“Steve, where are you going?” she called as he strode for the door.
“I am going to do what you should have done hours ago: find our daughter.”
Frat Chat
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How are we going to get Aidan kicked out of our school before he brings a gun or something?
3 replies
He told me he had a gun in his bag last week.
He did. I saw it.
You guys are so bullshit.
Anybody who could do that to a baby could definitely shoot a bunch of high school kids.
1 reply
Kill Aidan Ronan before he kills us!
Someone should tell the school.
Anybody seen the girlfriend? Maybe she’s dead too?
2 replies
I saw her once, it would be hard to tell the difference.
Dead or not, she’s still hot.
Somebody should call the police and tell them.
3 replies
My mom told me the police already talked to his mom.
My mom can’t stand his mom. She’s a be-yatch.
My mom says HIS mom hits on MY dad. And my dad is totes disgusting.
Everybody send anonymous messages to the police today! Get Aidan before he gets us!
Molly
When I got home from the community meeting, Justin was asleep, a copy of Tender Is the Night open on his chest. I’d raced up the stairs, intent on telling him about Thomas Price. But once I was standing there, watching him sleep so peacefully, it occurred to me that he might not be thrilled to hear how I’d felt threatened enough that I’d fled Price in a panic. Or that I had been especially petrified, because of how utterly charmed I’d been by Price. He’d reeled me right in, just as he must have reeled in all those young women. And I wasn’t young. I should have known better. God, I’d actually been flattered that he was flirting with me. I felt nauseated, thinking of it again, my hands still trembling as I lifted the book carefully from Justin and set it on the nightstand, then switched off his light.
On my way downstairs, my phone vibrated in my pocket: Erik Schinazy.
“Hi, Erik,” I said, relieved it was him.
“Oh, hi, Molly.” He sounded surprised, as though I’d called him. “I’m on my way back to Ridgedale, driving now. Just wanted to check in about the community meeting. Anything new?”
He also sounded nervous. Or maybe I was just projecting. “Most of it was about the community DNA sweep they’re planning. As you can imagine, people in town are not happy about it. I can’t say I blame them.”
“No other updates? No mention of that woman they were holding in the hospital?”
“No, there really wasn’t anything new. There would have been nothing to talk about if they hadn’t had the DNA testing. The woman in the hospital is still missing, as far as I know. I think they’ve probably ruled her out as the mother of the baby, though, or they soon will. Her baby would have been several weeks old.” I pulled in some air, preparing to deliver the rest. It was going to sound insane. “But I do think there’s a chance that she was sexually assaulted by Ridgedale University’s dean of students. That maybe her baby is his baby—it’s just not the one they found.”
“What?” He sounded shocked, as I’d expected.
“I know, it sounds— It was surprising to me. But I think it’s true.”
“That’s a serious allegation, Molly. Where’s it coming from?”
He sounded as skeptical as he had when he’d put me on the story about the baby. Actually, he sounded more skeptical now. And he didn’t even know that I was basing much of my theory on a box of files anonymously dumped in my living room, by Deckler, I was now assuming. My low opinion of Deckler hadn’t magically changed. So why was I willing to believe what he wanted me to now? Like Erik had said: Everybody has an agenda. It was definitely too much to unpack for Erik on the phone—stories at the Wall Street Journal probably never started as inauspiciously as breaking and entering. Before I laid it all out for him, I needed my ducks in a much tighter row.
“It is a serious allegation, you’re right,” I said. “And I won’t know for sure until I make some more calls. Rose might be the best place to start. Come to think of it, she was a psychology student before she withdrew. Maybe Nancy knows her.”
“I doubt it, it’s a huge department,” Erik said sharply. As though he wasn’t going to bother his wife with my absurd theories.
“Okay, well, there’s my friend Stella. She may have heard from Rose by now.”
“Fine, follow up with her. And I’m not trying to be negative, Molly. It sounds like you have the start of something. I just don’t want to make a libelous accusation against the dean of students without clear evidence. Once we have that—a comment from Rose or someone else, as you said—then we’ll go after him full force. I promise, I’ll be leading the charge.” He sounded regretful now. I heard him take a breath. “And thank you, Molly. For all your hard work on the baby and whatever this turns out to be. You’ve done an excellent job with all of it. By any measure.”