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“What happened?” Theo asked.
“It was this shitty apartment complex out by the tracks. I don’t know, it felt sus, and I drove around a couple of times. I started thinking it was a prank, or maybe he was trying to get back at me. And then—” He stopped, and the child was there again. He licked his lips. His eyes went from Emery to Auggie to Theo. “Am I, like, going to get in trouble because I didn’t tell anyone?”
“Tell anyone what?” Theo asked.
“I saw this guy walking into the building. The one Leon had told me, the same address, I mean. And I don’t know if it was him, but it looked like him. And I freaked out. I drove home. And Leon texted me and said not to come over, we’d have to do it later.”
“Who walked into the building?”
Keelan shook his head. It took him a moment; Theo could see it in his body, the way Keelan braced himself. “Mr. Weber.”
Auggie’s brows wrinkled. Emery swore under his breath.
“Dalton Weber?” Theo asked, and the question sounded stupid as it hung in the air. He saw in his mind again that sliver of the classroom through the window, Dalton’s hand sliding into his pocket, the brown vial. “The theater teacher?”
Keelan ducked his head and nodded.
“You’re sure—” Theo started to ask, but he stopped and made himself say instead, “How confident are you that it was him?”
“I don’t know. It looked like him.” And then, the words bursting out: “It was him.”
“Did you see him after that?” Emery asked. “Leon, I mean.”
Keelan shook his head.
“Did he message you?” Auggie asked.
Another negative.
“You haven’t had any contact with him?” Theo asked.
“No way,” Keelan said. “That was too freaky. And then I heard he left town, you know. I heard he went out to California, that’s what somebody said, and I figured that was ok. That was probably better, you know?”
For what felt like a long time, there didn’t seem to be anything to say. Staticky music came from the hallway, Whitesnake playing over a cheap speaker, and then it faded. Theo thought he could hear the hum of the fluorescent’s ballast. He made himself rally his thoughts.
“What about Shaniyah?”
Keelan glanced at him.
“Shaniyah Johnson,” Theo clarified.
“What about her?”
“Did she approach you?”
Keelan’s brows drew together. “Like, to hook up?”
“Jesus Christ,” Emery said.
“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Did she interview you about Leon?” Theo asked. “She was looking into his disappearance. She had that footage of you and Leon fighting in the commons.”
Keelan shook his head.
“You’re sure?” Auggie asked.
“I’d definitely remember that. She never talked to me about Leon.”
