“Yes.” The word has never come out more depressed than when Mr. Carter uses it.
I take the pass before heading out of the room. His class is toward the end of a hallway with an exit. There’s a vestibule between the hallway and the outside. If the outside doors areopened, a warning alarm will go off, but not the doors to the vestibule. It’s the perfect phone box.
I lean against the wall and call Damon.
“Had an interesting conversation today,” Damon says.
“Anything has to be better than history class,” I glance down the empty hallway.
“Mr. Carter?” Damon’s wince can be heard through the phone.
“Indeed. I got shit to share too. You’re coming home tonight, right?” I can’t think of another reason he would call. “I didn’t tell Hawk because he would punch you twice, but Evan cried about you last night.”
After we went to bed, I woke once to her on the couch with the light of her phone making her face glow, so I know he talked to her. She always sleeps better after they message each other.
“Yeah, I’m coming home.” He blows out a breath. “Jackson says he’s been in contact with Mia. That all the times he was talking to them, he was talking to Mia. He thinks that Mia might be Evan’s stalker. I need some fucking clarity, so I called you.”
“Did you check the number?”
“It’s not like he handed over his phone. It’s possible it was a dummy text.”
I glance out the doors and think about what I know about the timeline. “Okay, Evan received her first texts after the football game where Jackson sat with them. Mia was there. Mia had access to Evan’s desk for the rose and knew we thought Jackson was stalking her and his nickname for her.”
“So what doesn’t fit? Because I’m not about to blow up Evan’s friendship unless we’re fucking sure.”
“There are the texts Heather received. Mia might have known you two slept together, but she wouldn’t know Heather’s phone number.” I try to think through everything that’s happened. “The social media account isn’t Mia.”
“Why wouldn’t it be? All she’d have to do is suck off a nerd to get him to do it.” Damon blows out a breath. “Mia’s warned us off Evan before.”
“Evan found a video of Chase’s room last night. The social media account was created by Abby and Chase. We took it down at lunch. It doesn’t exist anymore. Mia helped us get Abby’s phone for it. We also took pics of her text conversations with the guy she got to help with the photos. That part we at least know what happened. But we don’t think they did the rest of it.”
Damon lets out a huff. “It could be Mia doing the rest. Jackson said she was jealous of Evan.”
“You really think she’d do this to Evan just to get in our pants?” I have my doubts. We’re hot, but not goillegal to get ushot. “Yes, Evan gets a lot of attention at the school, but Mia’s new, but she’s not doing bad for herself. Besides, Mia seems to genuinely care about Evan. She was waiting at the urgent care, just as worried as I was.”
“Maybe the rose was more effective than she thought it would be. Maybe she was worried about getting into trouble.” Damon growls. “Fuck, I don’t want to think it’s her, but what if it is? She showed us her phone with no messages from him, and he just showed me messages he received from her. Even said he thought she was jealous of Evan.”
“Why? Because she has us?” I scoff. “Come on. The girl can get any guy she wants. She’s not like Olivia looking for a relationship. She just wants a fuck. And she’s got Liam and Fletcher for that. I think Jackson might be trying to set her up.”
“Or she’s trying to set Jackson up. Maybe they’re in it together? I need you to make sure Evan isn’t left alone with Mia.” Damon blocks the receiver for a moment, and I hear him talking to someone else. “I have to go. I’ll be home tonight.”
“I’ll work the puzzle to see if Mia fits.”
I walkinto the smaller black box theater once hockey practice is over. Chase is on stage with Mark. I spent the rest of my afternoon classes outlining what we know. There’s some really damning evidence to say Mia did it.
Jackson could have given Mia all that information just in conversation. Or they may be in it together, and Jackson is pushing the blame onto Mia.
There’s one thing I haven’t checked, and it kept slipping my mind. With the social media account, we didn’t look into Brandt’s sister. Hawk knows some guys on Jackson’s team, but they may not run in the same circles as he does. I pull up Kentwood Prep where Jackson goes to school. Elizabeth Stanwell should be easy to find if she goes there. A search of their website doesn’t give me much, but then I try her social media.
Because, if she’s anything like Damon described, she’ll be on all of them. And at some point, she might have a pic in her school uniform. That would be the hope. Of course, with a famous father, she has her social media set to private, but it’s easy to pinpoint her with Brandt, who definitely doesn’t mind riding his father’s coattails.
I pull up one of my accounts I use to slide into DMs, before I was with Evan, of course.
I ignore the multiple DMs waiting for responses they’ll never get and friend request Elizabeth’s account. I also friend some of her friends. Can’t hurt.
It’s a Friday night, so I post about going to a party, hoping to hook up with new people. My account is not private, so when she looks it will be the first post.
I lean back in my chair and watch Evan give stage direction. Her tone is gentle, but her voice carries. I can’t imagine anyone being mean to this girl.
