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The next day, Novalee was making breakfast, seeming like a normal girl whose mother wasn't just murdered.

"..eariler this morning Cotton weary was arrested for the death of Maureen Prescott.." upon hearing Gale weather's voice coming from the living room,

Novalee walked out of the kitchen with a bowl of pancake mix, "What did she just say?"

Billy lazily glanced at her, shrugging, "beats me." He mumbled,

"Some dude named Cotton weary was arrested for your mom's murder." Stu told her, buzzing with energy so eariler in the morning.

"Cotton weary? He doesn't seem like the killer type." Novalee muttered to herself before walking out of the living room and back to the kitchen.

Stu laid across Billy's lap, "Dude, That's not weird?"

Billy titled his head back, watching upside down as novalee moved around the kitchen making pancakes.

"Okay..she's kinda weird..maybe that's how she deals with grief." Billy muttered,

Stu sat up, sitting on Billy's lap, and Billy huffed, "she's gonna think you're weird if you keep sitting on my lap like this."

Stu grinned down at him, leaning down to whisper in his ear, "thought you liked me on your lap."

Stu laughs as he could feel Billy getting hard, and he jumps off Billy's lap, Billy glares at him,

"Stu."

"Nova! Let me help with breakfast!" Stu ran off, with a huge grin on his face, and Billy cursed him, before standing up and heading upstairs.

Stu walked into the kitchen, sitting on the counter, stealing a bit of pancake mix when Novalee walked by.

"So, how are you feeling? You don't seem upset about it." Stu watched as novalee paused, and she chuckled, turning to face him.

"Upset? No, confused, maybe." She told him, and Stu titled his head, eyes filled with curiosity.

"Your mom just died and you're not upset, just confused? Why is that?" Stu asked, and novalee shrugged, sighing,

"I'm not upset because..well, mom was practically a stranger to me, you know, she was never around, and if she was, we were always arguing," novalee replied as she flipped a pancake.

"I'm just confused why Cotton weary wanted to murder my mom." She knew Cotton weary was being framed,

She couldn't say anything about it because that would mean having to give up Billy and Stu, and she wasn't about to do that.

"Well, maybe cause she didn't want to give him any, you know what i mean?" Stu said with a small smirk, and novalee grimaced in disgust,

"That's disgusting, but also a good motive." Novalee said, and Stu jumped off the counter,

Stu moved closer to novalee, trapping her against the counter and himself, and he looked down at her,

"A good motive, huh?" Novalee looked up at Stu,

"Yes, but also a stupid one." She gently pushed him back, and Stu took a step back,

"What if I told you that I don't think it was Cotton weary who killed your mom?" Stu questioned, leaning his upper body against the counter, propping his elbow on it, resting his chin on the palm of his hand.

Novalee turned to look at him, "can we stop talking about this?"

Stu noticed how tense she became, and he knew that she definitely knew something, but he decided to drop it.

He was just going to act stupid about it, like he always does. It's funny how people underestimate because they think he's dumb.

"Sure, thing, babes."

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577 words

Thoughts?