At that point, the place was starting to look deserted. Her Jeep was still in the parking lot, so she had to be around somewhere. Glancing sideways at Ian as we walked behind the bleachers, I tried to keep my cool.
“Uh, maybe she ran into the school to get something from her locker.”
He was looking pretty worried himself. As the panic built in me, I was strangely relieved he was here. Then again, just looking at him still annoyed the crap out of me.
We checked one of the back entrances to the main building, but the doors were locked. Usually on game nights some entrance was left unlocked, with so many students, parents and teachers still on campus on Friday nights.
As we rounded the corner of the building, someone ran into me. The dude pushed me away from him. I braced myself for a fight. “Hey, what the hell’s your problem, man?”
His hoarse voice replied, “Just get out of my way.”
The guy edged around me and a light posted high on the brick wall illuminated his face. Out of instinct, I was on him in seconds, grabbing him by the front of his jersey. “What are you still doing here, Josh?”
Josh was visibly shaken, his eyes looked wild, and it suddenly hit me. I slammed him against the side of the building. “Where is she?”
“God dammit,” I heard Ian mutter. With everything Gianna had told him, Ian had come to the same conclusion as me. Gianna was nowhere to be found and we’d just stumbled upon Josh.
Josh tried to push me away from him, but my grip on his jersey and my forearms pressing against him managed to keep in place. Ian stepped up beside us and got in Josh’s face. “Answer him, asshole. Where is Gianna?”
After a moment and no answer, Ian pulled back his arm and punched Josh in the ear. Josh’s head whipped to the side. Thinking Ian had the right idea, I punched him in the gut.
He grunted in pain, cursing. Almost in a whisper, he said, “She got what she deserved.”
This time, it was my fist flying at his face. I was trying to think straight and not panic, because flashing through my mind was the time I caught Josh banging Gianna against a wall. Clenching my teeth, I asked Josh again, “Where?”
He must’ve realized how totally screwed he was and after a few moment’s hesitation, he spat out, “Cafeteria.”
Not letting go of his shirt, I dragged him in that direction, with Ian right on our heels. Josh let out a desperate sound. “I told you where she is, let me go. I have things to do.”
I didn’t bother responding. When the double doors came in sight, Ian jogged forward and opened one. Pushing Josh inside ahead of me, he stumbled. “She’s not here,” I said automatically when we entered the dark room.
Josh turned around and made to leave. “She must have left.” Raising my arms, I pushed Josh a few feet back into the room.
Ian mumbled, “Where the hell are the lights?” right before the cafeteria was flooded in light.
It took a second or two for our eyes to adjust to the brightness. At my first good look at Josh, dread settled in my stomach. There was a small amount of blood smeared on the white material of his football pants.
He held up his hands in a placating gesture and I lost it when I saw the blood on the palm of his right hand. My eyes darted frantically around the cafeteria until they landed on the person lying on the floor about thirty feet away in a cheerleader uniform. At the same time I spotted her, Ian was already running towards her, calling out her name. She didn’t respond.
I shouted, “Call 911!” to Ian at the same time I lunged for Josh.
The next ten minutes were an unthinking haze of rage. The cops showed up first, one of them pulling me off Josh as his female partner leaned over Gianna’s lifeless figure. When the cop yanked me off Josh, he merely opened the way for Ian to take his turn. The sense of satisfaction that coursed through me as Ian slammed a metal folding chair into Josh and I heard the sound of ribs breaking did nothing to dull the rage.
At that point, the paramedics showed up with a gurney. The cop let go of me to tackle Ian and I ran to Gianna, praying silently. The paramedics demanded I stay out of their way, but I saw what was done to her.
It’d be burned in my memory forever.
The left side of her face was swollen and I overheard the paramedics I was hovering over caution each other to be careful of her broken wrists. I glanced over to where Ian was yelling and saw the male cop handcuffing him after pinning Ian onto his stomach on the floor.
My gaze went back down to Gianna and I wanted so badly to pick her up, cradle her, but I knew I had to let them do their job. I didn’t know what to do. There was nothing I could do. My eyes were wet with helpless tears.
When the female cop stepped in front of me with a pair of handcuffs and said, “I’m going to have to take you in,” I simply nodded my head absently. As she placed the handcuffs on me, a second set of paramedics showed up and began administering to Josh.