My throat begins to ache. How is it possible Angela is gone?

“That’s terrible,” Mama says. “But what’s that got to do with my Jamal?”

“Before she died, she called 911. The operator heard Angela cry out Jamal’s name.”

The pieces start pulling together, and I have to hold my thoughts back to keep from screaming them out loud. Jamal and Angela were hooking up today, and before I left him at Herron Media, he wanted me to cover for his late night, something out of the ordinary. Then I think about the blood swirling down the drain, and it hits me. Angela’s been dating Chris, but she was cheating on him with Jamal. Sheriff Brighton brought a whole crew of police to search for his son’s girlfriend’s supposed killer.

“There’s no way Jamal had anything to do with this,” Mama says. “We have to fix this.”

“Where could Jamal be?” Beverly asks.

“This isn’t like Jamal to be out this late without letting me know,” Mama says.

I hold my tongue, wanting to trust Beverly with how strange Jamal was acting tonight. But then I’d have to admit that maybe he was involved, that I caught Jamal and Angela together. That Angela told me this morning she had an exposé she wanted to work on, and not to tell Jamal.

“Have you tried to reach him?” Beverly asks.

“No.” Mama looks away. “Not with all them police here.”

“Try his friends.” Beverly’s voice shakes. “It’s better you reach Jamal first and get him to turn himself in.”

I run up to grab my phone from my room and dial Jamal’s number. It rings and rings, then goes straight to voice mail after the third attempt. I send him frantic texts about what’s happening before I go back downstairs. Mama’s doing the same, so I step to the window to make a call.

I dial Quincy’s number. It goes to voice mail. He answers after my second attempt. “What’s the emergency?”

“Why didn’t you answer the first time?”

“I’m busy. You know how it is.”

A long pause sits between us as I wait to hear anything in the background. But there’s nothing.

“Tell me if you’ve heard from Jamal.”

“Jamal…Nah, I ain’t heard from him.”

“Quincy, I’m serious. The cops were all over the house.” I walk closer to the window so Beverly and Mama won’t hear. “Beverly’s here. I know Jamal was messing with Angela. The cops didn’t tell us, but Beverly told us they found Angela dead by the Pike.”

Quincy’s silent. He already knows.

“Quincy.”

“I heard you. I’ll tell him you called.”

The click of Quincy’s phone rings in my ear. Either he knows something, or he’s going to do his best to get ahold of Jamal.