Free Dark Hearts by Sharon Sala

course, as long as I can have them back at some point. The first thing that caught my attention was her writing about gossip flying through the school about cheating on tests. I teach history at the University of West Virginia, so I’m aware that’s an ongoing issue, but according to my mother’s entries, it pertained to the senior class specifically.”
    Sam shifted focus. “Was it true? Was someone cheating?”
    The room was silent.
    â€œShe mentioned names,” Lainey said, and just like that the room erupted.

Five
    S am was elated. This was exactly what he’d hoped would happen. Everyone wanted to tell their side of the story before someone else accused them of doing the cheating.
    â€œHey! Shut the hell up!” he shouted.
    Lainey flinched. The power in his voice surprised her and obviously startled the others because the room went quiet.
    Trey held up the list Dallas had given him.
    â€œDallas has been checking the whereabouts of your classmates. There are a few names we still can’t verify. I’m going to read them off, and if anyone knows anything, speak up.”
    â€œHarold Martin.”
    Will Porter raised his hand. “He was in Sarasota, Florida. He died about ten years ago.”
    Trey nodded and marked him off. “Charlotte Marshall,” he said.
    â€œShe’s in Washington, DC. Retired. Lives with her youngest son and family,” a lady offered.
    Trey marked her off, and one by one, he went through the list until they were down to only two.
    â€œAnthony Castle.”
    Greg Standish held up a hand. “He’s a Catholic priest, and last time I heard was living in Bolivia running an orphanage.”
    â€œOne more here, and then the rest of them are all sitting in this room. What about Donny Collins?”
    The room was silent.
    Sam glanced back at where Lainey had been sitting, and his heart sank. He needed to talk to her, but she’d slipped out of the room.
    â€œAnyone? Donny Collins?” Trey asked again.
    They were all shaking their heads.
    â€œLast time I saw him he was giving the salutatorian address,” a woman said. “Donny was smart.”
    â€œSo what about the cheating?” Trey asked. “What do you know?”
    One by one, they admitted they’d heard about it, but they all had the same story. No one had known who was involved. And then a woman Trey recognized as one of his mother’s friends raised her hand to speak.
    â€œI can’t believe cheating on a test would ever be a reason to kill someone. I mean...what would be gained if someone told and what would be lost if someone was found out? Just a bad grade, that’s all. At least that’s what it would have been back then. It sure wasn’t something worth dying for.”
    â€œThat’s not always the case to the people involved,” Sam said. “You said Donny Collins was salutatorian. Who was valedictorian?”
    Marcus Silver raised his hand. “I was.”
    Sam nodded. “So what did you have to gain by being valedictorian?”
    â€œNothing,” Marcus said.
    Then a woman stood up. “That’s not true. There was that five-thousand-dollar scholarship.”
    Sam watched the man’s face for a sign of guilt but saw nothing.
    â€œAt the risk of bragging about my family’s status, my father was well-to-do and you know it. I didn’t need the scholarship to go to school. It was already paid for,” Marcus said.
    Sam glanced at Trey and could tell his brother was satisfied with that answer.
    â€œSo Donny was salutatorian. What did he get?” Sam said.
    â€œThere wasn’t any money for salutatorian,” Will Porter said.
    Sam stood there with his hands on his hips, staring at the faces of people he’d known all his life, trying to picture one of them being a cold-blooded killer, and couldn’t do it.
    â€œLook,” Sam said. “Here’s the deal. No matter what you