“But dad, the swim meet—"

“No, absolutely not. You are not under any circumstances going back to campus until I finish cleaning up your mess. Just sit still, keep your worthless mouth shut, and let the adults handle this!” Spit flies from the man’s mouth as he speaks, some of it landing on Austin’s face.

“Austin, sweetie, what your father is trying to say is that you should lay low for a bit until things blow over. They have no proof that anything happened, so the case won’t hold water. Your dad just has to make a few calls. It’ll be over in a couple weeks, and then your life can go back to normal.” His mother places her hands gently on his shoulders, but it does little to comfort him. They don’t know that there is proof: a witness. But after his father’s reaction to the news, Austin isn’t going to tell them about that. He gingerly brings a hand up to the red welt on his cheek. It still stings, making his blood boil.

Once his parents leave the room, he locks the door and flips open his laptop. In a fit of rage, he pulls up the university’s student directory, searches ‘Annalise Tran’, and pulls up her profile. He has to resist the urge to punch the screen when he sees her face. Instead, he scrolls down to her email address. Bingo, he thinks. Now, to keep her quiet…

At first, he considers bribing her. After all, a few thousand dollars is chump change to him. But in his vengeful mind, she’s not worth even one penny of his. That goodie two-shoes wouldn’t take a bribe anyway, he thinks. No, I need to put that little bitch in her place. He furiously types out a threat and hits send.

A second later, he puts his hands on his head and clutches his spiked hair. “Oh, shit,” he groans, realizing the gravity of what he’s done. “Shit, shit, shit,” he mutters as he frantically clicks around, desperately searching for a way to cancel the email. But it’s too late.

He slams his mouse down against the desk and tips back into his chair, blinking back bitter tears. What’s done is done, and all he can do now is pray that his threat is enough to keep her silent.

***

When we entered the classroom for our physics section, I scanned the room in search of Josh. I spotted him quickly, but the table where he was seated was already packed. It seemed we were one of the last people to arrive, so we resigned ourselves to two empty seats near the back of the room. If we wanted to talk to Josh, we would have to wait for the end of class. It was frustrating, but it couldn’t be helped.

Once class ended and students began filing out of the room, Wally and I walked over to Josh. He was still sitting at the table, furrowing his brow as he worked through a particularly difficult question in the problem set. I had struggled with it too, despite my firm grasp of the material, and ultimately had to ask Wally for help.

Wally tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, Josh,” Wally said. “Sorry to bother you, but you wouldn’t happen to know Austin McGregor, would you?”

Josh frowned as he turned to face us. “You guys heard those rumors about him, huh? He actually hasn’t been around for a while. His parents came down and picked him up two weeks ago. He even missed the big end-of-March swim meet. Told me it was a ‘family emergency’, but the timing seemed kind of fishy.”

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My heart sank. “Wait… so there’s absolutely no way he could’ve been in town last week?” I asked. Wally elbowed my arm, but I had to be completely certain. After all, we had been so close. Everything pointed to Austin being the killer.

Josh shook his head. “Nah, no way. Even if he wanted to, he said his parents won’t let him out of the house.” He paused, then cocked his head, raising an eyebrow. “Wait… didn’t the party happen in February? What does last week have to do with anything?”

“Anna’s just been really anxious since she heard about the incident,” Wally answered to cover for me. “She’s been worrying about it this whole week, especially since she was at that party. I’ve been worrying too, to be honest. To think it could’ve been her… ugh. Makes me sick just talking about it.”

Josh grimaced, apparently just as disturbed by the idea. “Yeah. I always knew he was kind of an asshole, but the rumors going around are… well if they’re true, I don’t think I’d ever be able to look him in the eyes again.” He turned to me with a small, reassuring smile. “Well, luckily you won’t have to worry about him for a while. It’s a really long drive from his house to here so it’s not like he could sneak out and make it home before his parents notice.”

I knew he was trying to comfort me, but all it did was bury my last shred of hope that we really had found the killer.

“Anyway,” Josh continued, “I should go, I have another class after this. Stay safe out there, and feel free to reach out if you ever need help!”

“Yeah, thanks.” I smiled at his kind offer, though it did little to ease my disappointment that our only lead had fizzled. Josh finished packing his things and waved goodbye. I waved back, while Wally only gave a strained smile.

“He’s all talk,” Wally muttered under his breath once Josh had left.

I gave him a quizzical look. “I thought he was nice…”

Wally rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so naïve. Not everyone is as nice as they seem.”

“Hey,” I huffed. “Look, I get that you’re upset our lead didn’t pan out. Believe me, I am too, but that’s no excuse to take it out on others. Not on me and not on Josh.”

“Whatever,” he grumbled. “Let’s just get out of here.”

Neither of us spoke as we left the classroom and made our way back to the dorm. Finally, as we entered the elevator, Wally broke the silence. “I really thought we had him,” he lamented.

“Me, too…” I replied. “Can we really be sure it wasn’t Austin? It can’t have been a coincidence that Anna was killed two days after he sent that email.”

Wally sighed and shook his head. “I thought the same thing, but his alibi is just too solid. You heard what Josh said. He lives too far away to drive to campus, kill Anna, dump her body, and make it home without anyone noticing. Unless you think Josh is lying…” I shot him a glare. He shrugged and continued, “Then as much as I hate to admit it, we’ll have to start looking for new leads.”

“But then… what about the sexual assault case? Even if he didn’t kill Anna, she’s still dead. There’s no one who can testify—”

“Stop,” Wally interjected. “I know what you’re going to say, but there’s nothing we can do about that. I know it sucks, and I truly wish we could help, but it’s just not a risk we can afford to take. We have to focus on finding Anna’s killer.”

“Yeah, you’re right…” I whispered, crestfallen. As much as I wanted to help, I couldn’t testify with memories I didn’t have. But that meant Austin would likely be acquitted of his actual crime, and his victim would never get the justice she deserved.

Just as we arrived at the second floor, Wally’s phone began to ring. After glancing at the screen, he hastily waved me on. “I have to take this. Just go on ahead, I’ll come by your room after I’m done.” I got out and watched the elevator doors close between us, left to wonder what sort of call could be so important.