On their own, the pieces don’t add up to much, but together, they paint a picture.

He was here all along. The Magpie Man was the one giving me the articles. He was taunting me, and I shudder at the thought.

The crowd starts murmuring, and when I look up, I see him walking toward us. If he wanted to run, it’s too late.

“Jessica,” he says, but before he can get to me, Lorraine and her partner block him off and say they have a few questions.

Danny is creeping closer, zooming in on Mr. Collins’s face as it turns from anger to fear to something else.

They don’t put him in handcuffs. The crowd doesn’t cheer as they drive him away. There’s only a strange kind of silence, full of unspoken thoughts.

When the police leave, Danny turns the camera back to me, and I guess this is where I say something important.

But all I can do is close my eyes and think of Mom, because whatever I say won’t be enough.

Chapter 124

No one tells me off for breaking into Mr. Collins’s office. No one blames me for what happened. I’ve turned their world on its head, and they don’t know how to deal with that yet.

“Holy fuck!” Emily says when she finds me in the reception area.

I’m waiting to be picked up, but I haven’t phoned Dad yet. I don’t know what to tell him.

The secretary tried, but he didn’t answer. So I guess he wasn’t watching.

Emily sits down and gives me a hug that I don’t want. But I let her do what she has to, then smile and hope it looks genuine.

Justice is supposed to feel better than this, but until he’s charged, until I know he won’t come back, everything feels worse than before.

Danny sits across from me, filming Emily say, “I can’t believe it’s him.”

I wonder if she feels guilty for blaming Mr. Humphries, but how was she to know? Everyone has their theories, and she was only trying to help.

We sit in silence until three o’clock.

I never did call my dad. Instead, I get the bus home, ignoring the stares and the whispers, and go straight to my room.

In the end, he comes to me when Danny has left, knocking gently on my door and sitting on the edge of my bed when I don’t answer.

“Do you want to talk?” he asks.

I shake my head, and he touches my foot and says, “I’m here when you do.”

“I wasn’t scared,” I say. “I thought I would be. But when I looked at him, when I saw who he really was, he wasn’t anything to fear.”