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CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

THE KELLERS

After scaring off the reporter, Keller eyes Alice Goffman. She’s understandably a mess: unruly hair, bags under her red-rimmed eyes, wrinkled blouse.

Alice gets up from her seat in the small church, says, “I have something I need to show you.”

Keller follows her out of the church and to the employee lot for the dean’s office. Alice says nothing, just opens the trunk of her Honda. She retrieves a manila folder, hands it to Keller.

“What’s this?”

“It’s from a site the kids all use. Someone reported it to our office.”

Keller opens the file, sees a header for Rizz. The posts rumored to exist, the ones Annie hasn’t been able to find. Maybe someone took screenshots before the posts were pulled down:

CREEP LIST

I’m tired of everyone covering for them. These are the campus predators.

Mark Wong (like father, like son)

Felix Goffman (stalker)

Prof. Turlington (again…)

Keller feels her heart trip. She flips to a second printout:

CREEP LIST

You know the creeps. Here’s who is enabling them.

Libby Akana

Stella Maldonado

Blane Roosevelt

“Why did you—” Keller stops herself. The answer is obvious. Alice secreted the report from the office because it named her son.

“Did you talk to him about it?”

“Yes. He said it’s a lie. Said whoever posted them pulled them down.”

The rumored Rizz posts exist. They reference every single one of The Five. Plus a professor. Who wrote the posts? Do they have anything to do with the missing students? Keller’s stomach churns.

But the real gut punch comes when Alice retrieves something else from the trunk. A sweatshirt. Alice holds out the garment gingerly so the front faces Keller.

It’s covered in a large stain. The color of blood.