Michelle's polite expression slipped. "I'm not going to take a lecture from you," she said through clenched teeth, her voice carefully controlled. "I might take one from Allison; she lost her brother after all, and you're right, I was wrong to treat her like I did. But you weren't even there two years ago, and you didn't lose anybody. You can't possibly understand what the rest of us have been through. And you barely even know me in the first place. Stay out of it."

She faced Allison and quickly managed to reassume a more-or-less diplomatic tone. "So... your boyfriend's going to accuse me of ulterior motives in any case, but for what it's worth, I apologize for my mistake. But you have to consider; even you, at the time, thought your brother had--"

"Hold it right there, Michelle," Allison cut her off coolly. "An apology that's followed by the word but is no apology at all. I take it you don't have much experience at apologizing, do you?"

A couple of the onlookers snickered. Michelle's face turned bright red.

"All... right," said Michelle slowly. She took a deep breath. "I apologize for treating you like I did. Even if your brother had been guilty, it wouldn't have been fair for you to catch flak for it, so it was doubly inappropriate since he wasn't responsible. After seeing the vandalized memorial, I needed someone to be angry at, but since Ian was... since the killer was believed dead and the vandal was unknown, I took my anger out on you. I'm sorry for that and beg forgiveness."

What Adam and the others knew, but Michelle thankfully did not, was that the vandal was in fact Allison, who had desecrated the memorial as part of her plan to draw out and unmask the real killer.

Allison thoughtfully studied Michelle's face. "Okay," she said at last. "I accept your apology."