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The Return

Back at the Claw everyone is just doing what they usually do when their at work including Nancy who is always late. Coming into the Claw Nancy pulls Bella aside, "I need to talk to you".

"What's wrong Nancy? You sound freaked out."

"Last night I heard a noise coming from the attic so I went into my attic last night to check it out and I saw a chest. It felt familiar like I knew it from somewhere so I opened it and I found a bloody dress in it."

Looking freaked out Bella started blurting out questions, "A-are you sure you weren't sleep walking or dreaming? What about a hallucination? I mean you were probably stressed out about finding Tiffany's dead body."

"No it was actual blood I smelled it, it was strong and rotten. But the strangest thing is that I remember my parents burying it in our backyard and then my mom just told me to go inside. I always thought it was a dream but clearly it isn't if the evidence is in my attic."

"Hey, there are people waiting to be waited on so stop talking and get back to work." George interrupted.

Looking at Nancy, Bella looked worried and while walking away she warned, "Don't talk to your dad about it yet. We are going to investigate where that dress came from and why your parents had it before we go around making accusations okay?"

Nancy nodded and went back to work.

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After work Nancy checked with her dad to see what time her dad would be home and he told her that he wouldn't be home for at least another 2 hours. Having that reassurance Nancy took Bella up to the attic to show her the dress. 

"See, a bloody dress in a creepy old chest with dirt stains on it. I wasn't dreaming."

"Wait I recognize this dress." Pulling our her phone Bella typed something in and faced the screen towards Nancy. "It belonged to Lucy Sable. She wore it for the Sea queen ceremony."

"No, that doesn't make any sense. I know that case like the back of my hand, Lucy was pushed from the cliff and no one ever caught her murderer. When the police went to investigate the edge of the cliff they found A crown, a sash, and a couple other items. There was no dress and if my parents have the dress that means that they were on the cliff that night and if they were on the cliff that night that means that they could've murdered Lucy Sable."

"No, Nancy your parents would never do that. They are good people. Your mother was a kind and loving person and your father couldn't have done it either, he's a good and and he's a lawyer for god's sake."

"That's the perfect cover though. A school guidance counselor and a lawyer would never be suspected as murderer's of a teenage girl." Tears start to form in Nancy's eyes. "We have seen good people hide their evil deeds before. My parents could be no different. I mean the evidence is stacked against them."

Trying to calm her friend down Bella grabs Nancy's shoulders and aligns their faces. "Nancy, look at me. Your mom was a great woman and your dad wouldn't harm a fly. Yeah they have a bloody dress in a chest but that is the only evidence against them. We don't have a weapon, there is no motive and there is only one piece of evidence. No one even found a fingerprint or DNA on the stuff that they found from Lucy's items. So we're not going to jump to any conclusions until we investigate further, got it?" Nancy nodded with a tear falling down her cheek reaffirming what her friend had said. Bella laid the dress down on the trunk and took a picture.

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After what happened in the attic and after getting the okay from Nancy, Bella invited everyone over. "Why did you call us here Bella?" George questioned.

Looking at Nancy, Bella was looking for confirmation to tell the group what was happening, she got the okay, took a deep breath and started to speak, "The other night Nancy heard noises in her attic and went to investigate it. When she went into the attic she saw a chest that she saw her parents bury when she was a kid. When she looked inside of it she found a dress-"

"Okay, what's so wrong about your parents burying a dress in your backyard? I mean maybe they just wanted to bury a bad memory." Ned interjected.

A tear started to roll down Nancy's cheek again and both Bess and Bella noticed and both went to comfort her. "Anyway continue with the story Bella." George expressed annoyance.

"There was blood on the dress."

"Fake?" Ace questioned.

"Completely real." Bella responded.

"Why would your parents have a bloody dress in your attic?" Bess finally added

"I don't know. I always thought it was a dream, my mom even convinced me of it and if my mom tried to convince me of it why wouldn't they be hiding anything?"

"Let me get back to the story."

A little surprised Ace asked, "There's more?"

Ignoring him Bella continued, "When Nancy showed me the dress in the attic I knew I recognized it." Pulling up the picture on her phone and grabbing Nancy's phone to pull up a picture of Lucy in her Sea queen dress she showed them to the group at the same time that she said, "It belonged to Lucy Sable."

Everyone was silent for a couple seconds before George decided to speak "Why would your parents have dead Lucy's dress. I mean shouldn't that be with the evidence?"

"We don't know how or why they have the dress in a trunk that they stored in their attic, all we know is that they were either there when Lucy died or after she died but before the police arrived."

"So what you're saying is that Drew's parents could be murderer's or accomplices to a murder". George expressed with shock. 

"No, what I'm saying is that Nancy's parents are suspects but that doesn't mean they killed Lucy. It just means that we need to figure out what happened to Lucy along with Tiffany."