White Space Season 1

is.”
    Cassidy thought, bullshit, but ignored Jon. He kept talking.
    “And Houser will help. He’s the best, I promise, maybe even better than the best.”
    Jon gave Cassidy a thin smile, but she continued to ignore him, and kept ignoring him until the front door of the station swung open and Brady’s boots were back on the porch.
    He seemed both taller and sadder as he walked up to Cassidy and looked her in the eye. “You wanna tell me again where you were the night Emma went missing?”
    “I told you,” Cassidy said, her voice steady. “I was home. I fell asleep and when I woke the next morning, Emma was gone.”
    “So you didn’t go anywhere?”
    Cassidy could feel Brady’s doubt rising like heat waves over the asphalt.
    She lied anyway. “No, I was home with my mom. You can ask her.”
    Cassidy could feel Jon’s eyes suddenly burning with the same heat as Brady’s.
    The chief said, “Really, Cassidy? Because one of my guys is over at Paladin reviewing the security footage taken from your street the night Emma went missing, and says that you left for a bit. You wanna tell me where you went?”
    Cassidy said nothing, just shoved her hands inside her pockets and stared at Brady.
    Jon spoke, “Wait. You guys have the surveillance video? Did you see Emma leave?”
    “No,” Brady said. “There was some static on the camera around three in the morning or so, which lasted about two minutes. Other than, nothing.”
    Cassidy didn’t answer the chief’s question, but instead asked her own, “And did you get footage from Whistler’s house? Huh?”
    “I’ve asked for the footage, yes. Now, you wanna tell me where you went?”
    Cassidy could feel Jon’s eyes on her. Judging her. Accusing her. It was only a matter of time before they found the truth if they pieced all the island’s CCTV footage together. But it seemed unlikely that they’d spend that much time on doing so unless Emma wasn’t found. Or was found dead. So she’d lie her ass off until then.
    “I went for a drive. My mom was driving me nuts. I was stressed out, and missing Sarah,” she began to cry. The tears were fake, at first, but quickly became real.
    Jon surprised her by opening his arms and hugging her.
    She accepted his embrace until Chief Brady excused himself, to say he was going to see if he could get something out of Whistler, and went back inside.
    The lie had worked. But for how long?
    As the door closed, she let the tears flow, and was surprised at how much better she felt hugging Jon than hating him.

    * * * *

CHAPTER 7 — Alex Heller

    The first half of Alex’s return to Hamilton K-12 was relatively quiet, even if supremely uncomfortable. Teachers seemed afraid to look him in the eye. Students eyed him suspiciously, accusation in their faces. Conversations and jokes once passed with friends had twisted into awkward glances and, at best, quiet nods. Alex wasn’t sure if people hated or feared him, or maybe they just didn’t know how to talk to him. He felt like a tourist in a world where he’d always been a citizen.
    He understood the suspicion, but Alex had yet to bury his father, and was mourning, the same as them.
    But he doubted he’d get a single “I’m sorry” from his schoolmates, and if he was being honest, couldn’t imagine feeling much like giving one if he’d been on the other side of the violence.
    Not a single student had spoken to him between first period and lunch, except for Katie, who added a few awkward words to her smile on the few occasions when he passed her in the hallways. Before fourth period, Alex met her in front of her locker and admitted that he’d made a mistake by coming back to school so soon.
    “I’m getting out of here at lunch,” he said. “Interested?”
    Katie looked nervous. She said, “I’m not sure.”
    “It’s fine with me either way,” Alex said. “But if you wanna bail, meet me behind the racquetball courts.” He added, “see ya when I see ya,” then took off down the hall.

    **

    Security was tighter in the school than it had normally been, with four Paladin guards instead of one, patrolling the campus. But none were watching outside when Alex made a break for the racquetball courts and the hole in the fence Alex and his onetime crew had used to escape into the surrounding woods a few times before.
    Normally, getting caught skipping school meant an automatic suspension, which always seemed ironic to Alex. Skip school and get punished by being sent