Chapter 40 #3
Roman was already typing on his phone. “If someone without an allergic reaction receives an EpiPen injection, they may experience temporary side effects like a faster heart rate, increased blood pressure, anxiety, dizziness, and shakiness,” he said, reading off the screen.
“These effects are generally not life-threatening for healthy individuals because epinephrine is metabolized quickly, but it’s crucial to seek immediate medical attention after any EpiPen injection, regardless of whether it was needed, and call for emergency services. ”
I swallowed thickly. “Cherry has an EpiPen,” I said, voice barely above a whisper. “If she stabbed Calista with it… she could’ve become really dizzy and weak for a couple of minutes. Long enough for Cherry to overpower her.”
Roman’s face had gone pale. “There was that puncture mark you mentioned. On Cal’s leg.”
I nodded. “They figured it was nothing because the tox screen didn’t find any drugs in her system,” I said. “But an adrenaline spike wouldn’t even register, because she went flying out of a window. So she would’ve been terrified, and—”
“An adrenaline spike would’ve been viewed as a normal biological response,” Julian cut in. “So the coroner wouldn’t have considered it notable.”
“Exactly.”
“Holy fuck,” he muttered. “It was Cherry.”
Roman scrubbed a hand over his face. “I can’t believe it,” he muttered. “Cherry fucking Beaumont. Literally the last person I ever would’ve suspected.”
“I… I just don’t understand,” I whispered. “Why would she do something like that?”
Roman took a deep breath and wiped his eyes, which were starting to turn red from the tears he was clearly trying to hold back.
“We might be jumping ahead of ourselves,” he said.
“One of the other three could’ve stolen Cherry’s EpiPen, right?
And then slipped it back into her bag without her seeing. ”
“But then she would’ve noticed that it had been used,” Julian said. “And she would’ve said something.”
“Yeah.” My mind was still spinning like crazy. “Roman… you said you tracked all of Cal’s friends that day and night, right? So you could check where they ended up in case you lost track of Cal.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Do you still have access to that data?”
He nodded. “It’s on my phone.”
“Can you pull up Cherry’s tracking data and show us?”
He nodded and tapped on his phone a few times.
Then he moved closer. “She was at BHU in the afternoon, and then she went up to Crescent Bay with the others,” he said, pointing to the map.
“Then she left Crescent Bay and returned to BHU for that Halloween party. Then she went back up to Crescent Bay around ten-thirty. She said she went there to convince Cal to go to the party, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah, but Cal wasn’t there anymore.”
“The tracking data shows her returning to BHU after that, presumably to look for Cal with the others. So… I guess her story tracks after all.”
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “I don’t think it does.”
Julian frowned. “What do you mean?”
I looked back at Roman, my heart hammering. “Did you get Cal’s phones from my dorm room when I told you about them?”
He nodded. “Yeah, they’re in my bag.”
“Get the burner phone for me, please,” I said. “I want to check the messages again.”
He leaned down to rifle through his bag for a moment, and then he handed the phone to me. “Here you go.”
I clicked into the first message thread on the burner. Then I reread the messages from Cherry to my sister, heart in my throat.
10:09: Hey babe, don’t be worried if someone knocks on the door soon - it’s just me coming back! Have an awesome surprise for you. See you soon! xox
10:34: OMG I am so stupid, I missed the exit to Crescent Bay and now I’m all the way up in Port Engel! I was wondering why the drive was taking so long lol duhhhh. Turning around now. Be there in 20ish mins. Hope you aren’t asleep already xox
10:53: Parking now! Coming up in a sec!
10:54: Umm hello where are you? And why did you leave the door unlocked? Hope one of those hunters didn’t get you lol. JK, am assuming you’ve gone down to that vending machine we saw earlier? I’ll come down now. I could really use a Mars bar tbh, need the sugar after that long-ass drive…
10:57: Okay seriously, where are you? And why aren’t you replying to anything? I know you aren’t freaked out by any of this Selection hunt stuff, but I am... so please just let me know you’re okay
10:59: This isn’t funny, Cal. Seriously. Please just tell me you went down to the beach for some air??
11:02: Okay I’m really getting scared now. PLEASE ANSWER!!!
I turned the screen to show Roman and Julian. “Look at the timestamps compared to the times on the tracking data,” I said. “The data shows her arriving in Crescent Bay at 10:24. She was there until 10:29, and then we can see that she started heading back to BHU again. She was back there by 10:47.”
“And she never went to Port Engel,” Julian said, eyes widening.
“Nope. But in these messages, she said she did. And she also acted like she was up at the motel looking for Calista until at least 11:02.”
“But we know from the tracking data that she was actually at BHU at that time.”
“It’s like she was trying to establish an alibi for herself,” Roman interjected. “In case anyone ever checked Cal’s messages after what happened.”
“Exactly.” I nodded grimly. “I think Cherry went to Crescent Bay and convinced Cal to leave with her pretty much right away. Then she brought her back to BHU and somehow convinced her to go up to the top of the clock tower. And the whole time, she was sending sporadic texts to Cal’s burner phone to make it look like she was still up in Crescent Bay looking for her.
She probably took the phone from Cal so she wouldn’t notice the texts and wonder why she was sending them. ”
“And she made up the Port Engel story to give her an excuse for supposedly being up north for so long,” Julian added. “Which made it look like she wasn’t at BHU, and therefore couldn’t possibly have killed Calista.”
“Yup.” I jabbed my finger toward the tracking data on the screen, my hand shaking. “This proves it. She lied about the whole thing. And not only that… she planned it.”
As the words left my mouth, the room suddenly felt like it was tilting slightly. Cherry—the same sweet, helpful Cherry who'd cried about Cal with me—had methodically planned her murder. It was so cold, so evil, that I could barely comprehend it.
“That’s true,” Roman muttered. “The whole thing was premeditated. Why else would she send those alibi texts?”
The three of us sat in silence for a long moment, too shocked by the revelation to say anything else.
Julian finally broke the heavy silence. “We know who did it now,” he said in a low voice. He was watching me carefully, like he was worried I might shatter. “That's huge, Violet. We actually figured it out.”
“Yeah,” I whispered, but I didn't feel triumphant. I felt sick.
I thought about the first night I'd met Cherry. How welcoming she'd been. How she'd cried when talking about losing her best friend. How she’d told me she’d do anything to help me find her killer.
All of it had been a lie. I understood that now. But one glaring question still remained.
Why?