Who Falls Hardest (Clearwater University)

Smart man.

“Ms. Holloway, I understand that you and Leslie Harstonn shared a dorm room for a semester, is that right?”

“Yes.” She nods.

“And in that time, you were aware that she was a hacker?”

Emma shifts uncomfortably. She’s probably thinking of the incident at the end of fall semester when Leslie helped her post naked pictures and a video of Trent jerking off on the student portal website. Yeah, I’m guessing that would qualify as being aware Leslie was a hacker.

She nods again, dropping her gaze to the floor. Trent’s jaw clenches. I’m sure he’d love to stop rehashing all the fucked up shit that’s gone on between the four of us, but how does that expression go?

You made your bed, now lie in it.

We all made this bed. Now we all gotta lie in it, as painful as it may be.

“Did she ever talk to you about what she was doing? Did you ever notice her spending a lot of money unaccountably, or having a sudden windfall of cash?” Detective Walton goes on.

Emma blinks. “No, she didn’t really talk to me about it. And as far as money… I mean, Leslie’s family was loaded. So she always had money.”

The man’s brows pull down, and he shakes his head. He pulls out his phone and scrolls through it quickly, then looks back at her.

“No, no, they weren’t. Not according to any of the statements I’ve received. They’re comfortably middle class, but they’re not extraordinarily wealthy.” His eyes narrow. “So you saw her spending an amount of money that made you think she came from wealth?”

Emma’s hands twist around each other on her lap. “Well, yeah. I mean, she didn’t spend like crazy, but she always had nicer things than me. She always seemed to have money to spare, you know?”

Walton nods. “I do know. Thank you, that’s helpful information.” He smiles at her.

His gaze hasn’t dropped from her face through this entire exchange—I’m pretty sure he’s realized ogling her won’t end well for him. But still, I don’t like this fucker getting so friendly with her.

I lean toward him, resting my hand possessively on Emma’s bare knee. I feel her tense slightly, hear her breath catch in her throat, but she doesn’t pull away from me. If anything, she seems to unconsciously lean closer, pressing more of her soft body against mine.

“So what the hell are you saying?” I ask the detective, keeping my voice even as I meet his steady gaze. “What does that information give you?”

He glances from me to my two friends, then back to Emma. Then he nods again, as if he just answered a question inside his own head.

“It means that Leslie has very likely done things like what she’s currently doing to you before. She’s hacked other people somewhere along the line. In this case, she’s acting out of anger, being obvious, wanting you to know it was her. But I believe that she’s illegally accessed the personal information of several other victims and stolen money from them.”

I sit up a little straighter, my grip on Emma’s leg tightening. Shit, that could be big. The more people who’ve been affected by this, the better the chances the cops will actually do something about it. Even the fact that a detective came to talk to us this morning instead of a beat cop means someone is taking this more seriously than I thought they would.

That can only be a good thing for us.

Emma looks horrified, and I think that as much as she hates Leslie now, a part of her still pities her ex-roommate. Which is why I can confidently say Ems is a way better person than I am. All I want to do is grind Leslie into dust and make sure she stays out of our lives forever.

“If I can prove that, we’ll have a solid case against Leslie, and cause for her arrest,” Walton continues. “Which is where you come in.”

“Me?”

Emma’s hand lands on mine, as if she’s seeking reassurance. I flip my hand over and thread my fingers through hers, letting her know I’m here for her. That we all are.

“Yes.” Walton rubs at his chin with a finger and thumb. “Given the timing of when she got into your accounts, it’s likely that she has someone helping her. I’m no expert on cyber security, but I do know that the simplest answer often turns out to be the right one. I’m sure there are ways Leslie could’ve hacked the four of you after being admitted to Sun Valley Rehabilitation Center. But the easiest way would be if she had someone who wasn’t in a facility, who had access to all the computer equipment needed, helping her.”

“Who?” Trent asks, gazing down at the detective with narrowed eyes.

Walton chuckles humorlessly. “Well, that’s the trick. We don’t know who. But I’d like to recruit your help in finding out. I’ll keep digging on m

y end, but you four were her classmates at Clearwater University. Three of you still attend that school. If it’s anyone on campus, you’ll be able to get closer to them than I will without scaring them off.”

What he’s saying makes sense. We’re well positioned to keep our ears to the ground and see if any remnants of Leslie’s old life wash up to give us any clues. But I don’t like the idea of actively involving Emma in this. We did all of this trying to get Leslie out of her life, and thrusting her back into the middle of it seems too risky.