“Oh.” Dylan’s eyes widened. “Sorry, we forgot to mention that we got her a burner phone. She left her real phone in her dorm before we took the taxi up to Crescent Bay.”
I blinked, mind still spinning. “That actually answers a huge question I’ve had for the last year,” I said. “The police told my family she was clutching her phone in her hand when she fell, and they gave it back to us afterwards. But when my mom flew out here to pack up her dorm, she found her regular phone there. So this whole time, we’ve been wondering why she hadtwophones. It’s actually one of the things that never added up to me about her death.”
“Well, now you know why she had two,” Ginny said softly.
“I guess that’s one mystery solved,” I murmured, rubbing my left temple. “I tried calling the Blackthorne Harbor PD about it, and you know what they said?”
Cherry’s forehead wrinkled. “What?”
“They implied she may have had a secret drug habit, and that maybe she had a burner phone to contact dealers.” I scoffed, head shaking. “They refused to listen to me when I said that wasn’t possible. Total and utter assholes.”
Dylan sat up a little straighter. “I have an idea. Why don’t we compare notes with you, Violet? We can tell you all the stuff that didn’t add up for us, and then you can tell us what didn’t add up for you. I’m sure you have more information overall, as a family member, but seeing as we were actuallytherewhen it happened, there might be some things we know that you don’t.”
“Good idea,” I said, nodding slowly. A hard lump was forming in my throat. “Do you want to go first?”
“All right.” He scrubbed a hand over his face and took a deep breath. “So, when we were all frantically looking for her, someone messaged me to let me know about some major commotion by the clock tower on campus. Somehow we all justknewit was Cal, so we raced over there, and—”
His voice cracked, and he abruptly stopped.
Ginny finished for him. “We saw her, Violet,” she said, voice trembling. “Lying there on the ground. It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen.”
The image instantly seared itself into my mind; my sister, lying there lifeless. Broken and bloodied.
My stomach lurched, and I could feel everything I’d eaten earlier threatening to come back up.
Dylan wiped his face and spoke up again. “She was on her back. That’s what got me,” he said. “I mean, who accidentally fallsbackwardsthrough a tower window? Especially when they’re completely sober?”
“Exactly,” Jeremiah said. “The police told us the windows were super fragile. But they were installed all the way back in 1745, so they’ve survived literal centuries of storms with barely a scratch. Yet we’re supposed to believe Calista tripped and fell right through one of them like it was just clingwrap?”
Cherry shook her head. “The police told us that bodies can twist in the air as they fall, and that’s why she landed on her back even though she probably went out the window face-first. But that’s bullshit. Even though it’s a pretty high tower, it only takes… what? Five seconds to fall and hit the ground? Maybe ten?” She paused, head shaking again. “That’s nowhere near enough time for a body to magically twist all the way around like that.”
“No way,” Dylan muttered, eyes flashing.
“Then there was the issue of her hands,” Jeremiah said. “When we saw her body, we noticed that her right arm was splayed across her front, so the back of her hand was visible. It was totally clean.” He paused and leaned forward. “If it wasn’t an accident, but instead a suicide like so many rumors said… wouldn’t her hand be cut to ribbons from smashing the window out before she jumped?”
Ginny nodded emphatically. “Yeah, it’s almost impossible to punch a window out without cutting yourself. Even if you cover it with something first. Like a jacket, or whatever.”
“Plus, who would ever believe that Calista could punch out one of those super-thick glass windows?” Cherry said, eyes wide. “I mean, I know she was six inches taller than most girls, and she was also pretty strong because of all that Pilates she did, but even then… I just can’t see her beingthatstrong.”
Jeremiah’s eyes hardened. “For me, the only explanation that makes sense is if someone else was in the tower with her, and they shoved her really hard. That way, there could’ve been enough force for her body to break through one of the windows.”
Ginny nodded. “Even if that person didn’t mean for it to happen, and they were just pushing her around because they were mad… well, it’s still their fault,” she said bitterly. “And the fact that they ran away and covered it up like a fucking coward makes it even worse. So, accident or not, I’ll never,everforgive them.”
A heavy silence fell over our booth.
Then Dylan looked at me again, brows furrowed. “What do you think, Violet? Anything else about that night that doesn’t add up for you?”
I nodded slowly. “You covered most of it, but there are a couple of other things you wouldn’t have seen,” I said. “For one, Cal had a silver ring in the jacket she was wearing when she died. It looked really old, and it had a weird symbol on it.”
“What kind of symbol?” Jeremiah asked.
“It was an outline of a bull’s head with a swirling maze etched inside it.”
“Like a minotaur?”
“That was the first thing I thought of when I looked at it,” I said, nodding. “I never really knew what to make of it. But I knew it wasn’t Cal’s, and I also knew it was weird that she had it. I mean…why?”
“The minotaur is a Greek mythology thing, right?” Cherry asked.
