"That's awful."
"I went to see her once in the hospital. It was intense. She had brain damage from it. Really bad. She couldn't talk or walk anymore. The family was devastated. Her parents and little brother moved away, a week or two after it happened."
Anger flared hot in my chest. Whitney had lied by omission. They all had. Protecting themselves, their reputations, their shiny perfect lives. While a girl lay brain-damaged in a hospital bed.
"After that, LakeshoreTea stopped for a while. But then at the beginning of this year, it started up again like nothing had ever happened."
"Who runs the account?"
"We weren't sure. We suspected Alexis or Peyton, or even Chloe, maybe. Based on posting times, captions, and who benefited. Nothing solid. Whoever runs it is careful. They use VPNs, fake emails, maybe even a burner phone. We needed the source, the phone itself, to clone it."
"So, what, you guys had a plan at the slumber party?"
"Sort of." Her mouth twisted, in pride or shame, I wasn't sure. "Leah would take the phones at the party, while they were distracted. All three, if she could snag them. Then she was gonna meet me on the beach at 1 a.m. I'd go back to my house via the beach so no onewould see me, then clone each phone. Fifteen minutes each, twenty if security was decent. Then I'd bring it back the same way, and she'd put it back in Peyton's bag, or next to Alexis and Chloe when they were sleeping. No biggie, as long as no one saw."
"And if Leah got caught by one of the girls, it would all be on her, and not you." The words came out harsher than I'd intended. But I was tired of these girls protecting themselves at each other's expense. Tired of the calculated risks that left someone else holding the bag.
Zara dropped her gaze. "Look. I did some things I'm not exactly proud of. Not everything, but enough. I helped spread the rumors. I laughed at some bad stuff I regret now. Leah knew what I’d done. She said if I wanted to do better, to be a good person, I should do something that mattered."
"Where were you that night? Exactly."
"I got to our meeting spot on the beach early, around 12:15 a.m. I sat on the bleached log near the seawall at the bottom of the Westinghouse property. Close enough to hear if someone came out on the bluff."
"Did you hear anything?"
"Girls' voices. At least three. Mad, like they were arguing, but keeping it down. I couldn't catch the words. The wind off the lake made it hard to hear clearly."
"Leah, Chloe, and Mia," I said. My daughter's name felt like rubbing a burn.
Zara shrugged. "Maybe."
"Did you hear anything else?"
She glanced around nervously. "Ah… a scream."
I went still. "What time?"
"Around 12:45, I think? Maybe a couple of minutes earlier. I was chilling on my phone."
A cloud passed over the sun. I shivered, though it wasn't cold. So far, the details matched Alexis's story.
Two witnesses. The same time, the same scream. That meant something. That scream was Leah. It had to be. Which meantsomeone had pushed her between 12:40 a.m. and 12:45 a.m., not later. The timeline was tightening.
"Then what?"
"The wind picked up, and I couldn't hear much anymore. I kept waiting for Leah to come down. She never did. I told myself Leah changed her mind, that she didn't take the phones. I was afraid Leah got caught and ratted me out." Her voice dropped. "I was scared. I didn't want them to turn on me, too. Peyton's done stuff like this before. Hurt other girls. I didn't want to be next."
"What do you mean about Peyton?"
Zara pressed her lips together and shook her head. "Just stuff. Rumors."
She wasn't going to tell me. Not now. I moved on. "What happened after Leah didn't show?"
"I stayed on the beach. In case someone was still up there. I messed with my phone for quite a while, kinda lost track of time. Then I heard something."
The hairs on my neck raised. "What?"
"On the bluff. A scrape. A thud. Heavy rustling in the bushes."
