chilly look. “He’s not picking up girls. Just me. We’re dating.” Ricardo may be a cad, but for now, he’s my cad.
“Whatever you say, Miss Cavendish-Holt. Just make sure you’re actually watching the security feed. No canoodling in here.” The guard clomps off down the corridor, leaving us alone.
“Canoodling? Who says that anymore?” I laugh, catching Ricardo’s eye. It occurs to me that I’m sitting in his lap, and that it’s an intimate and precarious position. He must realize it too, because his arm around my back loosens.
“Ahem, sorry.” I jump up, smoothing down my dress. “About that—breaking one of our rules, I mean. I won’t do it again.”
“If that’s what you have to tell yourself.” Ricardo scoops the popcorn bag into his lap and sprinkles it liberally with hot sauce. The hot kernels crunch when he bites down on a handful, his focus on the screens on the desk.
Clasping my hands, I frown. “I really am sorry. About everything. But the fact is, I need your help. I was hoping you’d show me the security feed from the night of the accident? I want to see if I can spot Gul outside around eleven. When Rook was killed. If you want, I’ll fawn all over you in front of your mom tomorrow. Make her realize what she’s missing.”
“You think she’s missing out?” Ricardo’s tone is teasing, but there’s an undercurrent I’m all too familiar with.
“Definitely.”
He grins. “Deal. Come here.” He pats the vacant chair next to his.
I take it, sitting primly on the edge.
Snaking his hand under my seat, he pulls my chair closer to his.
I yip in surprise, my attention snagging on the vein snaking up his corded arm.
“Just give me a second.” With a few finger swipes, Ricardo pulls up a video file.
“Go to 10:30, and start it there,” I command.
“Start it there…” He prompts me with one hand.
“Ugh. Please.”
Ricardo hits me with his wide smile. “That’s better. Here it is. What are we looking for, again? Right. Gul.”
We skim through the footage. At first, I don’t see anything. Maybe this was pointless.
“Stop. Go back. There she is.” I clamp my hand over my mouth to stifle my enthusiasm.
Ricardo chuckles, and slows the replay.
Gul slips out the front door and slinks through the parking lot toward the front gate. When the guard in the security booth turns his back, she ducks under the window and slithers through the opening.
I look down to the time stamp on the bottom of the video. 10:53 PM
“Got her.”
Ricardo backs up the video and takes a screenshot of her, including the time stamp. Then he turns to me. “What next?”
“Now we wait.”
The minutes pass by on double speed, approaching 11.
Ricardo’s arm stretches over the back of my chair, and his fingers coil into my ponytail, wrapping my blond hair in his fist.
My eyes start to droop at the pressure on my scalp, but I force them open. “Stop that. I’m trying to focus.” Batting his hand away, I stare at the screen.
Leaning one elbow on the desk, Ricardo locks eyes with me. “So you’re saying I’m distracting you?” His shit-eating grin is probably visible from space.
I roll my eyes. “Absolutely not. It’s annoying. Knock it off.”
“Whatever you say, mon coeur.” He’s still grinning. So smug.
I try to focus on the video, but my skin warms at the thought of Ricardo’s fingers in my hair. It felt so good, I didn’t want him to stop.
I hate Ricardo, I tell myself. But do I really?
The security guard puts in headphones and starts bobbing to whatever music is filtering into his ears.
Wait. “Stop the video. Play it back.”
Ricardo complies, going back a few seconds.
Out of frame, headlights flash in the street.
Several minutes pass without movement, and then a dark figure dashes in through the gate and up to the dormitory door.
The security guard misses it, looking at his computer screen.
So, that guard should be fired.
And that was definitely Gul fleeing inside. She saw the accident, and lied about it. She looked freaked out when she snuck back inside, her movements jerky and her head held low.
Her mannerisms make me doubt she was involved, or even knew about it. Someone cold-blooded enough to arrange to have someone killed by being run over wouldn’t be that skittish afterward.
So why was Gul outside school grounds that night?
16
It gives me so much pleasure to see Kenneth’s envious face when Ricardo and I strut past the health center into the eatery for lunch. Eat your heart out, Kenneth. I’m so