“Got it,” I said.
“There should be some tabs, and one of those tabs should be Data.”
“It is. What’s underneath this tab?” I asked.
“It’s the basic information on all pictures. Date it was taken. Location information, if that was activated on the phone it was taken with. Sometimes a phone number, though not always. Smartphones nowadays are equipped with security protocols that automatically censor that type of information. But it’s worth a shot.”
“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”
“If you need me back up there, let me know,” he said.
“I’ll call down if I do.”
I hung up the phone and clicked on the Data tab. And the second I laid my eyes on it, I took a snapshot picture. I bit down onto my lower lip and sighed. Fucking hell, I owed Olivia was massive apology for all this.
Because right there, in front of my eyes, was not only the location of Brittany’s campus, but her fucking cell phone number.
We need to talk.
I sent the text message along with the picture and immediately got a call through to my phone. I sighed and picked it up, leaning back in my chair as I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“Are you free for lunch?” I asked as I picked up the phone.
“I swear to you, I didn’t send that picture, Brett,” she said.
“Brittany, it’s your phone number. The location is your campus. Hell, the time stamp on it coincides with the break you have every Thursday between your English course and your history course.”
“You know my school schedule?”
“I’m not as absent as you think I am. But this is serious. We need to talk. You wanted to have lunch, so let’s get some lunch,” I said.
“I’m sorry, Brett. I just—”
“You hold on to that statement until lunch. You want to go to that burger joint we always hit up?” I asked.
“You’re going to yell at me, aren’t you?” she asked.
I sighed heavily. “No. But I am going to tell you exactly what I think of what you’ve done before you have the floor to talk. This has to get cleared up between the three of us, because Olivia’s sticking around this time. Which means you need to find a way to deal with that.”
“Fine. But you promise I get to say my side?”
“Trust me, you always find a way to do that anyway,” I said.
I hung up the phone with her and looked back at my computer screen. I wasn’t even upset, more relieved that I had it settled. But if Brittany thought she was getting off scot-free, she had another thing coming. At the very least, she owed Olivia a massive apology. I didn’t care about mine, but it was her responsibility to mend things, not the other way around. I sat there staring at the wall as my mind began to swirl. I could have sworn Daniel was the one behind all this. The one sending the emails.
Which meant there was still another plan in play we had to figure out.
I pushed it off to the side in my mind and focused on my lunch with my sister. I grabbed my things and headed down to the lobby. I had my driver pick me up for this one. I was in no condition to be out on the road and trying to focus. We pulled up to the burger joint, and I saw my sister sitting outside, a drink already in her hand.
Well, maybe if we did this outside, she wouldn’t raise her voice this time.
“Hey there, Brittany,” I said.
“Hey, Brett,” she said, smiling.
“Thanks for meeting me.”
“Yeah. No problem.”
I pulled up the information from the screen I took a picture of and set my phone down. I slid my phone across the table at her before a waitress came and took my order. I got my usual: a loaded bacon cheeseburger with double-fried french fries and a Coke. It gave Brittany time to gather her thoughts so we could have a productive conversation on what the actual fuck was going on.
Then, I turned my attention back to her.
“I’m going to assume you made up all those lies back in college because of the same reason now,” I said.
Brittany slowly nodded as tears welled in her eyes.
“I’m sorry if you ever felt like you were being replaced. But lashing out and trying to destroy my relationship isn’t how you go about communicating those feelings,” I said.
“I can’t help it that I’m possessive of my big brother, okay?” she asked.
“This isn’t possession. This is obsession. You’re destroying many, many people in the process with your lies and your antics. Tell me, did you even meet Katie in a grocery store?”
Her eyes rose to mine, and I snickered.
“You didn’t even talk to Olivia’s friend, did you?” I asked.
“I still think she’s hiding something from you,” she said.