Chapter 137 Not Walking Past Anything

Chapter 137 Not Walking Past Anything
Penny POV

My heart is still hammering from the win, from Jake's arms tight around my waist as he spun me in front of half the school without a hint of hesitation, when Detective Reyes's words cut straight through the celebration like ice water.
They've been standing close enough to your family the entire game to hear every single word you've said tonight.
"Who?" Jake's voice comes out sharp, protective, already scanning the crowd around us. "Detective, who is it?"
"I need everyone to stay calm and follow me toward the security office," Reyes says, ignoring the question for now, her eyes still scanning the thinning crowd. "Quietly. No sudden movements, no drawing attention."
My mom's already gathering Lily close, Maren stepping in on her other side, all of us forming a tight knot as we start moving through the celebrating students and parents still lingering on the field. I keep replaying the last few hours in my head, every person who congratulated Jake, every stranger who smiled at Lily's poster, every face in the crowd that could have been watching us the entire time without any of us noticing.
Before the fear fully catches up to me, I let myself hold onto the memory from just minutes ago, because I need something steady to grip while everything else spins sideways again. Jake, vaulting that barrier the second the clock hit zero, not stopping for teammates, not stopping for the scout Coach mentioned all week, not stopping for anyone or anything except finding me in that crowd. The way he picked me up like I weighed nothing at all, spinning me in a full circle while the whole stadium roared around us, completely unbothered by who might be watching. Two years ago, that same boy stayed quiet while I got humiliated in a crowded hallway. Tonight he ran straight past scouts and teammates and cameras just to reach me first.
He's done walking past what matters. The thought settles warm in my chest even now, even with fear pressing back in around the edges of it.
We reach the security office just as Jake's dad catches up, breathless, having sprinted from wherever he'd been standing in the crowd. "What's happening? Someone said there's a threat."
"We've identified the person behind the messages," Reyes says once we're all inside, door closed, the noise of the celebrating crowd muffled now behind thick glass. "Facial recognition from the parking lot camera near Karen's apartment finally matched someone who's had access to this family for weeks. Someone nobody suspected because they had every reason to seem trustworthy."
My stomach twists. "Who is it?"
Reyes hesitates, glancing at Jake's dad first, something careful and almost apologetic in her expression. "Mr. Mercer, I need you to stay calm when I say this."
"Just tell us," Jake's dad says, voice tight.
"It's your lawyer's assistant," Reyes says finally. "The young woman who's been handling your case files, scheduling your meetings, sitting in on nearly every private conversation about the investigation and the insurance policy for the last three weeks."
The room goes completely silent.
"Rachel," Jake breathes, and I watch the realization crash over his face. "Dad, that's the same name from the first email. The picture of your mom. Rachel sent that."
Jake's dad goes pale. "She had access to everything. Every file, every conversation, everything we shared with our lawyer trying to figure out the truth."
"We believe she's been feeding information to someone else," Reyes continues, voice urgent now. "Someone connected to the original case from sixteen years ago, someone with a direct stake in keeping certain truths buried. We think Rachel's the one who hurt Karen, trying to stop her from talking. And we have reason to believe she's still inside this stadium right now."
My whole body goes cold. "Why would she still be here? If you already know who she is,"
"Because she doesn't know that we know yet," Reyes says grimly. "And because Penny, we believe the person she's been working for wants something specific from tonight. Something they think you or Jake might still be carrying without realizing it."
"What could we possibly have," I ask, voice shaking.
Reyes pulls out her phone, scrolling fast, and turns the screen toward me. It's a photo, grainy, clearly pulled from stadium security footage taken just an hour ago. Me and Jake, standing near the concession stands before the game started, completely unaware, and there, just behind us in the crowd, close enough to be listening, a woman I don't recognize watching us with unmistakable focus.
"That's not Rachel," Reyes says quietly. "We don't know who this woman is yet. But she's been standing near you both the entire night, Penny, and she left the stadium eleven minutes ago carrying something she didn't have when she arrived."
"What did she take?" Jake's voice comes out barely above a whisper.
Reyes hesitates one final time before answering, and when she finally does, the words drop into the room like a stone sinking straight to the bottom of something much deeper and darker than any of us had realized we were standing in.
"Security footage shows her walking directly past your mom's car in the parking lot, Penny," Reyes says. "And when she left, she was carrying your school bag. The one with your birth certificate paperwork still inside it from this afternoon's meeting."