“Tyler, hey. Can I help you?” Technically I don’t have to, since it’s after hours, but it is the season of giving.
“I need a new ID,” he says. “I lost mine.”
“Sure. It’ll take about ten minutes. The machine is slow as shit.” It’s a half fib. The machine is slow. But it’ll take five, not ten. At the work-study desk, I jiggle the screen awake, input my password, and open the ID software, making small talk while I pull up Tyler’s student profile.
“How were your exams?”
“Fine,” Tyler drones. His eyes are on his phone screen. Talking to me isn’t on the agenda.
As I navigate the screen, I’m not surprised that this is Tyler’s third ID replacement in the last year. He’s careless with his things. He just got a new ID in September.
I click Print New and glance up at Tyler. The printer is in a secure room in the back. I have the timing down to a science. “Listen…” I bite my lip. “I know it’s uncouth, but I was hoping I could ask you something about that night? With Emma?”
That makes Tyler break eye contact with his phone. “What about?”
“After the fight, after the party ended, when’s the last time you saw her? Did she come up to your room?”
Tyler’s eyes narrow. “Yeah, she came up to my room around eleven-thirty. The party was basically over. But then she left around midnight. I told the detective all of this already.”
So Margot was wrong. Emma had been going upstairs for a booty call with her boyfriend. A short one, though.
“Did she say where she was going?”
Tyler’s eyes begin to glisten. He sniffs.
“I’m sorry to bring all this up for you,” I rush to say.
“It’s okay.” He waves me off. “It’s just bringing back memories. If I’d known it would be the last time we were together, I would have savored our time more. Stopped her leaving altogether. But she got a text after we, you know, and said she had to go.”
“Who texted her? Who was she meeting with?”
“Calm down, Nancy Drew. Emma didn’t share it with me, but I figured it was an Ivies after-party. Or a war conference, more like, after that fight. Look, I don’t like to get involved in Avery’s shit. That all is your business, not mine. Is my ID ready?”
“I’ll go check,” I say, swiping the key from my desk drawer and then heading back toward the maze of admin offices. My mind is reeling. Tyler hooked up with Emma and then he thinks her friends texted to meet up. My friends. The Ivies.
I shove the oversized key into the lock, shoulder the heavy door open, and flick on the light. Tyler’s replacement ID is sitting in the output tray of the boxy printer. I grab it, then head back to the front office.
Another possibility crosses my mind, and I don’t like it. What if Emma was going from her boyfriend’s bed to someone else’s? She could have let Tyler assume the text came from one of us. I’m no further ahead than I was before. All I know is Emma received a text around midnight, and Tyler seems oblivious.
He’s also gone. “Tyler?” I call out to the empty lounge.
“Oh, hey, here!” He emerges, breathless, from behind me. “I got thirsty, had to hit up the water fountain by the bathroom. Thanks!” Tyler snatches the ID from my fingers. I walk him out, locking the administrative office door behind me. As I’m extracting my key, a harsh buzzing vibrates my purse.
“Sorry, have to take this.” I wave Tyler bye and fish my phone from my pocket to check the caller ID. It’s my mom. Oops, I haven’t called her since Wednesday.
“Mom, hey. What’s up?”
“Livvy, why haven’t you called me?”
So we’re jumping right into bad-daughter territory. Swell. I duck into an alcove off the lobby and lean against the wall.
“Sorry. Yesterday was a blur with an assembly, and my police interview, and studying for finals.” And launching a murder investigation, I add in my head. “I meant to call.”
“I’m worried about you, and you’re barely responding to my texts.”
I resist groaning, because the scolding I’d get for daring to be annoyed with my mother isn’t worth it. Plus, she isn’t wrong. But how do I explain to her that I’m dealing with more shit than I can handle? She’s already concerned enough with me being so far away, and she’s never understood the appeal of Claflin. She doesn’t get the Ivy game like I do. I don’t need her to add my friend’s murder and my grief to her plate. And, god, if she knows I’m a suspect? She’ll be on the first plane up here. That’ll really fuck things up. I can’t very well solve Emma’s murder with my mom tagging along.
“Sorry, Mom,” I finally say. “It’s been hectic here. But I’ll be home Monday, so…” My mom does not take the hint, that I’d really love to end our conversation, table all of this until I am home for Christmas.
“How are the girls? Avery, Margot, and Sierra? That Avery’s not as tough as she wants people to believe, ya know. I worry about you all up there. And I cannot believe they’re still making you take exams.”
“It’s because of college admissions, Mom. They have to. And we’re all fine. I’m hanging out with Avery tonight,” I make up on the spot.
“That’s good, Liv. I sent flowers to the Russos. You’ll find out when the funeral is, so we can attend? I’ll have to find some way to afford the trip. We’ll make it work.”
“Yes, of course, Mom.” I’m on autopilot now, letting my mom hyperfocus and whip herself into her Mom frenzy. I just have to agree at intervals with whatever she is saying.
Finally, there’s a moment of silence. It hangs, and I brace myself for a Mom bomb. “Olivia, I want you to give some serious thought to coming home permanently. Your friend has died, and you know I don’t like how you get when you’re up there. You got into Harvard. You’re done. You can finish your senior year at Highland. High school is high school. It doesn’t matter.”
“Mom.” It comes out like ice. “You know I can’t do that. I only have one semester left. It’s fine.”
“Okay.” Such a simple word, but we can load it with such meaning. My mom is backing down for now, but the war is not over. We’ll discuss this again over the holiday. “I’ll see you in a few days. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
As I’m saying it, my phone buzzes, tickling my ear. My mother’s goodbye gets lost as I look down at my screen. I end the call and pull up the text that just came in. It’s Ethan.