It took an embarrassingly long time for the taxi to come and pick them up from Ms. Johnson’s house, so when they had finally exhausted all of their questions and small talk, Luke and Pippa left to wait at the curb. Ms. Johnson protested a little out of politeness, but confessed she had things to do, so let them linger outside. Luke offered to rake her lawn since she had given them so much of her time and managed to fill two garbage bags full of leaves before the cab finally picked them up.
On the way back to school, Pippa peppered Luke with questions. She wanted to know who else he had been talking to, and why he had decided to embark upon his own private investigation. Luke deflected as much as possible, but finally confessed the reason behind his trip to Mary Heckler’s house and his suspicion that the dean, and possibly his ex, had something to do with the murder. He kept the information about Mr. Tadeckis and Oscar to himself.
When they pulled into the loop in front of Wilcox, Oscar and his parents were loading Oscar’s suitcase into their car. After handing the driver some cash, Luke dashed out of the taxi.
“Hey, what happened?” asked Luke.
Oscar’s eyes got wide when he saw Pippa get out of the car.
Luke turned back to her. “Catch you later, Pippa?” He gave her an imploring look, praying she would not take his brusque dismissal as a brush-off.
She stood frozen for a minute, looking like she might protest, but then nodded, adjusted her beret, and turned briskly on her heel, heading off in the direction of her dorm. Oscar took Luke’s arm and led him over to the front fence, out of earshot of his parents.
“They’re making me leave,” said Oscar.
“No way!”
“Not necessarily forever, but the administration thinks I had something to do with it. They can’t prove anything, but they want me to leave campus while they complete their investigation.”
Oscar seemed pale and jittery, but worst of all, he refused to make eye contact with Luke.
“I need to go talk to them. We can tell them everything about sneaking out…” said Luke.
“They found that bottle that I threw.”
“What bottle?”
“At the Dip. Don’t you remember the bottle that Kelsey tripped over? Well, it had my fingerprints on it. That, with the scarf…”
Luke was stunned. The police were doing fingerprint checks? Why hadn’t he thought of that? What next? Luke’s mind raced.
“We can explain that.”
Oscar shook his head vehemently. “No. It’ll just open up a can of worms and get all of you in trouble.”
Luke sighed, conflicted. This couldn’t be happening. He wanted to help, but now to bring Pippa and Kelsey into it… It didn’t seem fair. But then again, nothing was fair. “But why would you do it? What is their reasoning?”
“I don’t know. They wouldn’t tell me in so many words, but my lawyer believes that Mrs. Heckler was definitely having an affair…”
“Duh.”
“And someone told the police that she was having an affair with a student. And, therefore, when they put two and two together, I guess that student is me.”
Oscar stopped, and for the first time since Luke had known him, he looked beaten.
“Dude, you don’t have that much game,” said Luke, attempting a joke. It rang hollow. Oscar was way too devastated. “Listen, I want to tell them I was out there with you. We don’t have to mention the girls, just me. I’ll come forward.”
“No,” said Oscar quickly, as if he had considered this. “You’ll only get yourself booted out.”
“But I can’t let you go down for this.”
“No, you can, and you will. I need your help; I need you here. They think it’s me, so they’re not looking at anyone else. I need you to stay. You have to find the real killer.”
“Okay.”
“I’m serious,” Oscar said. “Put your superhero righteousness to good use. You saved yourself once, and it was a goddamn miracle. I need you to do it again. For me. My life depends on it.”