Six Little Secrets(34)

Her heart leaped. Was this her punishment? Did Jacob know that she was a library assistant? That was a dumb question. Of course he did. He knew everything. She wasn’t sure what to do, though.

But that decision was made for her when Mr. Curtis picked it up.

Inside, she panicked. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. Did she automatically fail because he picked up instead of her? She glanced across the table. There weren’t that many slips left and none of them were red.

Her eyes snapped back to Mr. Curtis. The corners of his lips tugged down, and his eyes narrowed. He slammed the receiver down and stood up, shoving the rolling chair away from him. It banged against the filing cabinet where he’d stored the phones earlier.

Cece and Jackie glanced in his direction.

‘What’s going on in there?’ Teddy asked, shoving his phone into his bag.

Zoe shrugged. She didn’t know if she should say anything about it being her turn. Maybe if she pretended as if she didn’t know, then it would go away. She doubted that, but at least it would delay the inevitable for a little while.

The phone rang again, catching everyone’s attention.

Mr. Curtis dug his fingers into his hips and stared at it. He didn’t move until the phone stopped ringing.

Then a text tone went off.

Zoe’s gaze darted around. ‘I thought we agreed to keep our phones on silent.’

‘It’s not any of us,’ Holly said, pointing at Mr. Curtis.

Mr. Curtis picked up his cell phone from the desk and held it in his hand. He didn’t answer the call.

What was going on?

After a few seconds, he stormed out of the office and into the room.

No one moved.

‘If I catch any of you out of your seats when I get back, you will be here every weekend for the rest of the year,’ he said. ‘Got it?’ He didn’t wait for a response. ‘I’m going to my classroom. I’ll be right back.’

Zoe stared at him, confused about his outburst.

The second the doors closed behind him, Jackie spoke, ‘What was that about?’

Q shook his head. ‘No idea.’

‘At least we can talk now,’ Cece said. She lifted her phone and started typing on it.

‘Any luck?’ Zoe asked. She needed to know if there was any hope after a failed punishment.

‘No,’ Cece said. ‘But looking at my dad’s calendar, they are both at some brunch event. Mom probably has her phone on silent. She thinks it’s rude to keep it on in any social situation.’

‘Well, that’s good,’ Jackie said.

Cece shook her head. ‘For now.’

‘Okay, we need to get back on track,’ Teddy said. ‘Let’s talk through the tasks. There we might be able to find the link to Jacob.’

‘How many people know about your bank account?’ Zoe asked him. Starting at the beginning of this whole mess made sense. Or maybe it didn’t. Did Jacob have a reason for the order of his ‘consequences’ or was it random? With Q finding his in the cabinet with the phones, it seemed like they were in order for a reason. Besides, she couldn’t help wanting to know more about Teddy’s current life situation.

‘I’ve never told anyone,’ Teddy said. ‘I suppose my mom knows it exists. I don’t let anyone in my room other than my cousin, Declan. He randomly barges into my house whenever he wants. Even if he knew about it, he wouldn’t have the ability to access it. At least I don’t think so.’

‘Have you used the money to do anything?’ Cece asked. ‘Something that might offend anyone?’

Teddy shook his head.

‘Maybe it’s not about the money itself,’ Q said. He gently placed his hands on the table and winced, bringing them back to his lap. ‘Where do you work at night? Maybe it’s someone there?’

It wasn’t a bad question.

Teddy cleared his throat.

Zoe’s eyebrows drew together. ‘Teddy?’

‘What?’ he snapped.

‘Do you have any enemies at work?’ Zoe asked.

He snorted. ‘I’m sure there are a few.’

Zoe couldn’t imagine that. She’d only asked the question to rule it out. Teddy was a good guy. However he’d upset someone at work was most likely an accident. And it couldn’t have been so bad to deserve to be stolen from. Teddy was the victim here.

Then she came back to the idea of their connections. If Teddy worked at a diner or an ice cream place, then there were a lot of possible people that could have held a grudge against him. It would open up the pool of people to look into. And at the same time create more work for all of them.

‘Where do you work?’ Q asked again. This time Zoe saw the return of the glint in his eye. He wasn’t going to give up until Teddy told him.

Now Zoe’s interest was piqued. Why wasn’t Teddy sharing what he did for work? Was it something embarrassing? In Zoe’s mind, high school jobs weren’t glamorous at all. She found the one time she searched for work in the area, the jobs available were ones that no one else wanted. That’s why the library assistant position had appealed to her. She could hide in school and among the stacks without anyone bothering her.

Teddy didn’t seem like the type to be embarrassed. What was he hiding? Was this the secret that Jacob wanted him to reveal?