CHAPTER 47
1149 Words
Somewhere inside her, the beast stirred.
"You want to know what I think?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
Cooper crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow right back at her.
Calla looked back the way they'd come, her eyes roving over the deserted hall.
Alone. They were definitely alone.
But these days, that didn't mean much. You never knew who could be lurking
around the next corner. Camera in hand.
She took care to keep her voice low when she said, "I think it's pretty likely this isn't
a one-man show."
Cooper said nothing. He just stared at her expectantly, waiting for more.
So Calla gave it to him.
She held out her index finger, counting clues on her hand like she was reciting an old
family recipe. "We know that six students left their prints behind on a murder
weapon. Six. We also know that Tom Sahein is not one of those six. What he is, is a
notorious busy-body who probably has an alibi for the murders in the form of a time-
stamped photo. He was at the Halloween party. The rivalry game. The winter gala.
And what do you think he was doing?"
Cooper frowned. "Snooping. Taking pictures. Damn." He groaned. "You're right.
There's probably some picture in the yearbook lab's drive proving he wasn't
anywhere near the crime scene."
"Which we can prove. Once you get off your ass and go investigate those
photographs," she added, an edge to her voice.
"Okay. I get it." He threw up his hands. "But none of this explains—"
"I'm not finished," she interrupted, ignoring his glare. "What else do we know? Well,
we know that Rachel and Jess got into a fight a couple of days before her death.
And we also know that Jess and Mike broke up at the dance. Not to be overlooked
—their prints are all over that bottle used to cut Rachel's throat."
Cooper crossed his arms. "I'm following."
"We also know," she continued quietly, lowering her voice so that Cooper had to
step forward to catch her words, close enough that she could make out the pattern
of his breathing, "that you're a target. Who has the motive to kill you? To kill Rachel?
Jacob?"
His face spasmed at the last name. She kicked her heel back against the wall.
"What?"
The laugh that came out didn't match the uncomfortable look in his eyes. Not at all.
"I just never thought I'd feel sorry for the guy. Y'know?"
Calla resisted the urge to grab him by the throat. "What are you going on about?"
"Later," he said quickly. Her eyes narrowed. He kept speaking, hoping to distract
her. Or at least, that's how it seemed. "So far, your theory isn't making any sense,
by the way."
Calla had no idea what he'd been on about—he'd mentioned something about the
memorial this morning, had insisted that he needed to speak to her—but now he
didn't seem quite so eager to share what he knew.
It can't be important, she thought. He wouldn't keep something of that magnitude from
me. Not now.
Would he?
"That's what I'm trying to say," she started slowly, regathering her thoughts. "None
of the evidence makes sense if you're following just one thread. Sure, Jess had it
out for Rachel. You could call that a crime of passion. But you're gonna tell me she
killed Jacob Stein? Not a shot in hell she could have pulled that off."
"You think she had help," he surmised quietly.
"What if we've been looking at it wrong?" Calla urged, more confident now. "We've
been chasing a killer. Singular. Not plural."
Cooper gave her a skeptical look. "A two-man job would explain why no one person
checks every box..."
She nodded. "It could go further than that. This could be a three-man job."
"A threesome, you mean?"
"Your mind never ceases to amaze me," she deadpanned. "But, sure. Let's go with
that. A threesome is killing Greenwitch High students."
"Now that's a headline. Hook, line and sinker, baby."
Calla mimicked his pose and crossed her arms. "Do you handle everything with a
witty remark? Or is this just your grieving process?"
"Touché."
God watch over and protect this boy before I take his life myself.
"Sorry. Had to get it out of my system." He gave her a bashful shrug. "So...let me
surmise. You think Jess and Mike are working together on this. Blake could be
involved. Maybe. And Sahein is...what? Their outside man? The keeper
of the Chamber of Secrets?"
"I think it's more than that," she said, ignoring his tangent into nerdom. She kicked
off from the wall. "Sahein sees a hell of a lot more than he should. The trio could be
using him for intel. Feeding him gossip in exchange for favors."
"Favors." Cooper paused. She could practically see the gears turning in his head.
"Like checking a book out of the library to get his hands on a juicy story?"
She shrugged. "He's probably done worse to find out a dirty little secret or two. I
doubt the trio would have told him what the book was for."
"I think he knows now," Cooper muttered, grim.
She c****d her head to the side, a flutter of impatience threatening to send her into
a furious tirade. Cooper must have picked up on her mood—he seemed to be
getting better at that, a fact that deeply disturbed her—because he quickly explained
his reasoning. Using as much detail as possible, he described Tom's tense, unusual
behavior in class earlier today.
"He also left the party in a big rush. Did you notice?"
"The memorial," she corrected again, almost absently. "And yes, I did."
"I wasn't sure." Cooper rubbed his temples. "He was talking to Steph, and it looked
—"
"Steph?" Calla's interest skyrocketed. "She came outside to find me."
Cooper raised an eyebrow. "I guess she found you after her little telling-off. Tom
looked pissed about something she said. That's when he left." He paused again,
this one longer than the last. "We're painting Tom in an awfully nice light. You really
think he's just some pawn in all of this?"
No, she wanted to say. But she didn't trust herself to do so. Not when she was in
this mood—a mood to watch heads roll, regardless of guilt or blame.
Cooper didn't wait for an answer. He turned and paced from one side of the wall to
the other. "The guy has dirt on just about everyone. What if he's not the pawn? What
if he has some hidden agenda? Maybe he's taken a few pictures the trio didn't like."
He used her earlier terminology, the word trio like a curse on his tongue. "What if
he's been the one pulling the strings?"
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