Officer Ortiz finished the sentence.
“It was cut.”
Rebecca made a small choking sound.
I felt Ethan’s body stiffen beneath my hands.
I looked at him.
He knew.
“You knew that.”
He said nothing.
“Ethan.”
“I saw them.”
My heart dropped.
“Saw who?”
He reached slowly into his sweatshirt pocket and pulled out his phone.
“There were two boys behind the gym before last period yesterday.”
Officer Mercer’s expression hardened.
“They thought nobody was watching.”
Ethan unlocked the phone.
His fingers trembled.
“I was.”
He turned the screen toward me.
The video lasted seventeen seconds.
Two boys stood beside a wheelchair I immediately recognized as Sophie’s.
One kept looking toward the corner of the building.
The other crouched near the rear wheel.
There was laughter.
A flash of something metallic.
Then Ethan’s voice, distant but unmistakable:
“What are you doing?”
Both boys looked up.
The video jerked violently as they ran.
