12. A Vexing Exchange

12

" E arth to Violet." Jolene waved her fingers in front of my face, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Huh?"

"You don't usually let me prattle on about sewing and knitting techniques for this long." She chuckled, amused by my vacant state.

I'd been replaying both my interaction with Chance and the conversation I had overheard between him and Claire all day. I was missing something, and I couldn't put my finger on it. Whatever it was, it was burrowing deeper under my skin, determined to gnaw at me until I figured it out.

"Sorry." I stared at the midterm papers in front of me. I'd resolved to keep Jolene company while she worked late to finalize the quarter-end finances, which needed to be mailed out before the last mail pickup. I hadn't wanted to go back to the carriage house, afraid I might run into Chance and blurt out that I'd heard him talking with Claire, giving up the only leverage I had.

What do you need leverage for?

"Are you going to tell me what's up, or do I have to coax it out of you?" Jolene smiled at me over her desk, the orange sequins from the giant pumpkin on her sweater flashing upon the movement.

I did trust Jolene, but I was torn about sharing all the details of what I'd witnessed. Something weird was definitely going on, but the only thing I'd really been able to discern from the bit I'd overheard was that Chance and Claire seemed to know each other and were working together on something, which they were trying to keep under wraps…something dangerous, Chance had pointed out.

I needed to tread incredibly carefully with what I said and who I said it to. If I said the wrong thing to the wrong person, I might get someone hurt, or find myself without a job.

"What do you know about Claire DeLongpre?" I asked Jolene.

Her eyes narrowed on me. "Enough to know you don't want to mess with her," she warned.

Anxiously, I chewed on the corner of my mouth. "Has she ever gotten in trouble at Montgomery—like real trouble?"

Jolene considered me for a moment. "Not that I know of, but her parents are donors, so anything could have easily been swept under the rug." Her brow furrowed. "Are you going to tell me what this is about?"

I didn't know why exactly I was protecting Chance, but something about the way they spoke to each other indicated there was fear underlying whatever they were working on.

"Violet," Jolene scolded me for stalling.

"I overheard her having a weird conversation with someone. I don't know what they were talking about exactly, but it sounded…I don't know, it sounded like they were up to something." I sighed, not knowing how exactly to explain without divulging everything.

"Who was she talking to?"

"I—I don't know," I stuttered.

Jolene seemed to see through me, but rather than call me on it, she leaned back in her chair, appraisingly. "You should report it to the deputy headmistress," she finally suggested. "She'll take you seriously."

"But I wouldn't even know what to report." I raked my hands down my face, trying to figure out the best course of action. Maybe I could try to talk to Claire and just make sure she was okay?

What I really needed was more information.

I tried to hide the light bulb going off over my head when I realized the answer was right in front of my face.

"What are you going to do then?"

Spy on their dinner meetup.

"Maybe if I sleep on it, I'll figure it out," I lied.

Jolene's eyes narrowed on me, suspecting I was up to something.

"Can I grab you dinner before I head to my room?" I offered, in a poor attempt to distract her.

Her lips pursed, seemingly well aware of what I was trying to accomplish. "Okay."

Luck seemed to be on my side that night.

I scanned the dining hall from behind the kitchen service window and spotted Chance first, just before he casually strolled out of one of the dining room doors. A moment later, Claire got up from her table, leaving her tray for the kitchen staff to clean up, rather than returning it to the racks near the exit, and she slowly followed the same path Chance had taken.

"Don't move these," I instructed a bewildered kitchen assistant as I abandoned the to-go containers I was filling for myself and Jolene and dashed back through the kitchen. Lenny raised an eyebrow in my wake, following my gaze out of the service window to Claire's retreating form, but didn't say anything.

They'd left through the front entrance of the dining hall, and in theory could have gone in multiple directions. Finding the entrance hall empty, I knew they hadn't gone downstairs into the administrative offices, where they would have found a harried Jolene stapling and collating finance paperwork.

That left either going outside, which would have led to a whole slew of possible paths, or ducking into the hallway that led to the classrooms. I chose the latter, thinking that with the chilly fall weather and bright lampposts illuminating the front lawn, the dark and likely empty hallways of the school were a much better bet.

Stepping lightly and keeping to the shadows, I hadn't made it far before I heard hushed whispers.

"Where are the photos you mentioned?" Chance asked.

"On my phone," Claire replied.

"Send them to my personal email address, and don't show anyone," Chance commanded the girl. "If we don't do this the right way, we could be implicated."

My brow furrowed. I was even more convinced this wasn't some kind of affair. If there were photos of them together, why would he want copies? He'd want her to destroy them. No, this had to be something else.

"Nobody knows, I promise." Claire's tone turned flirtatious.

"Keep it that way." His voice was stern. "Don't follow me right away."

I tucked myself into an alcove, holding my breath as Chance strode past, oblivious to my presence, and holding a laptop he hadn't been in possession of when he‘d left the dining hall only a minute earlier.

Claire followed his instructions and waited a while before making her way down the hall and back toward the front entrance.

If Jolene suspected I had been up to something when I'd taken a half hour to grab her dinner, she didn't mention it when I returned with her lukewarm food.

"Hey, I meant to ask you," I began, "did you say you checked into Chance Harper being an alumni?"

Jolene's gaze turned devilish. "I knew you liked him."

"I don't."

She clicked her tongue.

"Like who?" Milton, the IT guy, sauntered out of the shadows in the hallway. I wondered how long he had been eavesdropping on our conversation. He had a habit of working late some evenings, but coincidentally, it was always when Jolene was working after hours and I was keeping her company.

"Nobody," I said quickly.

His eyes scanned me from head to toe, lingering too long for my comfort. I turned back to Jolene, not wanting to make eye contact. But her eyes were decidedly fixed on Milton. I might have even seen hearts in them.

Yuck.

"Want anything from the faculty lounge?" he offered, eyes squarely on me.

"Rain check?" Jolene piped up sweetly.

His gaze slid to hers. "Okay." He gave her a half smile and continued through the front office up the main stairs.

I waited until he should have been out of earshot before I continued. "You're sure about Chance? I just keep getting the sense that he's familiar with Montgomery, but if you say you looked him up…"

With a few clicks and keystrokes, she pointed to the screen. "No records for a Chance Harper. In fact, the only person with the last name Harper was a girl who attended in the eighties." She turned the monitor so I could look at the screen. "See."

Sure enough, there was only one record showing on the screen for a "Cindy Harper," graduated class of 1987.

"And even if he was a transfer student, he'd show up in the records?"

"Definitely," Jolene confirmed. She let out a small gasp as her sweater snagged on a splinter from the wood desk, causing a small waterfall of sequins to scatter across the floor before she was able to stop the thread from hemorrhaging more.

I took a beat while she was distracted, trying to find the emergency sewing kit stashed in her desk.

The faculty that had attended Montgomery were quite vocal about the fact, finding it a point of pride. And Montgomery was very prestigious, which made having attended a badge of honor in certain circles. So if Chance had attended Montgomery, as I suspected, why would he hide it? What could he gain from keeping it a secret?

"Does it matter if he went here?" Jolene's attention was solely focused on mending her sweater.

"I guess it doesn't. It's just been bothering me. I think he's lying."

"Sounds like you're grasping at straws to justify disliking him, and if you can prove he lied about something, it will give you a valid reason."

I hated that she hit a little too close to home on her assumption. But it was worse than that. I think in some weird way, I needed to find something wrong with him. Because if I didn't, it would only be a matter of time before I wouldn't be able to fight my attraction to him.

This little research project might have been a last-ditch effort to prove once and for all that Chance wasn't who he appeared to be. And if he really was, then I'd surely give in. Maybe giving in to Chance wouldn't be so bad, as long as I knew for sure he was being honest with me…about everything.

Because the last time I'd let myself fall for someone, I hadn't done anything to protect myself, and it had almost ruined me. I wouldn't let that happen again. I had to know what I was getting myself into. I needed to learn from my past mistakes.

"I have to get these in the mail." Having fixed her sweater, Jolene stood, collecting the organized and sealed mailers from her desk.

"I'll walk you to your car."