He heads to the folders neatly placed on the side table against the wall and opens the first, the sound of pages being flipped drowned out by the white noise in my head as I notice several pictures she took when I was leaving the office. IknewI felt observed.
“Bank statements. Looks like we found who sent those donations.”
Approaching the wall plastered with newspaper clippings, I read the large text she’s printed and hung above. “Must save the podcast.”
“And I guess we have a motive.”
He holds up another folder. “Transcripts of your episodes.” Turning around, he checks my expression. “How are you holding up?”
I’m not sure, really. Part of me feels violated. But most of it is… anger. How could she do this? How could she trick all of us and, most importantly, Paige? I’ll have to tell her. I’ll have to look my best friend in the entire world in the face and tell her that the last year of her life has been a lie. That romance has failed her once again. That her girlfriend is…obsessed with me. That she’s a murderer. “I’m not scared.”
“Didn’t say you were.” His arm brushes mine. “But if you wanted a hug or something—”
With no hesitation, I land against his chest, hiding my face in his T-shirt. I guess Iama little scared. Unsettled, maybe. How far has she gone? Has she broken into my house? I trusted her for a whole year, and now we know she’s capable of murder.
His arms wrap around me, deliciously heavy, his hand stroking the spot below my shoulder. “I’m taking you home now. I’m puttingon a nice movie for you, tucking you under a blanket, and then I’m taking care of this.”
“No, I—”
“I’mtaking care of this. And I’m looking after you. Always.”
My heart stutters.Alwaysis such a big promise. Such a long time. And look at this. Paige and Vanessa are looking for a place together—I know at some point, Vanessa promised her forever. Always. My parents weren’t “forever,” and my friendship with Vanessa ended up not being “always.”
Ireallywant Rafael to be always.
I pull back and open my eyes to find him looking at me, his gaze filled with the usual mix of tenderness and fierce protectiveness.
Then I notice something blinking in the corner of the ceiling.
A camera.
“Rafael?”
He turns, his shoulders dropping once he sees where I’m looking. “Goddamn it. I don’t know what it says about me, but I want to hit that woman with my car.”
“You have to take pictures of this, and—” I gasp. “Her laptop,” I say, rushing out of the creepy lair. I enter the bedroom, then open the laptop and stare at the password field. With a wave of nausea rising up my throat, I type 0306, and after a second of buffering, I’m in.
“What was it?” Rafael asks. I hadn’t even noticed he’d followed me, but he’s watching over my shoulder, his hand stretched forward and holding out a USB stick.
“My birthday.” If she saw us through the camera, she might be on her way here—or getting ready to run away. She might try to delete the contents of her laptop remotely.
“Look.” I point at the screen, where Paige’s inbox is open. “That’s how she has early access to the episodes.”
He makes an unimpressed noise. “You’d be surprised how often people fuck up their whole lives by sharing a password.”
Making a mental note to change all my passwords as soon as possible, I insert the USB stick into the laptop. “We need to copy this,” I say, my heart racing as I navigate through the folders, copying everything that looks even remotely suspicious—photos, emails from the bank, the episodes, hidden files I almost miss.
“Come on, come on…” I watch the progress bar slowly inch its way across the screen until Rafael leans over my shoulder.
“I want you out of here, Freckles. Let’s go.”
“One second.” I take my phone and snap a picture of the inbox, just in case, then scroll through the emails on the hunt for incriminating messages. “This has to be enough,” I say, pulling out the USB stick as soon as the files finish copying.
“Out, come on.”
My phone rings, and seeing Paige’s name flash on the screen, I answer. “Hello?”
Rafael takes my hand in his, then pulls me out of the room and through the corridor.
