Chapter 32
Theo
The frustration of missing school—and especially practice—ate at me. I’d been hoping I’d sleep off the worst of the migraine overnight, but when my alarm went off Monday morning, it was clear I wasn’t going anywhere for a while.
Pen had checked on me before she left, softly touching my forehead and asking if I needed anything. I was used to handling them on my own, so I assured her I’d be fine in a few hours. Maybe even make it in by lunch.
Unfortunately, I’d taken a turn for the worse around eleven and I’d spent the next several hours in bed.
The good news was, by the afternoon, the worst of it seemed to be over.
The throbbing had abated and my vision was normal.
I wouldn’t make it to practice, but Coach Lewis would have things well in hand.
I didn’t like it, but I didn’t need to worry about the team.
Even with another playoff game at the end of the week.
I was hitting the stage where boredom was starting to take over when I heard the front door open. The smile was automatic. Pen was home.
Opening my eyes, I glanced at the time. She must have left the instant the bell rang to get home so fast.
A moment later, my bedroom door quietly opened.
“Theo?” she whispered.
“I’m awake. Come on in.”
She came in and sat on the edge of the bed. Her long hair spilled around her shoulders and she tucked a lock behind her ear. “How are you feeling?”
“Better. It’s almost over.”
“Good.” She caressed my forehead and ran her fingers through my hair.
Her touch felt amazing. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
“Do you need anything?” she asked, still speaking softly.
Maybe just you, Pen.
“No,” I said. “I actually think I’m ready to get up.”
“Are you sure?” She stroked my hair again.
I wanted to pull her in bed with me, but I had a feeling my body wasn’t ready for that. If she kept touching me, however, all bets were off.
“Yeah, I’m sure.” I sat up and stretched my neck a little from side to side. “I’m glad you’re home. I was getting bored. How was school?”
“Oh, you know, school. I did find out something, but if you need to keep resting, it can wait.”
“Did you finally catch Jeremy and Ashley?”
“No, but this is even better.”
“Let me get up and get some water,” I said. “Then spill the tea, Pentagon.”
We went to the kitchen, and I downed a big glass of water, then poured more and took it to the couch. She sat, and by the way she fidgeted with her glasses, I could tell she was excited.
“So what’s up?” I asked.
“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “I’ve been doing some digging online, trying to find a link between the missing women and Morris. Since you weren’t at school today, I stayed in my classroom during lunch and spent some time searching. Theo, I found something.”
“What?”
“The woman they found at the creek took one of Morris’s painting classes less than a month before she went missing.”
“No shit?”
She nodded. “I’ve thought of that before. The Raven Falls woman went missing so long ago, it was hard to find anything about her. But the woman at the creek posted pictures from when she took Edwin’s class.”
“Good sleuthing, Detective.”
“Thanks, but that’s not all. Once I found that connection, I did some more searching on the Raven Falls woman, and I found the link.”
“Did she take one of his classes, too?”
“She did. I found an old blog she used to keep. I can’t believe it still exists, although I guess someone would have had to delete it. Don’t they say the internet is forever? Anyway, one of her last entries was about taking Morris’s class.”
“So there’s a link between both women and Morris. That has to be enough for Garrett to treat him as a suspect.”
“It should be. And I bet they can get a warrant or whatever so they can search the class records. See if any other former students have been reported missing over the years.”
I held out my fist and she bumped it. “You’re a freaking genius.”
“I don’t know about that. I bet the sheriff ’s office already figured all this stuff out.”
“Maybe not, Detective Fallbrook.” I grinned at her. “Who knows, we might solve this mystery yet.”
“I’m not sure what will happen, considering the suspect is deceased. But at least the families will have answers.”
“And we know he can’t kill anyone else, so there’s that.”
“That is good news,” she said with a smile, but a second later, her expression changed. “You know what’s creepy?”
“What?”
“I took his class. Do you think he ever looked at me and…”
“Thought about killing you?”
“Yeah. Obviously he didn’t kill every one of his students. He must have had some criteria. I wonder what it was.”
Just the idea of Penelope in danger sent a ripple of tension through my back. I didn’t know how I could suddenly want to unalive a dude who was already dead, but if he’d even thought about hurting her—
My phone rang and I grabbed it off the coffee table. It was Kevin Wilkins, the athletic director from Carolina.
For some reason, I didn’t want to answer that call in front of Pen. I stared at my phone as it buzzed again.
“Do you need to take that?” she asked.
“Yeah. It’s the athletic director from Carolina.”
“Oh.” She stood, and the drop in her voice was unmistakable. “That’s important. Go ahead, I’ll give you privacy.”
I answered the call as I watched her disappear into her bedroom. “Hey, Kevin.”
“Hi, Theo. Is this a good time? Just wanted to touch base about a few things.”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
I wandered around the living room aimlessly as he talked.
He wanted to know my thoughts on the latest game film he’d sent.
I had ideas, but my brain was still fuzzy from the migraine.
I did my best to share some feedback, all while trying not to fixate on Penelope’s forlorn expression when she’d left the room.
The back of my neck stiffened as the call went on, and a pulse of pain reverberated through the right side of my head.
I probably should have stayed in bed longer.
The strain of trying to keep up with Kevin’s conversation quickly got to me.
Fortunately, he seemed satisfied and told me to have a good night.
Another throb of pain hit me as I ended the call. Shit. I needed to deal with it or I was in for a relapse.
I went to the kitchen and took another dose of my medication. While I was at it, I downed another glass of water in case I was dehydrated. Penelope came out, moving so quietly, I almost didn’t hear her.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
Inadvertently, I winced. “Yeah. He just wanted to chat about some stuff.”
“Is your migraine coming back?”
“Little bit.”
“What do you need?”
“Just to lie down.” It was getting hard to think. “And ice, I guess.”
“Come on.”
She took my hand and led me to my bedroom. I was about to protest that she didn’t need to do anything, but my head throbbed again. I lay on the bed, and she disappeared. When she returned, she had an ice pack. I put it on my forehead and closed my eyes.
I could feel her silent presence as she sat on the edge of my bed. After a while—it was hard to tell how long—she scooted closer and put her hand on my chest. I kept hold of the ice pack to keep it in place and laid my other hand over hers.
Her touch was warm and relaxing. The throbbing stopped, although I knew I wasn’t out of the woods.
Hopefully my meds would kick in, and between that and resting with ice, I’d be okay by morning.
I lost track of time for a while. Maybe I’d fallen asleep.
When I came to, Penelope was still there.
She’d stretched out and was lying next to me with her hand on my chest. I squeezed her hand, and she shifted a little.
“Do you need anything?” she whispered. “Dinner?”
“No,” I said, my voice low. “I just need to stay here.”
“Okay.”
I felt her settle back on the bed. I wanted to tell her she didn’t need to stay. But it felt so good to have her beside me—just knowing she was there—I couldn’t seem to say it.
The pain continued to recede, but my brain was still fuzzy. All I could think as I drifted off to sleep was one word.
Stay.
And I wasn’t sure if I was thinking about Penelope, or me.