Neither twin noticed Jake standing under the far awning. His phone was down this time. He had watched the whole thing. For one moment, something like uncertainty crossed his face. Then Ryan stepped beside him.
What happened? Cafeteria lady fell. Ryan looked toward Naomi, helping a worker gather the scattered trays. Jake glanced at him. She stayed with her.
Ryan shrugged. "So?" Jake said, "Nothing." Ryan's eyes narrowed toward the twins. "Did you get anything useful?"
Jake hesitated. "No." Ryan turned away. "Then it doesn't matter." At 3:17 that afternoon, Naomi's phone vibrated while she sat beside Nia in the library. An email.
Office of Student Conduct. Naomi opened it. Her eyes stopped moving. Nia noticed. What?
Naomi handed her the phone. The message informed them that a formal conduct concern had been opened regarding repeated incidents of physically intimidating behavior toward other students. Nia read it twice. Then again, what physically intimidating behavior? Naomi did not answer.
Her pulse had begun to beat harder. The words were clean, official, neutral. That somehow made them worse. An hour earlier, Naomi had been kneeling in cold rain beside her side an injured woman. Now, a university office was describing her as a threat.
Nia pushed back from the table. This is Ryan. Probably. Probably. We don't know yet.
We know. Naomi stared at the email. No, we suspect that difference mattered to her. Evidence first, anger later. They went to the student conduct office before closing.
A receptionist handed them a printed packet. Three incident statements. Naomi sat on a bench beneath a framed photograph of the Riverton president shaking hands with donors. Nia sat beside her for several minutes. Only paper moved.
Statement one. I felt physically intimidated by the Carter sisters and believed the situation could escalate. Statement two. Their behavior was physically intimidating and made me believe the situation could escalate. Naomi's eyes narrowed.
She turned the page. Statement three. I experienced physically intimidating conduct and believed the situation was likely to escalate. Nia leaned closer. What?
Naomi placed all three sheets side by side across her knees. Different names, different dates, different alleged incidents, almost the same sentence. Nia read them slowly, then looked at Naomi. Two of the statements described places where neither twin had even been. One claimed they had confronted a student near the west parking deck at 2:10 Tuesday afternoon.
At 2:10 Tuesday afternoon, both sisters had been sitting in Professor Brooks's lecture. Naomi felt the fear then, not the fear of Ryan. Something colder, because insults were one thing. Videos could be challenged. A shove could be witnessed.
But this was paper. Paper entered files. Paper followed people. Paper became truth if enough important people stopped asking questions. Nia's voice dropped.
They're building something. Naomi stared at the repeated words, physically intimidating. Could escalate. Three statements, one voice. She carefully folded the packet closed.