Page 40 of Revenge

“But I didn’t want to sound like a journalist.” My shoulders drooped. The footage I had captured was pretty damning. I didn’t know if it was enough to get the headmaster into trouble, but considering Edward had been tight-lipped about International House until now, I thought Jackie would have been a little more impressed.

She nodded and stared back at the screen. “He would have clammed up, then. The way you handled things was great, but I need more to finish the story.”

“What are you looking for?” I held my breath, wondering what she would demand next.

“Evidence. How much are these students paying? Who are they? Where is the money going?”

I shifted in my seat. “That’s a lot.”

“There’s a file somewhere with all the evidence. I need it.”

Turning my head, I closed my eyes and let out a long, frustrated huff. “I’m not a cat burglar.”

“You’ll find a way.”

I tried to suggest Mr. Carbuncle, but Jackie said the man was becoming agitated with her reporter’s demands to install more cameras. Any more pressure, and he might leave the school and disappear. She said she would reword Edward’s speech about bullying, change a few details, embellish it with real events taken from the Mercia-Net and publish a piece as an interview with an anonymous public schoolboy.

Next, we turned to the footage of Henry and Blake. She grimaced and fast-forward through most of it, slowing down when Edward came into the picture to talk.

“Buckingham Palace has threatened to have us investigated if we publish anything about Blake Simpson-West. He’s off-limits unless we want to get shut down.”

Relief whooshed out of my lungs. “So, you won’t use the footage?”

Jackie shook her head. “But you might be able to use it to force a confession out of Henry Bourneville and get him to clear your name.”

I glanced away. A video like that might get either of them attacked by a homophobe. I wanted to see them humiliated, not physically hurt. Besides, after agreeing to be Sergei’s beard, it would be awfully hypocritical of me to threaten to expose Henry’s gay sex video. “It’s too low a blow.”

Jackie pushed her bleached hair behind her ears and fixed me with a hard stare. “So is framing an innocent girl for a crime she didn’t commit. Do you know what would have happened to you if Rudolph didn’t pay the Bourneville family to drop the charges?”

“No,” I replied in a small voice.

“An institution for young offenders, followed by prison, depending on the length of your sentence. Henry Bourneville would never have guessed that Rudolph would pay to make the problem disappear. That’s what’s so terrible about what they did. Your whole life would have been blighted by their lies.” She took a long sip from her mug of black coffee. “It’s still blighted. Except now, everyone in the know thinks your rich stepfather bailed you out.”

A newfound anger simmered in my belly. I clenched my teeth and stood. She was right, and I was pulling my punches. “I’ll find another way to get the truth out of him. Maybe a video confession. Do you think you’ll be able to track down the kidnappers based on the information I sent you?”

“They already left the squat, but we have photos of the room. If Henry can supply one name, we might be able to put together a sensational piece.”

“Try Bingham’s Outward Bound. That’s the name of the company who arranged the hiking and camping during our trip.” An idea hit me on the side of my head, knocking me back onto my seat. “Mr. Bingham’s assistants knew Mr. Frost!”

She blinked. “I don’t follow.”

My hands shook, and I blurted out everything on my mind. “Paul Frost. Our Latin master. Edward gave him an invitation to the party. He supplies things, like absinthe. He knew the assistants on our hiking trip, who drove the vehicles up the hill. What if Mr. Frost was involved? The boys needed a car for the first prank and for the kidnapping. What if he introduced the boys to the assistants?”

“Slow down!” Jackie raised her hand. “What?”

After a few deep breaths, I explained that Mr. Frost was a former scholarship student who appeared to be on good terms with Edward, partially because he supplied them with illicit items like the strongest kinds of absinthe. He also knew the assistants on the school trip and might have arranged the kidnapping for the boys.

Jackie licked her lips. “Leave it with me. We’ll check the footage and see what he did at the party. If he supplied anyone with anything stronger than alcohol, we’ll approach him and offer him a deal like we did with Carbuncle.”

I took the train back to Mercia Academy in a daze. What if the kidnappers had bungled the doses? What if Rudolph hadn’t bailed me out? The train sped through swathes of green countryside, the chug of its wheels on the track fueling my paranoia.

My head flopped down to my chest. By working with a small newspaper that now had the attention of the national press, I had the potential to ruin lives. But if I backed out, it would be military school and Rudolph’s wrath.

And the boys… My feelings for them were murky. I had felt something for Henry, and I thought it had been real, but I couldn’t help associating him with the brunt of the betrayal. Underneath Edward’s cold exterior was a warm, sensitive soul, but beneath that lay I worldview I failed to understand.

I brought my coffee cup to my lips and stared out of the window at the fields whizzing by. Blake was the warmest of the three by far, and the most fun. He was the instigator and the one who brought us all together. But I hadn’t seen anything of his true personality. Someone who disliked Charlotte had to have at least one redeeming feature, right?

A sigh slid from my lips. Every so often, I’d get glimpses of how things used to be between us, and my heart would melt… then my blood would boil when I remembered it had been a facade.