Page 87 of What They'll Say About Us

"It all caught up to me at once."

"I figured. You've done good, Tessa. You put everything in motion. The truth about Paige will come out, and it will be because of you."

He was talking like I was done, but I didn't bother to correct him. I would be careful, but I wasn't going to do nothing. There were still some people I might be able to get some information from that he wouldn't be able to crack. If I could get him more ammunition to help blow this case wide open, I would.

The cab pulled up a moment later, and Colton exchanged greetings with a middle-aged Asian man who seemed more than capable of getting me across town.

"Call me later," I said as I got in the car. "I'll be eager to hear if the trap works."

"I will. And if anything else comes up, you call me."

I slid into the seat and shut my door, giving him a wave as the cab pulled away. It felt strange to feel close to a man I'd known for just a few days and who had started out as a formidable enemy only to become my ally. I had a feeling I was still going to need Colton's help. I hoped we were getting closer to the truth, but if we were chasing the wrong lead, we could just be getting farther away.

Chapter Twenty-One

When I entered Morgan's hotel room, I let out a breath of relief. She came over to give me a hug, and I hugged her back, realizing how much I needed her embrace. Even though Colton had been more than helpful, Morgan had been with me through everything.

After our hug, I put my bag on the second bed in the room and sat down.

"I brought the clothes you bought the other day," Morgan said as she sat down on the bed across from me. "In case you want to change."

"Thanks. I'm good for now."

"So, tell me, did you spend the night with Detective Barclay?"

"You make it sound more illicit than it was. I slept on his couch. It was late, and I was thinking I needed to find my own hotel, but I hit a wall and just felt too exhausted to move."

"I felt the same way last night. I fell asleep around nine, which is probably good, since I would have been worrying about you otherwise."

"I did mean to call and tell you where I was. Sorry."

"It's fine. What happened with Colton?"

"We talked everything out. Went over all the players. I told him what Liam said about Ray MacIntyre. He's going to bring him in. And he'll talk to Hale again. But I think right now he's focused on luring that car into a trap to see if he can get to the person who set fire to our building, maybe killed Cabot, and maybe killed Paige."

"I've been thinking that there might be more than one person involved."

"We're all thinking that. But if we can find one, hopefully, we can get to the others. Has anything else come up on your end?"

"No. I went through the comments on our videos again. A few more trolling comments, veiled threats about not sticking your nose where it doesn't belong kind of thing, but most of those comments come from new accounts with no other posts anywhere online."

"They're hiding their identity because they figure I'll recognize them."

"Probably. Most of the comments are great, and people are begging for another update. What do you think? Is there anything we can report?"

I slowly shook my head. "I promised Colton that I wouldn't share anything we discussed on the podcast unless he approved it."

Morgan gave me a look of surprise. "Seriously? Why would you make that promise?"

"It was the only way to get him to share information with me. It's not an open-ended promise, more like a twenty-four-hour thing. We can still post something; I just don't know what. I can't tip off anyone that we know more about them than they might think."

"I was thinking about giving our listeners a better view of Paige. I found photos of Paige in campus newspaper articles, which showed her in the theater, rehearsing for the show she didn't live long enough to star in." Morgan paused. "Do you have pictures of her on your phone?"

My stomach twisted. "Not on my phone, but maybe in online storage. I moved most of those photos off my phone after graduation."

"What about your other friends? If we can collect some photos, I think it would be interesting for you to talk about Paige, who she was before she died, get our audience more invested in her life. You know a fair amount about her, don't you?"

"Yes, and that's a great idea."