When Yves' body had been found, a crowd had gathered all around the room which might have trampled any possible clues. I still was going to try. The room was off-limits, but I had become an expert at sneaking in and out of places. I could do it. 

I walked at a brisk pace to Yves' room when a sudden thought struck me. I could be implicated in killing Yves if anyone conducted an investigation. I had taken his confession note, I was the one who had insisted to get the door open and I was sneaking into his room again. No one else had seen the blackmailer and I didn't think anyone would believe me were I to come under suspicion. Witches could brew up truth potions but they had antidotes as well. To my surprise, I found I didn't care about the consequences as long as I found who had hurt Yves. 

I thought of Eryx suddenly and his face when he had seen Yves. My brain was having a hard time processing everything but I remembered his horrified expression. It was full of pain, sadness, horror, and regret at not being able to say sorry. I remembered with a pang that even I had never got a chance to apologize to Yves. Life was too full of expected twists and turns to hold grudges. You might never get a chance to say sorry. And believe me, it had to be one of the worst feelings in the world. I would call my dad today and tell him I was sorry for all the things I had said. I wouldn't wait any longer. 

All my other friends were having a hard time coping with Yves's death and mostly kept to themselves. But I knew when we came through the other side, our friendship would be stronger than ever. 

I finally came to Yves's door and pushed it open hesitantly. His presence could be sensed all over the room. I swallowed back tears and entered the room. Yves lived alone in his dorm as there were an odd number of boys in our year. Yellow tape was tied all around his bed. I ducked and went up to his closet. I riffled through all the clothes lying there, even turning out the pockets. Nothing turned up. Feeling frustrated, I ransacked his writing desk, pulling aside hundreds of pens and papers. There was nothing suspicious there, just textbooks and notebooks. No diary turned up. I hadn't expected it to be in Yves' room for the blackmailer would have taken it. 

I looked in all the cupboards and even in the spare bookshelf, but nothing turned up. Disappointed but not surprised, I crawled out from beneath the yellow tape when something silver lying underneath the bed caught my eye. It was small and round like a silver ball. I bent down and picked it up. It was just like me to look everywhere but forget about checking underneath the bed. 

I gazed at the silver ball and suddenly everything made sense. My heart started to race. How had I not figured it out before? It might just be a theory, of course, but my instinct said otherwise. Everything continued to piece together in my head as I walked out of Yves' room.