Mal continued down the tree-lined sidewalk without looking back at him. Her ears had perked up slightly. “Is Alicia Reyes on your suspect list?”

“Nathan’s girlfriend? With the ocelot aspect?” Cat’s eyes widened and he sped up at the mention of Alicia’s name. Phoebe followed a few steps behind them.

“Yeah, I was friends with her,” Mal said. “She was acting weird before Nate died.”

“How so?”

“She was just quiet, like she was lost in thought. Her and Nate had been fighting. And you know how the murder weapon was stolen from a museum? Our school takes field trips there, and when my class went she stared at that mace for a long time. But I don’t think she actually did it- there’s no way a student could have broken in like that.”

Cat hummed. “They questioned her after Nathan’s murder, but she got dropped as a suspect early on.” And then the whole case had gone cold. “You were her friend? I apologize,” he added.

“Don’t be. After it happened she became really withdrawn. We lost touch. And besides, Mr. Bower was an abusive creep. Maybe Nate was transgressing, too.”

Image: Mal, Alicia, and Nathan in high school. They’re walking together down a hallway and Mr. Bower is behind them, walking in a different direction. Mal is angry at his presence while Alicia looks worried. End description.

“That’s a possibility…” Cat trailed off. Mal still sounded agitated; Phoebe wasn’t sure how to continue the conversation and it seemed like he didn’t, either.

Image: Cat, Mal, and Phoebe walking together, seen from the back. Cat and Phoebe are both looking at Mal. End description.



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12.11.2024
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Well I went and sprained my ankle, and unfortunately I’ve rediscovered how much I like laying in bed doing nothing in particular.

In other news, I’d like to phase out Twitter as a platform that I post updates on. Because of this, I’ve added a list of other ways that you can follow Katabasis on the Links page.