One of Us Is Next

The night of the rehearsal dinner, Knox and Maeve stalk Intense Guy while sitting at a coffee shop in Roland Village. Maeve finally cracks the first document she emailed herself from Mrs. Myer’s computer. Unfortunately, it appears irrelevant, documenting a case settled for Weber Reed Consulting group in Florida. Maeve mentions to Knox that Darkestmind has been very quiet since his last post threatening Phoebe. Knox finally sees the handwriting on the note and matches it to the death threats Eli received. Knox pulls up the D’Agostino case on his computer since Sandeep told him the two were most likely related. The two scan the document for the name ‘Jackson.’ They find mention of a Ray Jackson, who was an accomplice in helping D’Agostino blackmail and frame innocent people for drug possession. Knox scans media articles attached to the case and finds the same picture Bethany had shown him of D’Agostino receiving a mentoring award. Maeve notices that one of the at-risk youths receiving treatment was Ray Jackson’s younger brother, Jared, who was on probation last year for petty theft.

The article says Jared excelled in the program and now works part time for a local construction company. The two conclude that Jared Jackson must be Intense Guy. Their findings explain why Eli received death threats but not why Phoebe was threatened. Knox finds that the father is most likely David Jackson, who has lung cancer. Apparently, Jared’s family lost their home after Ray Jackson went to jail and their mother overdosed on sleeping pills on Christmas Eve. Maeve feels a “tug at [her] subconscious” but it quickly goes away (236). They wonder if Jared’s actions are a deranged way to let off some steam, but suddenly the lamp in the Jackson home turns off. A figure emerges from the home and, with his binoculars equipped on night vision mode, Knox identifies the figure as Jared. At the same time Maeve gets a PingMe with the message, “tick-tock, time’s up” (237). They decide to follow him.

Maeve and Knox chase after who they believe to be Jared Jackson. As Maeve drives, she tells Knox to read the second document she cracked from his mom’s computer. The document is titled, “Settlement on Behalf of Eagle Granite Manufacturing Corporation” (238). The title sounds familiar to Knox. He sees a section about workers compensation settlement due to the death of Andrew Lawton, Phoebe’s dad. Knox remembers his mom saying that Mrs. Lawton didn’t get nearly as much as she should have in that settlement. As they drive, Knox realizes that they are not far from home.

Knox scans for the name Weber and finds Lance Weber, “the executive vice president in charge of manufacturing for Eagle Granite Manufacturing Corporation” (239). Knox recognizes the man as Brandon’s father. The article reads that Lance’s son, on Take Tour Child to Work Day, played with a forklift, despite being told not to. The forklift would later jam and take the life of Andrew Lawton. Knox can’t help but think that the one person who has reason enough to want Brandon dead is Phoebe. Maeve says the accusation is crazy; Phoebe was hooking up with Brandon after all and had a horrible truth revealed about herself. Then Knox realizes that they’ve followed Jared to Talia’s Restaurant, where Eli and Ashton are hosting their rehearsal dinner after-party.

Maeve parks and suggests she call Bronwyn, since Eli isn’t answering his phone. But Bronwyn’s number goes straight to voicemail as well. They try Addy, but she doesn’t answer either. They notice Jared cross the street and Knox begins to video him. Jared tosses his entire backpack under the deck of Talia’s. Then Jared strides across the parking lot and disappears behind a fence. Knox sends the video he just took to Eli and suggests they get the backpack.

The two rush across the street to see what Jared placed under the restaurant. Maeve crawls under the deck and grabs the bag. Knox looks inside and sees “Something round and metal […] it has a lot of wires and…switches or something […] this looks a lot like somebody’s idea of a homemade bomb” (245). Time is of the essence and, with no one answering their phones, Knox says they must get rid of it themselves. Right behind Talia’s is a large plot of grass which leads to the Arboretum, which should be deserted right now. Knox throws the bag as far as he can into the woods and the two leave to get more help. Suddenly, Nate’s voice comes out from the path, followed by Bronwyn’s. Maeve tells them that the backpack has a bomb in it and to run. Knox screams, “There’s a bomb in the arboretum! Everyone get inside!” (247). An explosion “rips through the air” (247). Knox looks back to see if Nate and Bronwyn are behind him, but the grass is filled with smoke.

Phoebe dreams of the beach, where she, Emma, and her dad are roasting marshmallows. Phoebe gets jealous when her dad geos to help Emma, leaving her to toast her marshmallow alone. Her dad cautions Phoebe to “save her cries for help for when you really need it” (249). He tells the sisters to also make sure they are there for each other, adding, “The world can be a rough place, and you guys need to stick together” (249). An alarm goes off and Phoebe wakes up. A nurse enters the room and says the beeping notifies the staff when Emma needs more fluids. Phoebe looks at Emma, “so silent and still she might as well be dead” (249). Then she decides to text Derek and tells him to call her.

As Phoebe walks to get water, she overhears a nurse say that a bomb went off at a wedding rehearsal dinner. Phoebe, noticeably alarmed, is reassured that no one was hurt. She tells Phoebe that there is a group from the dinner in the waiting room closest to the ER downstairs. Phoebe races down and enters a chaotic scene, where Liz Rosen is reporting. Phoebe scans the room and sees her friends all anxious and beat up. Addy says Knox is fine and that he and Maeve were the saviors of the night. She also relays that Nate acted as a human shield to save Bronwyn’s life when the bomb exploded. Addy lowers her voice and says she hopes Nate can work, because if he can’t he’ll be forced to move back into his parent’s home, surrounded by his dad’s addiction and his parent’s broken marriage. Addy tells Phoebe all she knows, which includes information about Jared Jackson, the D’Agostino case, and the threats Eli received. Luis adds that the police arrested the man responsible for the bomb. Addy adds that police were at the party, and that Eli took extra precautions because of the threats. Phoebe’s phone rings and its Derek.

Derek tells Phoebe that he thinks they could have something special, that he can’t stop thinking about her (253). Phoebe asks Derek if he’s aware Emma is in the hospital. Phoebe tells him that she’s falling apart, because of what happened between them, which she reminds him, was not special. Derek goes silent, and Phoebe thinks her words really affected him. But instead, he says, “Phoebe, I told Emma. The day after it happened” (254). Phoebe looks at her phone to see texts from her mom telling her she needs to get back to Emma’s room.

Mrs. Lawton says that Detective Mendoza needs her help in building a case against Jared Jackson. The detective says that they questioned Jared, who claims to have been in correspondence with Phoebe for months on a forum called Vengeance Is Mine. Jared claims that they connected over their family losses and “eventually agreed to, as he put it, take out one another’s enemies. Mr. Jackson says he fulfilled his end of the bargain when he executed a texting-based Truth or Dare game at Bayview High that led to Brandon Weber’s death earlier this month” (255). The detective reveals that Jared used his knowledge of construction to remove supports in the landing. In return, “Phoebe” was to get revenge on Eli for putting Jared’s brother in jail. However, correspondence stopped and so Jared decided to take matters into his own hands. Phoebe thinks that if all this is true, then Jared wrote that note and set up the texting game. Phoebe doesn’t understand why the game would have been set up for her. The detective says “Phoebe” revealed Brandon’s role in her dad’s death to Jared. Phoebe is stunned and her mom bursts into tears.

Phoebe confidently says she didn’t do any of this. Suddenly, Emma sits up and repeats that she told Jared about her dad’s death and that she told him she was Phoebe. Emma adds that she hated the Truth or Dare game the instant it started and regretted everything. Emma claims to have told Jared to stop, but the game kept going anyways.