Chapter 5

Early the next morning I drove straight to Chloe Bennett’s house.

Chloe had a lot of friends, connections in strange places, and a brain that worked faster than mine did.

Sure enough, once she heard the story, she let out a cold laugh. “That girl’s been running with some seriously shady crowd since ninth grade, and after she landed in community college? Forget about it.”

She gave me a reassuring look. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle the background dig.”

When I got home, Mom was sitting on the couch in the living room, her eyes drifting again and again toward Ethan’s door.

“Mom, I’m back.”

She perked up at the sight of me and was about to say something when Ethan cut her off.