And I hold on because right now, he’s what’s keeping me grounded.
Chapter Thirty-Four
LUKE
The auditorium is already filling up. Students have packed into rows of blue velvet seats, all of them whispering and texting. A lot of times you have to drag students to these things. Not this time. Everyone is here to find out if people’s suspicions are right.
Everyone knows something is up. You don’t have to be smart to put together that Coach Murphy is missing, and then the cops were digging body parts out of the lake.
I don’t let go of Madeline’s hand once we find our seats. I’m not leaving her side—not today, not after everything. Georgia squeezes in next to her.
“You see her?” Madeline whispers. She doesn’t have to say her name for me to know who she is talking about.
I scan the faces and then spot her. I give a slight nod to show Madeline. Lana is in the front row, wearing black like she’s going to the funeral after this. Performative bullshit. Teachers are lined along the walls, trying to look calm.
Bennett walks on stage, and everyone falls silent without him having to order everyone to do so a few times.
“I’m sorry to call everyone here last second, but this could no longer wait.” His voice is steady. “As many of you have beenspeculating, you are correct. The body found at the lake belongs to Coach Murphy.”
The crowd erupts. Bennett raises his hand for quiet so he can continue.
“Her death was not an accident. It’s being investigated as a murder.” A few loud sobs fill the space. “We’ve brought in extra counselors for anyone who needs to talk. Classes are suspended until Wednesday. I urge you all to be patient and to let the authorities do their work.”
A uniformed cop walks up the side stairs and onto the stage. He leans in and whispers something in Bennett’s ear.
I see it. The micro-expression my brother tries to hide—his jaw tightening, his eyes flicking to the left, toward the dorms. He nods once, sharply, and the cop walks off.
Something’s happening, and it’s happening right now.
“That’s all for now. I urge you to speak to the counselors,” Bennett says, his voice slightly off. “You’re dismissed.”
The crowd surges toward the exits, everyone talking in hushed tones to one another.
Madeline tightens her grip on my hand. “Something’s up?” I love how she’s already reading me so well. This must be that couple bullshit I hear people talk about, but maybe it’s not bullshit after all. I might have rolled my eyes at that shit before because I didn’t understand how two people could be so close.
“Yeah.” I pull her to me, my arm around her shoulders as we move with the crowd. We round the corner toward the dorms and stop short.
Police cars. Three of them, lights flashing silently against the brick. Officers everywhere, some with gloves on, going in and out of rooms.
“Oh God,” Georgia breathes beside us. We hurry into the building and quickly realize they’re on the male seniors’ floor.
“They can just search rooms?” Madeline whispers when we make it to my room’s floor.
“Yes, it’s not our property.” Then I see what door they are going in and out of. “Shit,” I mutter.
“What?” Madeline gets a panicked expression.
“That’s my and Grant’s room.” In fact, where is his ass? He’s always up in my face, but he hadn’t made it to the assembly. An officer steps out of the room, my brother behind him. He’s holding a bag that has red tape on the top of it. That’s when I see what’s inside it.
The glint of plastic and metal. Coach Murphy’s school ID. The one she wore on a lanyard every day. The one we found in the boathouse.
Grant follows the officer out, stone-faced. Unreadable. That’s my MO, not Grant’s. Georgia lets out a small gasp.
“Grant?” Madeline steps forward, but I put my hand on her arm, keeping her close.
“This is bullshit,” Grant says, his tone flat. He looks at me but gives nothing away. He’s not fighting because fighting means explaining. Explaining means telling them we were all at the boathouse that night. We saw a dead body and said nothing. It means exposing all of us. So either he cares about us enough to get arrested or he’s guilty and did it right in front of our faces.
They cuff him. Grant doesn’t resist, doesn’t struggle. He just looks at me one more time, a silent message passing between us—keep her safe.
