Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 31942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 160(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 160(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
“So, he sent them from a cybercafé or something.” It wouldn’t be the first time that someone was stupid enough to think that another location would magically hide their tracks.
“According to your data, several times when the messages were sent from his laptop, he’s making posts on social media from a bar across town. Live posts with geotagging.”
“If both the messages and the live video are sent in real time—” I blow out a breath. This kid doesn’t have the ability to teleport. Still, I can get the truth from him. “What if you went down to Ernie’s and got yourself a coffee?”
Charlie
I didn’t go home tonight. Instead, I crash in Tessa’s apartment. She lets me stay on her couch and I spend six hours pretending to sleep before I finally get up. I take a quick shower and leave a note on her kitchen counter, letting her know I’m going into work. Everything feels weird and disjointed but maybe that’s just because I need to get back into my routine like Elliott told me.
Even though I know Kyle is still locked up in the Courage County Jail, I still scan the shadows in the parking lot. The morning sun isn’t up yet but I usually go into the school office early.
I prefer to work mornings and take most of my classes in the afternoons. I emailed my professors last night to let them know I’d had to leave town due to a family emergency. I figure once the news of Kyle breaks, everyone will know what happened. But for now, I don’t want to be the subject of gossip.
At the school office, I key in my security code. I wait for the door to lock behind me before I go into the building. I never used to think about things like locking my doors. Then Kyle took my sense of safety. It seems so wrong. He gets to sit around feeling smug and safe while I feel the constant need to look around every corner and anticipate potential threats.
I breathe a sigh of relief when I’m at my desk, just outside the Dean’s office. I can’t help wondering what’s going to happen to me now. Will he fire me once he figures out that I’m the reason his son is in jail? Will he turn the whole school against me?
My new phone dings with a text message. For a moment, my heart leaps and I hope it’s Brody. But it’s just Elliott, telling me that he’ll be stateside in seventy-two hours. He promises to take me out to my favorite restaurant, the one with the little personal pizzas that I love so much.
I text him back before setting my phone on my desk. I sort through Mr. Davis’s inbox in just under an hour. It was more cluttered than usual because his other secretary isn’t as efficient as I am, but I got it right back into shape.
The security system beeps at me, announcing that another person has arrived. I glance at the clock. It’s just after six which means the Dean has arrived. My stomach churns as I wonder what happens next. He holds a lot of power in this situation. I thought we were friends but maybe I was mistaken.
“Miss Charlie,” the Dean calls in his usual jovial tone. His smile looks more tired than usual and I can see his normally pressed suit is disheveled. He’s carrying two cardboard boxes. He’s like a lot of the older generation that work in this office. He still believes in paperwork. I scan his records and digitize them for him when he’s done. But he much prefers his hard copies.
“Let me help with that,” I hold open the glass door and snatch the top box. I ignore the pain in my arm from my fall in Brody’s creek as I put the box on a nearby chair. His office that I normally keep pristine is littered in paperwork already. “The paper monster is out of control again.”
He chuckles and it’s an awkward sound. The tension between us feels like it’s choking me. There’s this great big elephant in the room. An elephant named Kyle.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him, and I mean it. I never wanted to get his son in trouble, and I can’t stop feeling responsible for everything that happened. I keep wondering what I could have done differently.
“Kyle has always had problems. It’s my fault.” He lets out a sigh then pulls off his glasses. He rubs them on the sleeve of his shirt. “Ever since his mom went missing a few years back, he hasn’t been right. I should have done more to help him.”
“I’m sure you did everything you could.” It’s probably a lame thing to say but I don’t doubt it for a second. Mr. Davis is a good man. He genuinely cares about all of his employees, and he always remembers their birthdays. He regularly works to create scholarships for less fortunate students and believes that everyone should be given the chance to pursue higher education, regardless of their background. He was even voted Dean of the Year three years in a row.