Page 117 of Betrayed

Chapter Forty-One

Logan rode his motorcycle up to the front door of the school. He and Adam had talked about this part. He’d have to break in. Adam was dealing with security and heading off any potential problems. But for Logan to look like he was being unaided, he would need to pick the lock on the front door and find whatever locker that combination opened. He’d tossed around a few ideas with the others, and they decided it had to be one of three lockers: Logan’s, AJ’s, or Miles’s. AJ had only gone to public school for her last three years before graduating. So since this all revolved around her, that narrowed it down to probably nine lockers to check.

But that required him to remember which lockers they all had more than fifteen years ago. He was pretty sure he remembered his and AJ’s lockers, but Miles … he had no idea. AJ’s seemed like the most obvious choice, so he’d start with those three.

He knelt in front of the door and inserted the lock picks. This was not something he ever thought he’d do. As kids, Will, AJ, and he had done plenty of goofy stuff but breaking and entering was not on their lists. Logan and Will had both wanted to be cops, so they had been intentional not to do things that would tarnish their records … well, other than trespassing at the old asylum.

The adrenaline and exhaustion made his hands unsteady, but eventually he was able to get the bolt to slide into the unlocked position.

One hurdle down.

After glancing over his shoulder, he slipped inside the building. It looked almost exactly the same as he remembered it.

An alarm sounded. He jumped. At least he knew Adam was taking care of it.

Now think. Where were AJ’s lockers? He went to the first one he remembered, which wasn’t too far from the front door.

It was a bust. The combination didn’t work.

He checked the time. Two forty-eight … he had ten minutes.

Her locker from sophomore year was on the other end of the building, but that was the one she’d had when she went to homecoming with Miles. That was probably it.

He sprinted through the halls, illuminated by very few lights. This locker had seemed so much farther away when he’d had to walk to it through a sea of other students.

Grabbing the lock, he spun the dial to the first number, but he passed the second number and had to start over. He grunted.

A voice softly said in his ear, “Slow down.”

Amelia was right. He took a deep breath and focused on getting the combination correct.

The lock popped open.

His heart thudded harder against his chest, nervous about what he might find inside.

He opened the locker and clicked on his flashlight. The walls inside were covered with photographs of AJ, a bunch from high school—including a larger one of AJ and Miles from homecoming—and many from the last month or so.

Taped to the locker shelf was a note written in bold ink:

The game is on. Madness it is.

Capture the clue hidden with the dead,

but don’t tarry long or too deep she will be.

Logan smacked his palm against the neighboring locker. Another riddle. He hated riddles.

He wanted to talk to the team about it, but the camera in the top of the locker told him Miles was watching.

He glared straight into the camera but opted not to say anything. If only he knew whether AJ was right there too.

Logan jerked the clue off the shelf and slammed the locker shut. He needed to get out of this building before the cops showed up, even if they knew he was there. Logan had no clue where else Miles might have hidden cameras. If he was watching, it was best for Logan to be gone and the police to actually show up in a reasonable amount of time.

He ran out of the building and hopped on his bike. He sped away just as the sirens approached.

Pulling into a parking lot, Logan stopped and removed his helmet. He needed to breathe. What did this riddle mean?

God, give me wisdom and direction.