“It’ll be a fresh start,” Mom said, conveniently forgetting the part where I’d been desperate to leave four years ago. Which meant returning to my hometown of Sturgis, Massachusetts, and moving into the house my parents had been renting to my uncle Nick since we’d left. I was fired from the paper, wait-listed at Northwestern, and informed by my parents that Dad’s job was transferring him back to company headquarters. Two of my best friends planned on staying local too, so we were already dreaming about getting an apartment together. I was living in Chicago, editor in chief of the school paper, applying early decision to my dream school, Northwestern. Less than two months ago, in October of my senior year, my life was fully on track. My application was…unconventional, to say the least.

Truth be told, I wasn’t expecting to land an interview for this internship. She’s obviously a Motive expert, whereas I’m a more recent convert to the true-crime arm of journalism. I’m impressed by all the rich detail she remembers from a show that aired more than a year ago. “I’m obsessed with the Story case,” she says, and bam-she’s off. They’re all so…” What’s the right word here? “Compelling.” I should have known what she meant, considering we’re sitting in the middle of temporary office space for Motive. “From the show,” she says, a note of impatience creeping into her voice.

The girl sitting beside me in the spacious reception area asks the question so brightly, with such a wide smile, that I’m positive I must have misheard her. Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

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Nothing more to tell karen