Page 92 of Rockwell Academy: The Twist

“There are no new entries. She must be targeting somebody, though.”

I nod. “Perhaps we should stake out her house. Cameras would do the trick.”

Frankie’s smile is a mirror image of mine because my suggestion is nothing short of normality for us.

“Good call. I’ll arrange them.”

“Is there anyone you can use?”

I remind him it’s not something we can order online, and he nods. “Ali’s my security advisor. He’ll arrange it.”

I’m aware that Frankie doesn’t work alone – unlike me, who finds it difficult to trust anyone.

He smiles his reassurance. “We are a team- remember.”

I exhale sharply. “I’ll try. You must forgive me if I forget that sometimes. This teamwork thing is an alien thing to me.”

He nods, understanding etched on his smile.

As we head inside the kitchen, Cassie is chatting to Siri and Jack and they smirk when they see me coming.

“The wanderer returns.” Jack grins and Cassie laughs.

“I take it Summer returned in one piece.”

I don’t answer them and just flip them the bird and Frankie growls playfully, “Did you just fucking flip my girl the bird?”

He shakes his head. “You really do have a death wish, but I kind of admire that about you.”

“It takes one to know one,” Jesse adds as he heads in,catching the tail end of the conversation.

“And where the fuck have you been?” Frankie says with exasperation. “I mean, Friday night was the last time I saw you and you weren’t with Imogen the entire time. What’s up?”

Jesse shrugs, but there is something he’s not telling us. It’s obvious and I’m aware that Jack and Frankie see it too.

Something has happened and thankfully Cassie and Siri choose this exact moment to make their excuses.

“Hey babe, I’m heading for the shower. Math is first period and it’s calculus, the bane of my life.”

Cassie turns to Frankie and snatches a kiss and I regard Jack’s reaction to that with interest, but he merely turns to Siri and his smile is directed solely at her.

“Catch you later, darlin’. Usual place?”

“Of course.” She kisses him softly and as they leave, both guys stare after their retreating girls with soft smiles on their lips.

When the door slams, those smiles fade pretty damn fast as Frankie turns to Jesse.

“Tell me.”

As Jesse catches his expression, he says in a whisper, “Jenna Sloane has been fired from Rockwell.”

“How do you know?” Jack sits forward and Frankie exchanges a puzzled frown with me.

“I went to her house on Saturday morning to tell her it’s over. She wasn’t there, and the house had the decorators inside. I asked one of them where she was and he said he didn’t know and they were brought in to clean it up for the new resident. It didn’t seem right, so I asked around and a few students told me she was last seen with Principal Constable. It took me until Sunday to orchestrate a chance meeting with the principal and I asked her if there was anyone I could ask concerning my art project.”

“What did she say?”

“That a new teacher was taking over from Monday and that Miss Sloane has been called home on urgent business and she wasn’t coming back.”

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