Chapter 5 #2
Jeremiah’s eyes hardened. “For me, the only explanation that makes sense is if someone else was in the tower with her, and they shoved her really hard. That way, there could’ve been enough force for her body to break through one of the windows.”
Ginny nodded. “Even if that person didn’t mean for it to happen, and they were just pushing her around because they were mad…
well, it’s still their fault,” she said bitterly.
“And the fact that they ran away and covered it up like a fucking coward makes it even worse. So, accident or not, I’ll never, ever forgive them. ”
A heavy silence fell over our booth.
Then Dylan looked at me again, brows furrowed. “What do you think, Violet? Anything else about that night that doesn’t add up for you?”
I nodded slowly. “You covered most of it, but there are a couple of other things you wouldn’t have seen,” I said. “For one, Cal had a silver ring in the jacket she was wearing when she died. It looked really old, and it had a weird symbol on it.”
“What kind of symbol?” Jeremiah asked.
“It was an outline of a bull’s head with a swirling maze etched inside it.”
“Like a minotaur?”
“That was the first thing I thought of when I looked at it,” I said, nodding. “I never really knew what to make of it. But I knew it wasn’t Cal’s, and I also knew it was weird that she had it. I mean… why?”
“The minotaur is a Greek mythology thing, right?” Cherry asked.
“Yeah.” I lifted a brow. “I guess that makes sense now that I know about the Dionysus Club, because Dionysus was an ancient Greek god, right?”
Dylan nodded. “Yup.”
“You said there were a couple of things we don’t know about.” Ginny’s forehead crinkled as she leaned forward. “What was the other one?”
I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. “I got a copy of the autopsy report from the coroner,” I finally said. “Cause of death was blunt force trauma from the fall. But in the notes, he also mentioned something else.”
Jeremiah’s eyes widened. “What?”
“He noted there was a small puncture mark on her left thigh. At first, he thought it was an injection site, but then the tox screen came back completely clean, so he put it down to an insect bite. But… she was wearing thick jeans that night.” I frowned, leaning forward.
“What the hell kind of mosquito can bite through denim?”
“Yeah, that doesn’t really track,” Dylan muttered.
“So you think someone tried to drug her?” Cherry asked, tilting her head. “And somehow they failed?”
“That’s exactly what I think,” I replied grimly.
“I think someone chased her down and stuck her with a syringe of god-knows-what. But before they could push the plunger down, she must’ve ripped the needle out and tossed it aside.
Maybe even broke it. So then the other person got mad and pushed her so hard she went through the window. ”
“Wait…” Ginny lifted her palms, eyes wide as saucers.
“Like I was saying before, getting mad and shoving someone so hard they fall through a window could be an accident, albeit a horrible one. Right? But if someone was actively trying to drug her that night, then that means there’s no way it was just a terrible accident.
It means the whole thing was totally intentional. Premeditated.”
“And that means it was definitely murder,” Jeremiah added softly. “Whoever was after her that night meant to harm her.”
“Exactly,” I muttered. “And that’s why I’m here. I need to find out who did it.”
“That’s completely understandable,” Ginny said, reaching over to squeeze my hand. “I would do the same thing if it were my sister.”
I fell silent for a moment, mind whirling again. Then I glanced at each of my new friends in turn. “Do you guys have any idea who might’ve put Calista’s name on the list?” I asked.
They all exchanged uneasy glances, and then Cherry spoke up. “Again, we can’t prove anything here, but… we’re 99% sure it was Roman Valcourt.”
My brows rose. “Is he related to that Julian guy?”
“Yes. Older brother.”
“He was a senior at BHU last year, and Julian’s a senior now, like the rest of us,” Jeremiah added, motioning between the four of them.
“Why do you think it was him?” I asked, head tilting slightly to one side.
“Well, Cal was single for all of freshman year, and most of sophomore year. A few hookups here and there, which she always told us about, but nothing special,” Ginny began. A distant look had appeared in her eyes, like she was staring right into the past.
“But then, near the end of sophomore year, she suddenly became… different,” Jeremiah said. “Not in a bad way. She seemed happy. Like, really glowing. It was obvious that she’d met someone, but she didn’t want to tell us about it for some reason.”
“Not even me,” Cherry said softly. “Looking back at it, it’s clear why she didn’t want to tell us. She must’ve known we’d all warn her away from Roman. But at the time, we just assumed she wanted to keep things private until it got more serious.”
“We actually ended up asking about it at one point,” Ginny said. “But she just gave us this secretive smile and said she’d tell us when she was ready.”
“So how did you know it was Roman, then?”
“We didn’t know for sure at first,” Cherry said. “But we suspected it was him after a while, because we noticed that she’d blush whenever she saw him or heard his name, and whenever he passed by us at the dining hall, he’d look at her and smile.”
“Well, not smile,” Dylan said, eyes rolling. “Valcourt men don’t smile. They smirk. But yeah, he’d smirk in her direction whenever he was around us, and she’d smile and blush.”
“Then, after what happened with the List… we were sure it was him,” Ginny said, voice hardening. “We know he’s a Dionysus guy, so it was all too much of a coincidence. He’ll deny it if you ask him, of course, but in my opinion, it was definitely him.”
“And to add to that, Roman started keeping a really low profile after that night,” Cherry said, eyes narrowing.
“He went from being at every party and event in this city to hardly attending a single one. It was like he was hoping that staying off everyone’s radar would make them forget he existed, and therefore make them forget about him as a potential suspect. ”
“Exactly,” Dylan muttered.
Jeremiah looked at me, brows furrowing. “So… Cal never said anything to you about being in a relationship?”
I sighed. “I knew she was seeing someone, because she mentioned it a few times when we did our weekly phone catch-ups. But she always followed it up with something like, ‘it’s still pretty new, so I don’t want to jinx it by saying too much’.
So I never heard the guy’s name,” I said.
“Usually she shared everything about guys with me, so I was a bit annoyed, but I didn’t hassle her over it.
I figured she was entitled to her secrets. ”
But now I know that secret probably got her killed, I thought, mentally kicking myself for not trying to find out more from my sister when I still had the chance.
“And she never mentioned anyone else to you?” Dylan asked, curiously tilting his head. “Anyone she might’ve had a problem with back in California who could’ve traveled all the way out here just to hurt her? Maybe an ex-boyfriend?”
“No.” I shook my head. “No one back home ever had a problem with Cal. Everyone loved her.”
“That’s actually why I’m so sure it was Roman who hurt her,” Cherry said. “Because everyone who met Cal here loved her too. She was just…” She trailed off for a second, sighing wistfully. “She was the best.”
“She really was,” Ginny said softly. “She was so nice, and she would never miss a chance to help someone who needed it. It was like she had this light shining out of her all the time, as corny as that sounds.”
“Plus, she was super smart and driven. Always busy. Either studying, volunteering at the cat shelter, or hanging out with people. I don’t even know how she managed to get any sleep,” Jeremiah said, letting out a light chuckle. “Everyone was in total awe of her.”
“She was unbelievably capable, too,” Cherry added.
“Like, anything she set her mind to, she'd master it. Take theater, for instance. It was just a minor for her, so not even her main focus, but she could act, sing, direct, and design sets really well anyway. She had this natural talent that just…” She paused, laughing softly.
“God, she made the rest of us look like amateurs sometimes. Even us full-timers.”
Ginny nodded. “She was seriously impressive.”
“She worked so hard at everything too." Cherry dabbed at her eyes with a napkin. “When the department was looking for a new senior production coordinator, there was actually talk about nominating both of us and having us run it together as co-managers. I was so excited. It would’ve been perfect for us.”
“For sure,” Dylan said, patting her arm. “You two complemented each other so well.”
Cherry nodded. “Yeah, we did. But Cal turned it down.
She told the department head that she didn't have time with everything else on her plate.” Her voice wavered slightly.
“I wish she'd said yes, though. It would've been amazing to have that extra time together before…” She trailed off, pressing the napkin against her eyes again.
“It just doesn't feel the same without her,” she finally said, voice choked up. “Nothing does.”
A melancholy silence settled over the table.
“The point is,” Jeremiah finally said, looking back at me. “Cal was amazing. Everyone here loved her, and no one had any reason to dislike her, let alone hate her.”
“Exactly.” Ginny nodded firmly. “Roman Valcourt is the only one who makes sense.”
I let out a heavy sigh. “I wish she told me about him,” I said. “Even just the smallest detail could’ve helped.”
“Well, what about her phone?” Cherry asked, brows puckering with curiosity. “Could you look at that for some sort of evidence of their relationship?”