Putting on my politician’s smile, I roll down the window. “Good morning, officers. Would you like a donut?” I hold up the pink box Ricardo’s been holding in his lap.
The officer smiles. “Don’t mind if I do.” He takes a chocolate bar. “Thank you, Miss.”
“You’re welcome.”
The officer checks the license plate on our car and looks at his phone screen. He’s probably checking to see if it matches the one given in the call transcript, which it will. At least he’ll have the donut to remember me by.
My pulse pounds in my fingers as I cling to the wheel. I can’t peel my eyes off the officer as he scans his device one more time before looking up at me. “Have a good day.” He steps back and allows me to pass.
Wait, what?
He’s motioning for me to move along.
I manage to keep my composure long enough to pull into Cal’s designated parking spot and kill the engine.
Grabbing a donut out of the box, I take a big bite. Chew feverishly. “I don’t get it. Why didn’t they question me? If the person who called 911 saw this car running over the professor, and then driving away…” I trail off as I look at the officers in my rearview mirror.
Maybe they’re waiting to see what I’ll do? No, that can’t be right. If they have evidence that this car is the one that killed Professor Rook, they’d have asked me to come in for questioning right away.
“My distraction worked, see? Who was right?” Ricardo grins as he takes the donut box back, selecting one for himself.
I shoot a glare at him. Daddy says the best defense is a good offense, so as soon as Ricardo suggested getting the donuts, I knew it was a good idea. I wish I’d thought of it first. Then he wouldn’t be sitting next to me gloating.
I toss the half-eaten ring back into the box. I’m too wound up now for a donut. I can’t make sense of the police letting me go free without a single question. I have to figure out why they would do that. I have to hear the 911 call.
11
As soon as I’m in the dormitory, I bolt up the stairs away from Ricardo.
“Wait!” he calls, but I ignore him.
Shoving my way past people going down to breakfast, I reach the third floor. Behind me, someone makes a disgruntled hiss as I duck through a group of chattering girls. I’m in too much of a hurry to apologize.
“There you are,” Genevieve says, pushing off my dorm room door. Her eyes skirt past me toward the stairs, but I don’t miss the hurt there. “Did you go to breakfast without us?”
“She already ate?” Adrienne asks as she steps out of her room, her door clicking shut.
“No! It’s not that. I had an… errand to run. Just give me a couple minutes and I’ll be ready.” Unlocking my door, I slither inside, blocking Genevieve from following.
“Hey!” Her word is cut off when my door closes in her face.
Wincing, I back away from the door. Guilt cuts through me for treating her like that, but I do not want my best friend or my sister to hear the 911 call. Better to apologize for being rude later. If they’re still talking to me, that is.
I exhale as I dart to my desk and flip open my laptop.
Based on the lack of buzzing in the dormitory, no one else has heard about this yet. It’s kind of surprising that Gul isn’t already crowing about it. She probably has internet alerts set to notify her when anything about the academy is in the news. Come to think of it, that’s not a terrible idea.
“Charlotte, I’m coming in,” Ricardo says through my door.
I open my mouth to protest, but he’s already sliding through the door. “Sorry, girls. My lady and I need a minute or two. In private, if you feel me.”
I clench my teeth at Ricardo’s ruse. As if Genevieve wasn’t hurt enough already, now she thinks I dismissed her so I could make out with my boyfriend. Ugh.
Ricardo steps up behind me and puts his hands on my shoulders. “Have you got it queued up? I want to hear this too.”
“Did you have to tell them we were coming in here to make out?”
Ricardo chuckles. “That’s not at all what I told them, but if that’s what you thought, I’d be happy to—”
“Gross.”
He doesn’t respond, instead leaning over my shoulder to type on my keyboard. I get a whiff of his cologne, something spicy and warm. He smells kind of like gingerbread, which I don’t hate. I bet if I leaned closer I could…
Nope. Shake it off, Charlotte. I force my focus back to my laptop.
It doesn’t take Ricardo long to find the first headline. It’s breaking news on the first news site he checks. He pulls back, withdrawing his arms so I’m no longer boxed in. It’s a relief.
Professor’s Death Apparently Not an Accident
My throat constricts. The call makes it sound purposeful? This is very, very bad.
My finger hovers over the play button, but I can’t do it. When it comes down to it, I don’t want to hear Professor Rook being hit and killed by a car. The one good thing about being in the accident the first time is that I didn’t hear him. I don’t remember the sound of a dying scream or crunching bones. If I listen to this recording…
“Here, let me.” With a gentle hand, Ricardo nudges my shoulder, but I swat him away. I get out of my chair and cross to my bed to grab my pillow, hugging it tight against my chest.
Taking my earbuds from the desktop, Ricardo pops them into his ears as he takes my seat.
Out the window, the police are walking slowly up the first row of cars, checking license plates and bumpers. What little time I have is winding down with loud ticks that reverberate through my head.
My entire body is tense as he listens to the call, wondering what he’s hearing. Tires screeching over pavement. The terrifying last scream from a dying man. Ricardo’s reflection in the window shows him leaning close to the laptop and squinting his eyes. Then he sits back and meets my gaze in the glass.
“You should listen to this.” He gestures toward the computer.
Realizing I’ve got my fingernail in my mouth, I frown. It took me ages to stop biting my nails, but all of this stress is going to make me start again. “Are you sure? It’s not… bad?”
“Just come here.” He takes out the earbuds and gestures for me to sit. In his lap.
“Not a chance.”
“Worth a shot.” He vacates my desk chair, standing to one side.
Once I’m seated, Ricardo starts the call again.
“911, what’s your emergency and where are you located?”
“Uh, oh my God. They… they ran him over. Didn’t even slow down. My God.”
“Ma’am, can you tell me where you are located?”
“I’m, uh… on Academy Road, in front of Brat Academy.”
“Thank you. Units are on their way to you. Can you describe your emergency?”
Heavy breathing
“Ma’am?”
“Someone just got run over. They’re in the middle of the street. I think I’m going to be sick.”
Sounds of heaving
The newscaster explains that the call was made anonymously, and the police are asking the person to come forward. Whoever it was, they apparently didn’t want to be involved.