listen to you!” she said.
“Yeah, you do,” Keats said, righting the chair for her. “Sit down and shutup.”
When she didn’t move, Billy nodded at me to go on anyway. I had no idea if this was the right thing to do, but that wasn’t my call. I just followed his lead.
“They found the father in the kitchen, shot through the chest,” I said. “All the others had been killed in their rooms upstairs. There was a mom, two little boys, and a girl about your age.”
Nigella had gone completely still now.It was either a show of defiance or fear. Sometimes it’s hard to tell, but I was getting the impression that Billy knew exactly what he was doing. The more I went on with this, the more I felt like I was moving the needle in the right direction. At least this was a chance to use Gwen Petty’s death to try to make sure the same thing didn’t happen to someone else.
“She’s the one who had been usingthis same app,” I went on, talking about Gwen now. “I never actually saw her. I only saw the body bag they carried her out in.”
“That was the third family in this case,” Keats said. “We’ve been working as hard as we can to make sure there’s not a fourth.”
Nigella’s eyes rolled up and to the side now, fighting tears. I didn’t know if she cared about some nameless other family, but I did thinkshe was finally doing the math on what she might have wandered into herself.
“It’s just an app,” she said softly.
“That’s what you’re supposed to think,” I told her.
“I don’t understand how it could be that dangerous …”
Suddenly, she seemed much younger. I wasn’t going tolecture her. We’d already rounded the corner we needed to get around.
“Nigella,” I said. “Can we
please
get a look atyour phone? I don’t want this to happen to anyone else. And to tell you the truth, I don’t want to face another night like that last one.”
I had to stop there. My voice was thinning out and I was starting to choke on the lump in my own throat. I hadn’t even realized the last part until I’d said it out loud. As much as I couldn’t let go of this case, I was also terrified of what else I was goingto have to see along the way.
My body felt hollow, like I’d just let go of something I could never get back. And the look on Nigella’s face told me she was feeling something similar. The first real tears were rolling down her cheeks.
“Fine,” she said. “You can do what you need to. But I’d better get my phone back when you’re done.”
Keats was on his feet now. This was good news, but we had tomove fast.
“Believe me,” he told her on our way out the door. “You don’t want that one anymore.”
CHAPTER 36
BEFORE WE PICKED up the phone from the principal’s office, Keats briefed me quietly in the hall.
“I want to make contact with this guy right away,” he said. “And I want you to be the one to do it. As Nigella.”
“Are you serious?” I asked. It was a stupid question, mostly just a knee-jerk bit of nerves. Obviously, Keats was serious, even if it did mean putting both of us out on a limbhere. So I quickly added, “I mean, yeah, of course. If you want me to, I’m down.”
The idea of it scared the hell out of me, but it didn’t take long to see where Billy was coming from. I was more qualified to do this than anyone else on hand, just in terms of my age, my experience, and the way my mind worked. It was the same reason he’d brought me along in the first place.
He didn’t want to changelocations, either. If we moved Nigella’s phone away from school property, the app she’d downloaded would track our movements and send that information right back to whoever was on the other end. So we stayed put.
A few minutes later, I was carefully placing the phone into a borrowed backpack to blind the camera. Then I carried it down the hall to the same room where we’d interviewed Nigella.Keats closed the door from the outside and watched through the glass
“Yeah, you do,” Keats said, righting the chair for her. “Sit down and shutup.”
When she didn’t move, Billy nodded at me to go on anyway. I had no idea if this was the right thing to do, but that wasn’t my call. I just followed his lead.
“They found the father in the kitchen, shot through the chest,” I said. “All the others had been killed in their rooms upstairs. There was a mom, two little boys, and a girl about your age.”
Nigella had gone completely still now.It was either a show of defiance or fear. Sometimes it’s hard to tell, but I was getting the impression that Billy knew exactly what he was doing. The more I went on with this, the more I felt like I was moving the needle in the right direction. At least this was a chance to use Gwen Petty’s death to try to make sure the same thing didn’t happen to someone else.
“She’s the one who had been usingthis same app,” I went on, talking about Gwen now. “I never actually saw her. I only saw the body bag they carried her out in.”
“That was the third family in this case,” Keats said. “We’ve been working as hard as we can to make sure there’s not a fourth.”
Nigella’s eyes rolled up and to the side now, fighting tears. I didn’t know if she cared about some nameless other family, but I did thinkshe was finally doing the math on what she might have wandered into herself.
“It’s just an app,” she said softly.
“That’s what you’re supposed to think,” I told her.
“I don’t understand how it could be that dangerous …”
Suddenly, she seemed much younger. I wasn’t going tolecture her. We’d already rounded the corner we needed to get around.
“Nigella,” I said. “Can we
please
get a look atyour phone? I don’t want this to happen to anyone else. And to tell you the truth, I don’t want to face another night like that last one.”
I had to stop there. My voice was thinning out and I was starting to choke on the lump in my own throat. I hadn’t even realized the last part until I’d said it out loud. As much as I couldn’t let go of this case, I was also terrified of what else I was goingto have to see along the way.
My body felt hollow, like I’d just let go of something I could never get back. And the look on Nigella’s face told me she was feeling something similar. The first real tears were rolling down her cheeks.
“Fine,” she said. “You can do what you need to. But I’d better get my phone back when you’re done.”
Keats was on his feet now. This was good news, but we had tomove fast.
“Believe me,” he told her on our way out the door. “You don’t want that one anymore.”
CHAPTER 36
BEFORE WE PICKED up the phone from the principal’s office, Keats briefed me quietly in the hall.
“I want to make contact with this guy right away,” he said. “And I want you to be the one to do it. As Nigella.”
“Are you serious?” I asked. It was a stupid question, mostly just a knee-jerk bit of nerves. Obviously, Keats was serious, even if it did mean putting both of us out on a limbhere. So I quickly added, “I mean, yeah, of course. If you want me to, I’m down.”
The idea of it scared the hell out of me, but it didn’t take long to see where Billy was coming from. I was more qualified to do this than anyone else on hand, just in terms of my age, my experience, and the way my mind worked. It was the same reason he’d brought me along in the first place.
He didn’t want to changelocations, either. If we moved Nigella’s phone away from school property, the app she’d downloaded would track our movements and send that information right back to whoever was on the other end. So we stayed put.
A few minutes later, I was carefully placing the phone into a borrowed backpack to blind the camera. Then I carried it down the hall to the same room where we’d interviewed Nigella.Keats closed the door from the outside and watched through the glass
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