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CHAPTER FORTY

“It’s gone.” I’m so shocked I can barely speak.

“What’s gone?” Garret asks. “What did they take?”

“The letter. That guy came for the letter. He took it.” My whole body is shaking now.

“The guy who called you? He did this?”

“It had to be him. Who else would want the letter? He was in my room. That psycho guy was in my room.”

Garret pulls me into his arms. “It’s okay. He’s gone now.”

“What’s going on?” Kelsey, the girl who lives next door to me, walks in wearing her robe. Her eyes widen when she sees my room. “What happened in here?”

“Someone broke in,” Garret says. “Can you go get Jasmine?”

“Yeah. Sure.” Kelsey leaves.

I try to take a deep breath to calm myself but I can’t. I’m shaking too much. Garret holds me closer, gently rubbing my back. “It’s okay. He got what he wanted. He won’t come back.”

“He was here in this room. He touched my stuff.”

We hear someone running down the hall. Jasmine comes in, followed by Kelsey.

“Jade, who did this?” Jasmine asks.

Garret lets me go as I turn to face her. “We don’t know.”

It’s kind of a lie, but technically we really don’t know who did it. I know it’s the guy who keeps calling me, but I have no idea who he is.

“Were you here last night?” Garret asks Jasmine.

“I got home around 11. I think I was the only one here. Everyone else was probably at one of the parties off campus. When do you think this happened, Jade?”

“I left my room around 6:30 last night, so sometime after that.”

“Well, I didn’t hear anything when I got back. It must have happened before 11. What did they take?”

“I’m not sure yet. I need to go through everything.”

Jasmine takes out her phone. “I’m going to call the police.” She goes out in the hallway.

“You don’t have to wait here, Kelsey,” I say as she stands there awkwardly. “But thanks for your help.”

“I hope they catch whoever did this.” She hurries back to her room.

Other girls hear the commotion and soon they’re all in my room talking and asking questions. Harper isn’t there but I’m guessing she’s still at her boyfriend’s apartment.

Sara, the girl who lives across the hall from me, asks, “What if he was a rapist? Or a murderer? Do you think he’s coming back?”

I don’t answer her. I don’t answer any of their questions. I just wait quietly in Garret’s arms. The girls from my floor quickly scatter when the police arrive.

The police officer asks tons of questions, but none of them seem to lead anywhere. I don’t tell him about the phone calls because then I would have to tell him about the letter. And if I say anything about the letter, the man on the phone may follow through on his threats.

“So you have no idea who would’ve done this?” the officer asks for the ten millionth time. “Maybe someone wanting to pull a prank on you?”

“A prank?” Garret says. “Do you really think this looks like a prank?”

The officer reviews his notes. “Well, nothing appears to have been stolen. So basically they just made a mess of the room. Sounds like a prank to me.” The officer gets up to leave. “We dusted for prints, so we’ll let you know if anything comes up. But I wouldn’t worry too much about it.”

He walks out, followed by the cop who dusted for prints. As soon as they leave, I shut the door and take my dress off. I grab some jeans and a shirt from the pile on the floor and put them on, then search for my socks.

“I’m guessing you don’t want to go for breakfast now,” Garret says.

“I’m not really hungry anymore. Maybe we could go somewhere else. I know I should clean this up, but I just want to get out of here. I can’t be in this room right now.”

“Then let’s go. I’ll just drive until you tell me to stop, okay?” Garret opens the door and his dad’s standing there.

“Are you two all right?” Mr. Kensington walks in looking very serious.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Garret says. “What are you doing here?”

“The dean called me. He said there was a break-in. And then he mentioned Jade’s name and I raced right over.”

I look at him confused. “The dean? How does he know?”

“Jasmine’s required to call him,” Garret explains. “And my dad is good friends with the dean.”

“Do you know when this happened?” Mr. Kensington asks me.

“No, but I’m guessing it was when I was at your house last night.”

“What did they take?”

“Nothing. At least I don’t think they took anything. I don’t have much and it looks like everything’s here on the floor.”

He glances around my room. “It looks like they took your TV.”

“I don’t have a TV.”

“Oh, I see. Well, that’s strange that they didn’t take anything.”

“Dad, you didn’t need to come all the way down here for this.” Garret uses an accusatory tone. I’m sure he assumes his dad is really there to lecture him about last night.

Mr. Kensington goes over to Garret and hugs him. “I was worried, son. I had to make sure you were okay.” Then he hugs me quick. “You, too, Jade.”

I’m speechless. Where is this coming from. Hugs? Concern? Has he lost his mind?

“Was that it, Dad?” Garret asks.

“Well, no.” His dad seems more fidgety than normal. “Can we talk upstairs?”

“We can talk right here.” Garret crosses his arms over his chest, ready for a verbal battle with his father.

“Okay, then. I would like you to attend Thanksgiving in the Caymans with the rest of the family. I know you don’t want to, but I really need you to be there.”

His dad is being very polite about this. Normally, he’d just demand that Garret do whatever he says.

“I can’t. I need to work on a paper that weekend. And I have to swim. We have a meet the following week.”

“You can do all that in the Caymans.”

I’m really hoping Garret doesn’t mention my role in his decision to stay home. The last thing I need is for his dad to hate me even more.

“Jade isn’t going home for Thanksgiving. I’m staying here with her.”

Shit! I cringe, preparing to get yelled at.

Mr. Kensington looks at me but he doesn’t seem mad. In fact he seems fairly calm. “Why aren’t you going home?”

“It’s too long of a drive for that short amount of time.”

“So you’re staying here? In the dorms?”

I’m so shocked he’s not yelling at me that it takes me a moment to answer. “Um, yes. I’m staying here.”

He nods and looks like he’s thinking about something. “Then I guess you should as well, Garret. I’ll tell Katherine you can’t make it.”

Okay, now I’m convinced the man has lost his mind. I don’t understand anything that’s going on right now. I glance at Garret, who seems just as confused.

“And Jade, you’ll stay at the house with Garret.”

“Oh, no, that’s okay. I don’t mind staying here.”

“You can’t stay here. They turn the heat down during breaks. You’ll freeze. I’ll have a room set up for you at the house.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Garret stares at him like he doesn’t know him.

“What about Thanksgiving dinner?” Mr. Kensington asks Garret.

“I’ll take her somewhere. I’m sure some restaurants will be open.”

“Charles will be at the house. I’ll have him make dinner. Unless you want to go to the club. They’ll be open.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll figure something out.”

“Anything else you need before I leave? You need any help with this mess?”

I almost pass out. Now he wants to help clean up my room?

“No. We can handle it,” Garret answers. “But thanks for offering.”

“Jade, I’m truly sorry this happened. This is normally a very safe campus. If you need anything, just call. Garret, give her my private number, not the main one. Katherine doesn’t know I stopped by today and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“Okay. Bye, Dad.”

“Bye, Mr. Kensington,” I say as he walks out.

Garret and I don’t speak again until we see his dad in the parking lot.

“What was that about?” I’m whispering for some reason.

“I have no idea. Who the hell was that and what did he do with my dad?”

“He actually told you to stay here with me for Thanksgiving. And to stay at your house!”

“Yeah, I know. I don’t get it. But I’m not going to worry about it right now.” He steps over a pile of clothes to my desk. “So the guy took out every drawer but this one. He wanted to make it clear that he was here for the letter.”

“I guess.” I join Garret at the desk. He opens the drawer and moves some papers aside. “I’ve already looked. It’s not in there.”

“What’s this?” He holds up a small piece of paper. Written in red marker are the words, Keep Silent. Silence is rewarded. “Did you write this, Jade?”

“No.” I snatch the paper from him and read it again. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

“Here, sit down.”

I take his place on the chair and stare at the piece of paper.

“What should I do? Should I tell Frank? But this says to stay silent.”

He hesitates. “Maybe we should tell my dad.”

I set the piece of paper down. “Are you crazy? Why would we do that?”

“Come here.” He goes over to my bed and pushes the mattress back on it so we can sit down. “My dad deals with this kind of shit all the time. Threats from people he doesn’t know. The cops are never involved. He just takes care of it. I don’t know exactly how, but he gets them to go away.”

Although Garret has mentioned this before, I still don’t understand what he means. It’s like his family’s part of the mafia or something. But Garret assures me that this is how it works in wealthy families. People are always using threats and blackmail to try to get money from rich people, and the rich people somehow get them to go away. Getting the police involved would only bring publicity to the problem and wealthy people don’t want that type of publicity.

“I don’t want your dad involved in this. Besides, this should end now. Like you said, the guy got what he wanted. Any evidence of what happened that night is gone.”

“You’re not gone.”

I don’t think he meant to, but Garret’s statement totally freaks me out. I shudder as I think about it.

He hugs me. “I’m sorry, Jade. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“But you’re right. I’m proof of what happened. I’m proof of what that guy did to my mom all those years ago. That guy’s going to come after me, isn’t he?”

“If he wanted to do something to you, he would’ve broken in when you were home.”

“But he left that note. He might still be watching me or listening to my calls, making sure I don’t say anything. If I do, he’ll come after me.”

“You need to stop using that phone.” Garret points to the room phone. “I’ll get you a cell phone. For now, you can use mine if you need to call Frank or Ryan.”

“I don’t understand this. Why is this happening? What does he want?”

Garret kisses the top of my head as I rest it on his shoulder. “I don’t know, Jade. But he’s not going to hurt you. I won’t let him. Do you want to go shower before we go?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“I’ll start putting your stuff back.”

“I don’t think I want it put back. That guy touched all my clothes and my sheets. I feel like I need to wash everything. Could you take me to the laundromat? The machines here will take all day.” I run over to my desk, checking the drawer again. “At least he didn’t take my laundry money.”

I turn back and see Garret on the phone. “Hey, Dad. Will Katherine be home today?” He listens. “We wanted to stop by and wash Jade’s stuff.” He listens again. “Okay, thanks.” He hangs up.

“What did you do that for? I’m not doing laundry at your house!”

“Relax. We’ll drop it off and pick it up later. The housekeeper will do it. We have four washing machines. It’ll be done in a couple hours. Katherine left for some event with Lilly. She won’t be back until tonight. And my dad’s going into the office.”

“But, Garret—”

He stops me. “Go shower. What should I put your clothes in?”

I go to the closet and pick up the box of garbage bags sitting on the floor. I hand it to him, then leave to take a shower. When I get back, all my stuff is in bags.

“I’ll start taking these to the car. I’ll be right back.”

As he leaves, I realize how much I really do love him. My whole life I’ve never been able to count on people. Growing up, I had to take care of myself and my mom. Even when I moved in with Frank, I took the role of caretaker, fixing meals and cleaning the house. I felt like I had to in order to pay him back for taking me in. I’ve never had anyone take care of me the way Garret does. The way he just steps in without me even having to ask.

He walks back in my room and picks up another garbage bag.

“Hey.” I grab hold of his arm and look up at him. “I love you.”

He sets the garbage bag down and smiles. “I love you, too.”

I walk away, leaving him standing there confused. “That’s all. You can go back to work now. I just wanted to say it.”

He laughs. “Okay.” He picks up the bag and goes back out to the car.

I never thought I’d say those words to someone and now I’ve said them three times in less than 24 hours. And the weird thing is that I like saying them.