Page 97 of What Happened to Lucy Vale

The paranoia that had roiled us since February broke suddenly into relief, followed quickly by exhaustion.

@badprincess:afterallthat drama, nothing??

@badprincess:no explanation, no apology, we just act like nothing ever happened?

@spinn_doctor:because nothingDidhappen

@ktcakes888:we don’t know that for sure

@spinn_doctor:??

@spinn_doctor:that’s what the Investigative Committee decided

@badprincess:oh, soNowyou trust admin??

@spinn_doctor:so now you trust Lucy Vale?

@badprincess:I just think it’s weird that the committee is justDone

@highasakyle:I gotta be honest

@highasakyle:I’m pretty done too

Ostensibly the investigation was now entirely in the hands of the county sheriff’s department. But as weeks passed with no news and no updates—as Noah Landry began making headlines again, this time for simultaneous early admission offers from Berkeley and UNC; as Lucy Vale dematerialized, withdrawn into the Faraday House like something submerged in water—so, too, did the lingering threat of charges. We understood that the investigation of Ryan Hawthorne’s party had dissipated along with Lucy Vale’s material presence.

Instead we heard new rumors—that Administration was quietly planning the next phase of their war on Discord; that the cops were looking into whether there were, in fact, pictures of underage girls circulating on a private server associated with our school and possibly our swim team; that Sheriff Horne was focused on bringing a conclusive end to Nina Faraday’s cold case and, for the first time in eighteen years, calling up old and new witnesses, interviewing Nina’s teachers, reaching out for tips, and trying definitively to establish where Nina had been before and after Woody Topornycky saw her entering Aquatics by a side door.

In the raw early months of spring, after Lucy simply slipped away from Woodward like something lapsed in our memory, the sheriff’s department’s dual investigations became confused. Muddled. Past and present became curiously indistinguishable, like the reflection of sky thrown up by a palm of water.

@bassicrhythm:hey @nononycky

@bassicrhythm:did Woody tell you why he got called in to talk to the sheriff?

@nononycky:because the cops are finally doing their job

@nononycky:they’re taking him seriously for once

@safireswiftly:why are they talking to Woody about Ryan Hawthorne’s party?

@safireswiftly:was he there??

@lululemonaide:I hear they talked to Coach Radner too

@nononycky:not about the party

@nononycky:about Nina Faraday

@nononycky:they think he was the last person to see her before she “vanished”

@safireswiftly:and they think Coach Radner knows something??

@lululemonaide:no, no

@lululemonaide:I thought we were talking about Lucy

@bassicrhythm:my cousin says they’re reviewing all her old phone records, too

@safireswiftly:Lucy’s, or Nina’s??