Truly Devious (Book 1)
Maureen Johnson

(5/16/22-5/20/22)

JN:

       The story began with a note made with cut magazine letters signed by someone named Truly Devious that talked about many different ways to die (comforting). 
       (Moving on) For a fourteen-year-old girl, Dottie Epstein was very bright. So bright that she often got in trouble for reading in class or contradicting her teachers (always a teacher’s favorite). One day in 1936, she was sent to the principal’s office, but it wasn’t for the reason she expected. Albert Ellingham, a megamillionaire, was there and offered Dottie a seat at his new private school in Vermont where she could learn what she wanted whenever she wanted. Dottie accepted, and before she knew it, this new school became her new normal. Preferring her own company, Dottie explored the school and found a secret tunnel that led to a small island in the middle of a lake, deciding that this would be her reading spot. One day, on April 13th (most likely it was a Friday), she was reading when she heard someone coming up the hatch from the tunnel onto the island. Dottie immediately hid but was found out by a suspicious, yet friendly person. True to her instincts, Dottie moved to leave but was apprehended by the person before she could escape. 
       (New character) Stevie Bell was one of the fifty people to be admitted to Ellingham Academy, Albert's exclusive school for gifted kids during their junior and senior years of high school. Riding in a coach with her parents, Stevie was unsure about what to think about the school but was sure that her parents were as surprised as her that she made it in. After a long ride full of strained conversation between Stevie and her parents, the coach turned onto a path that led to the extravagant academy. Arriving, a man greeted Stevie and her parents and took them to the Minerva House, the nicest student house and where Stevie would be staying. There, they were greeted by a Dr. Pix, and Stevie was able to impressively guess her occupation (her gift). Based on first impressions, Stevie liked the doctor, especially after her comment on Sherlock Holmes (of which Dottie was a huge fan). After being led to her room, Stevie was left alone to think over her new situation as Dr. Pix led Stevie's parents on a tour of the school. 
       (Briefly to Albert) After returning home, which was located at the academy, on April 13th, 1936 (the same day Dottie was apprehended), Albert waited for his wife to return when he received a random call from someone who claimed to have his wife and daughter. The voice on the other line ordered him to grab the money and meet them at the small island. Without a second thought, Albert grabbed whatever money he could and went to the island, where he threw the money toward the voice before someone hit him on the side of the head, knocking him out. 
       (Back to Stevie) Stevie first unpacked her crime books, including Sherlock Holmes and some criminology textbooks, as she listened to some true crime podcasts (if nothing else, they are entertaining). Suddenly, a boy named Hayes Major came in, who got into the school after creating a television series where he lived in a bunker during a zombie apocalypse and it went viral (for whatever reason). Per his request, Stevie helped him carry in some boxes, and after they were done, Hayes went to make a phone call with some Hollywood folk, which struck Stevie as odd as it was 5:30 a.m. in California. Nonetheless, Stevie put it past her as she met her next housemate, a girl named Ellie Walker, who complained profusely about the heat. When Ellie asked Stevie what her thing was (as everyone here had a thing), Stevie simply talked about her crime studies and the sort and Ellie made the connection with the recent murders. A boy named Nate and a girl named Janelle also came by, both of whom Stevie had previously met online. Quickly becoming fast friends, they went to Nate's room right as their tour was beginning. During the tour, they walked around the campus, saw the library, and entered the Great Hall, which excited Stevie immensely as she was able to see where everything in the kidnapping of 1936 took place. After the tour, a couple of classmates came with her to the garden, where a dried-up lake surrounded the small island. Here, Stevie discussed the kidnapping of Albert's daughter and how if she ever returned, although she was presumed to be dead, she would inherit the academy. 
       (Briefly to Flora, one of Albert's servants) On that April 13th, Flora heard some commotion from Albert's office and went to see what it was. Not hearing much other than Albert's wife and daughter being missing, she went into a secret area where she could spy on Albert, his friend from the FBI, and another man. Albert received another call from the kidnapper to send the FBI agent to a certain location with jewelry, and seeing how hopeless Albert looked, the FBI agent went. An hour or so later, he came back bruised, telling Albert that they wanted $200k more by the following night, so Albert made arrangements. It was at this point that they also realized that Dottie was missing.       

       (Back to Stevie) After the tour, Dr. Pix gave them their ID and gave them the basic rules of the place. Ellie then had Janelle and Stevie meet her in the bathroom, which they did to find her bathing in a pink dye. She immediately went into how to break the rules Dr. Pix established (rules and anti-rules), like how to sneak out after curfew or sneak in alcohol; basically, she told them how to avoid Security Larry, the head of security. After some further orientation material and whatnot, Ellie, whose thing was art, told them to get ready for a party. She even played the saxophone to get the extremely introverted Nate to come out.  

       At the party, people from all houses came, and Stevie took in the scene while spending most of her time with Nate and Janelle. When talking to Nate about the sequel to his fantasy book, the one he was somewhat famous for, he became defensive and admitted to having written 2000 pages of it and yet hating all of it (I understand hating your own work, but 2000 pages worth is tough). After the party, Stevie tried to sleep but found she was too nervous after her first day and instead unboxed her case file for the 1936 incident. She took out pictures of Dottie, Albert's wife and daughter, and Anton Vorachek, who confessed to the murders but most didn’t believe it was him due to the Truly Devious letter. The following morning, she joined the rest of the house in eating breakfast in the common room. David, whom Stevie met at the party, made several joking comments that went a little too far as the other house members conversed about their upcoming first days. After breakfast, Stevie went to the Great House, where she met with the director of the school, Charles, who assigned Stevie her classes which most revolved around crime. When he asked what she would like her project to be, as the first years (junior year) had a small project and the second years (senior year) had a large project, Stevie boldly stated she wanted to solve the 1936 murders. Expecting an answer along those lines, Charles then took Stevie to the attic, where he showed her some of Alice’s (Albert’s daughter) stuff including a complete replica of the Great House. Before leaving, he suggested she put a human spin on the case for her small project before attempting to solve it.
   (Back to Flora) The morning after the tragedy, Flora woke up Leo, her lover, and suggested they tell Albert everything (what does this mean? We’ll find out). Leo insisted that this was not a good idea, and no further discussion took place as Albert entered to tell Leo to make him some invisible ink. 
       (Back to Stevie) At lunch, Stevie sat with her housemates and began to feel lonely when Nate wouldn’t talk and Janelle talked with Vi, but it went better when Janelle came into her room later to apologize for ignoring her (normal high school drama). The following morning marked her first day of classes, which included anatomy and physiology with Dr. Pix first, and then talked about criminology with another teacher for some time. Afterward, she had some time to kill, so she went to the library, and the librarian showed her some of the books that Dottie had long ago checked out. Several days later, David came up to her and asked her about the man (presumably a conservative politician) that Stevie's parents worked for, and David's lack of disgust for the politician disgusted Stevie. Later that day, while she worked in her room, Hayes came in and suggested an idea: Stevie writing a script with Nate's help for a trailer for a screenplay on the 1936 murders. Despite being hesitant, she agreed and later succeeded in getting Nate to agree, as this would get him out of writing his book. With an initial draft finished, Hayes and some other kids began planning the setting and determined it would take place in the secret tunnel, which had just recently been uncovered, and in the lake.
       That night as Stevie went to bed, she woke up to some strange light. Looking at the wall, she saw another message in the same style as the Truly Devious letter that essentially whoever did the first note was back (that’s a horrifying thing to wake up to). After one glance at the wall, it disappeared. Stevie briefly looked outside but saw no one and began to have a panic attack, to which she went into Janelle's room until it calmed down. The following morning, she only remembered part of the message and wasn’t even sure whether what she saw was real or not. After Janelle and Stevie attended a yoga class, which temporarily took Stevie's mind off of the questionable nightmare, Janelle couldn’t find her ID and reported it stolen.
       (Back to Albert) That night, Albert and those with him went out to where they were told and deposited $200k in cash onto some boat, but still, the voice that told them what to do wouldn’t give any hints as to Albert's wife or daughter’s whereabouts before leaving. A couple of days later, Dottie was found in a shallow grave with a cause of death being blunt force to the head. Albert's wife’s body also would soon wash to shore with several bullet holes indicating the cause of death. 
       (Back to Stevie) Stevie, Nate, Hayes, and two others snuck into the secret tunnel, and Stevie went all the way to check out the little room in the middle of the now-dried lake, gaining a feeling of what happened. The group then got down to work, filming Hayes reciting the original Truly Devious letter before leaving. The following morning was Saturday, so the group continued filming the 1936 kidnapping in the dried lake. After a lot of prep work to get the shots right, much of which Stevie found boring, the group, with the exception of Hayes, went to grab dinner. They ate quickly, however, as Hayes had not come to dinner yet. At the Minerva house, Stevie waited for Hayes to come back and in the process of doing so, witnessed as everyone else in the house joined her in the common room. When curfew came and went, Dr. Pix grew concerned, so Stevie admitted that they went into the tunnel and suggested that Hayes may be there. Larry was called, and he went into the tunnel alone. Larry came out to call 911, and Stevie entered the tunnel out of curiosity and came upon the reason for the 911 call - Hayes's dead body.
       Larry took Stevie back to the Great Hall and instructed her not to say anything. Later on, Larry grabbed her and Nate so that they could talk to the police, and Stevie experienced her first case up close. After answering their questions, she returned to her bedroom, saw David enter, and they kissed (surprising). It quickly ended as Dr. Pix could be heard outside, and Stevie went to bed this time. After waking up, Stevie had another interview, and the questions asked were expected except for the mention of the smoke machine used for the scene. Wanting to check it out, Stevie was about to sneak in when she heard her interviewer and Larry speak about how someone must have stolen Janelle's card and then gone to the workshop in the middle of the night. Before Stevie could hear more, her phone rang and her position was found. Larry led her out and scolded her for not listening, but eased up in pity after Stevie called her parents and found they were coming to take her back. All of the students soon gathered in the Great House, giving Stevie a chance to speak to others in the filming group. They discussed the idea that Hayes snuck out using dry ice from the workshop using Janelle's card and accidentally consumed too much of it (PSA: please be careful with dry ice).
       At a later time, Stevie spoke with Charles, whose punishment for Stevie for picking the lock was cataloging a bunch of Albert's old items (not much of a punishment). Days after, Stevie met her parents on a trip to Burlington, a nearby city. When they arrived, however, David, who wore formal attire instead of his usually extremely casual attire, introduced himself to Stevie's parents and extracted for himself an invitation to travel with them to Burlington. Stevie was fuming but went along with it. At lunch, they spoke about Hayes's death and Stevie's parents announced they would become more involved with the senator. All that while, David continued to charm Stevie's parents, forcing Stevie to just sit by and idly watch, resorting to swallowing her distaste for both his and her parent’s promotion. After lunch, when Stevie and David were all alone, Dottie explained to Stevie that he did that so that she could stay at the academy. While Stevie saw the truth in this, she still resented that he had given her parents a false picture of her.
       Returning to her room, Stevie paced and thought about David, and despite being a complete nuisance, she couldn’t stop herself from wanting him. So she went into his room and they had an actual conversation, one where David didn’t do his best to annoy Stevie, and they ended up making out. Dr. Pix soon knocked on the door, however, so David left and Stevie was now alone in his room. She looked around at all of his luxurious gaming gear and overall high-quality items. Stevie wanted to find out more about David's personal life, particularly his parents, whom David had lied about when talking with Stevie's parents, but she didn’t get far before David came in and caught her snooping (breach of privacy and trust). Stevie had had enough of the illusion around David's parents so she told him as much, and after David explained that they were dead, he told Stevie to leave before she could apologize. 
       Over the next few days, life returned to normal for the academy. Other than curfew being strictly enforced and Hayes still being brought up in most conversations, not much changed. David hadn’t spoken to Stevie and made it clear he wasn’t going to. One day, Stevie saw an opportunity to ask Gretchen, Hayes's ex, about Hayes, and she told him the truth about his manipulation and how he used his charm to get others to do things for him. This only made Stevie more suspicious about Hayes's so-called accident. Gretchen also informed Stevie that Hayes didn’t even write the zombie series that brought him fame. Back at Minerva, Stevie snuck into Hayes's room and by going through his stuff, confirmed what Gretchen had said about not writing the zombie series. As she turned to leave, David caught her (Stevie is not very good at sneaking around). Stevie explained what she was doing, that Hayes wouldn’t have snuck the dry ice, but David dismissed the idea and called her crazy. Over the next few days, Stevie put off school work as Hayes's death kept coming back to her. Larry said something that made Stevie want to talk to Beth, Hayes's girlfriend at the time of his death. Though she was famous and in California, Stevie managed to Skype her under pretenses (the good old days of Skype). Through this conversation, Stevie learned that Hayes had talked to Beth at 1:20 a.m. on the night he allegedly stole the dry ice, which meant that there was no time for him to steal the dry ice two minutes later - meaning someone else had done it (dun dun duuun). 
       Stevie isolated herself over the next few days, struggling to put the puzzle pieces together. One night, Nate came into her room to tell her that she was going to the dance, of which there was one in the Great House, and grudgingly, she accepted. On the way, Stevie explained her findings on Hayes's death and figured that the dance may help her. 
       (Briefly to Vorachek) After a slew of evidence was placed against him, Vorachek was sentenced to death. On the day of his execution, a crowd surrounded Vorachek as he was escorted, but before he could get far, gunshots rang out and Vorachek soon died after only being able to get out the words “did not” (it’s possible Vorachek was simply taking the blame and shot before he spilled the secret). 
(Back to Stevie) At the party, Stevie danced with everyone else until something in her head clicked. She went to another student who constantly took photos, saw one of Hayes's computers, and found out that it had no scratches, although the one she found in his room did. Stevie had very similar scratches, something she got from tracing underneath the tub that one time with Ellie. That meant that someone hid Hayes's laptop and it was either David or Ellie, as they were the only second years left. Returning to Minerva, Stevie suggested they play a game of Never Have I Ever and Ellie opted to do it in her room. After several rounds, Stevie pieced together that Ellie had done it, as the circumstantial evidence was too convenient. Too deep to back out, Stevie announced the connections aloud as she made them, including Ellie being the one to write the zombie series. Ellie tried to run, but Larry intercepted her at the door. Ellie was then brought to the Great House along with the other kids. Before the faculty got too far with their investigation, they realized that Ellie needed a lawyer to continue, but Ellie escaped through the panel that Flora had used to spy on Albert before they could get one. 
      (Briefly to the day Albert died) A year after the trial, Albert did his best to hold out hope that Alice would return. One particular day, he decided he would take his yacht out for the first time in a long time. Just before he did, however, he told his assistant a riddle, one which he claimed to be his most clever. One that would haunt his assistant for his life as well as Stevie when she first found it. One that haunted them, because soon thereafter a bomb would go off in Albert's yacht, and Albert would go down with the ship. 
       (Back to Stevie) The following morning, the search for Ellie continued as Stevie and David returned to Minerva. They entered Ellie's room, which had already been searched by police, and sat on the bed. Up above, a helicopter descended, but Stevie didn’t pay attention to that as she found a mysterious box that the police didn’t catch. Inside were various photographs, and something that Leo, F’s lover, had said before in an interview clicked - there was a couple that resembled the ones that Stevie held in her hand. Among the pictures was also a scrap from a magazine, and Stevie deduced that these two must be Truly Devious. Before she could tell David above it, however, the helicopter descended, and out came Edward King, the senator that Stevie's parents worked for. And from afar, David introduced him to Stevie as his dead father. (Well, that’s the end of the first book. I know it seems like a strange way to end a book, by involving a slightly off-topic cliffhanger, but I promise it is the end. Thanks for reading, and find out what happens next!)