CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

"What were you doing with a dagger in school Stella?" The detective asked. It was the third time of her asking and yet again Stella had remained mute.

Staring keenly at the pink silk gown that glued tightly to her skin, she remembered the vague thoughts at the computer lab and how she was sure she had smashed the chip into tiny unrecognizable pieces and buried it under the sand. When she passed the narrow path that led to the computer lab, and she did quite frequently, her eyes searched the sand for the black pieces until they were no longer seen. She had let that past behind her and never revisited it until the talk with the detective.

"It's not what you think ma," she said. "The dagger is mine but I didn't use it to kill Mary or anything like that."

"Have I said that?" The detective asked again. "What were you doing with a dagger in school?"