Free Adventures In Murder Chasing (Funeral Crashing #3) by Milda Harris Page A

window, but I couldn't. There was no way out of this. I had to think fast. Why did this always happen to me? It always seemed like I was faced with this same dilemma. Did I lie or just admit to Fiorella that I was investigating Nico's death? I was afraid she might be a little upset if I told her I thought Nico might have been murdered. Would she be right in feeling that way? Was I wrong to investigate a death that people were already beginning to accept as a freak accident?
    No. Ethan had found out what really happened to his half-sister Liz and although he was still struggling with it, it was better that way. He knew the truth. Maybe it was good that Fiorella found out now and I planted the seed of doubt before she accepted Nico's death the way it was, completely. I was about to open my mouth and tell her the truth, when I remembered Gabe. I had been wrong about his death. Of course, I hadn't known all of the details when I found out that I was wrong, but still. What if I was wrong this time too? What if Nico wasn't murdered and I made Fiorella suffer more? I shut my mouth. The decision was made, but almost immediately doubts crept in. Had Fiorella seen my notebook full of notes about Nico? Did she already suspect me of investigating? What should I do?
    "Well?" Fiorella asked. "How did you know Nico?"
    I looked at Fiorella as the debate continued to rage in my head. She had to be a freshman. She looked too young to be a sophomore, although it was possible. I'd know if she was a junior. I didn't know everyone, but you kind of knew who was in your class more so than any other class. I wondered if the freshman class knew who I was, like if my reputation as a graveyard girl funeral crashing teen sleuth extended to outside my grade. It had to. I didn't have many classes with people in the year above or below me, but if Fiorella found out my full name, would she know what I was doing anyway? The gossip had gotten around, especially after I saved Ariel and started officially dating Ethan. Although, currently, that sort of just meant that people didn't say anything good or bad to me. They didn't make fun of me, but they obviously still thought I was weird because they didn't praise me either or even say hi to me in the halls.
    What should I do then? I had to get out of my head and just say something to Fiorella. Truth or lie? Truth or lie?
    "We were there by mistake," I said. "We thought we were at another guy's funeral and then Nico's dad came up to us and it took me a second to realize we were at the wrong funeral and I know it's stupid, but we said we knew Nico."
    "Oh," Fiorella looked taken aback. "Okay. I just..."
    "Were you hoping I did know Nico?" I asked softly.
    "I..." Fiorella started and then continued. "I guess I just wanted to hear more about him, not from the family, but from someone else who knew him. It probably sounds stupid, but Nico was more like my big brother than Antonio, my real big brother."
    "It doesn't sound stupid at all," I said. "Wait, why aren't you at the funeral? Isn't it today? I thought I read..."
    "Yeah," Fiorella said. "It's today. That's why I'm taking the bus. I almost never take the bus. My mom usually drives me to school unless she has a doctor's appointment or something. But anyway, my parents didn't want me to go to the funeral and they have this thing about missing school, so here I am, on the bus. I hate the bus."
    "I hate the bus too," I said automatically since it was true, but my brain was thinking about something else Fiorella had said, "But, wait, I don't get it. It was your cousin's funeral. Why wouldn't your parents want you to be there?"
    Fiorella shrugged, "I don't know. I've never been to a funeral before."
    "What?" I asked.
    I was surprised. I'd been to so many since my mom died that sometimes I forgot there were people who had never even been to one funeral.
    "Some of my relatives have died, of course," Fiorella said, "But I've never gone. My parents really don't like us to go