Luke turns on his flashlight and steps forward. I do the same. We break apart and walk down the outside aisles of the lockers. Our lights sweep the area, searching for anything that might stand out.
When we get to the office Harper was trapped in, Luke studies the area while I continue on. I go into the shower room and search for anything obvious before turning on my bug scanner.
If they were smart, they would have used a live feed so they wouldn’t have to come back and get their shit. But they’d need to remove it before Monday, or they could get in a lot of trouble.
My job is to see if they had a camera. If there is one, I’m tempted to leave it and have one of the girls “find” it and tell the principal. I’d love for Zach to have more issues to deal with.
I turn on the bug scanner and find the fucker. I make sure to not look directly at it, but take a picture of it from behind. It’s still recording. I send a message to Jack that won’t go through until we’re out of here but leave it in place so they don’t cut off the recording before Jack can trace it.
I move back to the main lockers and look around where Harper said she had her stuff, following the path she must have taken to the office. When I get there, Luke holds up Harper’s phone.
The screen is cracked and the whole thing is black.
“No charge.” Luke looks it over.
“Face up or face down?” I narrow my eyes on it, because if the light was on, they would have found it. Someone would have noticed it before leaving. Maybe even one of the cops.
“It was under the towel hamper.” Luke slides it in his pocket. “She’ll need a new one.”
“Doesn’t she use a case?” I try to think over Harper’s phone, but I usually see it in her hand and that’s not my focus when I’m around her.
Luke shrugs.
“I’ll give her one of mine.” I have a few extra phones at home. When we get there, it won’t take Jack much to download the data onto a new one and make sure it’s connected.
Luke nods and looks around. “Anything?”
“Small camera. Most likely on a feed. I’ll have a sophomore show it to the girls’ coach on Monday.”
“Why the fuck is this locked?” a guy says.
We both turn at the muffled voice and shut off our flashlights.
“Did you get the key?” another voice says.
“No. Fuck this. Let’s just say we didn’t find it. He won’t know.” The first voice sounds a little more distant. “I want to get laid, and that’s not happening if I’m here with you.”
“Fuck, man. I don’t want to get in trouble.” The other guy sounds like he’s at the door and rattles it against the lock a few times. “We were supposed to be here an hour ago.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have wasted time fucking Becca.”
“Fuck you.” The voice retreats. “You can tell him why you didn’t find his phone for him. He wanted that camera too. I’m blaming this one on you if he asks.”
“Hell, maybe he’ll like that we left the camera. Free boob show.” The laughter trails away.
Luke nudges me. Looks like we’re going to wait here for a little while. We have another phone to find. This time, Harper’s.
Jack
“How’s it going, Mike?” I ask as Emma and I come up beside him.
Emma blushes, and Mike grins at her, ducking his head.
“Hey, Jack,” Mike says but his full attention is on Emma. “Are you okay?”
He tucks her hair behind her ear.
“What’s the rumor mill saying?” I look around the party. We’re outside, not close to anyone in particular. The guys that he was talking to walked away a moment ago, leaving an opening for us.