Alexis, Nick, and Ruby exemplify how friendship can exist beyond different ethnic or socioeconomic backgrounds. The three teenagers bond through shared experiences. The initial search for Bobby Balog forces them to work together, while their emotional ups and downs during the murder investigation allow them to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, arriving at an atmosphere of trust and support.

Once Alexis, Nick, and Ruby know they can trust each other, they are capable of much more than any of them would be alone. Ruby’s problem-solving skills would be nothing without Alexis’s ability to confirm her conjectures by talking to people face to face. Nick would not be able to prove himself a hero without having Alexis as backup. And Alexis would never get to see herself as prepared and dependable without the need to protect her new friends from the dangerous killer.

The close relationships Alexis, Nick, and Ruby form—as well as their eventual reconciliation with their parents—offers a strong contrast to the sociopathic loner Becker, whose lack of empathy and chosen isolation paint him as a truly monstrous person.