crushed when we break up,” Ricardo says, locking eyes with me.
“Any suggestions?”
“We could just not.”
“Not break up? Who are you, and what have you done with Ricardo LaGuerre, Brat Academy lothario?”
“Kidding,” he says, but his smile isn’t completely genuine as he locks eyes with me. “Anyway, maybe we should kiss for a while in case anyone walks by.” He winks. Actually winks!
“Gross. No. Plus, we agreed, remember? No kissing.”
Ricardo’s voice dips as he leans toward me, eyes heavy-lidded. “You already broke that rule, mon coeur.”
My eyes narrow in my best impression of a scowl. “Stop calling me that. Our arrangement has nothing to do with your heart region.”
Putting a palm to his chest, he mock frowns. “You wound me, Charlotte.”
“You’re fine,” I shoot back. “And I don’t want to stage a break up yet, because all of our flitting about is starting to make Kenneth jealous. Oh, and your mom too, I’m guessing.”
It’s as if the energy in the room was just doused with cold water, smothering it instantly.
I open my mouth to continue, but Ricardo shakes his head.
“Let’s not talk about them right now.” He hunches forward and pulls up the footage we’re interested in. “Let’s just watch this, okay?”
“Whatever.” I scoot closer so I can see the screen better, sneaking a glance at Ricardo’s profile. What just happened? One minute we were bantering, but now it feels like someone turned down the temperature in here to below freezing. Weird.
We go through the footage from the night Professor Rook was killed, starting from early in the evening when Cal, Adrienne, Mikhail, and I leave campus for Daddy’s event. Because it was the night before everyone was supposed to return to campus for the semester, there isn’t a ton of activity. Most people don’t come back on campus until they absolutely have to, preferring to remain at home or in whatever residence they use when they’re in the country, but not at school.
There are only a few cars in the lot. Most of the students who have permits to park on campus took their cars with them over break. I pick out Gul’s black sedan, and Grady’s white SUV. Neither of their cars moves at all for the duration of the video, which makes sense since Grady was still in Texas, and I already know Gul comes outside on foot at some point.
Several other cars come and go. Professors and security guards, mostly.
Gul sneaks outside the gate right before 11 and flees inside shortly after, just like last time we watched the footage.
A dark car pulls into the lot, the driver pausing long enough to talk to the security guard at the booth while the man check’s his credentials. Everyone who visits campus in an unregistered vehicle is required to present identification.
The car parks and its lights go off, but the driver doesn’t get out.
I stare at it, a frisson of familiarity going through me, but I shake it off. It’s probably someone’s dad or older brother, coming to drop something off.
There’s an uneven spot in the video, which is probably a result of Ricardo taking out the footage of me driving Cal’s car on campus with the front dented in.
I turn toward him for the first time since we’ve been sitting here watching video. “Thanks for doing that. Taking me out of the footage. I don’t know if I really thanked you for that, before.”
Ricardo shrugs. “It was no problem. I did it for Adrienne.” He emphasizes my sister’s name in a way that makes me bite the inside of my cheek. It’s a reminder that none of this is for me. Not really. I may not hate Ricardo anymore, but as far as he’s concerned, this is all a huge favor to his good friend. It has nothing to do with me.
Cal shuffles through the gate and into the parking lot, scanning the inside of his car before climbing the stairs to the dormitory door. I smile. He was probably checking to make sure I didn’t fall asleep in the car. I was kind of buzzed when I drove that night, which was obviously a mistake. I mean, I ran over a body without realizing it.
Never again.
Almost beyond my control, my eyes are drawn to the familiar dark car. I can’t escape the hum in my instincts that indicates I’ve seen it somewhere before. Whoever’s inside it has been sitting there for twenty minutes, not moving.
The driver’s side door swings open, and my hand flies to Ricardo’s arm,