Chapter 176
Chapter 176:
Miss Davis taught literature at Westbridge Prep when I was there. Fresh out of university, she looked about twenty. She always wore long white dresses, had thick brown braids, and smelled like toner and rosemary. She carried a canvas tote with busted straps and wrote in red pen, not green like the others.
She wasn’t scared of Isobel Brooke.
The other teachers acted like they couldn’t see a girl getting shoved into lockers. Miss Davis dragged Isobel into her office every other week and gave her a talking-to. It didn’t stop everything, but it kept Isobel on a shorter leash.
When I reported Isobel to the police, the school freaked out. Only one teacher backed me up. The rest kept their mouths shut and stuck to the script: “Just kids being kids.” The case was dropped after my parents took the Brookes’ money.
Miss Davis left a month later. Rumor had it she’d been fired. I never saw her again.
After university, I tried to track her down, but “Davis” was a common surname, and there were simply too many of them online.
Caroline’s voice notes kept coming.
“She looks exactly the same. Not a single wrinkle. Skin’s still glowing. We were just talking about you. She said you turned out impressive p>
I stared at the lift doors, something felt off. Back in the old days, Caroline barely said two words to Miss Davis. She’d call her “stubborn” behind her back and say she was wasting her time sticking up for the wrong kids. Now, she was all chatty and warm? Weird.
I typed out a quick reply: Where did you run into her?
Another voice note dropped instantly. “At the mall. We were shopping and bumped into her. She’s still with me now p>
A pause. Then another message landed.
I hit play.
Continue at ⲅa𝗅𝗇oν𝖊𝗅𝘀⧻𝗰𝗈𝗺
This one wasn’t Caroline.
“Hi Mirabelle. I’m with your mum now. It’s been years. Let’s catch up over dinner tonight? I’m only in Skyline for a couple of days p>
I stopped walking and hit replay.
It was definitely her. Same voice I used to hear from the back row, reading ‘Jane Eyre’ to us. Warm, even. I hadn’t heard it in years, but it still carried that same calm pressure, like nothing around it could shake it loose.
Before I could think of what to say, another message came through.
“You heard that, right? Miss Davis wants to see you. Are you free tonight? I’ll book the place p>
I answered immediately: Free.
I wanted to see Miss Davis.
Also, it was time to ask Caroline if she knew that Catherine wasn’t her biological daughter.