Fate's Exchange (Twisted Fate, Book 1)

Chapter Sixteen

"What?" Was she crazy? "What does that even mean? Were you like, spying on him? I thought you wanted to forget about Mr. Tinsley when he wasn't around?"

"I did. I do," she said, and then sighed. Color rose to her cheeks and the vulnerability disappeared. A mischievous light lit her eyes. "I was keeping an eye on him to make sure nobody else was involved. I found out about some other girls he'd, uh... liked. But something stopped him from continuing to pursue them. I'm not delusional enough to think it was because of me, but it got me thinking."

I leaned forward and narrowed my eyes. "Thinking about what?"

"Well, Royal Academy isn't the only place he taught. It's too picky to hire fresh-out-of-college teachers. They have to prove they deserve the position, right?"

"I don't know. Probably?" I shook my head. With what tuition cost, she had a point, though I couldn't see what it was. "I'm confused. How is that even relevant? He's a creep."

"And apparently, he always has been."

"What?"

She smiled. "This isn't the first position Mr. Tinsley has had where a girl has accused him of being less than respectable," she said, "but you won't find anything about it searching under his name."

"So, you're saying...?" I needed her to spell it out for me. What she implied wasn't something one could accept without clarification.

"Mr. Tinsley is also Mr. Paulson."

I blinked. "He faked his identity? How is that even possible?"

She shrugged, but the smile remained firm. "After one of the visits with him in his classroom, he left me alone for a few minutes so he could wash his hands. I wanted to find a way out of seeing him, so I went through his bag."

"If he went through the trouble to change his identity, why would he leave evidence somewhere so easy to find?"

"There's a secret pocket," she said. The blanket dropped from her shoulders and she scooted back until her back hit the wall, drawing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around to clasp over her shins. "Mr. Paulson isn't his only alias. He's also Mr. Lee and Mr. Zooksky."

Mr. Tinsley, Mr. Paulson, Mr. Lee, and Mr. Zooksky. My head was spinning.

"He used the identity of teachers who have already died. Don't ask me how, but every person he stole his identity from had impeccable teaching records and credit ratings. Their only fault was that they died young."

"So when the school looked up his experience?"

"They found a glowing resume."

I leaned back in my chair, twisting my fingers together in my lap. Mr. Tinsley took creepy to a whole new realm. Looking from my hands back to Tina, I asked, "So is he even qualified to teach?"

"I have no clue. I looked into each name, but none were what he was born with," she said. "That's why I didn't say anything. I had no proof."

"You could have taken the ID, shown it to the school or police."

"And the moment he realized they were missing, he would run and start using a new one that couldn't be traced."

She should have taken the chance. Even if he ran, outing his deception would have meant an end to what he was doing to her. Why wouldn't she try everything she knew to escape his abuse? It seemed incomprehensible, but then I wasn't her. She seemed so sure she was right, that she had thought there would be another way or that it was useless to try. There was only a year left until graduation. Maybe she figured she could endure it until high school was over.