“I’d make a terrific Watson to your Sherlock,” she suggests.
She’s so right. Sophia would be a tremendous help with my investigation. “That sounds amazing, actually. I could use that big, beautiful brain of yours. Only, Sophia?”
“Yes, Belinda?” Sophia is beaming. I can tell she loves the idea, too.
“Can you please call me Billie?”
…
I’m in my dorm room, trying to figure out what to wear on my date with Connor. I asked him what attire would be most appropriate, but he only said I always look nice and I should wear whatever makes me the most comfortable. Cute but not super helpful.
Priya and Abigail are in the room with me, curled up together on Priya’s bed and quizzing each other on French vocabulary. If I didn’t already know them so well, I’d find this scenario downright adorable. Like two sweet kittens helping each other out. But these kittens have serious claws.
I open the closet door, then stand in front of the mirror and start applying makeup while thinking about the tail end of my conversation with Sophia. While I didn’t confess to her that I eavesdropped on her dad’s phone call that one night, I did ask if she could find out what happened to a student named Nigel who probably attended Wickham around the same time as our parents. There are a few surnames on Isla’s 1998 Legacy List that I haven’t figured out yet, and maybe one of them belongs to Nigel?
Just as I finish my makeup, my phone buzzes with a text.
Watson:
Found him! His name is Nigel Carmichael.
Sophia insisted on the update to her contact details in my phone, and while initially I thought it was just a cute gag, I’m starting to wonder if it’s not a well-deserved moniker. She sends me a picture of Nigel’s yearbook photo, and I study it closely. He’s fair-skinned and blond, with a tiny gap between his two front teeth and a pleasant smile. He gives boyish, charming vibes. Harmless, even.
Watson:
Oh no.
Me:
????
Sophia sends a link to an article from a local newspaper’s archives. I click on it with dread, skimming the words as fast as I can. Nigel Carmichael … student at Wickham Academy … dead at seventeen … family lost everything in a Ponzi scheme …
Nigel’s death was ruled an accidental overdose. The article states that after the family went bankrupt, he and his younger brother abruptly withdrew from Wickham in the middle of the academic term. According to “a close friend of the family,” Nigel never recovered from the financial and social blow.
The article is dated June 1998. Nigel was a student when Peter and Samantha were at Wickham. So was Percy Harrington. I’m assuming the conversation I overheard the night of the sleepover was … Percy trying toprotectConnor. Wanting to make sure a student under his care didn’t suffer because of his father’s crimes, the way Nigel did. That’s so reassuring.
I realize that Sophia comes by her kindness honestly—that her dad is one of the good ones, too, and that brings me even more comfort. There are a lot of assholes at Wickham, but the Harringtons aren’t among them.
