Page 124 of For Your Own Good

She watches the video again.

It’s early in the morning, and she’s parked down the street from Zach’s house. She’s been sitting here for a half an hour, watching the footage from outside Teddy’s house last night on her phone.

Frank Maxwell.

The last time she heard about him, he was on medical leave from Belmont. Now, he shows up out of the blue. Fallon was trying to provoke a reaction with that email, and she got one. But this isn’t what she had in mind.

Maybe she’s sitting in front of the wrong house.

She looks up where Frank lives, and it’s not in this rich neighborhood. She drives to the Maxwell house and parks down the block, though it’sclear she can’t stay for long. This is Willow Heights, a middle-class subdivision where the houses are close together and close to the street. Guaranteed there’s at least one neighbor who keeps an eye out for strangers in the neighborhood.

Fallon watches just long enough to see Frank come out of the house.

Lucky. Today, Fallon is lucky. Five more minutes, and she would’ve left.

She follows him to the interstate, where he drives for about twenty minutes. He takes an exit she’s not familiar with and goes through a neighborhood she’s never heard of. Frank doesn’t stop until he pulls into the parking lot of Touchpoint Ministry.

Church. Not even nine o’clock in the morning, and Frank is going to church.

Maybe he’s done something so horrible, he needs to pray for forgiveness.

ZACH IS PRETTYsure he’s being an idiot.

He shouldn’t be sitting here, in his car, outside Fallon’s apartment building. First, because it makes him feel like a stalker. Second, because she’s probably insane.

Or maybe she just Roarked. She wouldn’t be the first from Belmont, though Zach’s never seen it for himself.

The term comes from a kid named Roarke. His last name changes, depending on who’s telling the story, but his first name is always Roarke. Valedictorian, all the right extracurricular activities: math club, volunteered with children, and in his free time he invented something you might see onShark Tank. Didn’t get a lot of sleep, though. And he didn’t take failure well.

He cracked under the pressure to be perfect. Set fire to his locker, burning up his books, his laptop, even his phone.

Walked away, dropped out, and was never heard from again.

Is it true? No one knows. But Roarke is a cautionary tale, a fable, thebogeyman for Zach and his friends. Other kids get told to stay away from drugs, hang out with the right crowd, get good grades, and go to college. Belmont students are warned about Roarke.

Maybe that’s what happened to Fallon. She cracked under the pressure and walked away, then decided it was Crutcher’s fault. Now she’s back for revenge.

Or maybe Zach’s losing his mind, too. Hard to tell at this point.

What he does know is that he didn’t help anyone kill. He’s going to explain that to Fallon in a calm, reasonable, factual manner and hope she doesn’t pull out an axe or something.

If only she would come home. He lowers the back of his seat, prepared to wait for as long as it takes. Too bad she didn’t follow him today. Zach closes his eyes for a few minutes. He opens them when he hears a car door shut.

Someone has arrived and parked off to the right, at the far end of the parking lot. He leans forward to get a better look.

Not Fallon.

Crutcher.

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EIGHTEEN MINUTES. THAT’Show long Zach waits for Crutcher to come back out of Fallon’s building. He goes straight to his car and drives away.

Zach knows she isn’t home. He’s already checked, and as far as he can tell, she hasn’t returned. The door to the apartment building is visible from where he’s parked.

Oh, wait. The back door. There must be a back door.

Zach is terrible at this stalking thing.