Page 15 of One of Our Own

“How’s the trial going, by the way?” she asked while we waited.

“Oh, you know, the usual hateful drama between divorced couples.”

“I don’t know how you do it,” she said. “That’s all I could think about when I was going through mine, all the lawyers that had to live in that world every day. It— Oh!” she exclaimed, interrupting herself. “He texted back. Let me see what he said… that’s what I thought. He said he picked Shai up from the party, but Hunter wasn’t with him. He actually picked him up early because Shai was starting to get one of his migraines. I guess he threw up in the car on the way home. Obviously, a memorable night for Corbin.”

My heart sank. “He didn’t say anything about Hunter? I mean, Corbin didn’t mention if Shai said anything about Hunter that night?”

“Hold on, I’ll ask him quick.” A few beats passed. “No, sorry, he says he doesn’t remember Shai saying anything about Hunter.Maybe it was some other weekend?” she asked, sensing there was something wrong.

“I don’t think so.”

“Hmm…” she said and it wasn’t long before the silence grew awkward. “Wish I could be more helpful.”

I quickly responded, projecting all kinds of happiness into my voice like this was perfectly okay, and there was nothing to be concerned about. “No worries. I appreciate you letting me pick your brain about it.”

“I’m sure there’s a totally reasonable explanation,” she said, with way more confidence than I felt.

“Absolutely.” I faked optimism. “Maybe things just got out of hand at the party, and he didn’t want to tell me about it.”

“Exactly. The secret life of teenagers. Blaming it on your best friend. Not a bad choice.” Her voice was light, but she was probably going to tell Shai I called and ask him about it. Hunter would be pissed, totally betrayed I’d called someone behind his back. I couldn’t believe we were here, but we were.

“Anyway, thanks for all your help.”

“No problem, I hope you figure it out.”

I sat on the chair staring at the phone after I hung up, but not for long. If Hunter hadn’t been with Shai, then where was he? What was he doing at the water tower? When did he leave Jett’s house?

No matter which way I looked at it, my son was lying to me.

Something happened at that party.

Could Shai have been one of the boys in the video? Maybe Hunter was bruised up because he helpedendthe attack? He’d done that in kindergarten once, slid underneath a bathroom stall and pushed a kid who was bullying his friend. Maybe he’d saved the girl, and wouldn’t tell me because he didn’t want to get hisother friends in trouble? There were lots of ways he could’ve been involved. Maybe he was one of the good guys.

I didn’t know how that girl’s story ended. We’d never reached the part where she got away. What if there’d been a fight then? I just needed more information. I pulled up the last number the mystery girl had texted me from and tapped out a text to her. I didn’t know if she’d even get it, since I didn’t know how the burner app worked, but it was worth a try.

Hey! Just checking on you to see how you are. Can we talk?

CHAPTER NINE

I’d been obsessively checking my phone since I texted her. Still nothing. But who knows if she even got it. I was grateful for the distraction of work, but by the time I was headed home for the day, all my obsessive worrying was back in full force. What if I never heard from her again? What would I do? Forget what I knew? Everything that had happened? Stan had checked in earlier today, and I’d given him a brief update—except I left out the part about Hunter. I wasn’t hiding or protecting him from anything, I reasoned: he’d done nothing wrong as far as I knew, and I didn’t want to distract the focus from finding the girl’s identity. At least that’s what I kept telling myself whenever my conscience reared its ugly head.

The house was empty when I got home. Hunter had a cross-country meet over an hour away, so he’d be lucky if he was home by ten. The older he got, the more it was just me in the house alone, and I didn’t like the feeling. It was a reminder of how close we were to him going off to college and not being here anymore. I texted him good luck and headed to the kitchen to make tea, grateful I didn’t have to make dinner for anyone but myself tonight. Just then my phone buzzed with a call, but it wasn’t Hunter—it was her. It still startled me every time.

FELICIA:Hey! I was just thinking about you. I’ve been thinking about you all day.

CHLOE:I went to school today.

FELICIA:You did? How was it?

CHLOE:Awful.

FELICIA:Oh, no. Do you want to talk about it?

CHLOE:Everyone was staring at me and laughing at me. Everyone’s seen the video. I spent all of free period hiding in the bathroom. I don’t think I can go back.

FELICIA:I’m so sorry. That must’ve been terrible. Have you… have you actually seen the video yourself? Do you know what’s on it?

CHLOE:Yeah, I’ve seen it. Someone snapped it to me a couple days ago. I’ve seen it so many times now, I couldn’t even tell you how many. I keep watching. It’s like I can’t stop.

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