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Celia hung up with him and rubbed her hands together with glee, making Riley, who was leaning against the door watching her in action, grin. “You’ve got your wind back, I see.”
“How soon can you get me that list, Riley?” He came away from the wall, the smile dropping from his face. “Pack it in for the night, babe; it’ll be there in the morning.”
Riley didn’t give her time to argue, just crossed the room and lifted her face by her chin, sealing her lips with his.
Andy was buzzing around the lab with excitement. With one thing done to his ability, he was psyched to see that the run he’d had going for the past day and a half was finally paying off. He’d thought for sure it would take much longer sifting through the logins to get to the culprit, but he hadn’t taken into account that with the pandemic and more than half the school opting for online classes, his job would be cut in half.
When he saw the name connected to the student ID used to sign onto the computer though he came up short. “This can’t be right.” He looked over the evidence a second time and then again with knots in his gut. A whole host of emotions, not to mention scenarios, ran through his mind as he pondered the ramifications.
He picked up the phone to call the detective again but put it back, let her have the night, he thought, it was going to be a rough one come morning. He shook his head as he grabbed his stuff and prepared to leave for the night. Who knows what tomorrow will bring what with the way things have been going.
Misty Swamp paced her room back and forth, unable to settle down. How had things gotten so out of control? She’d tried calling the hospital to get some news on her husband, but the response she got only left her feeling more anxious. Was that accusation she heard in the nurse’s voice?
She rubbed her hands up and down her arms as a sudden chill permeated the room. Her head spun while fear climbed up her throat. Her nerves were on edge, and she was sure she felt the walls closing in on her. Panic and paranoia crept in, and she had to squeeze her head between her hands to stop the screams from escaping.
In the room, next door Connie was standing with her ear to the door listening for the tread of her mother’s footsteps beyond. She felt like crawling out of her skin and had to rub her legs together to hold back the need to go to the bathroom. She needed to get out of the house, needed to see her dad, to peek into his life, if only for a little while.
The day had been a hard one, harder than she’d expected, and she resented her mom for making her go to school for making her face all the whispers and looks. And the sad thing is, she isn’t sure what made her feel worse, the people who believed her stepdad was guilty, or those who showed her compassion and care.
She almost felt sad for Marissa the way some of her friends had turned on her. No one seemed to know who was responsible for sending out the new message, which was the reason for Connie feeling like a hamster on a wheel. The whole thing now seemed like it was getting out of control and becoming something more than anyone seemed to expect, and now her mom has been acting strange all evening.
When she asked about Ryan, and when he was coming home, the answer she’d received, which wasn’t much, had only left her wondering. It had been a while since she’d seen her mother biting into her nails the way she had been since Connie came home this evening.
Now with the pressure of everything she’s been under pushing in on her, she just needed to see her dad and his family in their neat little cookie-cutter house. To escape into the dream of what-if one more time. Bitter tears of anger and rejection fell from her eyes, and she bit into her lip to keep the sobs from escaping.
A ball of agony rolled around in her chest until it tightened and became lodged somewhere between her heart and lungs. She wasn’t aware of pulling the door open or of the mad dash across the floor to the backdoor. She was vaguely aware of her mother calling her name, but she didn’t stop. She just needed to get to her dad’s place, to once again peer through the window, an outsider looking in, at the life that should’ve been hers.
CHAPTER 21
Ryan hadn’t slept a wink all night. He’d spent the time tossing and turning, wondering what had become of his life. The cops had brought things back up that he’d rather have left alone, things he’d refused to dwell on for a long time now. But now that they had ripped the scab off the wound, the pain felt raw, as if he were living through that hell again.
