: Chapter 29

Matt refuses to let me drive. He’s practically vibrating with excitement, and yet…

“Just spill it, would you?”

He swerves onto a side street and hits the gas pedal, the engine whining. He grins, flexing his grip on the steering wheel. At this point, I’m just along for a ride. And I’m not sure, with the way he’s driving, I’m going to survive this ride.

“I got a location,” he finally says.

About time. It’s been two weeks. We’re a few days into December, and I was losing my patience.

I lean forward. “How?”

“Got into the computer. It only connects to one network periodically, otherwise it’s completely shut off.” He grimaces. “Basically, it was a waiting game. Whoever it is, they’re smart. This must be a device designated for this. I didn’t find any personal documents stored on it. No clues. Sorry, man.”

“Did you see any of the videos?”

He shifts. “Yeah. They kept two.”

“Of what?” I want to punch Matt at the thought of him watching Margo in her room, even though he’s helping me.

He eyes me. “There’s no audio. But there’s one of you sneaking into her room through the window—hey, man, I stopped it after that. I don’t need to see your naked ass fucking your girlfriend.”

I glare at him.

“And the other is her and Riley. I’m not sure what’s so special about it. They sit on her bed and make a phone call.”

“But you can’t hear what they say?”

“Nah, it’s just video. I guess you could figure out what they’re saying if you were a lip reader. Otherwise? Just two girls making a call.”

“Send them to me.” Maybe there’s something he’s missing.

“We’re almost there. I’ll check my laptop and see if it’s active. If it is, chances are good that we’ll be able to find Margo’s stalker.”

My blood rushes hot and cold. It’s true—she has a stalker. Someone obsessed with her… and her relationship to me.

Matt turns onto a familiar street, then into a parking lot. “The Wi-Fi comes from that restaurant,” he says, pointing to the diner on the corner.

My stomach drops.

I was just here, talking to my mother.

Matt puts the car in park and reaches into the backseat for his laptop. But I can’t wait. My mom’s car is in the farthest corner of the lot. I don’t even spare him a glance as I climb out and stride across the road, up the concrete steps. Into the diner.

I’m on autopilot.

My gaze sweeps around, trying to find someone with a laptop, a cell phone, a tablet… nothing. The place is filled with old people sipping coffee and young families enjoying brunch. No one notices my abrupt entrance except the hostess, who has frozen by the podium.

“Caleb, what are you doing here?”

I don’t spot anyone I know. No Amelie—the girl is supposedly in France anyway—and no Savannah.

I point at her. “You know something.”

“What?”

The door bangs open behind me, and a hand lands on my shoulder.

“They’re not here.” Matt sees who I’m locked in a staring contest with and coughs. “Holy shit. Mrs. Asher?”

“Matthew,” my mother comments. “Did you boys come for dinner?”

“Ah, no, ma’am,” Matt says. His face reddens.

Mother’s eyebrow goes up. “Then what are you doing here?”

“Did you deliver my message to Uncle David?”

“About your college choice?” She tilts her head, confusion washing over her features. It’s an act—every emotion she reveals is an act. She’s much more calculating than that. “Of course I did.”

“Great. Just checking.” I shove Matt out the door ahead of me.

“Caleb, wait⁠—”

I ignore her. All she had to do was tell me about Amber. She knows where she is—I’m growing more certain of it by the day. But she hasn’t called me, hasn’t shown up at Eli’s house, nothing.

Which means Amber Wolfe is still in town, and she can’t admit it.

Once we’re outside, I let out a growl.

“What the hell was that?” Matt grabs my arm and stops me. “Dude. Why is your mom working at a shitty diner in Beacon? I honestly didn’t even know Beacon had shitty diners.”

“There’s just the one diner.” I yank free. “And it beats me.”

He shakes his head, following me back to his car. “This is so fucked up.”

“You’re telling me?”

“Well, whoever normally connects there, I guess maybe your mom would know?” He unlocks the car. “Damn. I didn’t think this was going to be a wasted trip. I was ready to spring on this stalker… I guess we could camp out here, see if anyone you recognize shows up.”

I grunt. “Fine.”

We sit and wait. Every person who comes into the diner isn’t right. Matt and I get antsy, and eventually we decide to head home.

I try not to take the day personally, but it comes down to one thing: we failed. And somehow I’ll have to go pretend everything is fine with Margo, knowing Unknown is just going to make another attempt to spy on her.

That gets me thinking. Plotting.

She might just be safer with me.

“You have a gleam in your eye,” Matt comments. “Care to share?”

I don’t.

“Just take me back.”

We drive in silence toward Eli’s house. A black car is parked in the driveway, and dread laces through me. Just the person I didn’t want to see.

“You okay?”

“My uncle.” I climb out and pat the roof. “Don’t forget to send me those files.”

“See ya next week,” Matt says, lifting his hand.

Right. The championship game at Lion’s Head. I only just invited Margo, and it already evaporated from my mind. I guess Uncle David has that effect on me. Now I just have to hope he doesn’t drag me back to his house to teach me some lesson—how to properly inform your family of college choices, perhaps.

My mind is torn in two different directions. I walk into the house and search the first floor for any sign of my uncle, then go down the stairs. He’s leaning against my dresser, holding the picture I had taken from my house the same night I took Margo’s bracelet.

It’s the two of us as children, our arms hooked around each other’s necks. We were young and happy.

But judging from my uncle’s expression, he doesn’t care that it was a happy memory. He cares that it’s Margo Wolfe. The destroyer of our families.

She’ll never win in his eyes.

I used to think the same way. If Margo came back, I’d make her life a living hell. And for a while, I fed on that energy. She came back to Emery-Rose for senior year. But then she got under my skin, and she’s stayed there ever since.

It was my uncle who shaped my opinion of Margo. My uncle who poisoned me against her.

I should’ve known.

Uncle drops the frame to the floor and takes a deliberate step forward. The glass crunches under his heel.

I cringe, but that’s all that slips out.

“I tried to warn you. But you just. Don’t. Listen.” He sighs. I can only imagine what goes through his head in times like these. How much does he want to throttle me, and how much does he care? “People are buying your car accident story?”

I jerk my head in some form of a nod, but I don’t trust myself to speak just yet.

“Good, good,” he muses. “I received an interesting phone call tonight.”

I raise an eyebrow.

“Receptionist at Hutchins’ law firm. He cleared out?” He eyes me. “Why is he running?”

I shake my head. “Something spooked him.”

“Obviously. Who?”

The last person I’m going to name is Margo. “Maybe my mother?”

He stills. “Why’s that, Caleb?”

I lift one shoulder. “You’ll have to ask her.”

He stares. Upstairs, the front door slams, and Mr. Black’s voice calls out for me and Eli. I move out of the way of the stairs, my expression wary. He can’t do anything with Mr. Black here, right?

There’s a layer of protection embedded in being around adults who would act.

My best friend’s father definitely qualifies.

“I’ll see you for dinner next week,” my uncle says.

He straightens his tie and brushes past me, his shoes grinding the bits of broken glass into the carpet. And then he’s gone, without a word to Eli’s father, and I sag against the wall.