after Sebastian for any kind of personal reason, he didn’t want to make himself a target too. Ryder wasn’t particularly excited to share the information, but he knew didn’t want to lie to the sheriff. Especially since he had a few questions of his own. 

“Sebastian Smythe was my cousin. His dad and my mom are brother and sister.”

The sheriff nodded and Ryder knew that he’d already known the answer to his own question.

“DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR COUSIN HAD ANY ENEMIES?”

"We didn’t really talk a lot about school or anything when he came up on the weekends. He was trying to get away from all that stuff, you know? We mostly just snuck out and went to parties. There were a few times he mentioned having dirt on a lot of his friends but I figured that was normal high school gossip kind of stuff. Nothing that would get him killed or something crazy like that.”

“And you and your family were living in Chicago at this time? How often did Sebastian visit?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t all the time. For a while it was only once every couple of months. When we were like thirteen, fourteen. There was a while when he didn’t come at all and then when this school year started it was every couple of weeks. Mom knows how his parents could be, so she was always really cool about letting him crash.”

“And how are his parents exactly?”

“Strict, I guess? I don’t know. They have really high expectations. It’s kind of a Smythe thing. They wanted him to take over at the law firm, so they were always super up tight and telling him what to do all the time. It wasn’t really surprising that he’d just snap and run away, you know? That’s kinda what we were hoping had happened. He’d always end up at our place and when he didn’t, his mom kinda panicked.”

“So you moved to Pierview.”

“Yeah. The Smythe’s might be kinda uptight sometimes, but we know when we’ve gotta be there for each other.”

THE OFFICER SLIDES A ZIPLOCK BAG OF CHARRED BALLETS WITH ‘BLAINE ANDERSON’ MARKED ON EVERY SLIP ACROSS THE DESK. “DO THESE LOOK FAMILIAR TO YOU? WE FOUND THEM IN A GRILL IN THE PARK IN SEBASTIAN’S NEIGHBORHOOD.”

Ryder moved forward in his seat, leaning over the papers on the desk. “No, I’ve never seen them. Do you think Blaine did something?”

“I’m not in a position to answer that but we think whoever put these in that grill might have some idea where Sebastian was the night he went missing. You’re sure you haven’t seen these before?”

He shook his head, sitting back in the chair with white-knuckled fists. He’d known there was something weird about the Anderson kid, but he hadn’t been able to put his finger on it. Maybe these weren’t connected to him at all, but then why would they even be considered evidence?

“TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE, IS THERE A DRUG PROBLEM AT PIERVIEW HIGH?”

"I think drugs are a problem at every school, Sheriff. It’s not nearly as bad here as it was in Chicago, but I’m sure there are a lot of kids here that sneak off to the woods during track days in gym class. Doesn’t really seem like that big of a thing.”

He watched as Sheriff Evans shrugged. It probably wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “Did Sebastian take something? Is that why you’re asking? Did they find drugs in his system?”

“I’m not in a position to answer...’

“Did he, though?”

“I can’t answer that, son. Your family will receive more details as we find them. AS THE SHERIFF OF THIS TOWN, IT’S MY DUTY TO FIND OUT WHO DID THIS TO YOUR COUSIN. WE WILL DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM. YOU’RE SAFE IN THIS ROOM SO IF THERE’S ANYTHING YOU WISH TO TELL ME, YOU CAN. ANYTHING YOU NEED TO GET OFF YOUR CHEST?”