No Honor Among Thieves

Chapter 19 - River

"Day four, Thursday. That's yesterday. I couldn't talk to anyone because I had to stay on track."

Spacebar. A thumbnail of a video now fills the screen.

"Not sure whether Jane was aware or not, but I was following you all day," he gestures to Jane as he was finishing the sentence.

Stroke of realization again.

"Honestly, it was hard not talking to anybody for a day. Must be why depressed people get worse, but that's not the point today."

CARD REVEAL

"This," he exclaims as he presses the play button on the video, "is the point today."

The video starts with Jane walking into Miss Doll's office...

Jane is seen talking to the Doll... and a few moments, she pulls out the phone.

"Yes!" I was able to stop myself from shouting that out.

I pressed pause.

"Maria, does that phone look familiar to you?"

Maria steps closer to get a good view of the phone displayed on the screen clear as day.

"Yes."

"You sure? Does it have the same casing as yours?"

She nods. "Yes."

"Is it about the same size as yours?"

Another light nod. "Yes."

"And does the ring on the back the same as yours?"

"Yes."

"Okay, just to be clear, is there any difference between your missing phone and the phone in the video?"

She gives a deeper look at the phone portrayed once more before shaking her head.

"No, I can't see any difference."

"Alright, thank you."

Maria sits on her chair near the back and the class keeps their eyes fixed on me.

"Jane, perhaps you'd care to explain?"

She clears her throat. "Explain what?"

There's no aggression to her tone, no grief or sorrow, no regret as well. Completely expressionless.

"Anything that could maybe help you."

She gives it a great deal of thought, making sure she's not gonna be pinning herself against the wall.