The door opened and Jason stepped out. He slung a backpack over his shoulder and pulled up the hood on his jacket. He moved down the walk and easily avoided the mini-lake with his long legs. He opened the back door to the car, thrust his wet pack into the backseat, and slammed the door. The passenger door opened and he slid into the seat, pushing back his hood and filling Katy’s little car with his size. Trinity swallowed hard. Should she be helping him? He suddenly seemed very large, and she became aware of how powerless she was if he turned out to not be a nice guy.

Don’t pick up strangers.

He’s not a stranger, she argued. He was Brooke’s friend. Trinity had hung out with him and a few friends that time at the mall. He seemed normal. Nothing set off alarms in her head except for his need to avoid his parents. How much trouble was he in?

“Hi. Thanks for coming to get me.” He shoved his hair off his forehead and gave her a grim smile, his brown eyes serious. Cigarette smoke clung to him and permeated the air in the car.

Trinity studied his face. He looked stressed. Something big was up. “No problem. You sounded really concerned.”

“Yeah, my dad is furious with me for going to that service yesterday.” He looked out the window, avoiding her eyes.

Trinity had a hunch he hadn’t told her the full truth. The service may have been part of it, but that wasn’t the complete story. “I don’t get it. Why would he care if you went to the service of a friend? That doesn’t seem right.”

Jason looked at her, obviously struggling with how much to share. He ran his hand over his hair again, and she noticed his fingernails looked identical to hers: chewed to the quick. Let it go. For now.

“Never mind. Parents don’t make sense sometimes.” She started the car. “Where are we going?”

Relief filled Jason’s face. “Thanks. Can we go get some lunch? There was like no food in there at all.”

Trinity wasn’t hungry. Dr. Peres’s scones sat in her stomach. She glanced at Jason as she pulled away from the curb. His jacket was soaked from his short dash through the rain, and he smelled like he’d recently showered. The car smelled of soap underneath the tobacco scent. Still, something about him being in the car with her felt good. He was plainly stressed, and she wanted to help. She remembered what Dr. Peres had said about taking his problems to a responsible adult. She’d help him find the right person as soon as he shared his real problem.

“Hey,” she said. “I got a text from Brooke’s mom this morning. She said Brooke opened her eyes and even squeezed her hand on command a few times. I guess the doctors are really excited about that.”

Jason leaned his head back on the seat and closed his eyes. “Thank God. You don’t know how worried I was about her.”

A mild spike of jealousy poked Trinity in the chest, and she felt guilty. How could she be jealous of someone who’d almost died? “I think it’s a good sign. Hopefully she’ll keep getting better and better.”

Jason opened his eyes and straightened. “Yes, at least one of them might make it.” He started to chew on a nail.

“You seemed really concerned. I didn’t think you and Brooke knew each other all that well,” Trinity pried, keeping her eyes on the road. As far as she knew, Brooke and Jason had only casually met a few times.

“Yeah, I guess I didn’t know her that well. But she seemed like a really nice girl.”

Trinity frowned. That told her nothing of their relationship.

“You knew Glory, too, right?”

“Yeah, she went to my school. She was in one of my classes.”

“It’s weird how all the girls who died went to different schools.”

Jason looked out his side window, now biting the cuticle of his finger. “Yeah. Weird.”

“Brooke told me you put her in touch with the photographer who took those gorgeous pictures of her.”

He whipped his head around to her, alarm on his face. “She told you that? Did you tell anyone else?” His words rushed out, his face pale.

Panic shot through Trinity. I pushed the wrong button. “I don’t know. I don’t think I told anyone else. I didn’t know it was a secret.”

“It’s not a secret,” Jason said stiffly.

He’s lying. She tried to remember exactly what she’d told the police detectives. She’d told them Brooke had gone to Forest Park for a photography session. Had she told them how Brooke had been contacted by the photographer?

“I think I told the police she met the photographer through Facebook or Instagram. Is that how you originally met Brooke?”

Jason nodded. “We had some mutual friends on Facebook. I think she’d commented on someone’s portrait and we started chatting.”

“You’re the photographer?”

“God, no!”

Trinity cringed at the horror in his voice. “Then you know who took the pictures?”

Jason was silent for ten seconds. “I don’t know what happened.”

That didn’t answer my question. She focused on the other traffic, but watched Jason out of the corner of her eye. He hadn’t stopped biting his nails. She didn’t know how he had anything left to bite. “Fast food okay?”

“God, yes.” He sounded starved.

Twenty minutes later, with a huge bacon cheeseburger and most of a large-sized fry order in his stomach, Jason leaned back in his chair as he pushed aside his tray. “Do you know where I could stay for a few days?”