Their meeting had been over an hour long, and Spence had finally confessed to me what it’d been about without admitting any guilt. Someone had sent an anonymous tip to the principal that Spence’s high SAT score was bogus. They’d sent the same anonymous tip to UCLA, and the administration there had contacted the principal to tell him that Spence would need to retake the exam that weekend, and earn a similar score, or his admittance and scholarship could be rescinded.
As we were trying to figure out what to do, Jamie had knocked on Spence’s door, and now their argument was unfolding out on the front lawn.
“This is all your fault,” Spence spat at his best friend. “I never should’ve let you talk me into it!”
“I never told you to get most of the answers right,” Jamie snapped in return. “Christ, Hoss! What were you thinking?”
“Maybe I’m thinking that Yale should get the same anonymous tip that UCLA did!” Spence spat, his hands curling into fists.
Jamie’s entire posture changed. He stood up tall, squaring his shoulders, and leaned in angrily toward Spence. “You tell anyone, Spence, and I’ll kill you. You hear me? You got yourself caught. And if you’re looking for who’s really to blame, how come it never occurred to you that it might be your girlfriend, huh? Little Miss Perfect probably made that call herself! You want to know who grabbed your test answers from your little hidey-hole? Ask Amber.”
I gasped as much at the accusation as for what happened next. Spence punched Jamie so hard he went flying, and landed on his back in the grass. Stacey came up next to me, her eyes wide with worry.
“What’s going on?” she whispered, trying to peer through the curtains herself.
I grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her away from the window. “Nothing,” I said. “Nothing, honey. But I need you to sit right here for a minute while I go outside, okay?”
“But—”
“Stay!” I ordered, then ran to the door and hurried out on the porch. Jamie was in his car, his cheek swollen and red, glaring hard at the both of us as he squealed away from the curb and flipped us the bird.
I rushed over to Spence, who was holding a hand over his left eye. “Oh, God, are you okay?”
Spence shrugged me off as I tried to reach for his arm. “I’m fine,” he said.
My own temper flared. “Why?” I demanded. “Why?”
He considered me angrily from his one good eye. “He did it,” he said simply. “He’s the only one that knew about that hiding place. You saw my room, Amber. Nothing else was stolen but my cash.”
“Why would Jamie, of all people, be after your money?” I yelled.
Spence glared down the street in the direction that Jamie’s car had gone. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But he was the only one who knew about the hiding place, and he was the only one who didn’t show up to celebrate with us after I got the call from the coach at UCLA.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “Didn’t I hear him tell you that he couldn’t make it because his dad was getting that award and he had to go to the ceremony?”
Spence snorted. “He weaseled out of that before they even served dessert,” he said. “Told his parents he had a stomach thing and left the award ceremony early. He was bragging about how gullible they are after class today.”
“So, because he doesn’t have a convenient alibi he’s the burglar?”
“What’s going on?” I heard Stacey call from behind me. Whirling around, I saw her standing in the doorway looking frightened and upset.
Spence turned slightly away from her so that she couldn’t see the mark on his face from where I assumed Jamie had punched him. “Nothing, Spunky,” he said. “Go back inside and start in on your homework. I’ll be upstairs in a minute to help you.”
Stacey hesitated in the doorway, but I nodded encouragingly to her and eventually she did as her brother had asked.
I looked at Spence, who was now carefully touching the swollen area around his eye. A small trickle of blood also leaked from his nostril and he wiped at it, frowning when he saw the red on his fingers.
“What can I do?” I asked him.
Spence’s shoulders drooped, and he stared at the ground. “There’s nothing you can do, Ambi,” he said gently. “What’s done is done.”
“It’s really that bad then, huh?” I couldn’t believe that it’d all come to this. Just ten days earlier our lives had been perfect, and now everything was a mess.
I wanted Spence to tell me that everything would be okay, that we’d figure it all out, but he didn’t. Instead he said, “I gotta get cleaned up.” Then he moved past me into the house and shut the door.
COLE GOT UP AND SAID, “Hang on; let me get cleaned up a little.”
He went down the hall and I heard a door shut. A moment later I heard the shower turn on. I tried not to imagine him in there, because I really was becoming crazy-attracted to him and shower thoughts would definitely be bad for my concentration. He came back out with slick wet hair, fresh clothes, and the thick file. I tried not to notice how amazing he smelled, or how good he looked with slick, wet hair. Setting the folder down, he said, “You’re the only other person besides Detective Hasslett that knows I have this.”
“I won’t tell anybody,” I promised.