When Sonia is finished, I reach for Mom’s picture and cry even harder.

I was thinking of quitting, but what now? I feel so full. I want to let out all the sadness and fear and anger. I want to scream until I’m empty. But some storms are secrets, so I close my eyes, calm mine as best I can, then unpack my suitcase.

It’s almost empty when I see it. I already know what it is before I reach inside. This time, it’s scrunched up, buried deep rather than gently tucked beside a book, but as I unfold it, I see that same photograph of my mother, in color this time, and the same story with different words.

It’s another article, written a few days after her murder.

I go to my desk and find the other clipping, then lay them next to each other on the carpet.

I can’t look away from her face. She looks so happy. She has no idea what’s coming.

The sickness rises in my stomach, knotting it, then continuing anyway until I run to the bathroom and throw up.

Michael was telling the truth. He only did so much.

Whoever is giving me these articles was with me at Mayfield Lodge.

Chapter 74

Danny finds out about Bernie five minutes after we walk up to the school entrance.

“Mr. Humphries has been fired,” Emily says dramatically.

Hanna says, “Suspended. He has been suspended.”

But surely, eventually, it will be the same thing.

I’m not sure if we should be talking about this on-camera, but Danny doesn’t stop us.

Emily has already filled Hanna in on everything, but Hanna still makes a face when Ali, Pav, and Jennifer join us in the yard and start talking like we’ve been doing this for years.

“Has anyone heard if Bernie’s okay?” Pav asks, and we all shrug.

I guess Bernie didn’t tell anyone about our disagreement before she did it. If she had, they’d be blaming me, and I feel guilty.

We look for Eloise, because if anyone knows what’s going on, she does, but there’s no sign of her.

“It feels weird being back,” Jennifer says.

Emily sighs. “I bet the other classes that went to Mayfield Lodge felt better, though.”

In past years, students came back from Mayfield with happy thoughts and epiphanies. We came back with a horror story.

While everyone else talks, I watch them, looking for the slightest slip of the masks they wear, trying to figure out who put the article in my suitcase.

I was so close to quitting. This close to admitting, live, that I was giving up the search. But Sonia staged a coup. How can I give up after that?

Plus, Michael wasn’t at Mayfield Lodge. He isn’t the one giving me the articles. My list of suspects is limited, and I know them all.