“Who the fuck is that?” Anton asks as he stares out the window.
I clear my throat, struggling for the words, and George says, “It’s Creighton,” at the same time I utter, “It’s my dad.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
LOCK
“Where is she?”my dad barks the moment he’s through the door, then stops, squinting at the suited officer. “You’re not even police. What the fuck’s going on?”
He spins on his heel, finding me from among the crowd of students straight away. “Lock?”
“They were doing a search,” I tell him, keeping my face expressionless. “Kari was called to go into the office. That’s all I know.”
“Right.” He whirls back to tower over the security guard. I’m surprised the guy doesn’t leg it, his face broadcasting clearly that’s exactly what he wants to do. “You still haven’t told me where she is.”
“In the office, sir.” The man points the way, and my father ignores him, gesturing me over instead. “You. Stick by my side until this is over.”
“Why are youeven here?”
His dark eyes rest on me, assessing, poking, prying, trying to find out more than I’m willing to give. Then they turn back to survey the room, fixing on George. His displeasure immediately fires into anger. “You. What are you doing here?”
“She goes to school here,” I tell him, poker faced. “You know that already.”
“This isn’t the entire student body,” he answers, immediately zeroing in on the discrepancy. “She’s a day student. Why’s she in the cafeteria of the residential block if she’s not boarding?”
I shrug, feigning nonchalance while my heartrate catapults skyward. “She was just stopping in for breakfast.”
His eyes fix to mine as he advances, menace oozing from every pore. “Is that right?”
“She stayed overnight,” Carrod yells, happily outing me at the worst possible time. “When I last saw her, she was carrying a plastic bag full of what looked like pills.”
I break the eye lock to turn and glare at Carrod instead. “What the fuck?”
“It’s the truth,” he gleefully continues. “Strap me up to a lie detector if you don’t believe me. I’m happy to undergo an interrogation.” He pauses for the longest moment then slyly adds, “But I bet George isn’t willing to do the same.”
“Both of you, with me.”
George jumps to her feet and scrambles after him, already white-faced. Bad enough that someone called her out in front of the entire school but to do it in front of my father? And when he’s already got his knickers in a twist. No.
No, this isn’t good.
I try to grab her hand in a show of solidarity but she snatches it away, looking guilty. And of course she does because what Carrod said is obviously true.
The only bit my father’s missing is that the drugs were inCarrod’s room. That George wasn’t trying to land someone in trouble but to get me out of it.
It’s a truth I doubt I can convey to my father.
He doesn’t understand nuance. He only understands doing your job or fucking up and George is already embedded deeply in the fucking up column.
The student housing office is spacious, often used as a flow over staff meeting room when the newer one in the main entrance building is overbooked. Kari sits stiffly in a chair, the head installed behind her desk and giving her looks crammed full of deep suspicion.
When my father enters the room, she jumps to her feet. A jackrabbit for authority.
“Mr McManus,” she says, almost bowing to him. “I can assure you we have everything under control. I’ve already spoken to—”
“George planted the drugs in your room, Kari. You can get back to class.”
“Ah…” The head looks flabbergasted, eyes cutting back and forth between us. “Is this true, George?”
