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social media profiles were exploited by the local press, which was one reason we asked to pull them down. The information would simply continue to hurt people with no benefit to our investigation. Ivy’s parents cooperated. Another key reason to freeze the information was to prevent potential tampering—most of our leads were generated off information we found on the victim’s cell phone and her public accounts.”
    “Yet, you never had a viable suspect.”
    “We had multiple suspects,” Grace corrected, “but every one of them had an alibi for time of death. Ivy was killed between ten thirty and two in the morning per forensics, but she used her phone to access social media at one ten, so we’re confident T.O.D. was between then and two. Half of the alibis were claims to be home sleeping. Most of the suspects were teenagers—and sneaking out of the house is certainly not impossible. Still, we couldn’t find proof that any of our key suspects did so.”
    “One reporter—Lance Lorenzo—suggested that Ivy committed suicide out of guilt for her complicity in the suicide of another student earlier in the year.”
    Grace’s lip twitched just a bit. “Lorenzo took partial information and came up with a theory that I refused to confirm or deny because we were in the middle of an investigation. Probably half the people involved think Ivy killed herself, including her stepfather once we verified Ivy’s ex-boyfriend’s alibi.”
    “But not you.”
    “I don’t know what happened to Ivy. Whether she was intentionally murdered or not I can’t say. If someone accidentally pushed her off the cliff that individual committed a crime by not reporting the death. And if that was someone we interviewed, that person is guilty of lying to the police and impeding an investigation.”
    “An accident.” Max jotted that information down in her notepad.
    “I’m not saying that I believe it was an accident; I do not have enough evidence to make that determination. I agreed to provide you information because your reputation tells me you won’t go off half-cocked like Lorenzo. That you’re not going to print or broadcast anything that you cannot verify.”
    “That’s correct. I don’t publicly issue a report until I have all the facts. I have never been asked to retract anything I have said or written because it was false. What I’m hearing from you is that while some people think Ivy killed herself and others think her death was an accident, you think she was murdered.”
    Grace leaned back, her stubby, unadorned fingers steepled in front of her. “I’ve been a cop for coming up on thirty years. Yes, I believe that Ivy Lake was murdered, but I explored every angle. She showed no signs of contemplating suicide. Her grades didn’t change. Her weight hadn’t changed. She showed no signs of depression, wrote no suicide note, no cutting, no drugs, no drinking. They did a full tox screen and there were no narcotics or alcohol in her system, and no sign that she’d used drugs in the recent past. She didn’t tell anyone she was thinking of killing herself, or use any of the references or catchphrases of someone contemplating suicide on social media.
    “The coroner found injuries consistent with being cut prior to falling—or being pushed—into the ravine. There were three distinct cuts on her forearms that were caused by a small, sharp blade, thicker than a scalpel but thinner than a standard switchblade. We tested every knife found in her residence and none matched.”
    “That information wasn’t released to the press,” Max said.
    “Correct. Because we had so little evidence at the scene, we needed something to hold back, something we could use against a potential suspect. Her cuts were consistent with defensive wounds, but they didn’t kill her. She fell the equivalent of three stories—survivable, perhaps, if she’d rolled down the ravine. But based on where Ivy’s body was found at the base of the cliff, we