The prettiest girl in our class, Mandy Smith, died unexpectedly in our dorm.

When the police took statements, my two other roommates and I pleaded guilty.

I took out Mandy’s love letter to my boyfriend. “I killed her because she was seducing my boyfriend.”

Anna Anderson took out a purchase history for cyanide. “I killed her because she snatched my overseas studies spot from me.”

Fiona Lee took out an expulsion letter. “I killed her because she reported me for cheating.”

All three of us hated Mandy.

However, the police found that all of us had alibis during Mandy’s time of death. The counselor also asked us to stop lying.

However, the three of us sneered. “Whether you believe it or not, one of us is the murderer.”

A day before the winter holiday, the prettiest girl in class, Mandy Smith, died.

She was found dead in the dorm’s toilet. There were eighteen stab wounds on her, and her blood covered the entire floor. The dorm manager found her dead body, and she immediately called the police.

When the other two roommates, Anna Anderson, Fiona Lee, and I, arrived at the dorm, the police and counselor had already arrived. There were students watching outside of the caution tape. Everyone was talking about it.

“Have you heard? There are eighteen stab wounds!”

“The murderer must have hated her!”

“Aren’t there four of them in the dorm? Where are the other three roommates?”

“There they are. The counsellor called them over. It’s them…”

Numerous gazes scrutinized the three of us, as if they were trying to find some clues. None of us spoke; we simply watched as the police entered and exited the crime scene. The counselor that was talking to the police saw the three of us and waved us to come over.

She introduced the lead police officer. “Officer King, these are Mandy’s roommates.”

Officer King sized us up and told us to cooperate when the police took statements. All of us nodded and stood quietly outside of the caution tape.

Anna tugged my sleeve and whispered, “Is she really dead?”

I met her slightly complicated gaze and answered indifferently, “She’s dead.”

Fiona let out a sigh of relief as she snorted. “That’s good.”

The three of us did not look upset at all. Instead, all of us looked strangely calm. It was because all of us hated Mandy.

Ten minutes later, we were brought to the police station to give our statements.

Before she left, the counselor told us to not be afraid. “Just be honest and tell whatever you know to the police. They’ll look into this fairly and justly.”

All of us nodded.

In the interrogation room, Officer King sat in front of me and instructed his assistant to start taking notes.

“Tell me your relationship to Mandy.”

I did not answer. Instead, I asked for a glass of water. Officer King personally poured me a glass of water. His eyes were curious. I held the paper cup with both hands and rubbed it lightly with my fingers.

Then, I met Officer King’s gaze and said, “I’m Rosalie Reid, Mandy’s roommate.”

Officer King indicated for me to continue.

I drank the water in one go. Then, I took out a piece of crumpled paper from my pocket and placed it on the table.

“We were roommates and romantic rivals. I killed Mandy because she was seducing my boyfriend.”

Officer King did not expect that I would admit to the crime, and he was obviously dumfounded. He asked reflexively, “You killed Mandy?”

I nodded. “It’s me.”

The assistant beside Officer King thought that I was joking, so he yelled loudly at me, “Rosalie, do you know what you’re talking about? What you’re saying now has legal implications!”

I ignored his scolding and pushed that piece of paper forward. Officer King frowned before opening the letter. I stared as he read it line by line. The love letter was obviously written by Mandy in her usual coy tone. She was taunting me in between the lines.

Once Officer King was done reading, his frown deepened.

“Look,” I said calmly, “Officer King, Mandy crafted rumors about me being promiscuous to fool my boyfriend and make him break up with me despite having been together for five years. I obviously wouldn’t tolerate it.”

One day, I caught her being intimate with my boyfriend in front of the library. She even shot me a smug gaze! I rushed forward to confront her, but she laughed at me mockingly. “He chose me. You should go!”

After hearing my statement, Officer King stared longingly at me, trying to read something from my expression.

He continued, “You said that you killed her. Where’s your weapon? How did you do that?”

I leaned against the cold interrogation chair and described my crime.

“I stole Anna’s cyanide and mixed it in Mandy’s drink. Once she finished it, I stabbed her using a fruit knife. Ten stabs in the front, and eight stabs in the back. Oh, by the way, I stabbed her eight times in the back after she died…”

Before I could finish talking, the door of the interrogation room opened. The other policeman came in with a serious expression and whispered something in Officer King’s ear.

Officer King’s expression immediately changed. “Anna also admitted to the crime?”

That policeman nodded. Then, he passed Officer King a stack of purchasing records and the recording of Anna’s interrogation.

In the recording, Anna passed a clear electronic receipt of her purchase of cyanide to the police officer. She complained about her dissatisfaction with Mandy. Her voice sounded both firm and shaky.

She said, “I killed Mandy. She stole my spot for a top university. You can look into this spot. I was the only one who had gotten it in our school; however, a week later, it was given to Mandy. I couldn’t accept this! How could she snatch a chance that I got after putting in so much effort?

“My parents spent half of their life savings on my studies. Mandy’s just fooling around, and she gets my opportunity? Dream on! I poisoned her with cyanide before stabbing her eighteen times, and I let her feel every single stab as she died…”

Anna’s words made me feel conflicted. Officer King’s face darkened further when he saw the evidence my friend had provided. He asked his assistant to store both evidence and statements from Anna, and then he looked at me.

“Rosalie, both Anna and you are admitting to the crime. Are you trying to protect the real murderer?” He paused and stared intently at my expression. “Are you trying to protect Fiona?”

I knew that Officer King was trying to use Fiona to get me to speak.

However, he was wrong.

The door to the interrogation room was opened once again. The police officer who came in this time exclaimed, “Officer King, Fiona admitted to the crime!”

Officer King looked bewildered.

He suddenly stood up from his chair and took the expulsion letter that Fiona handed over. The official stamp on the letter was blood red. It indicated that due to Fiona cheating in an examination, the university was expelling her.

Fiona was mocking Mandy in the interrogation room.

“I killed Mandy because she reported me for cheating. Actually, Mandy is a horrible human being. I’m delighted that she’s dead! I didn’t cheat at all. She’s the one who cheated. She didn’t know anything about working hard; she just enjoyed life, so she wanted to cheat.

“A day before the exams, she begged me to let her copy my answers. I didn’t agree to that. In the end, because she couldn’t answer the papers, she reported me for cheating. She placed a cheat sheet in my pocket in advance.

“Tell me, wasn’t she horrible? If that witch hadn’t died, I wouldn’t be happy. I stole Fiona’s cyanide and put it in Mandy’s water cup. When she fell, I took my sweet time stabbing her eighteen times. She belonged to the depths of hell!”

I was affected by Fiona’s insane laugh and could barely control my expression.

Officer King watched Fiona’s recording, then he placed all three statements on the table. He kept comparing all of our statements as he got more and more serious. The police officers nearby also realized that this murder case could not be easily solved.

Time passed, but Officer King still could not solve it.

Angry and frustrated, he yelled, “Rosalie, what are the three of you doing? All three of you claim that you’re the murderer, and the ways you describe it all sound similar!”

The other police officers were also trying to get me to tell the truth. “Rosalie, do you know you can get the death penalty for murder? You better think before you speak!”

When I looked at their intense gazes, I still calmly said, “I’ve told you that I’m the murderer, and I’m the only one.”

Officer King was enraged by my calm facade. He slammed the evidence onto the table.

He pointed at the love letter, the receipt, and the expulsion letter. “We’ll investigate these items. Once the autopsy results come out, we’ll see what else the three of you can say!”

Anna, Fiona, and I were detained as suspects. All three of us bumped into each other when we left the interrogation room. I was still calm. Anna was still pissed off, and Fiona’s face was still twisted in happiness.

We stopped in our tracks and met each other’s gazes.

Our eyes looked guarded and hesitant, and we all had a sense of camaraderie since we were all claiming to be the murderer.

However, three days later, Officer King let us go.

In the lobby, Officer King pulled out our alibis.

“We’ve confirmed that Mandy died between one and two in the morning from the autopsy report. None of you were at the dorm when it happened.”

The police managed to locate from the school’s surveillance cameras and our phones’ locations that, when Mandy was killed, I was watching a movie with my ex-boyfriend in the city and that I was out all night. Fiona was doing an experiment in the lab until the morning. Anna was working the night shift at a 24-hour convenience store.

All of us only showed up after we found out that Mandy had died.

The counselor who came over to bail us out also advised us not to fool around anymore. “Officer King looked into this. You are good kids; I also believe you aren’t capable of doing such a thing. But you can’t simply admit to a crime like this! Murder is no joke! Go back and write a self-reflection report of at least a thousand words!”

Officer King probed, “Who are you trying to protect?”

All of us sneered, “It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not, one of us is the murderer!”