“Sure,” Lindsey said.
“But if you need someone to talk to in the interim, you call me, okay?”
The girls nodded. They moved out from behind Osborne’s desk and returned to their prior perch up against the wall. Their expressions shifted from engaged to indifferent. Arms slipped back into tight folds across their chests, like two armadillos curling up into protective balls.
“Focus on school and I’m sure things will work out. I’ll touch base with Sergeant Murphy, too. If he tells me anything about the investigation that I can share with you, I promise I will. Okay?”
“Okay,” they both said.
Jill looked at her watch. “I’m going to be late for English.”
“Lindsey, could you stay a moment so we can make arrangements for me to check out your home network for that security issue?”
“Sure,” Lindsey said.
When they were alone, Rainy said to Lindsey, “Do you really want me to help you?”
“Of course.”
“Then tell me who you sent your pictures to.”
“I told you, I don’t know.”
“Then I don’t think I can help.”
Lindsey looked as though Rainy had just punched her in the stomach. Her color drained. “That’s not fair,” she eventually said.
“No, it’s probably not,” Rainy agreed. “But I’m only going to help you if you come clean with me, Lindsey. Did you send your pictures to Coach Hawkins?”
Lindsey made that sour-milk expression again. “God, no. No!”
“Then who? Talk to me. You’re not in trouble. You’re the victim here. Remember that. You’re the victim. All I want to do is help you.”
Lindsey bore holes into the floor with her eyes. She looked anywhere but at Rainy. In a whispered voice, she said, “Tanner.”
“What?”
“You asked me who I sent those pictures to. I texted them to Tanner Farnsworth.”
“Who’s that?” Rainy asked.
“My boyfriend,” said Lindsey. “My soon-to-be ex-boyfriend, I mean.”
“Thank you for being honest with me, Lindsey.”
Lindsey paused for a beat, then asked, “Remember when you wanted to see my cell phone, and I said no?”
“I do.”
“Well, here,” Lindsey said as she handed Rainy her cell phone. “I deleted the messages. But maybe your computer people can still recover who I sent the pictures to. It’ll prove that Tanner got them.”
Rainy took the phone and glanced at the display. “Don’t you need your phone?” she asked.
“I’m getting a new one,” Lindsey said. “New number, too.”
“Mind if I ask you why?”
Lindsey made a pained expression. “When the entire school thinks you’re sleeping with a teacher,” she said, “the only way to survive is to disappear.”
Chapter 42
Tom exited his Ford Taurus and walked around to the front of his car. He locked the car doors using the remote and listened for the troubling engine pings to fade. The Taurus had been acting up quite a bit lately. It was slow to accelerate, and he heard that constant pinging every time he shut off the engine. Probably just needed a tune-up. But Tom kept checking each time he turned the engine off to see if the noise was getting any worse. It seemed the case, like a mirror to his own circumstances.
Tom had wanted to be well rested for this important meeting with Marvin, but he had slept fitfully since making his confession. The statute of limitations for Class A felonies in New Hampshire was six years, and Jill couldn’t be considered an accomplice to his crimes. Tom could justify it to himself all he wanted, Roland had left him no alternative, but it still didn’t make it any easier to burden Jill with his terrible secret.
At least they were speaking by phone now. She sounded happy to hear from him when he called. They kept their text message safety checks going, and with Vern’s help, they added a GPS tracking feature to her cell phone. Tom could monitor where Jill was at all times, but choked up when she told him that soon she’d be tracked back on Oak Street. She was thinking it was time to come home.
He’d also been thinking about Adriana. Tom had kept his distance to keep her—and himself—safe from Roland’s wrath. He hoped she didn’t think he was ignoring her or didn’t appreciate what she had done. It was up to Marvin to get Adriana her money back. Tom had faith that his attorney would do just that.
Tom followed the familiar route to Marvin’s office, pausing briefly to say a polite hello to his receptionist.
“Attorney Pressman is expecting you,” his receptionist said, motioning for Tom to go right in. She didn’t appear as nervous around Tom this time. Perhaps that was Marvin’s doing, Tom thought.
Tom entered Marvin’s office but couldn’t see his attorney anywhere. From behind Marvin’s desk, Tom heard a grunt, then Marvin’s labored counting.
“Eighteen… nineteen… twenty…”
“Marvin?” Tom called out.
“One hundred ten… one hundred eleven…”
Marvin popped up from behind his desk. He wore a tracksuit, not his usual attorney garb. His face was dotted with sweat, which he dabbed away with a white towel. “Tom,” he said with a bright smile on his face, “good to see you.”
Marvin came around his desk to shake Tom’s hand.
“You lost another pound,” Tom said.
“Two!” Marvin announced proudly. “But who’s counting? Okay, take a seat. We’ve much to discuss.”
Marvin walked over to his desk, where he proceeded to study a tall stack of folders like a Jenga master contemplating a move. His hand reached into the middle of a stack, and almost without looking, he extracted the folder that he’d sought.
Taking a seat at the conference table across from Tom, Marvin said, “The game plan is to go over the discovery with you. But first, how is Jill holding up?”
Tom nodded and tried to show Marvin his appreciation. “She’s fine,” he said. “We’ve been taking things day by day but talking at least once a night. She’s been staying with Vern and Sylvia Kalinowski. They have twin girls who are Jill’s age.”
“Good. That’s good to know.”
“How’s the salt intake?” Tom asked.
“Lower.”
“And you’re taking a protein with every workout?”
“That nut mix you gave me is a good one.”
“Soybeans, sunflower seeds, and almond slices. My favorite. We’re hitting that goal weight, Marvin.”
“First your case—”
“And I’m getting you a date with Rebecca Bartholomew.”
“I might write off half of my fee if you make that happen, buddy.”
“It’s a done deal. Just say the word.”
“I’ll say it in another fifteen pounds.”
“Ten,” Tom said.
“Ten it is.”
Marvin flipped through the pages of the open folder and scanned the documents within. “So, as we discussed, I waived your right to have a probable cause hearing in exchange for the D.A. speeding up my access to their discovery materials.”
“Is it unusual they’d agree to that?” Tom asked.
“No, not really. It’s sort of a ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ protocol that we use a lot. But it does tell me they’re eager to make a case and not at all worried about tipping their hand early.”
“Why do you say that?” Tom asked.
“The D.A. has a mountain of evidence,” Marvin said as he again sifted through the pages of an alarmingly thick set of papers. “They’ve got tons of computer forensic reports here, too. They even got the FBI involved.”
Tom nodded. “I told you about the agent who questioned me after my arrest,” he said.
“Right,” Marvin said. “I know that the D.A. had promised to crack down on teacher-student relationships, and I think they’re out to make a pretty big example out of you.”