Chapter 14 - LIVE
Bell lunged for Maya.
Dylan tackled him.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Shaw slammed Bell into a desk.
Jake grabbed the weapon and kicked it across the floor.
Thomas ran.
Mark chased him into the hallway.
“STOP!”
Thomas didn’t.
He sprinted toward the stairwell.
Jake followed.
Cameras were already flooding the school entrance.
Reporters.
Police.
Parents.
The live audio had spread across every local station within minutes.
Thomas burst through the gym doors.
Mark grabbed him from behind.
They crashed onto the bleachers.
Thomas swung.
Mark ducked.
One punch.
Two.
Years of rage exploded out of him.
Then Mark stopped.
Thomas lay beneath him bleeding.
“Do it,” Thomas whispered.
Mark’s fist remained raised.
“Come on.”
Mark thought about Adam.
Nineteen years.
The quarry.
The lies.
He lowered his fist.
“No.”
Thomas laughed.
“Coward.”
Mark stood.
“No.”
Police entered the gym.
“I’m not becoming you.”
Thomas was handcuffed.
Outside Room 214, Maya sat on the floor.
Dylan sat beside her.
She couldn’t stop shaking.
“My dad killed my mom.”
Dylan looked at her.
“He helped cover it up.”
“He knew.”
“I know.”
“My whole life was a lie.”
Dylan didn’t try to tell her it wasn’t.
He just sat there.
Jake joined them.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
Then Jake’s phone buzzed.
A message from Lily.
ARE YOU OKAY???
He laughed despite everything.
He typed:
YEAH. LONG STORY.
News stations were reporting arrests.
Thomas Reynolds.
Coach Bell.
Officer Barnes.
Lyle.
Three school administrators.
Two former teachers.
A county judge.
Members of the school foundation.
But two names were missing.
Robert Harlan.
Daniel Voss.
Jake looked at Dylan.
“They’re still out there.”
Dylan nodded.
Then Mark’s phone rang.
Officer Ruiz.
“We found Harlan.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Bus station.”
“And Voss?”
Silence.
“Dana?”
“We found his car.”
Mark’s face changed.
“Where?”
Ruiz answered.
“The quarry.”
Everyone went quiet.
They drove there behind state police.
Voss’s car sat exactly where Adam Cooper’s car had been found nineteen years earlier.
Door open.
Keys inside.
No Voss.
Jake looked toward the water.
Dylan whispered, “You think he jumped?”
Mark stared at the edge.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
Mark pointed toward the mud.
Fresh footprints.
They led away from the quarry.
Into the woods.
Then Jake’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
May you like
Voss whispered:
“You should’ve deleted the video.”
