Wicked Little Secrets: A Prep School Confidential Novel (36 page)

“I think that’s the point. Let me back up a bit.” Muller sets his tea down and folds his hands together. “We started spending a bit of time together after I started at Wheatley. Both of us were new to the faculty. But we found we had a lot more than that in common, and, well …

“Anyway, I noticed that she was fiercely private. She never wanted to socialize with any of the other teachers, and she didn’t like to talk about her past. I didn’t think anything of it until early May.”

“What happened?”

“I’d invited her to sightsee in Boston a bit with me. We ate at an Indian place, and we were supposed to go to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. I thought we were having a great time … but when we left the restaurant, she was upset. Said we had to go straight home, and she wouldn’t say why.”

“After that, I started to pick up on other things that seemed … off. She didn’t have any photos or personal mementos around her apartment. Never got any mail, or phone calls. I supposed it was because she was new in town, but one night, I noticed she owned a Boston Bruins hockey jersey.”

A detail surfaces in my memory: Ms. C had a Bruins pennant hanging in her office.

“She says she’s from Georgia, she went to school in North Carolina … yet she’s a Boston Bruins fan?” I say.

“I thought it strange, too. I asked her about it, and she got very defensive. Said it was a friend’s. Then she didn’t call me for a few days.” Muller traces the rim of his teacup with his fingertip. “I knew something was off with her, then, but I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. We all have things in our past we’d like to hide from.” Muller hesitates. “But I’ll admit I was curious. I broached the subject with Jess. I didn’t accuse her of anything; I simply said I thought it was unusual. She was angry with me for insinuating she was hiding something, and said she needed time apart. Two days later I found out during a faculty meeting that she’d resigned.”

I’m quiet as I digest all of this. Muller must have confronted Ms. C around the same time I’d asked her to help me find out what happened to Vanessa Reardon, the girl Matt Weaver assaulted. So Ms. C’s disappearance may have had nothing to do with helping me, like I initially thought, and everything to do with Muller figuring out that she was hiding something.

“I did some searching around, and found that there really was a Jessica Cross of Cliftonville,” Muller says. “So the woman we knew was an impostor.”

“Like identity theft?” I ask. “How did no one figure it out?”

“It’s actually quite simple to assume the identity of a deceased person,” Muller replies. “It’s called
ghosting.
All you need is his or her Social Security number. It’s even easier if you can obtain a duplicate of the person’s driver’s license or birth certificate.”

“But Ms. C—why?”

“It’s more common than you’d think,” Muller says. “There’s any number of reasons why someone would want to disappear and become someone else. Abusive ex-lover, massive amounts of debt, criminal charges—”

“That doesn’t sound like her.” I realize how dumb the words sound as soon as they leave my mouth. “I mean, it doesn’t sound like the person she pretended to be. Around us.”

“It just goes to show you can never really know a person.” There’s sadness in Muller’s voice. He must really care about Ms. C. My stomach clenches as Anthony’s face works its way into my mind. I know what it’s like to feel connected to someone, only for them to be gone as quickly as they came—to have that intense, staccato burst of feeling, followed by just … nothing.

“Do you think she’s okay?” I ask.

“I stopped by her cottage,” Dr. Muller says. “Everything looked secure. Nothing suspicious.”

I let out a breath. “So she’s not in trouble or anything.”

“Oh, I absolutely think she’s in trouble.” Dr. Muller’s eyes meet mine. “But in danger? That I don’t know.”

Frustration gnaws at me. “What are we supposed to do?”

“I don’t think there’s anything we can do,” he says. “They call it ghosting for a reason—how are you supposed to find a person who technically doesn’t exist?”

Ghosting.
The word sends a chill up my spine.

I glance at Dr. Muller’s watch. If I don’t get back to the office soon, Leah may send out a SWAT team. I thank Dr. Muller for meeting me, even though I have more questions than I showed up with.

“It seems I have the rest of the day to myself,” he tells me as we release our handshake. “Any tips for a newbie in New York?”

“Stay far, far away from the people dressed as Elmo in Times Square.” I smile at him and turn to leave.

“Anne.” He’s holding up my takeout bag. I’d almost forgotten it.

“You know,” he says, his face thoughtful as he takes me in. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about her. Jessica. Sometimes the best we can do is stay in place and hope whatever we’re running from doesn’t catch up with us. Remember that.”

I think of the blood blossoming around the hole in Travis Shepherd’s chest. Of the promise Anthony and I made to each other not to tell anyone we were there that night. Of the fear that someone else already knows.

I don’t know if Dr. Muller would feel the same way if he knew what I was running from.

Also by Kara Taylor

Prep School Confidential

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

KARA TAYLOR is the twenty-something author of the Prep School Confidential novels. Recently, she signed a blind script deal with Warner Bros. Television. In the past, Taylor has worked as everything from a nanny to an ice cream scooper on Fire Island, New York. She lives on Long Island, New York. Visit her online at
www.karamtaylor.com
.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.

An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.

WICKED LITTLE SECRETS.
Copyright © 2014 by St. Martin’s Press, LLC. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.thomasdunnebooks.com

www.stmartins.com

Cover design by Danielle Fiorella

Cover photograph by Barry David Marcus

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Taylor, Kara.

    Wicked little secrets: a Prep school confidential novel / Kara Taylor. — 1st ed.

            p. cm.

    ISBN 978-1-250-03360-4 (trade paperback)

    ISBN 978-1-250-03361-1 (e-book)

  1.  Boarding schools—Fiction.   2.  Schools—Fiction.   3.  Mystery and detective stories.   4.  Youths’ writings.   I.  Title.

    PZ7.T21479Wic 2014

    [Fic]—dc23

2013032065

    e-ISBN 9781250033611

First Edition: March 2014