Read Accomplice for Free Online

program he’s in,” Dad answered, nodding his approval.
    “It is. Sheila and I are so lucky.” He stopped then, and we all stared at the grain of the wood table. I found myself nodding. Thought about how it must feel to havebuilt this careful world around all of Cam’s needs. And then to have lost Chloe in it.
    My mom gathered me up then. “Speaking of structure—let’s go, Finn. You got everything?” She held the door open for me. I kissed my dad on the cheek and then sort of pressed my own face to Mr. Caffrey’s. He said, “You take care, Finn,” and his voice sort of scraped along with his chair across the kitchen floor.
    “You okay?” Mom asked when we got into the car.
    “Yeah. Are they?”
    “I think they’re holding up.”
    “Where was Mrs. Caffrey?” And then, because I knew she was upstairs, “I mean, what was she doing?”
    “She’s having a hard time today.” My mom said it matter-of-factly as she hit her blinker and turned the wheel.
    “Is she okay?”
    “I think she’s very frightened. She hasn’t gotten out of bed yet.”
    I sucked in my breath at that one. Mrs. Caffrey had always had more energy than anyone I knew. She’d been one of those moms who makes everything from scratch and who irons all the laundry. The Caffreys had one of those gigantic dry-erase boards on their screened-in porch where she kept all the family’s activities on track—Cam’s stuff in blue, Chloe’s in red. Mrs. Caffrey was always running through the house with her car keys anda water bottle, like she was running the suburban marathon.
    When we pulled up to the school, we saw only one squad car out front. No news vans, either, so I let myself relax a little. I started to think, Maybe it’s already blowing over , but then that would mean that we did all that for nothing. And how would Chloe take finding out that life had moved on so quickly?
    At school, it was clear that most people knew they were dragging the lake. A lot of the girls looked like they’d been crying. The usual box of tissues that Mr. Pearl kept on the desk had been replaced with a roll of the scratchy toilet paper they stock our bathrooms with. He’d brought boxes of donuts in also, but only the guys were eating them.
    “How are we all doing?” Mr. Pearl asked once we were all settled in. I knew from the way his face was tilted that he was trying to make eye contact, but I tried to keep my head down in my notebook.
    “Mr. Pearl?” Regina Sklar raised her hand. “Will they let us know if…if someone finds out anything about Chloe?”
    Regina was always a pretty decent person. She asked like someone who actually cared, and I made a mental note that after Chloe’s comeback, we should ask Regina to go get coffee or something. It was girls like MaddieDunleavy who I’d rather throw coffee at. She didn’t even let Mr. Pearl answer, she practically leaped over her desk to tell us, “My dad promised he’d call.” Maddie’s dad was the mayor. Which sounded all important, but our town was smaller than most small colleges. “He said if they pulled up a body, he would have to close school.”
    I guess if I actually thought there was a chance of Chloe floating up, that would have made me gasp. I mean, other girls did. But instead, I sort of marveled at the wonder that was Maddie Dunleavy. Mr. Pearl looked like he could use a drink. He swallowed a couple of times and then said, “Okay, Maddie. Let’s just let those people in authority do their jobs. Our job is to concentrate on the work we’re doing in school.”
    This time the principal announced the suspended lunch period over the intercom. He said that seniors and juniors would stay in for lunch until the community felt safe. And that was pretty much all he said. No mention of the activities of the Colt River Police Department. He just wished us a peaceful and productive day.
    Mr. Pearl fit in a reminder about the counseling center before the bell rang, and then we were spilling out