Page 26 of We Are All Guilty Here

“Is that why the Perv was at these parties—to deal drugs?”

“I mean, probably? But also to party with them?” Jack’s shoulder jerked up in yet another defensive shrug. “I’ve only heard about it after the fact, like guys saying, ‘did you see how wasted the Perv was last night,’ or like, ‘I gotta hit up the Perv for more weed.’ That kind of thing.”

“Who else would be at these parties?” Emmy asked. “If you had to guess.”

“The football team, definitely. The popular girls—Kaitlynn, Ashleigh, Brandi, Connor.”

Emmy took out her spiral notebook and wrote down the names. “If I showed you some photographs, do you think you could pick out the guy you’re calling the Perv?”

“Like a line-up?”

“Exactly like that.”

“Okay, yeah. I mean—yes ma’am,” he said. “I could do that.”

She heard a light knock on the open door. Her father nodded that it was time to go.

Emmy told Jack, “I’ll be in touch in the morning, okay? Try to get some sleep tonight. Turn off your computer. I need you sharp and focused when you look at the line-up tomorrow, all right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Thank you for your help, Jack. I really appreciate it.”

He didn’t answer, but she saw the blush on his cheeks when he reached for his headphones.

Emmy followed her father back to the living room. Carl was leaning on the arm of the couch. He’d changed into jeans and a T-shirt. He told Gerald, “I spoke to Father Nate. He says there are enough searchers. I volunteered to work the food and coffee line.”

“Good,” Gerald said. “We’ll be in touch.”

Emmy opened the door and walked out onto the front porch. The humidity wrapped around her like a wet towel. She could feel sweat breaking out on her skin. By the time she made it halfway down the driveway, the back of her collar was chafing again.

She asked her father, “Did you hear what Jack said about the Perv?”

“Yep,” Gerald said. “Carl watched the fireworks at home with Jack.”

“Jack said the same thing,” Emmy confirmed. “Taybee’s daughter, Kaitlynn, was on Jack’s list of popular girls. I can swing by their house in the morning before I go to the school and see if she can offer any information. I also want to figure out why Dylan is being coy about drugs at the school.”

“Okay.” Gerald stopped at the car, but didn’t get in. “Highway Patrol found a necklace on one of the backroads. Gold. Cheap. Broken in the middle. Something missing—maybe a locket. Looks like a scuffle took place. Bike tire tracks. Shoe prints. Big ones, like an adult male. Small ones, like a girl’s. Found some blood, too.”

Emmy felt the lump back in her throat. She’d had a respite with Jack, feeling that she was getting information and moving forward. Now reality was hitting her again. The statistical chance of the girls surviving would be past the decimal point soon.

“It’s not a locket.” Emmy reached into her pocket for her phone. She showed her father the photo she’d taken of the series of photobooth pictures Cheyenne had kept in her lockbox. “Cheyenne and Madison have matching gold necklaces with their names spelled out in script. They got them for each other at Christmas last year. They never take them off.”

Gerald nodded toward Carl’s house. “Told me Madison went on birth control back in March of last year.”

“Is he allowed to share her personal medical information?”

“Nope.”

Emmy guessed Carl had weighed the consequences. “Hannah didn’t know. She would’ve told me. Did Dr. Carl say anything about Cheyenne?”

“Not his patient.”

“Jack knew that Cheyenne was dealing. He wouldn’t cop to paying her, but it sounds like she was prostituting herself. Fifty bucks for oral sex. That could explain some of the cash.”

“Madison?”

Emmy felt her stomach roil at the thought of Madison taking money for sex. She was just a baby. Both of them were. “I don’t know, Dad. I hope not.”

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