by daisy harris
“He was guilty.” My hands fisted.
Natasha ground her teeth together. “But that isn’t the issue. Who the fuck cared what he did or didn’t do with a senior? They’d already admitted Julius to the hospital by the time they found Kyle’s porn stash.”
“But he was telling the truth.” My voice shook. I wanted to travel back in time and be Julius’s best friend years ago.
“Do you know what it’s like to go see your brother in a psych ward?” Natasha’s voice lowered to a growl. “He was sedated so much he barely knew who we were.”
I crossed my arms. “But they helped him deal with his issues, right? The stuff about the teacher hitting on him?”
Natasha’s eyes darted to the side. “There was never any real proof of that. From everything they found, it seemed that Kyle was straight. What would he have wanted with Julius?”
I sucked in air like I’d been punched. Why would anyone need proof? The guy’d been a pedophile. He’d been fired from his job. Julius’s sister, of all people, should have stood by him. “And your parents?” I bit out. “What did they think?”
“It’s hard to say.” Natasha dropped her gaze. She fiddled with her makeup case, tucking eyeliner inside before zipping it up. “It was hard for anyone to believe him, Henry. If you’d seen how he’d been acting—”
“That shouldn’t have mattered.” Of course Julius had been furious. If this teacher had been coming on to him, and no one believed him . . . Well, I would have been pissed off too.
“Maybe it shouldn’t have.” Natasha tugged off her headband and arranged her hair. “But Julius was acting so strangely everyone thought he was on drugs.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“He wasn’t.” She put the last of her things away neatly in a drawer. “He had tons of caffeine in his system. Adrenaline through the roof, but no drugs.”
I nodded, frowning. “I guess that’s good.” There was no point in railing against Natasha. It sounded like the situation had been a massive fuckup on all the adults’ part. Still, I was angry as heck at Julius’s parents. If I went to my mom and told her a teacher was acting flirty toward me, she’d be at the school in a heartbeat, guns a-blazing and threatening to sue.
“Julius had a manic episode. The doctors said he’s probably bipolar, but since there was no precipitating depression, they couldn’t be sure.”
I thought back to the first day I met Julius. “So that’s why he’s been tested for so many things?”
Natasha snorted, but her laugh was bitter. “He was always a weird kid. Mother and Father thought he was on the spectrum, but honestly I think they were just upset that he only really attached to Mrs. Hundstead.”
“I could see that.” Mrs. Hundstead was certainly around more than Julius’s parents.
“All that was no big deal. Just our parents being idiots. But when he was ‘investigating’ that teacher?” She chewed her lip, pulling off a spare bit of skin with her teeth. “It scared me. And it should scare you too.”
“Matthew Banks,” Julius said, tossing a pink-and-white Starbucks package onto the top bunk. “But his friends call him Matt. That’s the boy who was chasing Zoe last night.”
I rolled onto my side, digging the heels of my hands into my drowsy eyes. I hadn’t had the guts to ask Julius about his incident with the teacher, and I doubted I’d find the courage anytime soon.
The sky outside was a dim, steel gray with the sun nowhere to be found. “Where did you get this?” I asked. It seemed unlikely that Mrs. Hundstead delivered Starbucks to the Drake household on Sunday mornings.
“Get what?” Julius sat at his computer, drinking coffee with one hand and typing with the other.
“This?” I held up my sandwich. Now that I smelled the eggs and ham, my stomach clenched with hunger.
“I was up early, so I rode to Madison Park. Sorry I didn’t ask what you wanted. I thought you’d want to sleep.”
Julius was right on that front, but I still wondered at how he could be so amped so early.
“I got you coffee too: drip and caffeinated. I thought you would need it, since I want to go to Matthew Banks’s house soon.”
I took a bite of my sandwich, groaning around the croissant crust. There was a venti on Julius’s dresser. Grabbing it for a sip, I climbed out of bed. “Who is Matthew Banks?”
Julius flicked his hand impatiently. “He’s a sophomore at Nathan Hale.”
“Ah.” I stretched my back. Unfortunately, the movement made my ribs ache like a hot poker had been stabbed into my side. “A sophomore?” I limped to the computer. “That’s probably why Zoe didn’t know him. He’s a different year.”
“Mrs. Hundstead is off today, so we’ll have to take the bus.” Julius was dressed, and he frowned at my pajamas. “It’s a long shot, but I’d like to make sure he wasn’t the one driving the tan sedan. When will you be ready?”
“Um . . .” I bit the edge of my fingernail. Would Julius be annoyed if I told him to calm down? His knee was bouncing and his moves sharp. After what Natasha had told me the night before, I saw every twitch of Julius’s differently. Maybe this was the start of a manic episode. Then again, maybe Julius had been like this all along. “I can throw on some clothes.”
“Great.” Julius flashed me a rare smile. “I’ll look at the metro schedule.”
Matthew Banks’s house was two stories tall and painted a shade of muddy brown, just like every other house on the street. We walked past, then lingered as long as we dared on the corner before turning and walking in the other direction. Since it was only 10 a.m. on a Sunday, we were the only people on the sidewalk.
I crossed my arms, shivering, though I couldn’t tell if the tremors in my muscles were from the cold or from the coffee I’d drunk on the way over. “Good thing it stopped raining.”
“Uh-huh?” Julius checked his phone.
“What are you doing?” I leaned closer.
Julius shielded his screen. “Nothing.” He hit a button and put the phone in his pocket. “I’m just commenting on one of The Other Woman’s posts. She really does put up a lot of photos of dogs, doesn’t she?” He frowned as he watched cars pass at the end of the street. “She favorited one of my posts at three in the morning. How many moves do you think it will take before she contacts me directly?”
“You were awake at three in the morning?” I did the math. No wonder Julius seemed scattered, he couldn’t have gotten more than four hours’ sleep. “Listen, it’s one thing to read her posts and leave comments. But you should not text this girl. She’s crazy.”
Julius shrugged. “Well, according to most of the psychiatrists my parents have sent me to, so am I.”
I blew out a nervous breath. “You seem perfectly normal to me.” That might have been a lie, but it was a kind one.
Julius’s pants buzzed, so he fished out his phone again. He smiled at the screen. “Wonderful.”
“What did you find?” This time when I peeked over Julius’s shoulder, he let me look. There was a picture of Lake Washington that Julius had posted, along with a comment from The Other Woman, saying, gorgeous.
“She’s spoken to me twice now.” Julius tapped his phone on his hip, a thick, flashy watch dangling loosely from his wrist. “But I can’t message her too quickly or she’ll blow me off.”
“I’m not sure it matters when you contact her. She’s a fake account. Probably run by some old, nasty dude. The moment you reach out—”
“Every manipulator has their method.” Julius cradled his phone to his chest. “I’m trying to figure out hers.”
“I bet she knows it’s you, anyway,” I said dismissively. “She might not return your message even if you send one.” That’s what I hoped. If I had my way, Julius would stay as far from this person as possible.
“There.” Julius jerked his chin to a car that had just rounded the block. “Blue Volkswagen Passat. Let’s see who it is.”
As it turned out, it was one of Matthew’s neighbors. They pul
led into a driveway three down from Matthew’s house.
“What if he’s at a sports practice or a friend’s house?” I crossed my arms against the cold.
“He’s got to come home eventually.” Julius wrapped his jacket around himself tighter since it had started to rain again.
I was just about to suggest we come back another day when a boy rounded the corner, speeding on his bike. “Drat.” I nodded in the kid’s direction. “He doesn’t drive yet.”
Julius rolled his shoulders forward. “Well, at least we know. It was worth checking out.” Matthew opened his garage. Inside were two cars. Neither of which were tan sedans. Julius growled. “Damn.”
“Well, that was pointless.” Julius and I headed to the bus stop. Since my head wasn’t covered, the rain continually pattered on it. My shivering didn’t improve my grim mood. “Do you think Natasha would come pick us up? Or is that too much to ask?”
Julius frowned, pulling out his phone. “I can ask. But I seriously doubt that—” Suddenly his expression brightened. “Yes. Yes, yes, yes!”
My stomach dropped like an airplane losing altitude. “Please tell me The Other Woman didn’t contact you.”
“Fine. She didn’t contact me.”
I closed my eyes briefly, cursing under my breath. “You’re lying, aren’t you?”
Julius’s eyes were too bright in his pale face as he typed. “Of course I’m lying.”
“Did you hear?” a girl whispered behind me in the seafoam-green hallway.
“About Todd being missing?” her friend answered.
Bethany touched my arm, and widened her eyes meaningfully. Though the first bell had already rung, I paused, pretending to search in my backpack.
“I heard they’re letting school out early,” the first girl said.
Just then, Julius came barreling down the hall, backpack flapping on his shoulder. He grabbed my arm as he passed and pulled me along. “Good. I found you. We need to get to Todd’s house. Immediately.”
I hurried so as not to fall, and Bethany trotted right behind me. “Why?”
“He’s missing and has been since first thing this morning,” Julius said. “If we want to survey the scene, we need to do it now while there’s still confusion.” He led us through the freshman hallway and into the school’s entryway.
Bethany waved her hands. “We can’t just leave!”
“If you want to go running to homeroom, go.” Julius waved away her concern. “Henry and I can get what we need.”
Bethany marched faster to get in front of him. “That’s not what I’m saying. We need a cover story. Some reason to leave.”
“Fine.” Julius reached in his jacket and pulled out a pocketknife.
When he flicked it open, Bethany gasped. “That’s against school rules.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to use it on anyone else.” He made a quick swipe across the back of his arm.
“Jesus!” I snatched the knife away from him, panic welling up faster than the blood on his skin. “What the fuck?”
“Relax.” He winced. “You can say you were taking me to the nurse’s office.” He smudged the drop of blood across his arm. “Let me get to the bathroom and throw some water over to keep it bleeding. You two saw the accident and came to my rescue.”
Bethany’s face was pale, her gaze wide and confused. I didn’t want to say anything, though. Yeah, Julius was acting nuts. But if I said so, then we’d have to decide what that meant and what we were going to do about it. Instead, when Julius joined us in the entryway again, Bethany and I took up position on either side of him and let him lead the way to the offices.
“What in the hell are you going to tell Maureen?” I whispered.
“I’ll say I tripped and cut myself,” Julius muttered. “I’ve had a smear of ketchup on the edge of my locker for a while. Thought it might come in handy.”
“Yeah. Unless someone decides to taste it.”
At the south end of the hall, Roberto was directing the hordes of scared students.
“Sorry.” Julius stumbled toward him, bloody arm held aloft like a weapon. The water he’d poured over his arm was a nice touch, because it made the small cut drip all over. “I got pushed. Everyone was pushing. Cut myself on a locker.”
Roberto narrowed his eyes. “Seriously, Drake?”
“I was looking for my sister.”
Roberto scowled. “Get that cleaned up. We don’t have time for your hysterics today.”
“Have they found Todd yet?”
Roberto rubbed his face. “Give it a rest.”
From there, we headed to the offices. The administrative section of the building was swamped with adults.
“Good Lord.” Julius shouldered his way around a man, and approached the front desk. “Maureen, can you help me?” He draped himself across the counter. “I cut myself.”
Maureen gasped, but I suspect that had less to do with worry over Julius and more to do with her general level of stress. “Um . . . The nurse is busy right now, Julius. She’s consulting with Dr. Cochow.”
“Of course she is.” Julius sagged further. “Is there any way we could get a first aid kit?” He waved his arm around, dripping bloody water all over the place.
She jerked out of the way. “Yes. Sure.” Maureen shuffled away from her desk and headed for the nurse’s office. “I’ll just be a minute.”
Julius muttered to me. “We need Natasha. She’ll have more details, not to mention a car.”
I pulled out my phone, trying to keep a level head. “Number?”
“Two-oh-six, five-five-five, three-two-oh-seven.”
I typed it in.
“Ask her if she can give us a ride to Todd’s house.” Julius reached across the counter and turned Maureen’s notepad. “And tell Natasha not to mention anything to her friends. We need to get the intel before it gets reinterpreted by half the school.”
Liz Cantor-Chang stormed from her office, calling over her shoulder. “I know. But I already have parents calling. We’ll enact our Shelter-in-Place protocol while the police search the school. Then we’ll resume the normal schedule.”
I shrank into the corner, hoping Liz wouldn’t notice us and get suspicious. She must have been too busy, though, because she strode out of the waiting room, several school administrators in her wake.
From the sounds in the hallways, people were already being shuffled to the auditorium and cafeteria.
I thumbed into my phone, Natasha. This is Henry. Julius wants to know if you can give us a ride.
Her reply came immediately. He gave you my number, maggot? Tell him I’m going to kill him.
I ignored her comment. We’re in the office, but we could be on Lake Washington Boulevard in ten minutes. I spotted Maureen coming from the nurse’s office with a first aid kit. Pick us up there?
Fine.
I tucked my phone into my pocket. “She’s in.”
“Good,” Julius said out the corner of his mouth. “Just make sure you guys stay close while I make enough of a scene to get Maureen to let us go.”
Todd lived on the other side of downtown, on a hillside overlooking Lake Union. Three police cars lined the street in front of his house, one with lights still flashing.
“I can’t believe I agreed to do this.” Natasha threw the car in reverse to parallel park. “Todd’s parents aren’t going to talk to you anyway.”
“Maybe not.” Julius twisted in the passenger seat. “But they’ll talk to you.”
“I hope you’re not serious, Julius. Why would I get involved?”
“Because you’ve had your eye on Todd since well before you started seeing Hal.”
Natasha turned off the engine. “What if the police won’t let us in?” Usually Natasha’s confidence was brash enough to knock down brick walls, but right then her shoulders were rolled forward and her chin was tucked in. She didn’t look ready to knock down so much as a yard sign.
“If we’re turned away, so be it.” Julius
lowered his voice slightly, and it was strange to see him comfort his sister. “But there’s plenty we could learn just from observing.”
“How about I’ll pretend I don’t know anything about it?” Bethany offered from her spot in the backseat. Her expression was tense, but determined; I was still shocked she’d had the balls to lie her way out of school for the day. “I’ll act like I was walking down the street. That way I can ask the police questions without seeming suspicious.”
Julius twisted to give her a smile. “That’s the spirit.” He turned to Natasha. “You could say you left a book at his house, or a sweater or some shoes.”
“I can come up with my own cover story, thank you very much.” Natasha checked her pocket. Her eyes lit up as she handed her cell phone to me. “Okay. I’m going to say I left my phone at his house. That way you guys can look in his room. Follow me in, fetus, and plant it somewhere.”
Julius tutted. “Why not me?”
Natasha opened her door, tucking her hair behind her ear before fishing a pair of sunglasses out of her purse. “You need to be watching and listening.” On the sidewalk, she smirked. “And you’re not exactly a mastermind at blending in.”
Julius snarled.
We all climbed out of the car, and Bethany slipped past me to mix in with the crowd. I jogged up behind Julius and Natasha on the walkway leading up to the front door.
There in the doorway, a grumpy-looking police officer was writing notes on a pad. The guy seemed disinclined to let anyone pass, much less three of us.
“Hello, Officer?” Natasha lifted her sunglasses to perch them on her head. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m one of Todd’s friends. From Clinton Academy. I was over the other day and I think I might have left my cell phone. I know Todd’s missing, but . . .” She plumped her lips in a pout.