“Yeah.” I lifted a brow. “I guess that makes sense now that I know about the Dionysus Club, because Dionysus was an ancient Greek god, right?”
Dylan nodded. “Yup.”
“You said there were a couple of things we don’t know about.” Ginny’s forehead crinkled as she leaned forward. “What was the other one?”
I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. “I got a copy of the autopsy report from the coroner,” I finally said. “Cause of death was blunt force trauma from the fall. But in the notes, he also mentioned something else.”
Jeremiah’s eyes widened. “What?”
“He noted there was a small puncture mark on her left thigh. At first, he thought it was an injection site, but then the tox screen came back completely clean, so he put it down to an insect bite. But… she was wearing thick jeans that night.” I frowned, leaning forward. “What the hell kind of mosquito can bite through denim?”
“Yeah, that doesn’t really track,” Dylan muttered.
“So you think someone tried to drug her?” Cherry asked, tilting her head. “And somehow they failed?”
“That’s exactly what I think,” I replied grimly. “I think someone chased her down and stuck her with a syringe of god-knows-what. But before they could push the plunger down, she must’ve ripped the needle out and tossed it aside. Maybe even broke it. So then the other person got mad and pushed her so hard she went through the window.”
“Wait…” Ginny lifted her palms, eyes wide as saucers. “Like I was saying before, getting mad and shoving someone so hard they fall through a windowcouldbe an accident, albeit a horrible one. Right? But if someone was actively trying to drug her that night, then that means there’s no way it was just a terrible accident. It means the whole thing was totally intentional. Premeditated.”
“And that means it was definitely murder,” Jeremiah added softly. “Whoever was after her that nightmeantto harm her.”
“Exactly,” I muttered. “And that’s why I’m here. I need to find out who did it.”
“That’s completely understandable,” Ginny said, reaching over to squeeze my hand. “I would do the same thing if it were my sister.”
I fell silent for a moment, mind whirling again. Then I glanced at each of my new friends in turn. “Do you guys have any idea who might’ve put Calista’s name on the list?” I asked.
They all exchanged uneasy glances, and then Cherry spoke up. “Again, we can’t prove anything here, but… we’re 99% sure it was Roman Valcourt.”
My brows rose. “Is he related to that Julian guy?”
“Yes. Older brother.”
“He was a senior at BHU last year, and Julian’s a senior now, like the rest of us,” Jeremiah added, motioning between the four of them.
“Why do you think it was him?” I asked, head tilting slightly to one side.
“Well, Cal was single for all of freshman year, and most of sophomore year. A few hookups here and there, which she always told us about, but nothing special,” Ginny began. A distant look had appeared in her eyes, like she was staring right into the past.
“But then, near the end of sophomore year, she suddenly became… different,” Jeremiah said. “Not in a bad way. She seemedhappy.Like, really glowing. It was obvious that she’d met someone, but she didn’t want to tell us about it for some reason.”
“Not even me,” Cherry said softly. “Looking back at it, it’s clear why she didn’t want to tell us. She must’ve known we’d all warn her away from Roman. But at the time, we just assumed she wanted to keep things private until it got more serious.”
“We actually ended up asking about it at one point,” Ginny said. “But she just gave us this secretive smile and said she’d tell us when she was ready.”
“So how did you know it was Roman, then?”
“We didn’t know for sure at first,” Cherry said. “But we suspected it was him after a while, because we noticed that she’d blush whenever she saw him or heard his name, and whenever he passed by us at the dining hall, he’d look at her and smile.”
“Well, notsmile,” Dylan said, eyes rolling. “Valcourt men don’t smile. Theysmirk.But yeah, he’d smirk in her direction whenever he was around us, and she’d smile and blush.”
“Then, after what happened with the List… we were sure it was him,” Ginny said, voice hardening. “We know he’s a Dionysus guy, so it was all too much of a coincidence. He’ll deny it if you ask him, of course, but in my opinion, it was definitely him.”
“And to add to that, Roman started keeping a really low profile after that night,” Cherry said, eyes narrowing. “He went from being at every party and event in this city to hardly attending a single one. It was like he was hoping that staying off everyone’s radar would make them forget he existed, and therefore make them forget about him as a potential suspect.”
“Exactly,” Dylan muttered.
Jeremiah looked at me, brows furrowing. “So… Cal never said anything to you about being in a relationship?”
