33

I was startled awake by my phone ringing in my ear.

"Dad?" I answered, putting the phone on speaker.

"Where are you?" I'd never heard him sound so panicked.

"I'm in bed. What's going on?" I was groggy and trying to make sense of what he was telling me. I sat up in bed as Tyler turned on the flashlight on his phone.

My dad blew out a long breath. "Come downstairs."

I looked at Tyler, and he looked as confused as I felt.

I climbed out of bed, put my glasses on, and opened the curtains. I couldn't see anything unusual outside. I slipped on my shoes and grabbed my phone, truck keys, lanyard, and jacket. Tyler followed me downstairs.

My phone rang. Dad again.

"Where are you?"

"Dad, I'm almost outside. Just about to go out the door to the lobby."

The phone disconnected. My dad met us at the door and took us to a bench nearby. His eyes stayed on Tyler for a long minute and went back and forth between us a few times. Eventually, he pulled me to sit next to him and studied my face for a few seconds.

"Dad, what are you doing? You're freaking me out. What's going on?"

"Where were you two tonight?" He gestured for Tyler to sit next to me. He did but made sure there was just enough distance so I knew he was still upset.

"Dad, what's going on?"

"Alexia, just answer the question!"

I just stared at him. I couldn't remember him ever yelling at me. Then, I saw the tears in his eyes. The fear.

"We went to The Vanilla Bean and came back to Florentine."

"What time?"

"Dad! Why are you interrogating us?"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Honey, please don't make this harder than it already is." He rubbed his face with his hand.

"We got back around 8:00," Tyler answered. I cast a glance at Tyler. I wasn't expecting him to say anything to my dad. Why did he?

And, we got back at 8:00? Was it really that early? I looked at the time on my phone. 11:34PM.

Dad snapped his head up, looking between Tyler and me. "You didn't go to the party at the lake?"

"No."

Dad pulled out his notebook and reviewed his notes. He scratched something out and wrote something else down. I heard a crackle through his walkie-talkie. He looked up and one of the other officers was waving him back over. "Stay here."

"You never told me your dad was a police officer."

I kept watching my dad, trying to figure out what was being said. "It never came up." I shrugged. "What do you think is going on?"

He shook his head. "I have no idea. I'm… sorry about earlier."

"You don't have to apologize. I'm the one that —"

"Ali," he cut me off as my dad came back, hanging up his phone as he returned.

"Let's go inside," he said.

Tyler and I glanced at each other as we stood.

"Dad," I started, but he held his hand up.

"I really shouldn't even be telling either of you anything." He closed the door behind him.

My phone started blowing up. Texts from Dakarya, Everly, and a group chat with all the girls on the floor. Violet, Luisa's roommate, was calling me. My dad took my phone out of my hands before I could see what the messages held.

"What are you talking about? Dad, why are you being so evasive?"

He took a deep breath. "How well do you know Luisa Rivera?"

"She's one of the girls on my floor. We've been volunteering together at the animal shelter, and I was supposed to go to the Alpha party with her. I didn't go because I had a migraine for most of the day."

I glanced at Tyler, and he sent me a small smile. I wasn't going to betray his secrets.

"She's gone, Lexi." He took my hand in his and pulled me back down to sit on the bench next to him. "She drowned at the party."

Drowned at the party? Luisa? That's impossible.

"Dad, are you sure? She's a lifeguard at the pool. There's no way that she'd drown."

Then, it really hit me.

I was supposed to be there.

The weight of the last twelve hours was too much and I started crying. I started hyperventilating, and tears were streaming down my face. I took my tear-speckled glasses off and hung my face in my hands.

There's no way. It can't be Luisa.

I felt Tyler sit down on the other side of me and start rubbing my back.

"Yeah, we're sure," My dad whispered, squeezing my hand.

"Can I go back up to my room? I want to talk to Violet," I asked after a few minutes.

"Sure." We stood, and my dad pulled me into a long hug. He said into my hair. "Let me know if you go anywhere. I need you to be safe."

I nodded and pulled away. He wiped tears from under my eyes with his thumbs. "I need you to be safe, too, Dad."

"I will. I promise."

Tyler appeared next to me, and we walked back into the dorm together.