But my fear chose a name before the truth had a chance.
“Where’s Mitchell?” I demanded.
Mr. Thomas hesitated. “We don’t know that he has anything to do with this.”
“Of course he does.”
When we arrived, prom decorations still hung from the gym doors. Liam sat outside the office in his tuxedo, his bow tie loose, his face broken.
I ran to him.
“Where is she?”
His eyes filled with tears. “She said she needed air. I thought she’d come right back.”
“You promised me you would stay together.”
“I know,” he whispered.
Then I asked the only question I wanted answered.
“Where’s Mitchell?”
Liam flinched.
I saw it.
But I misunderstood it.
Mr. Thomas told us the police had been called. Her purse was gone. Her phone was off. Because she was eighteen, there was a chance she had left by choice.
I grabbed onto the detail I could understand.
