Page 32 of Pretty Vengeance

“You sure you want to keep on, Jamie?” The man’s tone is kind, as if he senses there’s a part of me that’s tired of living with it and would like to finally let it go. “Nothing we do will bring the poor lad back, God rest him.”

Right, sure. God rest him, I think bitterly. I don’t believe Jude’s resting. Neither of us will until I see this through.

“Make a copy of everything.” It’s tough to keep my tone neutral when I want to smash something. “If there’s any physical evidence you can’t send, take a picture and send that instead. I want it all.”

“Not a problem.” He pauses. “And you have my account details? For the risks associated with this sort of favor?”

“As soon as I have the file, you’ll have the money. With thanks.”

“Fair play. Good luck to you.”

13

SAWYER

The weekend passes in a blazing fire of “for fuck’s sake.”

When I wake on Saturday morning, Ash isn’t in our dorm room. At first, I’m not worried and I spend more time wondering what Jamie’s doing than where Ash ended up crashing. But I’m upset Ash and I somehow forgot to exchange numbers because I want to text her. I search for her on social media. All I find is a photogram account I think is hers, but it’s set to private, so I can’t DM. I send a follow request and tell myself she’s fine.

On Saturday, I spend most of my time thinking about Jamie and hoping he’ll text. I study in the library as an excuse to walk around campus. Whenever possible, I take the paths near the athletic training center. I’m hoping to bump into the rowing team on their way to practice, but I don’t.

When Ash doesn’t sleep in the dorm on Saturday or Sunday, my mind starts to spiral in dark directions. The last time I saw her she was heading to a bar alone. Is she okay? Or has something sinister happened to her?

On Sunday, I take the bus to Jamie’s neighborhood and walk to his house. No one’s home, so I leave a note in the mailbox.

Either he doesn’t find it or he’s decided to ignore it because neither he nor Ash bothers to text on Sunday or Monday. Finally, early on Tuesday morning, I go to campus police, sweating and freaking out, to tell them I’m worried about my roommate. Because the campus had a problem with kidnapping-murder events in the past, campus police takes any mention of a missing girl very seriously.

They have me wait in a lounge area while they make calls, offering me decent coffee that almost rivals what we have in Central Dorm.

Within ten minutes, my phone’s ringing from an unknown number.

I answer immediately. “Hello?”

“Seesaw,whatare you doing?” Ash says with a laugh.

I exhale, falling into a chair near a window. “I’m losing my freaking mind. It’s been three days. Where have you been?”

“Coins.”

“What?”

“I’m in Coynston, Massachusetts. Family stuff and work.” There are high-pitched children’s voices yelling in the background, presumably playing.

“You work in another city? While school’s in session? Why? And, for fuck’s sake, why didn’t you or Jamie text to tell me that?”

“Jamie? Why would he text?”

I fall silent.

“Did you text him?”

When I answer, my voice is slightly bitter. “I don’t have his number, so no.” Chewing on the corner of my mouth, I shake my head at myself.

Ash must be walking away from the kids because their voices fade and then disappear. “If you didn’t text, how would he know to text you about where I am?”

“Just forget it. I’ve gotta go.”

“Hey,” she says, her voice becoming serious. “Did you go back to his place?” When I’m silent, she curses. “Aw, Sawyer, come on.” She huffs out a sigh. “I should never have taken you over there. I didn’t think you’d—never mind. Look, I’m sure when you went there on Friday he warned you not to visit uninvited, but apparently that wasn’t enough, so I’m telling you. Donotgo over there unannounced.”