Page 107 of Safe With Me

“Absolutely, Mrs. Scarpullo. I’m taking this to the back right now and will let you know what we find.”

“Excuse me,” she said, grabbing his arm when he turned to leave. “I would like to view it with you.”

“I’m sorry. It’s against procedure. We need to view it first and discuss it with you later. Mrs. Canale will help you sign it into evidence with your permission to view it.”

He put his hand on her shoulder when she opened her mouth to argue.

“Don’t worry. I can promise you that I am going to view it personally right now and be in touch very soon.”

He motioned for me to follow him back to his office as we left Mrs. Scarpullo calling out in protest behind us.

“I’m going to need to send Mrs. Canale flowers or give her a raise for what she’s going through right now. If this shows us what we need, I’ll give her both,” Keith said as he held the door open for Jude and shut it behind him.

Keith put the card into his computer and searched by date, starting with the night Lila’s car was keyed.

“That has to be the best home camera video footage I’ve ever seen,” Jude mused as he shook his head. “It’s crystal clear. I can see the leaves in the flower bed above Lila’s door.”

“Again, thank God for that woman’s spite and the thousands of dollars it made her spend,” Keith said, fast-forwarding the footage until an image moved on-screen.

Someone in a hoodie crept up to Lila’s car, glanced behind them, and scraped something against her door in slow strokes. They’d glance at the door for a minute and go back to it, scraping faster and deeper until they stepped back and assessed the damage they’d done.

The whole scene gave me chills. I’d always believed the letters were scratched in with too much intention to be random, but to see the hate behind it made me want to run back to Lila’s apartment and not leave her until the guy in the hoodie was caught.

“They’re short, but it doesn’t seem like a kid,” Keith said as he zoomed in. The shirt dwarfed them, the sleeves hanging low enough to hide their hands as they continued to make long marks on the door.

“A little hot to wear a hoodie,” Jude said.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Keith said. “Most of these kids wear hoodies when they pull this shit to cover their faces, no matter what season it is. All the kids we picked up that night wore hoodies.”

Keith pressed a button that changed angles and repeated it as the screen cleared. My heart stopped when the hood drooped enough to show the person’s profile, right when I recognized the writing on the sweatshirt sleeve.

“Stop,” I said, grabbing Keith’s arm. “Can you zoom in on the letters?” I pointed to the screen, praying with all I had that I was wrong.

“KLH Robotics,” Keith whispered. “They haven’t had robotics at the high school since you graduated, I think. Well, that narrows it down, at least.”

I brought my fist to my mouth as I fought to stay upright.

“We had those sweatshirts made when we went to the state competition my senior year. They were only printed once.”

“Okay,” Jude said, still watching the screen. “We need to get a list of who was on the team.”

“No,” I managed to breathe out. “That’s Amber.”

“Amber?” Keith craned his neck to me. “Little Amber Green. Your friend. You’re sure?”

“She came to the competition with us. I was a sore loser and said I was throwing out my sweatshirt, but she asked to keep it, even though it was always three sizes too big on her.”

Fuck-fuck-fuck.

“I thought you never dated,” Keith said, his eyes still searching the screen.

“We didn’t. We’ve only ever been friends. We used to double-date, for fuck’s sake. Where is this coming from?”

“That is something we’re going to have to find out.” Keith searched by the date we’d found the letter under Lila’s door. “It’s possible it’s two separate things.”

“Do you really believe that?” I asked, my eyes still glued to the screen.

“For your sake, I’m hoping so.” He stopped the footage after eight p.m., skipping ahead until something moved at the corner of the screen. My chest tightened when I saw the same hoodie, the figure kneeling to peek in Lila’s window at midnight. Her bedroom faced the outside window, and although the blinds were mostly closed, someone could see right inside up that close.

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