One of Us Is Next

In the past few days, Phoebe received two new messages from Derek, cleaned up after Emma twice, and flunked a science test because she couldn’t concentrate. Maeve also keeps texting her screenshots from the forum again. In the images, Darkestmind constantly yells, “Where are you Bayview2020?” (201).

Business at Café Contigo is slow and Mr. Santos tells Phoebe that she can clock out. Ahmed, another waiter, asks Mr. Santos if he gave Phoebe the note that someone dropped off earlier for her. Phoebe opens the note as she walks over to where Maeve, Knox, and Luis are sitting. The note says, “What’s with the disappearing act? We need to talk. Meet me at the gazebo in Callahan Park at 5:30 today. DO NOT ignore this like you’ve been ignoring everything else” (205). Ahmed says he was a “standard white dude” with “brown hair, pale, and kinda tall” plus a little bit older (206). Phoebe thinks that it must be Derek.

Maeve, Knox, Phoebe, and Luis arrive at Callahan Park, and look for Intense Guy. They spot a lone figure under a gazebo. Phoebe says that if she could get in the tiny playhouse at the playground, then she could identify the man. Phoebe puts on Knox’s grey hoodie and the two of them sneak to the playhouse.

Maeve realizes she’s alone with Luis for the first time since she yelled at him at Cooper’s game. Despite Luis accepting her apology, Maeve thinks there is more to be said. She tells Luis that she got jealous when she saw him with Monica because she likes him. Maeve gets nervous and says it’s okay if he doesn’t like her back, but Luis says that he does. Luis almost kisses Maeve when her phone buzzes. Knox relays that the man is not Derek, and that Phoebe has never seen him before. The man begins walking straight toward Phoebe’s car. Luis leans in for a closer view and Maeve feels she has no choice but to kiss Luis to save their cover. The group follows the man’s car.

Maeve sits Knox’s kitchen table after dropping off Luis and Phoebe. A few hours after leaving the park, they have a license plate number, an address, and a name. The car is registered under David Jackson, according to Maeve (215). They tailed the car to a tiny ranch home in Rolando Village, belonging to Paul and Lisa Curtin. Maeve thinks it must be a rental home. She gets an alert that the website she is monitoring was updated. She brings up the Vengeance Is Mine forum. The forum explicitly uses Phoebe’s name, bashing her for not keeping their deal.

Knox realizes that Darkestmind and Intense Guy are the same person. Maeve also makes the conclusion that Intense Guy must be Unknown as well. The two wonder what deal Phoebe could have made with Darkestmind and if the man had a vendetta against Brandon. Knox suggests they ask what could Brandon have done to make anybody want him gone (219). Knox relays the conversation he overheard between his mom and dad. He mentions that Mr. Weber would be a hypocrite to sue the construction site, because his mom’s company helped Brandon out of some trouble three years ago. Knox says they need to figure out what happened in that lawsuit.

Knox takes out his mom’s work computer and asks Maeve to hack it. After she hacks into Mrs. Myer’s system, she narrows the documents down to two, which are both password protected. Suddenly, Kiersten arrives, and Maeve is forced to email the documents to herself and try to crack their passcodes later.

Phoebe returns home to find a note from her mom saying that Emma is still sick, to make sure Owen does his homework, and that there are leftovers in the fridge. Phoebe still doesn’t want to tell her mom what happened with the strange man following her, but she is tired of feeling like her own parent. Phoebe thinks that her sister feels the same way, that there is no one to confide in (223). Phoebe hears the hum of the dishwasher and thinks back to her dad’s attempts to fix their old broken one. She suggested that they just get a new dishwasher, but her dad insisted it was a battle he would win. She realizes they couldn’t afford a new dishwasher. After her dad died, suddenly they could afford everything. They went to Disneyland, they had new clothes and phones, and a new car so Emma could have her old one. Phoebe says she hated all the new stuff.

Phoebe checks her mom’s liquor cabinet to find an entire bottle of tequila missing. Phoebe goes to check on Emma and finds her twitching and choking on her bed. She moves Emma on to her side and props her up, trying to help her breathe. Emma tells Owen to call 911 and say that someone here has alcohol poisoning. Phoebe realizes that Emma is consumed by something far more serious than Derek.