But he deserved to be alone.
His phone buzzed and for the first time since he’d moved, it was Derrick calling him. And not because Mattie had called him first, or because Mattie had texted him two thousand times.
He was just calling.
Mattie answered the phone and sat down on his window seat. The screen was warm against his ear. “Hello?”
“Hey, Mattie? Is that you?”
“Yeah,” Mattie said. “Hey, Derrick.”
The name sounded funny to him. Unused. Felt funny, in the way that although they hadn’t broken up, maybe they didn’t belong to each other anymore. But that didn’t matter to Mattie. He was thrilled to be talking to Derrick. He had a pins-and-needles feeling all over his body and he wished, so badly, that his mother had let him come home.
“What’s up?” Derrick asked.
“Not much. I missed you.” Mattie stood up and opened the door to his balcony. The air was still and hot and thick, and the faintest breeze ruffled the leaves on the trees.
“Yeah. Anything else going on? I hear your neck of the woods is pretty weird right now. Like, creepy, Texas Chainsaw Massacre weird.”
Mattie looked around the room, pretending not to know what he was talking about. “Yeah, it’s crazy. And I’m living with my aunt. You should see her house. It’s huge! And I got this new car. It has—”
“What about the murders?” Derrick interrupted, impatient. “I heard it’s like murder central up there.”
“Murders?” Mattie repeated.
“You know. Your professor.”
Did he know? If he knew, why didn’t he just say it?
“Um, he disappeared, I guess.” Mattie hated talking about it. Hated. It. He was afraid he was going to agree with the wrong thing, or use a wrong tense, (like was instead of is) and give everything away.
Not that he didn’t deserve it. He hadn’t said anything. He was as much as part of the murder as Cade and Kinley.
“That’s all you’ve got?” Derrick sounded disappointed, and Mattie knew he was pouting. Suddenly, he wanted to give him more.
“It was after class one night,” Mattie offered. “A Friday. This guy in our class was the last to see him. Kip. He was walking across the lot.”
That scared Mattie. He had lain awake every night since, wondering what Kip had really seen. If he knew anything. Or if he just wanted to be the one to talk to the cops.
“And then what?”
“Um. That’s pretty much it. We all went to class on Monday, and he just didn’t show up at all. We waited, and one of the guys told the office. We just went home.” Mattie leaned his elbows on the railing. For a second, he wanted to pitch his phone into the pool, so he’d never have to talk to anyone again. But he clung to Derrick’s voice in his ear.
Derrick sighed, like Mattie was boring him. “So. What do you think happened? What are people saying?”
“Well, apparently he likes to hike. They’re combing some of the wildlife areas to see if he had an accident. Or they’re thinking maybe he got sick somewhere.” He wanted to give Derrick more. He wanted to talk to him. He just didn’t want to talk to him about this.
“Do you know his wife?” Derrick pressed. “I heard she was crazy with a capital C.”
“I met her once.”
“Ooh, tell me everything.”
Mattie’s chest felt funny. “Can we . . . can we talk about something else? I’m . . . I don’t know. I’m worried about it.”
Derrick was quiet for a second. “Yeah. Sure. Can I choose, though?”
“Sure.” Mattie was happy to spill his guts about anything but Stratford. He just wanted to get away from it. Pretend like everything was fine. For just a little bit. He felt his insides unclench, just slightly.
“How about you tell me where you were that night when you accidentally called me.”
All the sickness came rushing back. It slammed into him with the force of a tidal wave, and Mattie clenched his teeth, trying to regain his composure. “I was with some people from class. We were going to study, but we snuck into a movie instead.”
“Anyone special there?” Derrick’s tone was a precisely designed sort of lightness.
“No.”
“Did you do anything you’re not telling me about?”
“No.”
Derrick was quiet for a second. And then another. And still, another. And quite suddenly, Mattie couldn’t stand the silence anymore.
“Who were those guys you were all over in your Facebook photos?”
Derrick didn’t say anything.
But then he cackled. Mattie recognized the sound; he’d just never heard it applied to him. It was angry. It was the sound Derrick used when he was cutting someone down. Making them feel worthless. “You know what, Mattie? How about I tell the truth when you decide to.”
And then he hung up.
Kinley
Saturday, June 20
Kinley panted, her hands on her knees, in the middle of her room. Every drawer was hanging open. She’d pulled almost everything out of her closet. She’d looked under her bed. Checked every corner.
And still, it wasn’t there.