Page 94 of Don't Say a Word
“Where can I find him?”
“What’s going on?”
“I think—” I hesitated, because as I was about to verbalize my theory I wasn’t certain it would make sense.
“I’m not going to shoot you if you’re wrong,” Jack said.
“It’s a theory,” I said.
“Continue.”
Jack really was the best person to bounce ideas off. “Elijah caught on to illegal activity, likely drug dealing, at the Cactus Stop, probably around the time Megan Osterman—who he’d gone to school with—died of a drug overdose across the street.” I told him what Edith Mackey had said. “Maybe Elijahhadreached out to Silent Witness, or maybe he just thought about doing it. But he lied to his mom about taking community college classes. He took online classes, but she believed he was going to night classes.”
“And instead he was surveilling people where he worked.”
“Yes. It started the week after Megan Osterman died.”
Jack didn’t say anything.
“You there?”
“Just thinking. He might have suspected she obtained drugs through the Cactus Stop and wanted to prove it. But two months is a long time—he had how many pictures?”
“Hundreds. All at night, some of the same people.”
“But no photos of drug deals or suspicious behavior.”
“No. I need to sleep on this. I’ll be in the office early in the morning.”
“You also have to go to Prescott tomorrow and finish the background check. Logan wants to hire the new groundskeeper ASAP. Or ask Tess to do it, she won’t mind.”
“I’ll do it. I already told Tess I’d take care of it, and I sent her a bunch of names to run since she can do it faster than me. I’ll go first thing in the morning, the drive will help me clear my head. I’ll be at the office around noon.”
“And I’ll call Hitch again.”
“Thanks, Jack.”
I took a shower and lay in bed, but it took me a long, long time before I fell asleep.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Angie Williams
Angie waited in the student parking lot Thursday morning. She’d hardly slept the night before, replaying her last few conversations with Elijah in her head, searching for something she’d missed.
He’d been quieter, less himself. No jokes, few smiles. In hindsight, the signs were there: He was worried and distracted. She should have pushed him harder to tell her what was going on. Maybe they could have figured it out together. Instead, he’d kept it to himself and now he was dead.
Now Benny worked at the Cactus Stop. Maybe he’d heard something that could help Margo figure out what happened. It was a long shot, but Angie trusted Benny.
While waiting for Benny to show up for school, she reread Chris’s messages from the last two days. She’d wanted to call him, but didn’t want to be needy. He had college, new friends, a full life.
They’d been friends first, bonded over broken homes—her mom, an addict; his dad, a violent jerk. Lori had never hit Angie, but Chris’s dad smacked both his sons, especially when they wereyounger. She’d never told anyone—not even Gina or Elijah—how bad it really was. It was easier to be angry, to say she hated her mother and whichever dipshit man she had in her bed. But with Chris she told the truth. How she didn’twantto care about her mom, but she lived in fear that her mom would overdose or bring home the wrong guy. She’d put a dead bolt inside her bedroom and kept a butcher knife in her nightstand, just in case.
Angie didn’t want to be a burden to Chris or anyone. She had plans for college, but now everything was uncertain. Elijah was gone. Mrs. Clark was gone. She had no one to help her figure it out.
Benny drove into the lot in the old pickup that Chris used to drive. They’d had a lot of fun in that truck, the three of them, sometimes with Elijah, often just her and Chris.
He parked near the exit even though there were plenty of spaces closer to the classrooms. Chris used to do the same thing, saying he’d rather get out of the lot fast than have a short walk.
