Page 83 of Make No Mistake

Twenty

Detective Larson toldus to continue life as normal. Right. What was normal anymore? I was living at Jay’s house and carrying pepper spray everywhere I went. Yeah, totally normal.

I wasn’t supposed to act off, or suspicious, especially around the newspaper staff. I couldn’t alert them that the police were onto the attacker, and I couldn’t act like I knew interviews were about to start.

It was Wednesday and so far I hadn’t heard of anyone getting called in by the police. Larson said it was going to start, so what was going on?

I looked out of the corner of my eye to where Jay was typing on his laptop. He was pretty absorbed in what he was doing, so I sent him an email asking if he’d heard anything.

The ding of his alert startled me, and I waited for him to read it. He finally looked up and shook his head before leaning over. “The police probably asked that people not talk about it.”

That made sense, unfortunately. I sunk into my chair and ignored the work I should be doing.

I only got away with that for a few seconds before another email came in from one of the freshmen on the staff wanting help with their article. I guess staying busy was more normal than glaring at the room, waiting for someone to jump up and confess.

Friday passed at a similarly slow pace.

I was ready for answers, and so far no one had any for me. Jay and I were in his kitchen debating what to have for dinner when my phone rang.

Detective Larson.

I’d been waiting for this call since the moment he’d left the house.

“Hello?”

“Mckayla, how are you?”

I wanted to scream at him to skip the pleasantries, but I knew that wouldn’t have the affect I wanted.

“I’m going a little crazy, how are you?”

He chuckled and moved the conversation on, luckily. “We’ve finished with the interviews.”

“Really?” I was shocked. There was no way the guys on the staff were that good at keeping secrets. I hadn’t heard a single peep about it.

Jay stepped closer so I whispered they finished.

“Yes, and unfortunately, we don’t have any strong leads.”

I let out a sigh. “How? Do you not think that he’s on the staff like we thought?”

“My instinct says he is, but everyone checked out. Of course we have to do some checking of alibies, but that’s going to take some time.”

My stomach tightened. Even though I wanted this solved, I was hoping none of my friends were the perpetrator like we thought.

“I’m worried that with the school year coming to an end, he might get away.”

The thought had crossed my mind, but hearing him validate it caused just a bit more panic.

“What do we do?”

“We need to make him slip.”

I nodded and glanced at Jay. His eyebrows were tightly pulled together. He didn’t like what Larson was saying.

“How?”

Larson cleared his throat. “We need to set up something to get him to come out. Something he can’t pass up.”