Beside him was Evelyn.

But there was someone else in the photograph.

A woman whose face had been scratched out.

On the back, someone had written:

SHE KNOWS WHY YOUR FATHER DIED.

I stared at it for a long time.

Then I heard a voice behind me.

“You should have stayed out of this.”

I turned.

Mack was standing at the end of the corridor.

She wasn’t alone.

And for the first time since I arrived at Westbridge, I realized something terrifying.

Mack hadn’t attacked Evelyn because she wanted her belongings.

She had attacked her because she wanted that metal box.

PART 3 — WHAT WAS INSIDE THE BOX

The next morning, Evelyn’s cell was empty.

I knew immediately something was wrong.

Her blanket was folded.

Her shoes were gone.

The metal box was gone too.

I asked a guard where she had been taken.

“Medical.”

“Why?”

“She fell.”

“Is she okay?”

The guard shrugged.

I knew a lie when I heard one.

I waited until the afternoon count.

Then I slipped away when the corridor became crowded.

I found Evelyn in the medical wing.

She was sitting on a bed with a bruise beneath one eye.

When she saw me, she shook her head.