“Tell me,” I said more forcefully.
His gaze shifted to the tiny camera affixed to the roof of a nearby guesthouse. You wouldn’t have noticed it unless you were searching for it—but it was pointed straight at us. He glanced back at me, then tipped his chin a fraction of an inch toward the hedge. I blinked twice and left him standing there. Mind racing, I walked an indirect route to the outskirts of campus, chose a spot away from any doors or cameras. A minute later, Jeremiah joined me. The trees beyond the wall swished, eavesdropping and whispering, passing secrets along like a game of telephone.
When he was sure we were alone, Jeremiah stepped toward me, his eyes wild, fists shaking. A growl escaped his throat.
“Rebecca killed my brother.”
39
Kit
DECEMBER 2019
I STARED OPENMOUTHED at Jeremiah, too shocked to speak.
“When we were kids,” he said, “my parents took us to see a magician at the high school two towns over, this girl wonder named Rebecca. She chose my brother as her assistant for a handcuff trick. Gabe was transfixed. He’d always been interested in magic, but from that moment on he was obsessed.”
He told me about Teacher’s life before Wisewood—her Madame Fearless persona, the death-defying stunts, Gabe’s role as her business partner of twenty years, how she’d mistreated him yet ended up with his inheritance.
“It’s her fault Gabe’s gone.”
“I thought your brother died in a freak accident.”
“He drowned in a half-frozen lake. During one of her shows.”
I choked on a gasp.
“Even if the whole thing was an accident, she’s still responsible for his death.”
I rubbed my hands together to warm them, trembling in the cold. “Jeremiah, that’s ridiculous.”
He barked a laugh. “You don’t know her like I do. I’ve spent years researching her, this place.”
A new fear sprouted in my ribs: Teacher’s safety. How had I so misjudged this man? All his devotion and swooning had been a lie.
“You’re hoping to do what, exactly?”
He gestured at the island around us. “She took my brother from my family long before he died. Now she’s doing the same damn thing to the people who live here. I can’t let her keep endangering people, ripping them away from their loved ones. This is bigger than Gabe.”
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
Sweat glistened at his temples. “Make her take responsibility. That woman has been manipulating and abusing her followers for years. Somewhere along the way she must have screwed up. If I find proof of that screwup, I’m handing it over to the police. If I can’t . . .” His expression clouded. “I’ll get justice my own way.”
The cold had snaked down my collar, up my sleeves. I itched to inch closer to the house—I had to warn Teacher as soon as possible. “Have you found anything so far?”
Jeremiah tugged at tufts of his beard. “A lot of crazy shit has gone down here, but no one besides me is willing to talk about it, either because of the NDA or they honestly believe this crap is for their own good.” He wrinkled his nose. “I don’t know where Gordon hides that phone with the blackmail videos from q1, but I sure as hell haven’t been able to find it. I’ve been through Rebecca’s files, her journal. Not a single goddamn reference to Gabe in there—can you believe that?”
I shook my head, debating whether he was beyond saving. “I don’t think you’ve thought this through.”
“I’ve thought about nothing but this for years.”
Teacher had been right about him all along.
He gripped my wrist, breathing hard. “My sabbatical is almost over.” He wouldn’t let me shimmy free. “I only have a few weeks left before I go home. She has to pay for what she’s done.”
Suffering from burnout, quitting his job, never wanting to leave Wisewood—everything Jeremiah had told me was a lie. Desperation radiated from him in waves so thick it scared me. I thought we’d made progress in class but knew from experience that grief manifested in unpredictable ways. His brother had died nearly fifteen years earlier, yet Jeremiah was still hung up on the accident. Maybe I could put a stop to this harebrained scheme before he got hurt.
“You need to take a step back and rethink this ‘plan.’ Do you know how many lives you could ruin? I’m sorry about Gabe; his death was tragic, to be sure. Teacher probably could’ve been kinder to him. I’m sure she’s made mistakes in the past—we all have.” My heart thumped in my chest. “Even visionaries mess up from time to time.”
Jeremiah glared at me. “You know what I found in the desk of your visionary? Files with each of our names on them. That’s right—there’s one that says ‘KIT’ in big black letters.” My stomach turned. “I only had time to flip through my own, but it was filled with background on me.”
I thought it at the same time he said it: “That’s why Gordon is gone all the time.
“Teacher has him digging into our lives,” he added.
“How do you know it’s Gordon?”
He gave me an “Oh, come on” roll of the eyes. “I checked his file—”
“I thought you only had time to look through your own.”
“I had to see what I’m up against. You have to be a loon to dish the dirt on yourself as well as everyone else.”
Or loyal, I thought.
“You know what he used to do before Wisewood?”
I wanted to cut him off, to tell him I didn’t care, but was too curious to walk away.
“He was a private investigator. That story he told about his family during your q1? It was actually true. Some socialite hired him to figure out whether her husband was cheating. She got everything in the divorce, including full custody of the kids. The guy was so pissed he hired two hit men to take Gordon out. Some wires got crossed, and they shot his wife and kid instead. Both of them died a few days later in the hospital.” Jeremiah shook his head. “It’s like a bad Liam Neeson movie.”
“If Gordon snoops on people for a living, how have you not been caught? How has he not made the connection?”
“I’m not sure Rebecca’s told him about her past. He probably doesn’t even know who Gabe was.” Jeremiah watched me, wary. “To be safe, I signed up for Wisewood under a friend’s name. Guy I went to college with. We have the same build, used to get mistaken as brothers all the time. He works in accounting too. Keeps a low profile online.”
My head spun. “Your name isn’t even Jeremiah?” He raised an eyebrow. “What is it, then?”
He pressed his lips together and shook his head. He no longer trusted that I would choose him over Teacher.
I gawked at him. “Does your friend know you’ve stolen his identity?”
His jaw hardened. “As if losing my only sibling wasn’t bad enough, Rebecca ended up with fourteen million dollars of my family’s money. I wouldn’t be surprised if she kept Gabe close all those years to get the cash.”