Promise You Won't Tell?

Chapter 22

Friday.

Dillon, Sophie, and I are in the hallway of Carson Collegiate, where, as promised, the upper school lockers are completely devoid of locks. 

“The bell rings at eight-fifty-five,” I remind Dillon. “When that happens, the halls will be crowded.”

“Which means I’ve got twenty minutes,” he says. “Don’t worry, I set the alarm on my cell phone.”

“You’ve got it on vibrate, I hope.”

“Of course!” he says.

“Check it,” I say.

He accesses his screen, frowns, and presses a button. 

“Good to go,” he says.

Sophie says, “That little exchange didn’t inspire much confidence.”

She and I split up and take our positions at opposite ends of the hall so we can warn Dillon if anyone approaches. 

Riley was right. 

Eight-thirty’s a perfect time for the crime. 

It takes Dillon less than three minutes to find both phones and walk fifteen steps to the boys’ bathroom, where he plans to lock himself in one of the stalls while searching through Ethan and Ronnie’s stored photographs. 

I’m positive both boys took pictures of Riley. If so, they probably shared them, which means both phones are likely to contain the same photos. But Dillon will be able to tell which photos were taken from each phone, which will help us build a case against both boys when all this goes before a judge. 

When Dillon finds the photos of Riley, he’ll forward them to his phone, and we’ll have our evidence. Then he’ll wipe his fingerprints off the phones and put them back where he found them.

As the minutes pass, Sophie and I get increasingly nervous. We’re both well-known in Nashville, and even though we’re wearing wigs and ball caps, we feel as conspicuous as rats in a birdcage.

At the eighteen-minute mark I’m in full panic mode. I send Dillon a warning text. Seconds later, he exits the bathroom, puts the phones back in the lockers, and starts walking down the hall, toward Sophie, who’s standing on the end closest to the exit. I start walking the same way, when the bell rings.

Within seconds the hallway fills, as kids spill out of classrooms like dice in a Yahtzee game. 

I turn abruptly, and walk briskly, just short of a jog, toward the far side of the building. The faster I walk, the faster the blood pumps through my body, which makes the area around my eye ache from the blow I took yesterday.

I pass the upper school office and hear a lady say, “May I help you?”

I pretend I don’t hear, and keep going. 

As I approach the headmaster’s office, the door opens, and two men come out. They shake hands, then turn to see me flying toward them. They both look me up and down, as if I’ve spilled gravy all over the front of my dress.

“Gentlemen,” I say as I approach.

“Dani Ripper!” one of them says as I pass by.

I don’t turn, don’t slow down. Just head out the door and start walking around the building till I see Dillon’s car coming toward me.

“Close call!” Sophie says.

I climb in the back seat. She opens the glove compartment and says, “You want your gun now?”

“Hell no! I hate that thing. It gives me the creeps.”

“Would you rather have another black eye?”

Dillon says, “You can’t keep it in my car. I don’t have a permit.”

“Fine,” I say. “Give me the gun.”

She does, and I slip it in my handbag. Then say, “Someone just made me.”

“Even with the wig? Who?” Dillon says.

“I don’t know. Distinguished guy coming out of the headmaster’s office.”

“So much for the disguise,” Sophie says.

“Well, there wasn’t much I could do with half my face swollen like this. Give me some good news, Dillon, my face hurts like hell.”

They look at each other.

I say, “Good news, guys, nothing else.”

No one speaks.

“Guys?” I say. “Quit kidding around. What did you get, Dillon?”

“Nothing,” Dillon says.

“What?”

“Nothing yet,” Sophie amends. “But there’s still a chance.”

“What do you mean?”

Dillon says, “I started with Ethan’s phone. Searched for ten minutes, couldn’t find any photos of Riley. I was running out of time, so I downloaded all the photos and videos on his phone to mine. Then did the same with Ronnie’s phone.”

“Okay, so you’ve got all their photos on your phone?”

“Yes. And their videos.”

“Then it’s just a matter of searching.”

“Yeah, but I searched pretty well the first time. I started with the most recent and went back about four months. I didn’t see any photos of Riley.”

“Could they be stored in a hidden area?”

“I downloaded an app to their phones that pulls up every photo ever taken. Even photos they’ve taken in the past and erased.”

“But you didn’t have time to go through the entire file.”

“No.”

“And you haven’t searched Ronnie’s yet.”

“No.”

“Just to be clear, their entire photo files are on your phone.”

“Yes. And videos.”

“Find a place to pull over. We’ll go through every picture, every video, one by one.”

“Okay. But—”

“But what?”

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”