"An animal?"
She shook her head. "Something big. Something careful. It sounded like someone climbing down from the top."
"A person."
"Yeah."
"Did you see who?"
"It was too dark. They were up higher on the bluff. I was more worried about not being seen than seeing them."
"What time?"
"Around 3:30 a.m. My phone had three percent battery left, the same as the time. I remember thinking that."
3:30 a.m. Nearly three hours after the scream. Leah was already dead by then. So, who had been climbing the bluff? And why? Were they checking to see if she was really gone? Moving evidence? Something worse? My throat tightened. "What did you do?"
"When the noises finally stopped, I left. I… I didn't want to climb the stairs where I'd just heard the noise. I was kinda freaked out. So, I just stayed out there, thinking, worried. My brain does this thing where it won't turn off. I finally decided to go back inside when it was almost light out. At the top of the bluff, I saw a glint in the grass. It was Leah's phone. When I went over to check, that's when I saw her." She rubbed her nose, sniffing. "She was there all that time, when I was on the beach, and I had no clue."
"I'm sorry, Zara." I meant it. Though she was tall and looked a few years older than her age, she was still just a kid. "The next morning, were any phones missing?"
"Alexis still had hers. Same pink case, the cracked corner. Peyton had her new iPhone with the purple case. And Chloe had hers. If Leah took any of the phones, she'd put them back. Or she never took them at all."
I weighed what Zara had given me and what she hadn't. Her fear felt real. Her guilt had sharp edges. But she was still holding something back.
"Why didn't you go to the detectives?"
She let out a humorless laugh. "I'm a Black girl who can hack. I don't have an alibi. The only person who could confirm my story is dead. And those girls, if they think I'm snitching? They'll join ranks against me. Mrs. Atkins already thinks I'm guilty of moving her stupid garbage cans because of how I look. How would that work out for me?"
The fear in her voice was real. Raw. I recognized her fear of being judged before you opened your mouth, to have people decide who you were based on what they saw. Zara wasn't wrong. The system wouldn't give her the benefit of the doubt. Neither would this neighborhood.
But I had to think about my daughter first. "The detectives suspect Mia. Would you stay quiet while they cuffed her?"
She swore under her breath. "I wasn't going to stay quiet forever. I just…"
"You were scared."
"I'm still scared. If my mom finds out, I'm grounded for life.If the school finds out, I'm expelled. No one hears the part where I stopped being a part of the bullying, the part where I'm trying."
"A girl is dead, Zara."
She flinched. "I know."
"You can still choose to be brave. You need to tell the detectives what you heard and when. And all the stuff with LakeshoreTea."
She closed her eyes. "Mom's going to kill me for lying to her, to the police. It's obstruction of justice. It's a crime."
I let the quiet do its work. The pool pump hummed. A gull squawked overhead. Waves slapped the sand below the bluff.
"I need one night," she said. "I need to tell her myself."
"You can have until morning," I said. "Or I walk into the station and hand them what I know. It will be better coming from you."
Was I doing the right thing? Giving her time felt like mercy. But it also felt like a risk. What if she clammed up? What if Camille shut her down? What if she was dangerous and I just gave her twelve hours to cover her tracks?
Zara had the information. It was Zara who needed to act. If she didn't tell Camille by tomorrow morning, I would.
Zara sighed, her mouth set. "I'm not a bad person."
