Chapter 151: The Dead Can't Speak

Theo's POV

"A muscle relaxant," Aveline whispered, her eyes fixed on the paper between us. "What was Asher doing with a muscle relaxant?"

I didn't answer her immediately. I reached out and took the page from her hand, my eyes scanning the clinic printout. My eyes locked onto the drug name printed at the bottom of the list. Baclofen.

My stomach dropped. A cold weight settled deep into my chest, and my fingers froze against the paper. I knew that name. It was the exact prescription. The precise substance I had emptied into Oliver Thorne's water bottle right before the final whistle last semester.

Aveline was watching me, her brow furrowed as she tried to read my expression. She had no idea she was holding the one piece of evidence that could end my life. If she had started tracking the dates on this clinic order, she would have realized the timeline matched the night of the accident.

She would know the dizziness that paralyzed Oliver wasn't a medical fluke. And if she started checking, she would find me.

"Theo?" Aveline asked, leaning closer over. "Do you know why he would have this? His heart medicine prescription is completely different ."

I forced my jaw to relax, keeping my voice flat and normal. "I don't know. Perhaps the clinic made an error with the printout. Let me keep the pages tonight, Ave. I'll check more about the drugs at home and see if it's just a mistake."

Aveline's eyes narrowed slightly. She reached out and firmly pulled the papers back into her own hands, shoving them deep into her bag. "No. I'm keeping the original files. I'll make copies tomorrow at the library, and you can look at them then. If we lose this paper trail, we have nothing."

I swallowed the sudden panic in my throat. I had to change her mind. I had to stop her from looking before she destroyed my life.

"Ave, listen to me," I said, taking a step closer, trying to use my calmest, most practical voice to shut the danger down. "Why can't you just let this go? What are you hoping to find?"

Aveline looked at me, her eyes glistening under the dim locker room lights. She took a slow, heavy breath, and her jaw went completely rigid.

"Because he's dead, Theo."

I froze. I stared at her, my mouth opening, but no sound came out. The air in the quiet room felt completely heavy. My brain simply refused to accept the words.

"What?" I finally whispered. "What are you talking about?"

"He's gone," Aveline said. Her voice was flat, devoid of any tears, but it sounded completely hollow. "He had a cardiac arrest during the summer. Right after we got back from the summer house. His heart just stopped, Theo. He died in his sleep."

A sudden, ugly wave of relief hit my stomach. It was an instant, shameful feeling that rushed through my veins before I could even stop it. If Asher is dead...

then He's dead.

That means he'll never contradict my story. He can never tell anyone why he bought the drugs, or what happened that night. He can't expose me.

The relief was so sharp it made me feel physically sick. The very next second, a massive weight of guilt crashed over me. I hated myself for having that thought. He was my friend, my lover, and my very first instinct was to celebrate my own safety.

I looked at Aveline, my hands trembling inside my pockets. "If he's... if he's gone, Aveline, then why are you still doing this? Why are you skating in his jersey? Why are you putting yourself through this nightmare at Crestwood?"

"Because he died carrying everyone else's blame!" Aveline finally snapped. She didn't scream, but her voice shook with a deep, furious conviction. She took a step toward me, her hands clenching into tight fists against her sides. "Asher has been blamed for everything, Theo. Everyone calls him a liar.

The whole team treats his memory like a criminal. Cassian looks at his brother in that wheelchair and blames Asher every single day. He died unable to defend himself, and everyone in Crestwood is perfectly happy letting a dead boy take the fall."

She pointed a shaking finger down at her hockey bag, where the pharmacy papers were hidden.

"Now we find this mysterious medication in his history," she kept going, her teeth gritted. "Someone must have forced him to buy it so it shows in his records.

Someone used his name to cover up whatever happened to Oliver.

My brother deserved better than to die with everyone thinking he was a monster. He deserves justice for every single piece of blame they threw at him. And I am not stopping until his name is completely clean."

I looked at her fierce expression, and a cold sweat broke out across the back of my neck. I tried one last time to dissuade her, my voice turning desperate.

"Ave, you don't know what you're digging into. If you blow this whole thing open, the board will find out about the identity fraud anyway. You'll lose your own future. It will destroy your family all over again. Just let it go."

"No," Aveline said, looking straight into my eyes. Her face was set like stone. "I don't care what happens to me anymore. I am going to clear my brother's name, Theo. Whether you help me or not."

I stood there in the locker room, watching her zip up her bag. The pressure had completely shifted. Aveline wasn't running away to save her skin. She was chasing the truth, and her search for justice was moving straight toward the timeline I needed to hide.

If I backed away now, she would keep digging on her own, and eventually, she would find out that I was the one who poisoned Oliver.

I couldn't let her do this alone. I had to stay close to her. Not to help her find the truth, but to protect myself and disrupt her investigation whenever she got too close. I had to guide her hands away from the real evidence.

I let out a slow, quiet breath and forced a calm nod.

"Fine," I said, my voice dropping into a flat line. "One thing at a time. We start with Silas. If he's desperate for that app password, there's a reason. Maybe that'll lead us to everything else."

Aveline looked at me, a small nod of agreement passing between us. She completely believed I was standing with her to honor her brother's memory.

She had no idea that as we walked out into the corridor, a terrifying promise was looping in my head. If the truth came out, I would lose everything. So whatever happened next, I had to stay one step ahead of Aveline.