she must have stayed over with Tyler, so I went back.” I wait. The detective’s mouth hangs open, and her eyes search my face.
“What about Emma’s sweater?” Cataldo recovers. “Why was that significant?”
“It was the one she had on at the party. So it meant she came back to the dorm and then left again. And the door was open.”
“But you decided she must have stayed over with Mr. St. Clair?”
“I…” I take a deep breath. Why did I change my mind? “It was the middle of the night. I had a bad dream, and I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was out alone in the freezing cold. I convinced myself it was the only logical explanation. That she was fine. I couldn’t have known.”
Right?
“How did you get out of the dorm? We checked the Bay Hall security footage, the internal feed. You don’t come in or out the front door. Neither does Emma, if she did return to your room.”
Double shit. If I tell Cataldo about the unmonitored window, I’ll ruin it for everyone. But I need an explanation. And isn’t Emma more important?
Cataldo is staring at me. Not like I’m guilty, but not like I’m innocent, either. She’s merely acutely interested. I really want that water now. I swallow hard.
“Listen, I don’t really care how you snuck out, Olivia. I don’t work here. I’m not your keeper. I simply need to corroborate that it happened the way you say it did, when you say it did.”
“There’s a window. It doesn’t have an alarm.” This is bad. I was outside right after Emma died, and they have no proof I left my dorm when I said I did. That I was even coming from the dorm. Wait. “Are you asking because you think I did it? Do you think I came from the boathouse? Why would I walk from there to Whitley, then back to my dorm?”
“Hmm.” Cataldo shifts in her seat, leans back into the recline of the chair. “It’s why I asked you why you were out there. Looking for a logical explanation, that’s all.”
The wheels in my head are turning. My questions choke up my throat again. “Were the cameras out all the way to the boathouse? You think her killer cut them out?”
She ignores my questions. “So, you woke up from a nightmare, realized Emma wasn’t there, snuck out a window, walked over to Whitley, then turned around and went back.”
“Yes.”
She hmms under her breath. Again. It’s irritating enough that I know it’s on purpose.
“I know it sounds odd,” I say. “But I found footprints under the window, Emma’s size, and one of her earrings. She went through that window. I wanted to find her.”
“An earring?” Cataldo perks up. “You’re sure it was Emma Russo’s?”
“Definitely. Tyler gave them to her as a gift. Diamond studs. Too fussy for most girls here, so they stood out. It must have fallen out when she was coming in the window. You know how studs are. The backs pop off at the slightest provocation.”
“I don’t own any diamond studs.” Cataldo cracks a smile. “I’m curious why this didn’t come up in your first interview?”
“I put it in my pocket, forgot about it until now. Everything from that night is kind of a blur.”
“Do you know if she was wearing that set on the night of her death?”
“I can’t remember, but I assume so, since I found the earring under the window.”
“Emma wasn’t found wearing any earrings,” Cataldo says. I watch her, watching me. Know her wheels are turning. Mine certainly are. Did Emma lose that earring another time coming through the window? But the dorms are cleaned every week. What are the odds it got missed?
“Oh” is the only thing I can say.
“Have you told me everything about that night? Every detail? No other earrings in your pockets?”
I don’t like her tone. It walks the razor-thin line between mocking and accusatory.
“Yes,” I grind out. “I’ve told you everything. And I want you to know I would never hurt Emma.” It’s true, it’s all true, but the only thing I can think is: Would a killer say the same things? Has a killer said the same things already? Cataldo is looking at me, total poker face, and I can’t tell what she’s thinking. It’s maddening.
I suck in a breath to stop myself from crying.
Then I think. The cameras were out from Bay to the boathouse. Anyone from Bay might have used that as cover. Anyone, like Avery.
“Do you