Page 105 of Vanish From Sight

“Isabella Perez. You familiar with her?”

His eyes bounced between Callie and Noah. “Um. Yeah. And?”

“Well, it’s just that she told us one heck of a story about anight here at the Academy. In the laundry room. You remember that night?”

“Um. I…”

Noah wanted to gauge his reaction. He could see his knee bouncing up and down, the way he was avoiding eye contact, the fidgeting, the sweat beading at his temples and the repeated um phrases — all the telltale signs of nervousness were there.

“Go on.”

“I heard about it.”

“That’s it?”

“Um. Yeah,” he replied, running a hand around his neck. “There were rumors going around.”

“About?”

“Her.”

“So, you weren’t there?”

“Me? Um. No. I…” Someone nearby dropped several books on the floor, and that got Charlie’s attention. His gaze darted off over Noah’s shoulder. A short, pretty girl appeared, apologized and began restacking a shelf.

“You seem nervous, Charlie,” Callie said.

“Do I?”

Noah decided to shift gears. “That’s interesting what you’ve told us, you see because we recently got our hands on some of Katherine Evans’ records. You know, the residential counselor you used to go to.”

There were ways to suggest they were privy to information she had without saying they had it or lying. It was all a matter of extending a piece of rope and seeing how much they would take to hang themselves. The clever ones were careful. They closed up from the get-go; others told them to speak to their lawyer. It was the shy nervous ones that had a habit of rambling. Noah could see he was minutes from getting something out of him.

All the color in Charlie’s face washed out.

His voice dropped to a whisper as he leaned forward. “Look. I don’t know what Isabella or anyone else said but I can tell you I never laid a hand on her that night.”

“I get a sense you didn’t,” Noah replied. “And… Katherine?”

“I saw her. Yeah.”

“After the hazing that went wrong or was that event something more?” Callie asked, eager to know the answer to a question she’d posed to Hawthorne. Charlie kept glancing off down the aisle as if he was expecting company. He bit down on his lower lip.

“Adam Tomlin, Joshua Whelan, Ricky Patel and Benjamin Kim. Were they there that night? The night Isabella was raped?” Noah asked.

He nodded.

“Was it consensual?” Callie asked.

He shook his head, a strong no. “I didn’t know they were going to do that to her. They never told me. Heck, I didn’t get invites out to those things that often. They said there would be other girls there.” He shrugged.

“So, you watched while they assaulted her?”

There was a commotion near the front of the library. Noah heard Hawthorne’s voice. “Where are they?” He knew they had only minutes before their conversation would be shut down.

“It wasn’t a hazing, was it?” Noah asked.

“No.”