I cornered Tom later that evening, in a rare Jodi-less moment. I showed him the book and explained the situation. He laughed when I asked him to compare the handwriting to the writing on Jodi’s note.

“You saved her note, dude? Such a tool.”

After comparing the handwriting samples, he agreed with me. “Something’s fishy,” Tom said. “I would have never let Jodi give you such a trite piece of garbage. Give me a little more credit.”

“Well, you haven’t quite been yourself lately,” I remarked pointedly.

“Like I told you last night, it’s all for the benefit of the-”

“If you say ruse, I’m going to throw you out the window!” I shouted.

“Jordan, be rational. We’ve got to get to the bottom of this. And we have to proceed with our plan; otherwise, all this madness will have been for nothing.”

Tom had a point, but I was too pissed off to listen to a lecture. I tossed the book at him, hard. “Why don’t you get to the bottom of this! I’m going to hang out with Mendez. At least he’s not pretending to be my friend!”