He’d learned he was wrong a few minutes later when Atticus came back inside, alone and angry. Wrong about Atticus leaving and wrong about his initial assessment of his character. Atticus wasn’t a bad guy, but Slade had been expecting the worst from him since the beginning.
Of course, there could be an entirely different reason Slade was trying to paint Atticus with an unflattering brush, but he wasn’t about to go there.
Slade should’ve been relieved that Atticus had seen Spencer for who he was and didn’t make the mistake of learning firsthand, but instead, Slade merely felt guilty for getting in the way of someone else’s happiness. Who was he to determine whether Atticus could find what he was looking for with Spencer? But he hadn’t seen past his blind rage.
Or jealousy?
No. Definitely not that.
“Look,” Slade said, stopping near the door to the bedroom. He put his hands on his hips. “I’m sorry for gettin’ in your business the other night. If you wanna hook up with Spencer, that’s your decision.”
“It is,” Atticus countered. “But I’m not talkin’ to Spencer. I haven’t seen him since that night. I don’t intend to.”
Slade nodded, not sure he believed him but sane enough to realize that wasn’t Atticus’s problem.
It was his.
***
“Holy shit,” JJ muttered as she staredat her computer screen. “Holyholyshit.”
“Is everything okay in there?” Baz called from their home office.
“Yes,” she said, her eyes glued to the information on the screen.
“Find something?”
More than something. JJ had found … well, she wasn’t really sure what she’d found, but it was definitely something.
Toggling between screens, she went to her notes app and clicked the search icon. She typed in the name of the high school Decker went to.
“Oh, my God,” she muttered when she realized she was right.
“Okay.” Baz’s voice was moving toward her. “I think it’s time to share with the class.”
She grinned and looked up at him. “Did you know Decker Bromwell attended the same high school as Kylie Walker?”
He frowned. “And that means what to me?”
“Well, for starters, they’re the same age.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she amended with, “Or they would be if … you know.”
If Kylie hadn’t died.
“And that means what?” Baz asked.
“They went to the same high school. They were the same age. They would’ve been in the same grade.”
“Probably. But that still doesn’t mean they knew each other.”
“I knew everyone in my high school,” JJ countered. “In every grade.”
“True. But you went to school in a small town. One with only one high school.”
“So?”
“Is it a public school they went to?”
JJ glanced down at the screen. “Yeah.”
