There were only a handful of motion events that night, and I thumbed through them. One was a raccoon that had found his way into Sophia’s trash can. The other two were cars driving past her house. No videos capturing Sophia sneaking out of her house.
“Anything?” Vero asked, fighting to hold Sophia back.
“Not yet. Give me another.”
Vero called out another date, grunting as Sophia reached through the door and jabbed her in the side.
I tapped on the date in question. That was the night Vero’s house had been spray-painted. Only four motion events had beenrecorded between midnight and six. One was a dog who paused to pee on Sophia’s lawn. All the rest were passing cars. “I don’t see her.”
Vero shrieked as Sophia slammed her foot down on her toes. They wrestled, swatting and clawing at each other. Vero shouted out one more date, and I quickly typed it into the phone.
It was the night before I’d arrived, when the house had been egged. No sign of Sophia leaving her property after dark. Only a few motion events had been recorded. All of them cars…
“Wait,” I said, scrolling back through the last two dates and pausing the frames.
“Did you find something?”
“I think so.” I snapped two quick screenshots and texted them to myself. Then I deleted all the camera footage from the last fifteen minutes before attempting to give Sophia back her phone. Her hands were knotted in Vero’s hair. Vero’s fingers were locked around Sophia’s wrists. Neither one of them was willing to give up their position to take it. They both yelped as I physically pried them apart. I shoved the phone into Sophia’s hands and pulled Vero away from the door. “We got what we came for. Let’s go,” I said in a low voice, turning our faces away from her camera.
Vero swatted a nest of tangles from her eyes and smoothed down her torn sweater. She pointed two fingers at Sophia and then pointed them at her own eyes before following me down the sidewalk back to Norma’s house.
“What did you get?” she asked me, wiping a dot of blood from her nose.
“She definitely paid that guy for the dog shit, but I think she was telling the truth about the rest. I don’t think she was the one who sent you those notes or did any of those other things either.” I held my phone out to her once we were out of sight of Sophia’s house. Vero squinted at the screen.
“The same Volkswagen appeared in both pictures,” I said as she thumbed through the photos I’d taken. “I couldn’t make out the color in the dark, but we might be able to zoom in and pick out a few of the letters or numbers on the license plate.” The screen-capped images were dark and pixelated. The taillights of the vehicle made it hard to make out the details, but there was a telltale window sticker on the back—the University of Maryland terrapin mascot with an M on his chest. “Our vandal is probably a student.”
“Or was,” she said, looking deflated as she handed me back my phone. “That sticker could belong to almost anyone in this town. We’re no closer to knowing who’s been vandalizing my mother’s house, and now Sophia has your phone number.”
“I deleted it before I gave her back her phone. Javi’s number, too,” I said with a wink. “I also deleted the recording of our visit to her house just now.”
Vero laughed. “Have I told you how much I love you?”
“Does that mean you’re coming home?” I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until she answered.
“Yeah,” she said, “I’m coming home.”
We walked arm in arm the rest of the way to Norma’s house. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I paused to read the text message from Cam. I held it out for Vero to read, too.
“Before we go home, there’s one last thing I need to do,” she said.
CHAPTER 35
Vero climbed the steps to the sorority house twenty minutes later like she still lived there. Zoey and Cam were waiting for us at the front door. They had texted me to let us know Celeste had scheduled a meeting with the Willinghams. Vero and I hadn’t bothered to go inside Norma’s house to change our clothes. We’d hopped right into my minivan and raced to Frat Row, skidding to the curb in front of the sorority house just as the meeting was scheduled to start. Two other cars were parked along the row in front of us, one with a student parking sticker on its bumper, the other with a visitor pass hanging above its dashboard. I’d probably return to find a parking citation on my windshield, but I didn’t have time to worry about that now.
Zoey let us into the building and guided us to the library. She directed Vero and me inside while she and Cam waited in the hall.
Vero strode into the room like a woman with an agenda, as if she still sat on the executive board. Celeste was seated at the head of the conference room table. If she was surprised to see us, she didn’t let on. Mia and Ava were seated to her left. Mr. and Mrs. Willingham sat to her right, joined by their son.
The Willinghams gaped at us as we entered the room. Vero’s arms were scratched from her fight with Sophia, and her hair still smelled like car-wash suds. I didn’t imagine I looked or smelled much better after the long night we’d spent locked up at the station.
“Don’t mind us,” Vero said, gesturing for Celeste to continue her meeting.
Celeste turned back to her guests. She slid a fat brown envelope across the table to the Willinghams. Emory’s full name had been printed across the front. “Inside the envelope, you’ll find the money Emory claims he lost last year to some members of our chapter. We appreciate your patience while we got to the bottom of the matter, and we hope this will resolve the last of your concerns.”
Mr. Willingham broke the seal and peered at the stacks of bundled cash inside before passing it to his wife. She tucked it inside her purse and quietly snapped it shut. Emory sat with his eyes downcast, his face red with humiliation. His car keys were already in his hand, as if he were counting down the seconds until he could leave.
Vero stared at his key fob with a curious tilt of her head.
