ashlight and searches for him outside. Without any luck, Jess goes back inside. She figures Pepper will turn up the next day. When she finds an open can of tuna in her trash can, she knows that Pepper is gone forever.Eric brings the results of his internet search to Jess the next day. Eric discovered that Scott Alexandar was a little boy who had died when he was only a few months old. The Scott Alexandar that Jess knows had taken the boy’s name and established a new identity with it. Jess is immediately more apprehensive about Scott and who he really is. She asks Eric to look up Mark Malik on the internet. She thinks it might also be a fake name.Jess takes a walk through the woods that day after school. Suddenly, she comes across two graves that are side-by-side. They are approximately cat-size, and each has a little headstone. The graves horrify Jess, and it scares her even more when Scott shows up at her side. Scott says he has seen graves like that before. Jess, assuming Scott is the one who killed the cats, runs out of the woods with Scott following her.Jess runs right into Mark who tells her that her next-door neighbor needs help. He leads her into her neighbor’s house, where a person is lying on the floor. Mark asks Jess to drink some iced-tea. Jess, realizing it is poisoned, refuses to drink it and smashes the pitcher to the floor. Mark grabs the jagged handle of the pitcher and pins Jess against the wall. Mark tells Jess that he has to kill her because he needs a good reputation. He needs to be the head of the volunteer committee; moreover, she has ruined all of his plans for a clean start.Suddenly, Scott bursts into the house and attempts to protect Jess. Unfortunately, Mark hits him on the head with the pitcher handle, knocking him out. He drags Jess into the woods by the graves. He plans to kill her and burying her next to her cat. Jess tries to talk Mark out of it. She cannot believe what ...
