Page 46 of Make No Mistake

“Thanks for making my job easy.” I smiled at him even though he was focused on reviewing my piece.

He nodded. “I’ve been saying that to you all year.”

That was true. We made a great team. One of the only things I wasn’t looking forward to after graduation was not working together anymore.

I pushed away the thought before I gave in to the depressing thoughts and focused on what else I could do to help find the mystery attacker. I opened a new document and wrote what I knew so far about each of the attacks. Thanks to my impromptu interview with Christina, I had a lot to go through for the first attack.

Somehow I needed to interview the other two victims. My fingers hovered over the keyboard while I considered my options. Maybe Detective Larson would let their names slip again. He did say he wanted to talk. I could go in with the information I already had, and maybe if he saw the work I was already putting in, he would help me dig deeper. It was the only option I had.

“Yours is good to go. Do you want me to send it over?”

“Yes, please.”

Once he was done, he turned in his seat to face me. “So what’s your plan?”

“What do you mean?”

“What’s your next step? This is your project now, so how are you going to pull it together?”

I blew out a sigh. “I need to interview the other two girls.”

He nodded. “Sounds like a good idea, but how?”

I bit my lip and hoped he wouldn’t say I was crazy. “Detective Larson?”

“Mac, just because he helped you once doesn’t mean he’ll let you get completely involved with his case.”

My shoulders dropped. “I know, but last night he said he wanted to talk. Maybe he’ll help me if I can help him.”

“I hope so, but in case he doesn’t, you’re going to need a backup plan.”

“We can look through Mypage for people saying get well and stuff like we saw on Christina’s page.”

He gave me a look that said he believed I’d lost my mind, officially. “You think we can go through thousands of student’s pages?”

“Maybe?”

His laughter was not appreciated.

“Mac, you’re a journalist. You need to do more digging. Start asking around. The last girl lived in your complex. She might have even been in your building. Start there.”

Huh. That made more sense than my stalking idea. I knew he knew what I was thinking which made me very careful with the words I spoke. “That’s an idea. Thanks.”

He laughed even harder. “You’re welcome. Sometimes it’s hard to see the obvious when you’re too close.”

“Hey, Mac.” I looked up to see Mallory waving me over. She showed me her screen when I sat next to her. “Everything’s in. We just need final approval to send it out.”

“Thanks.” I started with the school’s statement and read through the entire email twice before nodding. “This looks great. Thanks so much.”

“No problem, just doing my job.”

I stood and tried to get everyone’s attention. “Thanks everyone for coming in early and working quickly to get this done.”

The dozen or so people in the lab clapped, and Jay hooted once.

“It’s being sent out now, so unless you have other projects with close deadlines, you’re free to go!”

I met Jay at our table where he had already put my bag together for me. He slid the strap over my shoulder with a smile.

“I’ve got to get to my class, but if you need anything today let me know.”

He held the door open for me and we joined the crowded hallway.

“Thanks. I’ll see you later.”

He nodded and turned in the opposite direction of where I was headed.