What Lies in the Darkness (Shadow Cove Book 1) by Jessica Sorensen Page B

really loves her job.” I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear and look up at her with what I hope is pity-me-please eyes. “She works so hard, too. Too hard, probably. I really hate that this phone thing probably means she’s going to have to put in more hours.”
    “Have you thought about tracking the phone? I know mine has some sort of tracking app on it so I can locate my phone when I lose it.”
    “Mine’s one of those super cheap flip phones, so I doubt it does.”
    “Oh, I see … I guess I could pull up the security footage and see if it caught the person who did this. I have to warn you, though, we’ve been getting a lot of power outages that have ruined a lot of the footage.”
    My brows pull together. “That’s weird. Do you know what’s causing them?”
    She shakes her head, tapping a few keys on the keyboard, spelling out: January 15, 1973 . Her birthday, I assume, and probably her password. I make a mental note of that mostly out of habit, but also just in case my plan doesn’t go down the way I hope. And hey, you never know when you might need to hack into the school’s security system.
    “Let’s see …” She glides the mouse around on the mouse pad. “You said it happened this Friday during seventh period?”
    “Yes.” I inch forward in the chair. “Do you see anything?”
    “Hold on.” Her lips sink. “Well, shoot. It looks like that happened during one of the outages.”
    I rest my arms on her desk. “What about the backup data? Can you look at that?”
    She glances at me with perplexity etched in her expression. “Backup data?”
    “Yeah, a lot of security systems have them.”
    “Really? Well, that’s good to know, but I don’t think I know how to access it. Maybe when Principal Mikenely comes back from lunch, I can ask him about it.”
    “I could do it for you,” I offer. “I’m fantastic with computer stuff.”
    “Not as fantastic as me,” Ev whispers in my ear, and I struggle not to smile.
    Ms. Finkleson appears torn. “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t think I should let you mess around with my computer. It’s against school policy.”
    “That’s okay. I can just walk you through the steps,” I propose. When she remains undecided, I tack on, “I’d really like to figure out where my phone is before I have to go home today.”
    She wavers then nods. “All right, tell me what to do.”
    Right on cue, Ev begins prattling directions off in my ear, which I repeat to Ms. Finkleson. Thankfully, I’m not a complete ditz when it comes to computers and understand most of Ev’s directions.
    Five minutes later, Ms. Finkleson has the backup footage pulled up and seems greatly appreciative.
    “Thank you so much, Makayla.” She looks away from the computer screen and smiles gratefully at me. “I wish I knew about this sooner. I have so many students come in here and make reports on stolen items, and about half the time, the security cameras have gone down, so there’s nothing I can do to help them.”
    “That’s so weird. I mean, that so much stuff gets stolen around here.”
    “I used to think so, too, but then I realized that over seventy percent of the kids at this school are in the higher-class income, while the other thirty percent are in borderline poverty level.”
    “So, you think poor kids are doing all the stealing?” My tone comes out clipped. “And that the rich kids are all just victims of our thievery?”
    “Oh, no, that’s not what I meant. I was just …” She shifts in her chair uncomfortably. “You know what? Let’s pull up the footage of your locker before the lunch bell rings.” Looking at the screen, she double-clicks the mouse. “I don’t want you being late for class.”
    “Sounds good to me.”
    All right, girls, let’s get this show on the road.
    Sucking in an inhale, I let out a fake sneeze.
    “Bless you,” Ms. Finkleson says automatically, tapping a few keys on the keyboard.
    “Em’s on it,” Kennedy’s cheerful tone