The Ivies - Alexa Donne Page 0,55

the back door. I reach for the handle, praying this is the right one, when it swings wide open and Tyler barrels right into me.

“Olivia, shit!” There’s a warbling sound as the ream of paper he’s carrying cascades to the floor. I bend over to help him pick up the sheets and can’t help but look at them.

“You’re hosting a candlelight vigil for Emma?”

“A memorial,” he corrects me. “It’s too cold to plant a tree, and not enough time to order a plaque, but I wanted to do something before the holidays. Emma’s parents are coming. I have to get the word out ASAP so people know to stay through Sunday night. I don’t want everyone leaving early.” He sniffles. “I was putting these up around campus and lost track of time.”

I notice he doesn’t question why I’m here, sneaking out as he’s sneaking in. It’s probably a common occurrence here. Tyler sniffles again, lingers, like he wants to talk. I’m a bottle-it-all-up-inside kind of person, but Tyler clearly isn’t.

“That’s really good of you,” I say, grasping at grief small talk. “You must miss her so much.”

Tyler seizes on my sympathy like a parched man being offered a drink. “I’m still in shock. I just can’t believe she’s gone, you know? And everyone’s already moving on! Exams back on, and ‘What are you doing on your winter vacation?’ I want everyone to come to the memorial, to remember what we’ve lost. Emma was everything.”

“I’ll be there,” I say, because I’m not sure what else to say. His devastation seems genuine, no hint at all that Emma wasn’t his perfect, devoted girlfriend. There’s no way he knew about the cheating. But he doesn’t ask me how I’m doing or feeling, I note. He’s myopically focused on his own grief. “Do you want me to put some of these up in Bay?” I hold up the posters.

“That would be amazing, thank you. I asked Avery to help, but she said the whole memorial idea was too weird. Anyway, I have to sneak up before lights-out. Night, Liv.”

“Night, Tyler.”

It’s black beyond the door. I squint up to the clouded glass of the security light, bulb clearly burned out. After a minute to let my eyes adjust, I make my way across the greenish-brown grass, careful to step where yesterday’s snowfall has been eaten away by the day’s sunlight. Finally I reach the dirt path that snakes behind Whitley, around the Colman Performing Arts building, and over to Bay. Along the way, I look for cameras and find none. Security is truly an illusion on campus. Anyone could, and likely does, easily sneak around, the woods to one side and the back sides of the buildings to the other. I’m kicking myself for not going this way the other night. I could have avoided the entire fiasco with the cops grabbing me on camera.

And so could have anyone else that night. Including the killer.

A shiver runs through me, and I hurry toward the nearest blue phone. I count my steps between them, like I did the night Emma died. Then my butt vibrates, and I fish my phone from my jeans pocket. New email. I tap in and read the first line of the message. Stop in my tracks.

My whole body goes cold and taut, like antifreeze is trickling down my spine, pooling in my shoes like lead weights. I read the email again. It’s six words, but they rattle around my skull like bullets.

From: Meddling, Quit

To: Winters, Olivia

Subject: Some friendly advice

Stop digging or you’ll regret it.

I peel myself out of bed too early, to meet Ethan for breakfast. On instinct, I check my email on my phone first thing, and there it is, taunting me: the warning from last night. I hoped I’d imagined it. I tap into it again, try to decipher any clues to who sent it. It’s from [email protected]. And with the fake name Quit Meddling, they’re really laying it on thick.

But I have no intention of stopping. Everyone around me is lying, and I have to know why. Emma was lying. I need to know if it got her killed.

While waiting for my foundation to oxidize and set, I utilize my best Google-fu to track down Kaila. I remember that her mom was a dean at Smith, and it doesn’t take long to confirm that she still works there. A few more minutes and I have their address. I poke around Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat,