The Mystery Of Eastbrooks High

Chapter Twenty-Four: Fuelling The Flame

"IT MAKES SENSE, right?" Divya asked Norah, clasping her hands tightly in front of her as she stared at Norah with wide, dark brown eyes. Their faces were half-lit– they didn't bother turning the light inside the room, and the only source of illumination was the golden light struggling to creep inside the room from the small gap beneath and beside the door. The door wasn't completely shut in case somebody was searching for them.

Norah blinked slowly, then moved to clasp her hands in Divya's. "I'm so sorry, I blanked out completely. I heard the start, but I couldn't stop thinking about Tamaya. I was so worried..." she said pleadingly in a sorry tone.

Divya sighed but her lips curved into a tiny, understanding smile, "It's okay. Even I couldn't stop thinking about her. Let's go to her and sit with her for a while afterwards, after she's done with the conversation with Shane."

"Yeah," Norah said, sighing heavily. "What were you saying? I swear I'll listen now."

Divya cracked a smile before her face turned serious, "I was saying that– you know all these fingerprints found near many crime scenes, and all of them are missing children from this Isle. We've all been thinking that these children might have a grudge against the Isle for some unknown reason, but what if they were innocent? We're pretty close to Camwood and the boundary regions of our Isle are never safe because of this. What if those people went missing? And the killer or the people behind all of this– got hold of their fingerprints somehow?" Norah's eyes widened at Divya's track of thought. That was what she had been discussing with the others a while ago. And according to her mother, even the police were onboard with this train of thought, especially after the proof that Noah was innocent despite his prints found.

"It does make sense, doesn't it? These fingerprints are just like the red herrings we read about in murder mysteries– misdirections to throw us off, to send us for a wild goose chase. There might be lesser people involved, or maybe just one person behind all of this, and it would make more sense if they were from the bookclub. Ever since Dheeru's fingerprints were found, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I just know my brother wouldn't do anything like that. It is out of the question. He would never do anything like that. I just couldn't stop thinking about the fact that he is out there somewhere, living, breathing. Because the officers told that judging by the size of the prints, his hands have grown after he had gone missing, which means he is somewhere out there, breathing. And just knowing that makes me feel at peace. God, I just want to find him. Somedays I just want to tear apart this entire place– which would make it easier for me to find him."

"And then the Noah's fingerprints thingy happened. And it is pretty clear that it isn't Noah. And I heard you talking with Austin that night– the first day we came here. I couldn't sleep and I heard you tell about what happened with Noah. That whenever he was," she gulped before saying, "sold to other people, they took his fingerprints. Taking fingerprints means someone bought them. And you told that those people were brought to Westbrooks, and that Noah escaped.

And I couldn't help but think– what if all the fingerprints of the people we found, they had been kidnapped? They were smuggled into Camwood. What if the person or the people behind all the murders bought them? They bought them, took their fingerprints and planted them all over the crime scene. They were brought here, just as Noah was brought here to Westbrooks. They are alive, we do know that, because the fingerprints found were older, older of age than from when they went missing. Since Noah was brought here, it would mean that the other people were brought here too. Which means Dheeraj is somewhere around us, in this island." Divya said, looking up at Norah with fierce, glittering eyes. A hopeful smile spread across her lips, and Norah smiled back, reaching over to squeeze Divya's hand as she stayed silent for a moment, taking all of this in as Divya looked down at her phone with furrowed brows and typed something.