Page 32 of The Other Side
I scanned the dining hall from behind the kitchen service window and spotted Chance first, just before he casually strolled out of one of the dining room doors. A moment later, Claire got up from her table, leaving her tray for the kitchen staff to clean up, rather than returning it to the racks near the exit, and she slowly followed the same path Chance had taken.
“Don’t move these,” I instructed a bewildered kitchen assistant as I abandoned the to-go containers I was filling for myself and Jolene and dashed back through the kitchen. Lenny raised an eyebrow in my wake, following my gaze out of the service window to Claire’s retreating form, but didn’t say anything.
They’d left through the front entrance of the dining hall, and in theory could have gone in multiple directions. Finding the entrance hall empty, I knew they hadn’t gone downstairs into the administrative offices, where they would have found a harried Jolene stapling and collating finance paperwork.
That left either going outside, which would have led to a whole slew of possible paths, or ducking into the hallway that led to the classrooms. I chose the latter, thinking that with the chilly fall weather and bright lampposts illuminating the front lawn, the dark and likely empty hallways of the school were a much better bet.
Stepping lightly and keeping to the shadows, I hadn’t made it far before I heard hushed whispers.
“Where are the photos you mentioned?” Chance asked.
“On my phone,” Claire replied.
“Send them to my personal email address, and don’t show anyone,” Chance commanded the girl. “If we don’t do this the right way, we could be implicated.”
My brow furrowed. I was even more convinced this wasn’t some kind of affair. If there were photos of them together, why would he want copies? He’d want her to destroy them. No, this had to be something else.
“Nobody knows, I promise.” Claire’s tone turned flirtatious.
“Keep it that way.” His voice was stern. “Don’t follow me right away.”
I tucked myself into an alcove, holding my breath as Chance strode past, oblivious to my presence, and holding a laptop hehadn’t been in possession of when he‘d left the dining hall only a minute earlier.
Claire followed his instructions and waited a while before making her way down the hall and back toward the front entrance.
If Jolene suspected I had been up to something when I’d taken a half hour to grab her dinner, she didn’t mention it when I returned with her lukewarm food.
“Hey, I meant to ask you,” I began, “did you say you checked into Chance Harper being an alumni?”
Jolene’s gaze turned devilish. “I knew you liked him.”
“I don’t.”
She clicked her tongue.
“Like who?” Milton, the IT guy, sauntered out of the shadows in the hallway. I wondered how long he had been eavesdropping on our conversation. He had a habit of working late some evenings, but coincidentally, it was always when Jolene was working after hours and I was keeping her company.
“Nobody,” I said quickly.
His eyes scanned me from head to toe, lingering too long for my comfort. I turned back to Jolene, not wanting to make eye contact. But her eyes were decidedly fixed on Milton. I might have even seen hearts in them.
Yuck.
“Want anything from the faculty lounge?” he offered, eyes squarely on me.
“Rain check?” Jolene piped up sweetly.
His gaze slid to hers. “Okay.” He gave her a half smile and continued through the front office up the main stairs.
I waited until he should have been out of earshot before I continued. “You’re sure about Chance? I just keep getting the sense that he’s familiar with Montgomery, but if you say you looked him up…”
With a few clicks and keystrokes, she pointed to the screen. “No records for a Chance Harper. In fact, the only person with the last name Harper was a girl who attended in the eighties.” She turned the monitor so I could look at the screen. “See.”
Sure enough, there was only one record showing on the screen for a “Cindy Harper,” graduated class of 1987.
“And even if he was a transfer student, he’d show up in the records?”
“Definitely,” Jolene confirmed. She let out a small gasp as her sweater snagged on a splinter from the wood desk, causing a small waterfall of sequins to scatter across the floor before she was able to stop the thread from hemorrhaging more.
