I looked up through my eyelashes as the door slowly opened. It made an odd noise as Harry poked his head around and peered in. His hair was slightly matted and splayed everywhere as though he had fallen asleep in typical fashion, and his eyes were narrowed in concentration. Finally, he pulled his whole body into the room, leaving enough space for the other three guys to slip through easily.

"Hey Kayleigh," Harry whispered softly, "You alright?" His gaze looked broken as he positioned himself on the floor with the others, making a tight semi-circle around me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But you don't have to treat me as though I'm broken Harry. I'm in prison, not....um..." I trailed off, realising I was about to say 'jail.' This was not going well. I slowly reached up a hand to wipe the falling tear away and Louis gazed across at me.

"El says hi by the way. She says none of them are judging you and that you can talk to her if you need to." He said.

"Tell her thank you. With any luck I'll be out of here soon and we'll be off back to England to finish the tour. We'll be able to talk then." I shrugged. "Where's Niall?" I asked curiously, suddenly realising he hadn't made an appearance yet.

Liam and Zayn looked at each other before Zayn spoke up. "He went to change his shirt. Anyway, what's the plan after you get out of here?" He was speaking very dismissively and I wondered again what was up with the boys.

"Oh. Well, I haven't really thought about formulating one yet. I guess I've just been focused on getting out of here up until this point. But I suppose you're right. I really should start making one." I shrug.

"What are your thoughts? Other than getting out of here unchanged?" Liam asks me.

I sigh and lay back on the floor, letting my red hair splay out behind my back. "Honestly? I don't know. I just want to get out of here. That's all I can think about, getting released. It's the only thing on my mind right now. But I want to prove that I'm innocent. When I get out of here, the whole world will have something to say to me. They have a right to but I know hardly any of it will be nice. I just want to make sure everybody knows that I didn't really...k...kill Paul. I want to find the real murderer."

"So, you want to play detective? But Kayleigh, once you're released, the police won't come back to you. They'll solve the case efficiently enough and, as much as it hurts me to say this, help us move on with our lives. Paul's....well...he's dead. You didn't kill him and we know that. Besides, you've been the subject of hate before and you've dealt with it well. You don't need to prove anything to anyone, as cheesy as that is." Louis told me anxiously.

"We'll all be here to support you anyway." Zayn shrugged, offering his own few words of wisdom to the conversation.

Harry had been uncharacteristically quiet up until this point, until he decided to interject with a cheeky look in his eye.

"You know, I quite like the thought of playing detective, even if just for a short while. I think Kayleigh's right in saying that we should find out who really did this, who really killed Paul and framed Kayleigh." He said, a slight smirk playing on his lips.

Louis rolled his eyes heavenwards and Zayn looked very annoyed, but Liam decided it was his time to say something.

"I'm in. Let's find out who really did this. The police don't know Paul as well as we did, as much as they may think differently, and I don't want to see his murder go unsolved. His family need justice and closure and we're the best people to give it to them."

Louis and Zayn eventually caved after I gave them my best puppy dog eyes and pouty bottom lip. I think I may have even got a silent tear in there too- though I was too overcome with emotion at the time to notice.

"Fine. But we've got to be careful. The police can't know what we're doing or they'll think we've got something to hide. I'm telling you, if this thing goes south, I'll never forgive myself." Zayn said begrudgingly.

"Yeah!" Harry cheered, earning him a glare from the warden standing outside the room. I suddenly realised what the boys were doing was most definitely against protocol and I wondered who they had threatened or used their fame with to get inside. "Sorry. That's the spirit! Now, all hands in!" He rubbed his hands together gleefully, placing his hand in the middle, palm faced downwards.

I rolled my eyes but did it anyway, Liam, Louis and Zayn following suit.

"Seriously though, I mean it. we have to be careful with what we do. we could tip the killer off or make the police suspicious. This has to be secretive and VERY private, understand? Paul's family need closure and we have to promise we will do our best with this." Louis spoke with a solemn look in his eye, a look so rare I was having trouble controlling my laughter.

"We won't let this get out of hand Lou." Liam promised. "But do we tell Simon about this? Somebody's going to work it out sooner or later."

I shrugged. "I'd much rather it be the latter. I'm pretty certain if Simon and the world knew five people only just leaving their teens were investigating the case, your careers would be ruined. You're welcome to tell him of course, I can't control you but I don't really think he needs to know." Liam nodded.

"Then it's decided. We won't tell Simon what we're doing but someone should probably let Niall know about it- I doubt he'll be too impressed if he isn't told right away about what his friends are covertly getting up to."

"Tell Niall what? What's the plot?" Niall said in an evil tone, stepping into the room and cackling like a maniac. Seriously? Who cackles? Other than witches of course.

"That we're going to prove Kayleigh's innocent." Harry said simply, grinning up at Niall like the Cheshire Cat. I put my head in my hands. He's known Niall for goodness knows how long and STILL decides to tell him that news like that?

"WHAT!" Niall exploded. "This isn't some bloody game guys! This is really, really serious- Kayleigh could go to jail and, what? You're all sitting here on your damn arses and plotting to be Sherlock Holmes for the day? Well, no, sorry. It isn't happening. I am not letting my best friends put my other best friend in danger!"

I sat back, confused, before standing up and walking to Niall.

"Niall? This isn't really what you think. The boys haven't put the idea into my head at all- in fact it was me who came up with the idea in the first place." I placed a hand on his shoulder, trying desperately hard to get him to calm down although, let's face it. When a girl who's got mascara and eyeliner running down her face tries to get you to see the truth, it probably isn't going to work. But I still tried it anyway.

"What? So you thought you'd run around pretending to be someone who can solve the world's problems then?" He spat bitterly. I was taken aback by his tone with me and looked down at the ground wishing, for so many reasons, that I wasn't here.

"Hey! Niall, mate, that's out of order!" Louis defended me. "Kayleigh hasn't done anything wrong- she just wants justice for Paul's family and she's frustrated that she can't do anything while she's stuck in here."

Niall ran a hand through his hair and looked upwards. "I'm sorry Kayleigh. I just, well I don't want you to get hurt in all of this. It pains me to see you when you break up with somebody and, as your friend, I worried that this will hurt you a lot. I don't like watching you go through that kind of pain, Kayleigh." He explained away his actions. All at once, I felt my features soften and I realised Niall was just trying to be nice. I walked forward and hugged him.

"Thank you Niall. I'm sorry too. It's just that I want to prove I had nothing to do with this. People are going to be judging me when I get out of here and I don't want them to think of me as some kind of killer." I apologised. Niall's arms slowly, hesitantly came around me to hold me too and he pressed his head into my back.

For a few moments it was just Niall and I and then Harry yelled "Group hug!" The boys rushed forward and we were suddenly engulfed in a mass of people.

A warden continued glaring at us but then proceeded to open the door and splutter out in annoyance that we had five minutes remaining of our half-an-hour visitor time.

I wriggled out from beneath the mass of bodies and turned to face them all. "So, Niall. You in?" I ask.

"Hell yeah!" He grinned back. "No way am I seeing my best friend go through this by herself!

"Then it's settled. If I get out of here....when I get out of here," I hastily corrected myself as all five boys turned to glare at me, "we'll begin our work. For now, I guess it's up to you five. I recommend looking up how to do this, because I'm assuming you've never done anything like this before, check out what social media has to offer and get as much information from the officers in charge as possible. With regards to social media, I guess my advice is to find anybody mentioning Paul's name and any suspicious activity either on his account or other peoples'." I finish, unsure how I know all of that.

"Yes m'am!" Zayn salutes. "We'll have you out of here in no time at all and Abby's coming back soon. We'll come back tomorrow too!" Niall hits him and laughs, rolling his eyes.



"There was no need to confirm that Zayn! Kayleigh knows we'll be back tomorrow!" He exclaims, just as the officer opens the door, glares at them all and tells them it's time to go.

"Bye Kayleigh." Liam hugs me before leaving. "Chin up-everything will be alright!"

The rest of the lads say goodbye and Niall pulls me in for an extra-long hug as he says goodbye, much to the amusement of the others who are all telling him to move his arse. I laugh and tell him to go and catch them up before they take his car. His eyes are panicked as he speeds out of the room, lifting his hand to wave as he skids round the corner.

I sigh as I hear the deafening bolt slide into place and sit down onto my bed to think. The best thing about being in this silly prison cell, I suppose, must be the time you get to think. It must be refreshing just to lay here and wonder about life outside and what you're going to do when you get out of there.

Many thoughts come to mind. Investigating the case, solving the case, hanging with the boys and Eleanor and Sophia, seeing Perrie when I can. She's on tour a lot with Little Mix nowadays. She's never in England much and, as much as I love seeing her, I only get to spend time with her for a few days before she jets off somewhere glamorous, not that I'm complaining because I'm generally with the boys on tour.

I begin to trail off and think about life back in Essex. Where everything is familiar, the small towns, the people, the picturesque scenes and postcard churches. Of course, the boys generally invite me to their houses when my adoptive parents aren't home so I normally only see it for about a week.

My thoughts stray to Marissa, my best friend from back home. She's always been there for me, always supported my dreams just like I did with her. She's at university at the moment, studying to be a palaeontologist. I had to ask her what it meant when she first told me about it but she just simply laughed and said it was studying and excavating dinosaur remains. I could never understand why she was interested in it until I met her now boyfriend Alex. A friend of hers wanting to be an archaeologist.

Marissa Faulkner was the one person I could always count on, day and night she didn't care- not even if I was calling at two in the morning. Sometimes, when the band was having problems or I'd argued with someone, she'd Skype me and we'd lounge around all day, watching a movie together, singing karaoke and being lazy girls. We'd listen to music, I'd watch her play the saxophone and guitar and she'd watch me dancing around the room in turn. We made a spectacle every time we talked and I remember fondly a time when Niall walked into the room to Marissa playing the guitar and singing. She had her eyes shut and was singing in her usual way when she finished the song, opened her eyes and stopped dead.

I hadn't told Marissa I was working for One Direction because I knew she'd go crazy. But when Niall walked in and couldn't keep his mouth shut about how fantastically amazing her voice and playing was, I knew the secret was out. She was annoyed at first but then she and Niall had a crazily long conversation and it calmed her down. Neither one would stop going on about it each other and it was up to me to gently remind them both that Marissa still had a boyfriend. Niall was very low for a few weeks, but he perked back up again when the Where We Are Tour began and he hasn't talked about Marissa since.

Slowly, I began to sort through everything the police had told me in my head. Granted, it wasn't much, but I had to begin somewhere didn't I? So, I knew the police had found my finger prints on his jacket but they didn't specifically say where.

I knew I had touched Paul's arm to try to get him to change his mind when he stormed off but I wasn't sure if my fingers prints would have remained there. I would have to enquire further. I knew the murder weapon had been a plastic knife and, from what I can remember, that he was stabbed in the back. Plastic couldn't have done that without some serious force behind it so therefore whoever had done it had to have been pretty strong. I tried mentally to work out if the security team had had any grudges against Paul, but they'd all seemed to get along well with each other. I couldn't imagine any of them wanting to intentionally hurt Paul.

There was the question of who had access to the tour bus, but I could make a list of people pages long and that would do me no good. I had no other information, no other leads. I was going to have to try and get something out of the officers when we were in the interview room later on because I had nothing left to go on.

Stressed and tired out, I fell back onto my pillow, shutting my eyes and, within moments, I lost myself to the confinements of sleep.

---

I awoke in the morning to ribbons of light passing through the small window above me. Today was when Abby was coming. Today was the day the boys were coming back. Today was the day I was getting out of here.

I raked a hand through my messy hair and walked into the bathroom, catching sight of my face in the mirror. It wasn't as bad as I originally believed. Sure, my eyeliner had run badly but my mascara still clung firmly onto my eyelashes and my lipgloss was only a little smudged. I turned the taps on and flung water at my face, over and over again until the remaining concealer and foundation was washed away down the drain.

I'm not a massive fan of makeup but I do have blemishes that I want to cover up. In comparison with some girls, I don't wear a lot. But I know that sometimes the extra stuff I have on is more than most twenty-one year olds. I try to tell myself it's for the cameras because you never know when some pap is going to be around but I know it's not. Not by a long shot.

I finish up by running my fingers through my hair, desperately trying to pull the knots out. In the end, I gave up. Lack of a good hair brushing seems to have had a detrimental effect on my waves and I know it's not an amazing look but it'll do.

A sharp rap on the door earns my attention and I slip back into the room as the iron bolt is slid away from the lock to reveal a very tidy looking Abby.

"Ah," She smiles "you're awake."

"Yes. I've had a good few hours of the refreshing thing they like to term 'sleep'." I laughed as she smiled.

"Well, the boys will be pleased that one person has had some sleep. I was texting them all until 3am this morning regarding the case and I am officially wiped out. May I sit?"

"Please do! I can't really stop you anyway! Why were the boys texting you?"

"They were worried about you Kayleigh. I still don't think that you've grasped where you are yet."

"Oh, believe me, I have. I hate this fucking place. I'd much rather be at home or with one of the boys." I shrug.

"Never mind. I'll get you out today for certain." My heart leaps as Abby speaks. "The evidence they've got against you doesn't ring quite true so I've compiled a massive list of statements, witnesses, friends, colleagues any other things the police have made available to me. Half of it is incorrect and we can back that up with witnesses and statements. Meanwhile, I notice the boys have been threatening anybody they can get their hands on to give them information to give to me and even told a fan to 'piss off' because she told you to go and kill yourself, followed by a particularly graphic picture that was photoshopped." Abby shakes her head.

"They shouldn't have done ANY of that for me! This could ruin their careers- oh god, what have I done?"

"Nothing. You've done nothing Kayleigh. This is quite simply the boys' way of showing you how much they care. Even Eleanor Calder, Perrie Edwards and Sophia Smith have been on Twitter showing their support. People care about you Kayleigh, stop thinking you're a nothing. Now, shall we go to that interview?"

I nod my head, too paralysed to speak. I follow her up and out of the room where I am met with two police officers.

"Sorry Kayleigh, this is procedure I'm afraid." Abby lowers her gaze as the harsh metal snaps around me wrist. I can feel them rubbing my skin and I draw in a breath, letting it out as I speak.

"It's alright Abby," I shrug "they're just doing their job."

I follow the three of them down and round the corridor that leads to a few side rooms. Abby pauses outside a single room labeled 'Interview Room 3'.

"Ready?" She questions.

I follow her into the room and see two officers standing there. Rian and Jamille. I glare at the both, setting my jaw in a straight line and hardening my gaze.

"Miss Michaels, please. Sit down." Rian indicates an orange, plastic seat. "You too Miss Ingrid." Abby gives her a cold look but sits down, pushing her skirt beneath her as she does.

Rian leans over and hits the 'record' button, telling the microphone the date, time and who is present.

"Right, well, we have a lot to discuss Miss Michaels. Your lawyer, Miss Ingrid, has provided us with a great deal of information; she's also pointed out areas to us that we had not considered or had got the facts incorrect. Witness reports suggest you were with the boys all night. Nobody saw you leave at any point and you were with a friend, Miss Louise Teasdale for the purpose of the recording, until she left. We have already questioned Miss Teasdale and you are able to find a recording in aisle D5, shelf 11." Rian glances briefly down at her notes before continuing.

"Based on the evidence we have been provided with, we would like to admit our error in the arrest of Miss Michaels. We will release her today when Mr Horan, Mr Malik, Mr Payne, Mr Tomlinson and Mr Styles come to collect her. Records of their questioning can be found in aisle E9 shelf 3. Records of release have been archived online and can be accessed by anyone with Sergeant status or higher. Miss Ingrid has given us much information on the matter and we have concluded that Kayleigh Michaels is no longer prime suspect." My eyes open wide. Brilliant, I was going to be released. But I was also still a suspect, just not the prime suspect. What the hell?

"I will now invite any questions either Miss Ingrid or Miss Michaels have." Jamille spoke up.

"Why is Kayleigh still a suspect?" Abby demanded, a fiery look in her eye.

"All people at the concert on the night that would have had contact with Paul are on the list Miss Ingrid. We cannot get Kayleigh completely off the list yet as there is still the question of her fingerprints on his jacket-" I hurriedly cut him off, explaining what had happened with Paul. He appeared flustered and busied himself with his papers for a few moments.

"Ahh. Well, you are now number 47 on the suspect list then. Any thing else?"

"Tell me about the case." I tell him, making him shift uncomfortably in his seat.

"Miss Michaels, I'm afraid the only thing I could possibly tell you is that this case will be very hard to crack due to the discovery we made this morning regarding Paul's movements." Jamille said. "The rest is strictly confidential." I roll my eyes.

"Fine. Can I go now please?" I ask, frustrated with the lack of information I was being provided with.

"Yes, you are free to leave. But we reserve the right to call you back for questioning at a later date." Rian tells me.

I nod my head and leave the room, Abby following after me hurriedly. I spot the boys in the waiting area and they jump up to greet me.

"Guys!" I exclaim, a grin spreading across my face as I rush towards them.

Behind me, Abby gives a small, eloquent cough.

"Do excuse me but here are my contact details. We will be meeting again soon to discuss the rest of the case I'm sure." Abby smiles, but it falls from her face when she sees my confused face.

"Did the boys not tell you? I'll be working on the case and defending you all. I must be off though now, call me when you have a date in mind." And she hurries from the station.

I raise my eyebrows in surprise at Niall. "I love Abby but my wages aren't going to cover her working on the case as well as her defending me here. I'm afraid I won't be having someone else working on this case." I cast my eyes downwards.

"What the frigging hell are you talking about?" Harry and Niall burst out, causing me to crack a smile.

"WE are paying Abby's wages not you." Niall tells me sternly.

"I'm quite able to pay my own way through life guys." I tell them through gritted teeth, flexing my hands by my sides.

"Be that as it may be but we're still your friends Kayleigh. We didn't let you go down for something you had no part in and we're going to keep protecting you for as long as is possible." Zayn smiles.

I roll my eyes at them but move to the reception desk to check out. The once bitter receptionist warns me to keep well and stay out of trouble as I leave. Niall puts his arm around my waist as we walk out and I lean my head against his shoulder. I am one short person.

We walk out through the door and into the car park, expecting to reach Niall's car in a jiffy. But we are blinded by flashing lights, snapping sounds and screaming.

Notes

Hey guys!

I GAINED ANOTHER TWO SUBSCRIBERS :)

Hehehe! :) I danced around my room when I saw that!!!!

Thank you so so so much for subscribing! I hope you all like the update - I'm planning on putting another one up over the weekend! So, who are YOUR suspects? I really would like to know whether I'm giving you just enough information to get your minds turning or if you have no ideas whatsoever! Drop me a line at some point if you want!

Until next time, thank you to my two new subscribers! :)