“He wouldn’t do that,” Alex said.
“You keep saying that. I don’t understand why you’re so sure. I mean, I haven’t known him that long, but isn’t he always bailing on stuff? He leaves parties early to go see his secret boyfriend, and he doesn’t come out when you ask him.”
“I know him,” she said simply. “He’ll be here.”
And then, at six, he was. He took the seat next to Alex, across from me. I couldn’t quite make eye contact yet. “I take it this isn’t just a social call.” He didn’t look super surprised to be there, which didn’t answer the Blocked Sender question, though it clarified that his presence at Walmart wasn’t random.
“Don’t be glib,” Alex said. “Raj does glib better than you.” She wasn’t looking at him either.
“This is serious,” Raj said.
Justin slumped back in his seat, chastened. “Okay, okay. Sorry.”
I wasn’t sure what to ask him first—I wasn’t sure that Justin could be Blocked Sender, but even if he wasn’t, I didn’t know whether confronting him right away was the way to go. Alex wasn’t about to wait for me to decide what to do, though.
“What’s the deal?” she asked. “Do you just happen to have a job at Walmart you never told me about, or did someone get to you?”
“As soon as I saw Kara, I had a feeling it was all about to hit the fan,” he said.
“Please, just tell us what you know,” I said. “Tell us what’s going on.”
He ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t know what you know,” he said. “How about you guys tell me first?”
It was one thing for me to tell Alex and Raj what was happening, but I didn’t know Justin very well. “I think you have a better idea of what’s going on than we do,” I said. “And you didn’t seem all that surprised to see me. Not as surprised as I was to see you.”
“Oh, I was surprised,” he said. “You were the last person I expected.”
“But you expected someone.”
He sighed. “Okay, fine. I started getting these text messages about a month ago from someone who knew things I didn’t want them to know. A smartass, too—said if I was such a good actor, I’d find a way to convince Walmart I was a pharmacy student so I could get an externship. I was supposed to get the gig and then await further instructions.”
Await further instructions. I’d heard that before. He was one of us, then. If he was telling the truth.
“I basically just finished training and today I got another text telling me to do a good job on my first official day of work. I didn’t know what it meant until I saw you, Kara. I’m assuming that Novalert prescription wasn’t for you?”
“Not exactly.” I didn’t want to say anything else, though. This whole situation was getting weirder with every new thing we learned.
“So this started a month ago?” Alex asked. “That’s it? What does Blocked Sender have over you, Justin?”
“I’d really rather not talk about it.” He looked away from Alex when he said it, though, and she sharpened her gaze.
“Why not? Keeping more secrets? Or is this about that boyfriend of yours?”
“Like I said. Not talking about it.”
“Even with me,” she said. I watched them argue. Were they that close? Justin frowned and leaned back in his chair, clearly not ready to talk.
“Let’s just skip the airing of laundry for now and move on to exactly what’s going on here,” I said. “I haven’t been hanging out with you guys for that long, but it’s clearly not random that the four of us all got roped into this.”
“And we don’t know that it’s just us four,” Alex said.
“Or who’s behind it,” Raj added.
“Can’t help you there,” Justin said. His leg was bouncing so hard I could feel the table vibrating.
Alex banged her hands on the table. “Come on. I know you know more than you’re telling us. You think I can’t tell when you’re lying?”
“I’ve got nothing. Really.”
For someone who was such a good actor, he wasn’t doing a great job of sounding convincing.
“What are we supposed to do now? We’re no closer to figuring this out than I was when I thought it was just me,” I said.
“What’s to figure out?” Justin said. “We’re screwed. Whoever this person is has us just where he wants us. He knows everything about us, and we know nothing about him. And it doesn’t seem like anything bad has happened to us so far. All our secrets are safe. Aren’t we better off just going along with it?”
“That’s not going to work for me,” I said. “We need to figure out who’s doing this.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Justin said. “We don’t want to make him mad.”
“Wow, whatever he’s got on you must be big,” Alex said.
Justin ignored her. “I’ll do whatever I have to. And I need you guys to do the same.” He was almost pleading now. “If one of us doesn’t follow directions, the rest of us could be in trouble. That can’t happen.”