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36. The Missing Drive

36

F or two whole weeks, Chance and I had the campus practically to ourselves. Not that anyone would have known, as we pretty much lived in my bed. The proverbial glass having been shattered, we couldn't quite manage to keep our hands off each other.

On the last evening before school was meant to resume, Chance had insisted on one last sleepover, despite my protests and the fact that I was feeling woefully behind on my prep work for the new semester. But he was terribly difficult to argue with, so I hadn't.

Chance's face was between my legs and had been for a while. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought he enjoyed edging me just as much as he enjoyed getting me off.

He had also taken it as a personal challenge to elicit noises from me while we were messing around or having sex, as I had told him that we needed to be more careful and quiet once the rest of the faculty returned.

"But the noises you make are my favorite," he'd complained. "I'll just try harder then."

"You're taking too long on purpose," I groaned when he decreased his tongue's pressure on my clit, just as my legs began to shake, a sure sign that I was on the crest of another release.

"I wouldn't dream of it." He pressed a wet kiss to the inside of my thigh.

Suddenly, there was a knock on my door. We both froze.

Chance looked up at me, wordlessly asking if I was expecting anyone to drop by unannounced. Seeing as it was eleven forty-two on a Sunday night, I most definitely was not.

"Get back to your room," I hissed, careening off the bed, searching for my shirt amongst the pile of discarded clothing on the floor.

"Just a minute!" I called out to whoever was waiting in the hallway.

"I wasn't finished," he argued in hushed tones as he danced back into his pants.

"Neither was I." I glared at him, the space between my legs wet and throbbing.

Once adequately dressed, and hoping that Chance was already on his way down the fire escape, I opened the door a crack.

"Isabelle?" I asked, puzzled as to why Claire DeLongpre's roommate and best friend was at my door.

"Hey, Miss Price." She shuffled nervously from foot to foot, clearly freezing in her pajamas, with a peacoat thrown over the top that appeared to offer her little warmth. Her dark hair was parted in the middle with two neat French braids on either side.

It was clear from her skittish behavior, she was well aware of how much trouble she could get into for breaking the dorm curfew, as well as being seen in the faculty housing across campus. "Umm, do you know where Mr. Harper is?" Her teeth practically chattered as she spoke. Whatever she needed, she didn't trust me with it.

"Why do you need Mr. Harper?" I asked softly, taking a step into the hall.

"I—" She glanced back down the hall, perhaps worried that another faculty member would suddenly appear, then pulled a bulky padded envelope from the inside of her coat. "I was rearranging the furniture in my room—they never reassigned someone after Claire—" She paused, her eyes glassy. "She liked it a certain way, but I was just trying something different."

Isabelle glanced down at the bubble mailer. "This was taped under her bed." She still kept the envelope clutched tightly in her hand.

"Why do you need to give it to Mr. Harper?" I looked down at the envelope and back up to her.

"It has his name on it." She flipped the parcel, revealing what I assumed was Daniel's boyish scrawl across the front that said, If found, return to Chance Harper . "He didn't answer his door." She looked over to Chance's apartment door, feet away from mine.

"I can give it to Mr. Harper if you—"

"No." She shook her head emphatically. "I'd like to give it to him myself. Do you know when he'll be back?"

"He's probably just asleep," I told her. "Let's try his door again." I closed my door behind me and moved down to his, knocking sharply three times. "Mr. Harper, it's Miss Price."

I heard some shuffling behind the door, and a moment later, he answered. The clever bastard had thrown on pajamas and messed up his hair, his room dark behind him, making it appear as though he had just woken up. What a show he was putting on. I was delighted at the thought of giving him shit for it later.

"What's going on?" he asked groggily, eyeing Isabelle curiously peeking out from behind me.

I rolled my eyes at his theatrics—now he was overdoing it. I repeated to Chance what Isabelle had told me, and stepped aside to let her speak to him.

"I know about Daniel…" she said in a low voice, glancing at me sideways, still unsure if I could be trusted.

"What did Claire tell you?" Chance asked, his voice lacking the faux-tired tone he'd sported only a moment prior. "It's okay." He motioned to me, indicating Isabelle could speak freely.

"I was the only one who knew she was dating Daniel. She didn't think her parents would approve, and she was worried if they caught wind of it, they'd pull her out of Montgomery. I guess they were hoping they could use her as some sort of bargaining chip to form an alliance with one of her dad's business partners, as if she was nothing but a means to an end." Isabelle twisted one of her braids between her fingers.

"Claire told me you were trying to help her find out what happened to him. After what happened to her…" Isabelle paused to compose herself, her voice growing weak, still grieving the loss of her friend. "I recognized his handwriting. He used to give me notes in Chem to give to her in Math." She reluctantly handed the envelope to Chance.

"Thank you, Isabelle." Chance smiled kindly at her. "If this is what I think it is, you have no idea how much this will help."

The girl paused in the doorway, clearly wanting to ask something else. Chance and I waited patiently to give her the opportunity.

She looked up, meeting Chance's eyes. "Someone pushed her, didn't they?"

Chance's shoulders fell. "I'm not sure," he replied truthfully.

"But you think it's possible?" It felt like Isabelle needed some sort of confirmation.

"Yes." Chance winced.

"And if they did—could it have been because of that?" She nodded at the envelope.

"I don't know, Isabelle." Chance's voice was calming.

She raised her chin in defiance and said plainly, "If you find out who hurt them, make sure they pay for it."

His eyebrow raised, clearly impressed by her tenacity.

"I will."

"Did you tell anyone about what you found? Or that you were coming here?" I asked.

Isabelle shook her head. "I knew it was important," she replied, referring to the drive. "I'm not sure how I'll get back without getting caught, but I was worried if I gave it to you at school, someone would see me."

"You did the right thing," Chance reassured her. "I need you to promise this will stay a secret between the three of us."

She nodded, sensing the gravity of the situation.

"I'll walk you back," I offered. "I can distract the dorm monitor while you slip back in." It would be far less conspicuous for me to strike up a conversation with whoever was on duty, than it would be for Chance. And if something went wrong, at least it would be a female teacher bringing Isabelle back, not a man.

After grabbing my coat, Isabelle and I made quick work of sneaking her back in. The dorm monitor was dead asleep at her post. I waved goodbye to her and quickly made my way back to the carriage house in the frigid cold, thinking of how sad Isabelle had looked. I knew it wasn't quite the same, but I had grieved for my lost friendship with Jenny, and even though she was still alive, it had been traumatic nonetheless.

I had a lot of empathy for what Isabelle was going through. Losing Claire was going to affect her for the rest of her life, and if she had been, as we suspected, pushed down the stairs, the circumstances that had led to her death were that much more tragic.

I let out a small yelp when the door to the carriage house swung out before I could grab the handle. Chance was inside, and it appeared as though he'd kept an eye on me while I'd made the quick journey across campus.

"You scared me." I placed my hand over my heart.

"I'm sorry. I was worried about you." He grabbed my freezing hand, warming it with his as we ascended the three staircases back to our rooms on the fourth floor. For once, ignoring the ceremony of sneaking around, Chance simply followed me back into my room after he stopped by his, to grab the envelope and his laptop.

"It's the drive. I already looked," he confessed the moment the door closed. "But it's not the orange one Bryce mentioned. It's the secret backup he kept."

"Do you think it will help?" I shrugged out of my coat, hanging it on the rack by the door, and making my way to stoke the fire to warm up more.

"I think it could crack this whole thing wide open."

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