Page 52 of The Perfect Revenge
Susannah was waving at her, wanting her to join the call with Beth, but that would have to wait.She shook her head and returned her attention to her own call.
“He woke up about fifteen minutes ago,” Rufus said.“We’ve got a doctor on the way to check on him.He can’t talk or move much yet, but he’s alert and seems to have retained his faculties.That’s why I’m calling.He claims to know who attacked him.He spelled it out to us using a blinking system.Have you heard of someone named Dallas Henry?”
Jessie's mouth dropped open, and she felt a surge of adrenaline shoot through her body.Before she could reply, Susannah tugged at her arm.
“I’m putting my call on speaker.You have to hear this.”
"Hold on, Rufus," Jessie said, trying to wrap her head around what she'd just heard.The guy her sister was semi-dating had stabbed Finn.She didn't know if it was some kind of love triangle, a jealousy situation gone wrong, and she didn't care.The guy had tried to kill someone and Hannah, oblivious, had been spending time with him for weeks since.
“You’re on speaker, guys, “Susannah said.“Jessie’s here with me.”
"Hi," Beth said.Her voice was tight with anxiety."I'm here with Jamil.Detective Hernandez is on the line, too.He's driving to your location right now."
Jessie wanted to tell her to cut to the chase.With what she’d just learned, almost anything they told her would have to take a backseat.But before she could say a word, Ryan jumped in.
"Jamil uncovered something, Jessie," he said."It's troubling, but I don't want you to jump to conclusions."
“Listen, I’ve got some news of my own, so maybe this can wait—.”
“We may have found something on one of Mark Haddonfield’s acolytes, Ms.Hunt,” Jamil interrupted.“That’s the project I was working on earlier.As you may recall, I’ve been checking all manner of high school media on the chance that the acolyte was in high school when he became enamored with Haddonfield.”
Jessie could feel her head about to explode.She didn't want to yell at Jamil, but if he didn't get to the point in the next two seconds, she was about to start yelling.
“I did a search of the phrase he used in his letter—tip of the spear—and found it in a Bakersfield high school yearbook from two years ago," he continued before Beth cut him off.
“It’s from Dallas Henry,” she said flatly.“The quote in the yearbook using the phrase was from the guy that Hannah is seeing.”
“It could just be a coincidence,” Jamil warned.“I got dozens of hits using that phrase, but considering their personal connection, we thought it was worth bringing to your attention.”
They continued to talk, but Jessie couldn't hear them.Thoughts ping-ponged around in her head.Dallas Henry had written a letter to Mark Haddonfield promising to finish the job that he couldn't.Then he showed up at Hannah's school, attending some of the same classes.Soon after, he tried to kill Finn Anderton.None of this was a coincidence.The guy had been planning this for months, maybe longer.
A voice broke through the noise.It was Rufus Harrington shouting.She held her phone up to her ear.“What?”
“I heard all of that,’ he said.“And it fits with the word Finn Anderton just spelled out to us now:incel.”
Jessie swallowed hard.She felt a numbness taking over her body, but tried to shake it off as she focused on the words that would most efficiently make her point.
“It’s not a coincidence,” she told everyone.“Dallas Henry is our acolyte.Finn Anderton just woke up and said Henry was his attacker.I’m guessing he figured out what Henry was up to, which was getting close to Hannah so he could—.”She couldn’t finish the sentence.
“Has anyone tried to get in touch with Hannah?”Susannah asked urgently.
"Repeatedly," Ryan said."We've all called and texted since Jamil uncovered this.But the calls keep going straight to voicemail, and she's not responding to any texts."
“I know she’s pissed at me,” Jessie said.“She wouldn’t answer my calls earlier.But I figured she’d answer the rest of you.”
"I don't think that's it," Jamil said."I checked her geolocation, and it's not showing up.The last hit I got was in Malibu, heading up into the Santa Monica Mountains.That's a cellular dead zone."
“Did she tell any of you why she would be going there?”
There was a collective silence on the other end of the line.
Jessie tried not to let panic cloud her thoughts.Hannah was pissed at her, and maybe Ryan, too.And she wouldn't necessarily share her weekend plans with the research crew.But there was no way, with everything she'd been through in her life, that she would go all the way out to Malibu without sharing her plans withsomeone.
And all at once it hit her.She knew exactly who Hannah would have confided in when she thought she’d been betrayed by those closest to her.She looked at her phone again and noticed the other person who had called.
“Rufus,” she said, “I need to put you on hold while I make another call.”
She didn’t wait for him to reply.As she switched over and dialed the number, Susannah asked, “who are you calling?”
