Auggie was tagged in the comments with his business account, @aplolz. The poster had also tagged @theouponavon, which Augge guessed was Theo Stratford. The post had been made by wroxall_deepthroat. It was the only post from that account.
The comment feed was exploding.
“No phones,” Theo said, taking the phone from Auggie, locking the screen, and putting it in his pocket. “You can have it back at the end of class.”
He held Auggie’s gaze; Auggie stared back, barely seeing him.
you just saw a murder
“As I was saying about revisions,” Theo continued, moving back to the desk at the front of the room.
Auggie didn’t hear anything for the rest of the fifty minutes. When it was over, he took his phone and stumbled out of the room. He thought he should talk to Theo, try to figure out what the hell was going on, but he knew it didn’t matter. The video had already been posted. All he could do now was damage control.
6
Theo got home to find Howie Cartwright on the steps.
“Risers are rotted out,” Cart said. He was out of uniform, wearing athletic shorts and a Budweiser t-shirt with the frogs from that one commercial. With his heel, he tapped the steps. “These things are going to go, and they’re going to go bad.”
“I’ll get around to them.”
“You could break your neck.”
Taking out his keys, Theo moved past Cart and unlocked the front door. He turned on the window unit, and wisps of lukewarm air stirred the dense, sticky heat of the closed-up house. Cart had followed him in uninvited, and now Cart came after him into the kitchen, where Theo ditched his satchel and helmet. He opened the refrigerator, took out the last two Southside Blondes, opened one for himself and held out the other for Cart. Cart took it but just held it. He was one of those skinny country boys who stayed skinny forever, kind of like Ian. His hair was perpetually buzzed at a zero, and when he wiped the can with his shirt, he had those crazy, skinny-boy abs with a dusting of dark brown hair.
“How are you?” Theo asked. He glanced at the clock; half-past seven. “You eat?”
“I ate.”
“You mind if I grab something?”
“It’s your house, Theo.”
So Theo got the loaf of bread from the refrigerator, pasted two slices together with peanut butter, and took a bite. It immediately stuck to the roof of his mouth, which was the sign of a good peanut butter sandwich.
“Did you use the whole jar?” Cart said.
Theo shrugged and took another bite. He washed it down—most of it, anyway—with the Blonde.
“That’s about an inch of peanut butter,” Cart said.
“What do you want, Cart?”
“Not a peanut butter sandwich, thanks. I like a really thin layer. I like grape jelly, too. Concord, if you have it.”
Theo finished the rest of the sandwich, and Cart didn’t say anything else. He rinsed the plate in the sink, stuck the knife and bread in the refrigerator, and brushed the loose crumbs on the counter into the trash can.
“Jesus,” Cart said, still staring at the refrigerator.
“I’m going to use the knife again,” Theo said.
Cart just sighed, popping open the Blonde and settling into a seat at the table.
“You want to talk about last night,” Theo said.
Cart sipped the beer, made a face, and took another sip.
“I was just out for a walk,” Theo said.
“This is some girly beer, you know.”
“So that’s it, ok? Just a walk.”
“Great.”
“Is that all? It was a long day. A . . . a fucking weird day, actually, right from the first class. And I want to go to bed.”
“Sit down.”
“Cart, whatever this is, can we do it another time?”
“Sit your ass down.”
Theo took a long pull, killed the Blonde, and crumpled it. He tossed it in the trash. When Cart still hadn’t moved or said anything, Theo sat at the table.
“If this is about Ian—”
“You want to tell me about this?” Cart said. He took out his phone, tapped something, and handed it to Theo.
A video played on the screen: the boy from class, Auggie, behind the wheel of a car screaming, “I fucking hate you,” and then Theo and Auggie arguing in the street, and then someone being dragged off, shouting for help, and then white words on a black background: you just saw a murder.
“What is this?” Theo said.
“That’s what I’d like to know.”
The old house creaked; a fat drop of water hanging from the tap finally fell and splatted in the sink. In the front room, the window unit chugged, trying desperately to stir the air.
“You’re kidding me, right? You think I killed someone?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Cart said. “But I want to know what this is about.”
“I don’t know.”
“I think you know something.”
“I don’t know, Cart. Jesus.”
“Ok,” Cart said. “Let’s pretend I didn’t pick you up for public intoxication on Saturday night. Let’s pretend you didn’t lie to my fucking face about that kid driving the car. Let’s pretend none of that happened. Why the fuck did someone post this video and say that you murdered someone?”
“They didn’t say I murdered someone. They said—”
“I know what they fucking said,” Cart shouted, slapping the table. “Don’t fucking play that game with me. The person who posted this tagged two people: that dumbass kid and you. Why?”
“I don’t know,” Theo said. “I don’t even know that kid. That was the first time I saw him, and I’d only seen the other boy once before, and—”
He heard the admission before he could call it back.
“Ian would be fucking humiliated right now,” Cart said quietly. “Any other lies you want to get off your chest?”
Theo dropped his gaze to the table.
“You knew the other kid? The one you claimed was the driver?”
“He came to my office. He was supposed to be in my class.” Theo shook his head. “He didn’t even show up, so I figured he’d changed his mind after Saturday.”
“And you didn’t think this was important?”
“I didn’t even know about the video. I have this,” Theo said, dragging out the flip phone he kept in his satchel. “Ian made those stupid social media accounts so he could tag me in things. I’ve never even used them. Look, the kid, the driver. He just looked so messed up. It made me think about Luke, all the times I had to pull him out of the same kind of trouble, and I just . . . did something stupid. I know I shouldn’t have lied for him. I know it was stupid.”
For a moment, it looked like Cart wanted to keep fighting. Then, blowing out a breath, he sat back and took another pull of the Blonde. He said, “So you don’t know anything about this?”