“I need to tell the truth,” the headmaster said, her smile small between her tears. “I owe him that.”
“Who?”
Another voice sounded in, and I twitched, Bow and Bru too. It definitely sounded familiar.
Dorian.
That was him as my soul knew he hadn’t been there when I got up yesterday. He hadn’t been at school yesterday either.
Was this what he’d been doing?
“The world needs to know the truth,” I’d said to him the other night. “And you do too. You deserve that.”
I breathed a shallow breath as I listened in.
“Charlie Lindquist,” the headmaster stated on a whisper. “Quarterback for Windsor Preparatory Academy and former student there. I’m the headmaster at the school and held the position when he’d been going there as well.” She breathed into the camera, like it took all she had for her to say what she had to next. “He and I took up an affair his senior year before he graduated. My husband was abusive and—”
Something happened in the background, something that made her obviously decide to pivot. She cringed, nodding as if shaking whatever off.
It made me wonder what he was doing to her. He was probably doing whatever he had to do, and I couldn’t find it in my soul to think anything else should occur. Of course, no one should be kidnapped and held against their will.
But if what Dorian said was true…
The camera shoved closer in her face, and she nodded again. She obviously wasn’t talking fast enough for Dorian.
“I didn’t mean for him to get hurt,” she said, more of those tears down her cheeks. “I loved him.”
Bow gasped, holding her mouth. She let go of her phone, but Bru held it for her. Bow watched the screen, cringing, and I got beside her. I stayed with her. She was Charlie’s family.
All the boys were.
“That night he was killed—”
“You mean, the night he was murdered.” Clearly, Dorian was in that room with her. He didn’t try to hide his voice. Maybe he was beyond caring. This all meant so much to him, and he wasn’t thinking about himself.
He even blamed himself.
It hurt my heart to hear that. My heart was racing more as I continued to listen.
Principal Mayberry acknowledged what he said, bobbing her head twice. “That night Charlie contacted me. It was a bad night. My husband had been drinking. Things were a mess. Charlie and I had both cut everything off before he went to college, so him contacting me was like a godsend. He always seemed to be there when I needed him.”
A growl sounded, Dorian again but he kept his words to himself.
The camera got closer.
“Anyway, I told him how bad things were, and he said I needed to leave,” Mayberry continued. “He said he’d come for me if I just left, and I was so tired. I couldn’t do it anymore with Richard. He was so toxic.”
“So, Charlie came over.”
“Yes, he did,” she said, obviously volleying with Dorian. “He waited outside. I told him to just wait.”
I waited with bated breath.
I think we all had.
Obviously, everyone in the hallway was watching the same thing. This wasn’t a live feed, but the video had just been posted.
“He didn’t wait,” she said, nodding. “And I’d just told Richard I was leaving him. He was enraged, fuming at me. Things got very loud, and he said I couldn’t leave. He even threw my suitcase across the room.”