Page 116 of For Your Own Good

Winnie finishes the list and looks at him, waiting for an answer. She’s not quite as strong or opinionated as Ingrid was. That should make his life a little easier.

“All of the victims should be introduced and brought onstage,” Teddy says. “It would take too long to have each one speak. Unfortunately, we have quite a few victims.”

“Yes. It’s very unfortunate,” Winnie says.

“Perhaps one of the student victims should speak,” Ms.Marsha says. “For representation.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” Teddy says. “I was just about to suggest that.”

Winnie nods a little too hard. It’s annoying. “Great idea. Which student?”

The names run through his mind until he lands on the obvious. “It has to be Veronica, don’t you think?”

“Yes. Absolutely,” Winnie says.

“Or has she had enough attention?” Teddy says. “Perhaps she has already become too synonymous with this tragedy?” He glances over at Ms.Marsha, trying to gauge which way she is leaning. She gives nothing away, and it’s more annoying than Winnie’s enthusiasm. “I was thinking of Damien. He would make a good speaker,” he says.

Damien Harcourt is a junior, and his parents are among the top ten wealthiest couples in the area.

Now that Teddy is the headmaster, he has to think about donations.

At first, he had resisted. He talked about the school’s mission, the highquality of education, the importance of what they were teaching the kids. He wasn’t concerned with the parents. Not unless they got in his way.

Then Ms.Marsha showed him the accounts. And the lawsuits. A number of parents are suing the school because of the poisonings. As if it’s the school’s fault.

So, yes, Damien Harcourt will be the one to speak at the memorial. The wealthiest students may be the most annoying, but at least they’re good for something.

Teddy glances up at the clock. “What else do we have?” he says. “I’ve got an appointment at three.”

He doesn’t mention that the appointment is with the FBI. They want to talk to him again.

71

EVERY DAY, FALLON’Sapartment feels a little smaller. Every day, her bed loses a little more air. Every day, her noisy neighbors become more unbearable. She never imagined she would be here so long. Finishing off Teddy has taken much longer than she thought it would.

Deep breath.

Again.

Again.

She flips open her laptop and checks the news. Checks social media. Checks the news a second time. She watches the video from Teddy’s mailbox camera. She’s already watched it twice.

Nothing.

If Fallon thought she could get away with it, she would put a camera outside Zach’s home. But she used to live in a house like that, and they all have security systems. She can’t get close without getting caught.

She knows he is helping Teddy. It has to be him.

She’s watched the video from Teddy’s classes—before Zach withdrew from Belmont—and she can see it. The way he talks to Zach. Half disdain, half admiration. As if he’s pretending not to like Zach.

It’s so obvious. It’s also circumstantial.

So is everything she’s found online. It didn’t take long for the hive mind to figure out what kind of poison was used. One of the #HomicideHigh Massacre group chats already googled it to death—pun intended—and came up with a bizarre plant called doll’s-eyes, which grows right in this area.

She went straight back to all the videos she recorded outside Teddy’s house. How very convenient that he cleared his yard just days after Ingrid Ross was murdered. But does she have footage of a doll’s-eyes plant? Nope. The camera wasn’t angled to catch those kinds of details.

None of what she has would convince the police or the FBI that Teddy is behind everything. And certainly not if it came from her.