30. Usual Suspects
22 minutes late and counting...that's how late Todd Smith was today. Libra had no idea what he was up to but if it wasn't for the fact that she needed to study too she would've walked out of the library and headed home â she was going for a movie night at Dillon's tonight. Granted she was there to see Jack but she assumed Dillon would want to hang out too, he usually always did. Since Jack moved in Dillon had become a part of their friendship group and strangely enough he fitted in perfectly. He always contributed with either food or hospitality and it was fun to see how well he and Jack measured together.
But secretly she had to admit that the confusing feelings that were bubbling between them had only grown larger since Jack's sudden move. Now they were spending time together at least once a week and seeing him that often changed things. He had become a lot more tentative when it came to her, always checking up on her, sitting next to her and texting her â and Libra had started liking it. It wasn't as important to hide what she was feeling anymore, especially not to her friends. The outside world was still very much in the dark about what was going on, after all she was still concerned about Laura, but letting go of most of her hang ups about Dillon felt nice.
As for Todd Smith he hadn't been the same since Dillon had kicked him out. He'd been slacking off at tutoring and gotten several D's that Libra just couldn't understand â they had been doing progress before. She looked at her phone again to confirm that 25 minutes had now gone by and Todd still hadn't shown up. Now angry, she gathered her belongings and turned her heel to exit the library, study she could do at home before she headed down to Dillon and Jack's.
"Libra, wait," a voice called out behind her, "I'm here now. Sorry I'm so late!" Todd looked flustered when he caught up with her but a faint smile was on his lips.
"You're almost half an hour late, Todd and I'm not prolonging our class." Libra retorted but went to go sit down again.
For a while, as they went through his assignments, she wondered if she should ask him if everything was alright. After all, she knew that it couldn't have been easy to have been kicked out and after giving Dillon another chance the thought of doing the same for Todd wasn't that far off.
She braced herself: "Todd, sorry if I'm intruding but I just wanted to see if you were alright. These past few times you've been so distant and your grade is getting arguably worse. Is this about Dillon?" She damned herself for bringing up his name but it was too late now.
Todd tugged at his ripped jeans and sighed heavily. He looked so defeated where he sat but he also had an element of anger in his eyes, anger that seemed to be growing for each minute. It had been at least 2 and a half weeks since the move so by now he should've been settled in â but then again it were a slight downgrade of apartments and that was probably also a tough pill to swallow.
"I wasn't going to say anything to you because he's your friend and all but yes it is about him," Todd mumbled, "that's also the reason why I was late today. I found some information on Dillon that I think you might want to now."
Libra's whole body froze and the room and everybody in it slowed down. In this moment only Todd and her existed â and the information he was about to share with her. For some reason she knew it was about prom night but the fact that the information was about Dillon had shocked her. The police had promised not to mention her name or anyone involved until they had a clear suspect â and they hadn't called her yet. For a while she thought that the investigation had been shut down, that's how silent they'd been!
It wasn't like she had been actively asking for information about the investigation either, especially not since her sudden friendship with Dillon. It was almost like she had moved on from the experience and the only scarring left was her not being able to be in any small places, but a lot of people feared that.
"You have information about Dillon? What kind of information?" Libra tried to keep calm but she could sense how badly she was shaking. Her memories had come alive again.
Todd had a devilish smile on his lips now and she contemplated if he was actually messing with her. Her nerves relaxed slightly as she reminded herself of who Todd was and that he might not have changed at all, he might just want to mess with her head to somehow hurt Dillon. Because how could he know anything of what happened in small little North Haven?
"I don't want to put you on blast like this but I know what happened to you in high school â and I think I know who was involved." Todd said and narrowed his eyes on her.
She felt sick to her stomach at his revelation and wanted to call him a liar but who could she? Todd had done his homework and found out about her dark secret and now he could do whatever he wanted with it. If he wished to scream it from the rooftops he could and she could do nothing to stop that. Everyone would find out about her and instead of continuing her opportunity to change she would be right back in high school. Laura would have a field day with this gossip.
"H-how could youâyou're not supposed to know that." Libra whispered and lowered her head to not have to face his smug eyes.
"Some of your classmates from North Haven high had much to say about Dillon Holden â apparently he was a real bully back in those days, but I don't need to tell you that. I decided to do a little digging and found out that he had been question the majority of times about that night â him and a guy named Charlie."
Charlie and Dillon had been question the majority of times â that meant that they must be considered suspects at least. The police had never shared this with her, maybe because they were exonerated from any suspicion. She tried to remember if she had seen Dillon during her move from the bathroom to the shed, but she had been blacked out. Over and over they had taken her statement and she couldn't provide anything for them to go on â not even the security cameras could. During that time the town had suffered a nasty storm only weeks before prom and all the security cameras had been blown out â apparently they hadn't been fixed. This had only been shared with her during the investigation â the principal hadn't wanted any students to know and she understood why.
"Has he told you that, Libra? I mean if they questioned him they must've had strong enough beliefs to think he was the one whoâ"
"Stop talking please!" Libra hissed and got up to leave. She had heard enough and the fact that Todd knew what had happened to her had made her feel insecure, "What do you want from me, Todd? I don't have much to give but what would it take for you to keep this to yourself." Libra heard herself say.
It hadn't dawned on her how little she had processed her trauma when push came to shove. Dillon had shown up and she'd been distracted from coming to terms with what had happened and instead made friends with him. She still felt the same way about tight spaces and elevators, that hadn't gone away, the only thing that had changed, was her newfound friendship with Dillon Holden. She hadn't contacted Dr. Fine in a while and her and Sophia hardly discussed any of their issues anymore â even though they were still there.
She took in Todd's expression and realized he'd wiped the smugness of his face and had replaced it with a softer look. He closed the distance between them, slightly, and had a look around him before whispering:
"I'm not going to tell anyone about you but I'll warn you; Laura knows because she helped me find out the information. I wanted to tell you because I don't think you should be hanging out with someone that potentially locked you up for several days..." Once again he reminded her about that faithful night and the nights after that one.
I need to get out of here.
"I have to get going, I'm sorry," she excused, "I'll see you next week." She whispered the last part and headed for the door.
Well out the door she typed a shaky text message to Sophia and asked her to wait for her at their apartment before going to Jack's. She needed to calm herself down and have Sophia tell her that Todd was only bullshitting her or trying to use her as a pawn to get to Dillon, but it sure didn't feel like that to her. A bad feeling had made roots inside her stomach and she was praying that it didn't grow â but she had a nagging feeling it would.
"What was so important we had to meet here first?" Sophia asked as she met Libra in the kitchen area once she got home.
Libra put her bag down and started to nervously eat from a cereal box. There was a concern that Sophia wouldn't be able to calm her down or that she agreed with Todd, she'd had the same opinion not too long ago.
"Todd came late to tutoring today because he had found information on Dillon, about the investigation," she started and held a hand up for her to finish when Sophia wanted to say something, "I didn't believe it at first but he mentioned Dillon and Charlie and said they had been questioned by police the majority of the times â which must mean they were or are suspects of some kind."
"And how had he found all this out?" Sophia said while trying to calm her shaky voice. It looked like she wasn't the only one affected by it.
"I have no idea but he told me Laura had helped him and then he told me I shouldn't be hanging out with someone that...could've done this to me." She decided not to quote what he had said since it still made her feel ice cold inside, but Sophia got the message none the less.
Pacing back and forth in silence Sophia looked puzzled about what Libra had just told her, almost as if she didn't believe it. Libra had gone through the same emotion but she was certain that Todd had real information and especially since he mentioned Charlie, Dillon's friend.
"It might be true," Sophia finally spoke, "but my question is why. Why would he dig into Dillon's and your past? He doesn't care about either of you so he must have another agenda of some sort."
"What would that be?" Libra asked, as clueless as ever.
"I don't know yet but we should find out. But I would lie if I told you that I'm not curious to find out what Dillon knows about that night. Aren't you?"
Libra thought about it for a moment but then she nodded. During summer break she prayed every day to find out who had done this to her but somewhere along the lines she had forgotten about her prayer â but it had possibly been answered. Even if it came in the form of Todd Smith and mean girl Laura she should be happy that it had been answered â at least possibly. So if she was going to find out the truth she had to do it carefully and not let Dillon know what Todd had told her about.
"So what do I do?" She asked her friend.
"You can call Dr. Fine and ask him to get in touch with the police regarding the information, or you can tell Jack and we can devise a plan to find out the truth. Even if it means we have to work with Laura and Todd to find it." Sophia shrugged her shoulders like the choices were simple.
This wasn't simple at all in fact this was one of the hardest things she'd now have to do. It surprised her; the new feeling that had made root inside her had taken on a different form and was now in the form of disappointment. Shockingly enough nothing was about her experience but the fear of losing a new friend â one she had started to become very fond of.