Page 24 of We Are All Guilty Here

He bit his bottom lip. She could tell he was affected by the question. “No, ma’am.”

“Was there a particular person you noticed was angry with either of them?”

“Not specifically, but I wasn’t lying before. The entire school hates them, no matter what’s happening on Facebook.”

“What’s happening on Facebook?”

“All the popular girls are suddenly acting like they weren’t total bitches. Like Shy and Mad were friends with everybody. But they weren’t friends with anybody but themselves. Nobody liked them. Not really. They were only popular because people were afraid of crossing them, and now that they’re gone, it’s like nobody remembers how cruel they are.”

Jack looked out the window, but Emmy knew he could only see his reflection. He wasn’t a bad-looking kid, but he had that thing about him—that aching need for acceptance—that painted a bright red target on his back.

Emmy said, “I know Cheyenne was dealing hard drugs.”

Jack looked surprised, but not for the obvious reason. “How’d you find out?”

“I’m a cop. I find things out for a living.” She smiled, but just to soften the next question. “Is it possible that Cheyenne pissed off one of the other drug dealers at school?”

“I’m not mixed up in that stuff,” Jack said, but he’d confirmed her belief, which was that there was no way a high school that enrolled around 2,000 kids a year from every rung on the socio-economic ladder did not have a drug problem.

She asked, “What about the outlet mall?”

“I don’t hang out there,” he said. “It’s boring and all the stuff is overpriced anyway.”

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s focus on school. This is really important, Jack. Whoever took them isn’t playing around. I understand why you don’t like them, but do you hate them enough to stay silent while they’re being hurt?”

He shrugged again, but he was clearly considering the implications. “I mean—at school, the only guy who’s, like, a straight up gangster-type is Woody, but I doubt he’d care.”

Emmy nodded for him to continue.

“His real name is Wesley Woodrow. Have you heard of him?”

“No.”

“’Cause he’s sneaky-smart,” Jack said. “He lives in Clayville, but he won’t sell to North Falls kids. He straight up refuses. So, he wouldn’t be mad about Shy and Mad dealing to them. Probably wouldn’t even notice.”

“What if Cheyenne started cutting into his customer base?”

“Honestly?” he asked. “There’s no way. Woody is terrifying and Shy isn’t stupid. It’s not like she can shut him down by spreading a rumor and making him anorexic. He would beat the shit out of her.”

“Even though she’s a girl?”

He nodded. “For real. He’s done it before.”

Emmy made a note to follow up on that. “Was it only Cheyenne who was selling, or was Madison involved, too?”

“No way Madison’s doing anything other than tagging along. I’ve known her since kindergarten. She’s always been a chicken. She’s scared of everything.”

Emmy felt oddly relieved that her read on the girl had been right. “Was Madison seeing anyone? Boyfriend? Girlfriend?”

He shook his head. “No, ma’am.”

“Are you sure about that?” Emmy pressed. “She wasn’t hanging out with anybody or maybe had a crush on somebody?”

“I only ever saw her at school with Cheyenne. She could’ve had a crush, but Mad hasn’t talked to me since middle school. None of the girls I used to know back then give me the time of day now.” He did the shoulder jerk again, but the snub was obviously still raw. “I’m in chorus and band. Singing the ‘Seal Lullaby’ and playing violin didn’t turn out to be the aphrodisiacs I thought they’d be.”

Emmy smiled at the joke. “Cheyenne’s little sister thought you were her boyfriend.”

He didn’t laugh or rail against the very idea. He gave her the umpteenth shrug. “Shy could be nice sometimes. You just had to get her away from people. And do things exactly the way she wanted to.”

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