It was Maya Hayes.
"Maya?" I whispered, taking a step back. "You didn't go to Northeastern?"
She squinted against the light, her chest heaving. "Who are you? Did the Mayor send you?"
"No! I'm Leo. I go to Harding High. I found your pink phone in the darkroom."
Maya’s wrench lowered slightly. The mention of the phone seemed to break a spell. She climbed down the rickety wooden ladder, stepping cautiously into the light. She looked like a ghost of the vibrant cheerleader I remembered from the yearbook.
"You found it?" she asked, her voice cracking. "I dropped it in the vent when Miller’s deputies chased me through the school. They took my laptop. They took everything."
"Why are you hiding here? Everyone thinks you left town."
Maya let out a bitter, exhausted laugh. "They gave me a ticket. They told me if I got on the bus, they’d pay my tuition. But when I got to the station, I saw Chase sitting in his truck across the street, watching me. I realized... if they had my silence and I was far away, I would just be a loose end. A liability. They were never going to let me live."
"So you hid in Ryan's boathouse."
"It was the only place his father refused to go," she said, tears streaking through the dirt on her cheeks. "But they're tearing it down tomorrow. I have nowhere left to run."
"Maya, the phone was destroyed today. Miller smashed it. Did you back the audio up?"
She nodded furiously, dropping to her knees near a rotting floorboard. She pried it up with her fingers and reached into the dark space. She pulled out a small, silver USB drive.
"I transferred the dashcam file here before I went to the school that day," she said, clutching it to her chest. "It’s the original file. No compression. You can hear everything."
I felt a massive surge of relief. "We can take this to the State Troopers in the next county. We can bypass Miller completely."
I reached out to take the drive.
Before my fingers could touch the metal, a blinding beam of light hit us through the open doorway.
The deafening roar of a heavy engine drowned out the sound of the lake water slapping the docks. Tires crunched over the gravel, sliding to a violent halt just outside the entrance.
Three doors slammed shut simultaneously.
Maya gasped, stumbling backward into the shadows.
Heavy, aggressive footsteps stomped onto the wooden dock. The headlights of a massive black pickup truck illuminated the interior of the boathouse, casting long, terrifying shadows against the back wall.
Standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the blinding headlights, was Chase Harding.
He was holding a heavy metal crowbar.
Behind him, blocking any chance of escape, stood Trent, Brody, and Kyle.
"I knew you were too stupid to let it go, ghost," Chase yelled over the sound of the idling engine. "And look who else is here. The runaway."
Chase stepped into the boathouse, a vicious, cornered look in his eyes.
"Give me the drive, Leo. Or neither of you are walking out of this shed."
CHAPTER 4
The air in the boathouse grew suffocatingly dense.
The headlights of Chase's truck blinded me, burning harsh white streaks into my vision. Chase stood between us and the only exit, tapping the heavy metal crowbar against his thigh in a slow, threatening rhythm. Trent, Brody, and Kyle stood nervously on the dock behind him. They weren’t laughing anymore. The atmosphere had shifted from a schoolyard bullying session to something deeply, dangerously real.
"Hand it over, Leo," Chase demanded, his voice echoing off the damp wooden walls.
I stepped in front of Maya, shielding her. "You don't want to do this, Chase."
"You think I have a choice?" Chase snapped, taking another step forward. His face was pale, glistening with a terrified sweat. He pointed the crowbar at me. "You ruined everything! If you had just minded your own business, everyone would have been fine."
"Fine?" Maya shouted from behind me, her voice breaking with ten months of suppressed grief. "Ryan is dead because of you! You killed your own brother and left him in the mud!"
Trent and Brody flinched visibly on the dock. They looked at Chase, their expressions twisting into confusion and horror.
"What is she talking about, Chase?" Trent asked, his voice wavering. "You told us Leo stole the master keys for the exams. You told us this was about a cheating scandal."
Chase didn't look at his friends. He kept his crazed eyes locked on me. "Shut up, Trent! Secure the perimeter!"
But his followers didn't move. They had worshiped the Golden Boy, but murder was a line they hadn't agreed to cross. The blind loyalty was cracking.
"Tell them the truth, Chase," I said, keeping my voice steady despite the adrenaline roaring in my ears. "Tell them what you made Maya do. Tell them why the Mayor is tearing this boathouse down tomorrow."