“Not here.” I swallowed and tried to wrap my brain around the new information. Everyone knew Samantha was a thief and not the bubbly, flirty woman who volunteered here the past few weeks. Her act was over, which was a relief, but if it wasn’t known that she tried to frame me, that meant Christopher hadn’t heard the news yet. He surely would’ve told everyone what he thought of me. “I need to go.”
She nodded, reached over, and squeezed my forearm. “We’ll catch up.”
I gave her a tight smile and kept my head low as I marched down the hallway. An officer walked out of Christopher’s room and smiled when he saw me. It was Detective George.
“Oh, hello,” I said, a cold sweat breaking out down my body. How much drama could I survive? I was about ready to overdose on drama.
“Ms. Carter. Good morning,” he said, jutting his chin toward my classroom. “Let’s talk for a minute.”
“Yes, right, of course.” God, I’d done nothing wrong, yet I was still a nervous wreck.
Christopher walked out of his room with a huge frown on his face. He parted his lips, like he wanted to say something, but I shut the door to my room and faced the Detective. “Is there news?”
“Well, we have an APB out on Ms. Sullivan, and we’ve been questioning the staff to see if we can figure out where she would go. I’m hoping we’ll find her, and the money, soon.” He eyed my desk and said, “We confirmed that you were with Mr. Callahan Friday morning at the same time the withdrawal happened. His statement, along with the time stamp of the key card, clear you.”
“I would hope so,” I said, annoyed that if Christopher had to submit a statement, that heknewit wasn’t me who took the money. Yet I hadn’t heard a single word from him. Not one. “So what’s next?”
“We’ll keep an eye out for her. Your school resource officer knows about it, and if she steps foot on campus, she’ll be taken in. We’ll ask a few more questions from people who knew her to see if we can find her, but after that, the case will remain open until we find her. In full honesty though, there isn’t a high chance we’ll recover the cash.”
“I figured. Thank you for the update.”
He nodded and left the room, and my head spun so much I had to sit down. When was the last time I ate? My stomach tightened with heartbreak and worry all weekend, and eating food tasted like dirt. My body felt hollowed out, and I quickly found a protein bar in my desk and took a few bites. I wanted to gag at the starchy taste, but I needed something in my body or I’d pass out.
Could I just be sick today?There were twenty minutes before school started, and the thought of smiling and being happy for students seemed like so much effort, I rubbed my palms over my eyes as loud voices came from the hallway.
“You’re an idiot,” someone said, the deep timbre of a voice sounding a lot like…no. There was no way. Why would my brother be here?
I looked up and saw him through the glass in my door, his face set in determination and facing Christopher’s direction.Oh no.
“I don’t care what youthought. You’re a fool for breaking her heart. Our money doesn’t define us, okay? Her money should have no role in your relationship. God, I promised myself I wouldn’t say anything to you. I’m here for my sister.”
Fritz shook his head at my buddy teacher before pulling the door to my classroom open. His face fell when he saw me, and he set a large bag on the floor before rushing over and wrapping his arms around me. “Gil.”
That was the final straw in my fragile resolve. I cried against his chest.
“Hey, it’s okay, Gil.”
“Why are you here? How did you…why did you say that to Christopher?” I sniffed and pulled back, wiping under my eyes. My brother, who was always busy at his job, was at my school. On a Monday morning. “Are you okay?”
He flashed a smile before putting his hands on his hips and staring at the window. “I’m all right, yeah. Look, I needed a few days to think about everything, and the same thing kept coming into my mind.”
I swallowed and watched his jaw tighten and his eyes turn dark. Without saying her name, just the thought of her made a dark cloud in the room.
“I would’ve done the same thing if it was you. I’d still do it if it meant I was protecting you. I get why you did. I hate that you didn’t tell me about it or that you’ve been suffering in silence for weeks. There were red flags with Samantha. I just chose to ignore them.”
“So you forgive me? We’re okay?”
“Yes. I forgive you, and we’re always okay.” Half his mouth lifted up in a smile, and he let out a long breath. “I brought you a gift as an I’m sorry and congrats on surviving a month without money.”
“Oh.”
I forgot about that. Completely. Today was the day I could go back to spending whatever I wanted, but the thrill I thought would be there wasn’t. Money would always be an issue in my life, whether someone else wanted it, or someone hated it. “The money Samantha stole…I could pay it back.”
“What are you talking about?” He narrowed his eyes and his body seemed to stiffen. “She stole from you?”
“She used my checkbook and forged a withdrawal from the school account, so one of the scholarship recipients couldn’t cash their winnings. It just happened to be Christopher’s sister. You never answered my question. Why did you say that to Christopher? How did you know?”
He gritted his teeth and glared at the shared wall we had. “Grace called me yesterday and filled me in on some gaps. First, she wanted to make sure I was okay and then told me that he didn’t know a thing about our money. I get why you kept it from him, but that doesn’t make sense why he broke your heart.”
