25. AFTER
"It's the church, Pippa!" I manage to gasp out the conclusion, although I'm still shaking after the discovery Brad and I made earlier in the evening. I called Pippa immediately and told her as much as I could, about what I saw, the 'Intervention' files. There is silence at the end of the other line and for a moment I fear that Pippa might doubt me. And she does, because she sighs rather resignedly.
"Matt," Pippa says, "just because your deviant cousin hacked into the church's website and found some weird files doesn't mean anything. At least, it doesn't mean anything to our investigation. Please don't convince yourself that the church is responsible for Adam's death because you hate it."
"But it fits, doesn't it!" I argue. "The dates! The most recent intervention, whatever that means, was a week before Adam's death. A week. Are you really trying to tell me this is somehow a coincidence because if you are—"
"Look," she cuts in, "don't go accusing the church without solid evidence, okay? You could get into a lot of trouble, especially when they find out you hacked—"
"Brad did," I whine.
"My point," she continues, ignoring me, "is that this is a dangerous thing you're leading the investigation into. Do you realize how serious this is? They could take you to court for defamation, with the illegal hacking on top of that. You could go to jail."
"But we have proof!" I'm close to shrieking by now. "The files—"
"—contained nothing but vague documentations," Pippa, annoyingly, finishes for me. "You said it yourself, when you checked those files titled 'Intervention' all you found were a list of names, which were all just VIP members of the church by the way, and the names of some random locations. Harmless."
I close my eyes and inhale slowly. "Look," I tell her after a small pause, "I know this is dangerous. I know it. But I also knew there was a possibility we'd get ourselves into this situation from the start. I was ready to take that risk. I'll always be ready." I tighten the grip I have on my phone. "Because I'll cross any limit I can if it means bringing Adam justice."
"Okay," Pippa says finally. "I understand, Matt. But we're still going ahead with our initial plan. Tina's still a suspect, okay?"
"Yeah," I respond. "Yeah that's still happening."
"Good," she replies. "I'll text Oliver about what you told me but I know he won't like it. Or believe it."
"That's fine," I say. "But he needs to know anyway."
"Oh, Matt?" she adds quickly, just as I'm about to hit 'End call'. "I trust you."
For the first time in weeks, I feel something pleasant in my stomach begin to stir quietly and my cheeks can't help but grow warm.
"Thank you," I tell her. "And I'm glad you do."
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I wake up on Easter Sunday feeling groggy and disoriented – the whole night has been spent tossing and turning, going through our plan over and over in my head like a mantra and now that it's here – the day is finally here – I feel terrified. My hands shake as I dress myself in the dark blue suit mum bought me as a last minute outfit. Clearly, she's taking this Easter very seriously because we've got at least a dozen more people than usual coming over. Which is perfectly fine with me. The more the merrier. And the merrier my mother is, the more distracted she will be. As Brad and I dress ourselves, I can hear my mother loudly bossing about a (no doubt) flustered dad and Aunt Diamond as they help her with the chores that need to get done. Uncle Bernard's probably just asleep.
