Page 25 of Did You See Evie

I hurriedly type out a message:

What the hell is happening?

THIRTEEN

By the time I get off the phone with Mr. Lake, my hand is shaking.

He acted as I expected he would. His voice, heavy with sleep, soon morphing into controlled urgency as I heard him climbing out of bed, rustling through his closet. Then came the questions, many a repetition of what I’d asked the girls moments earlier.

Where is Evie? How did this happen?

I head back to the center of the gymnasium, where the girls are still seated in their bags. Joanna is becoming obviously more uneasy, nibbling at ragged cuticles as she paces the floor.

“What did Lake say?”

“He’s coming to the school now,” I say. “He wants to conduct his own search before getting the police involved.”

Saying that sentence sends a shiver down my spine. Police. My hope that this is some slumber party game gone awry is fading away. I pull out my phone, counting the time since I last spoke to Mr. Lake. Only two minutes have passed, and yet it feels like an eternity.

Nadia crosses my mind again.

When I inspected the computer lab moments ago, nothing had been stolen. Is there a reason they didn’t go through with the burglary? Could she have seen something?

Then an even more sinister idea arises: Could Nadia be involved in Evie’s disappearance?

Maybe the intention was never to steal technology. Maybe they’d intended to take something far more valuable, and I’d unknowingly helped them. A hard lump forms in my throat, and I’m incapable of swallowing it down.

“Mr. Lake is on his way,” I address the girls, my words tinged with threatening anger. “If any of you know where Evie is, you best speak up now.”

“We already told you,” Connie says.

“None of us have seen her,” Amber adds.

My hands begin shaking again with frustration.

“We’re wasting time,” I say.

“What about the intercom?” Joanna asks, her expression alight with hope.

“What?”

“If Evie’s in the school, we could call her through the intercom.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” I say, checking the time again on my phone. “If she’s somewhere in the building, at least she would know we’re looking for her. That it’s getting serious.”

“I can go to the office,” Joanna suggests.

“No. You stay with the girls,” I say. “I won’t start searching the building until Mr. Lake arrives.”

Before she can counter, I take off in the direction of the main office. It’s out the front corridor, only a few doors down. The doors to all the individual rooms inside are locked, but the secretary’s desk is accessible. Sitting on the tabletop is the main computer, the hub of intelligence for every staff member and student in the building. Beside it, is the intercom system.

I lift the L-shaped microphone, a gadget that hasn’t seemed to change in shape since my own years as a student, even though my school was nowhere near as fancy as Manning Academy.

“Evie, this is Coach Cass.” My voice fills the space like a loud boom. “If you’re in the building, you need to report back to the gymnasium. Now.”

I’m disturbed by the silence that follows. I’m not sure what I expected to happen, if I thought Evie would miraculously jump from behind a door at the sound of my voice, but nothing changes. I’m still alone in the dark room.

I pull out my phone again, thinking of Nadia. She hasn’t responded to my message from earlier, and I wonder why. I wonder if she even knows what chaos is unfolding.

---