“Then how…?”
“I don’t know yet. I have to figure a few things out.”
“So, when…?”
“I’ll get back to you. Do you have a cell phone?”
“I have one. I just never have it on. Michelle is always after me about it. She says it’s ridiculous that—” She realized she was rambling and stopped abruptly, fishing inside her purse to retrieve her phone. She switched the power on and located her number. “Here. I have it.” Caroline quickly relayed the number to Lili.
“I’ll call you.” The line went dead.
“Hello? Hello, Lili?” Caroline stood motionless, replaying the conversation over and over in her mind. She must think I’m a moron, she thought. Who doesn’t know her cell phone number? Who never has the damn thing on? And then more thoughts: Did this girl really not want her money or was she just biding her time in an effort to maximize her potential payoff? She’d successfully baited the hook and Caroline had greedily snapped it up. All that was left was to reel her in. Was that what Lili was doing?
“Is everything okay?” the secretary asked.
Caroline handed back the school phone. “I’m an idiot.”
“Don’t say that. Just because you couldn’t remember your cell phone number…” The secretary’s face reddened. “You have a lot on your mind these days. All that stuff in the news recently…”
Caroline nodded, wondering if the principal had informed them of her past long ago or whether they’d just found out.
“The police in Mexico still have no idea…?”
“Nothing.”
Every lead Detective Ramos had collected over the last decade and a half eventually led to the same dead end; every suspect he’d pursued managed to evade his grasp. If the police waste fifteen years on dead ends and Caroline endures fifteen years of false hope, how many more years will it take till she loses her mind altogether?
“Just so you know, Shannon and I don’t believe for a second that you harmed your daughter…”
“Not for a second,” Shannon confirmed.
For the first time since she’d entered the office, Caroline became aware of the other secretary sitting at her desk. “Thank you.” She gave both women her best attempt at a smile and began edging toward the hall. She had to get out of here before either of them said another word.
“…or that you had anything to do with that poor boy’s suicide.”
Too late. She hadn’t moved fast enough. Caroline felt the color drain from her face as the buzzing of angry bees returned.
“We were just saying it was so mean of that reporter to bring all that up again. As if you don’t have enough on your plate…”
The room began spinning. The next thing Caroline knew, she was sitting on the floor, her back against the wall, her feet splayed out in front of her, the room performing cartwheels around her.
“My God, what happened?” Shannon cried.
“She fainted. Call the nurse.”
“You’re going to be all right,” Shannon told her, kneeling beside her and patting her hand while they waited for the school nurse to arrive. “You’ll see. Everything is going to be just fine.”
“Okay, everybody, listen up,” Caroline said. “You only have two weeks left before your final exams…”
A collective groan emanated from the throats of the twenty-two eleventh-grade students in her final class of the day at Lewis Logan High.
“…and I’d like to use these last few minutes to give you some suggestions that I think could help you make the most of your study time.”
“How about just telling us what’s on the exam?” one of the boys asked, right on cue. There was always one boy in every class who asked the same thing.
“The first thing you need to do is to organize your work so that you begin with the most challenging material right off the bat. I know that might sound counterintuitive, but you can’t be afraid of it. Okay? Then you start dividing that material into small chunks that you can manage easily. You’ll find that things aren’t nearly as overwhelming when you start breaking them down.”