Jay's POV
Nobody questioned David.
Not yet.
But I could feel it.
The tension.
The curiosity.
The growing suspicion spreading throughout the auditorium.
Everyone had noticed the same thing.
David wasn't reacting like the rest of us.
He wasn't confused.
He wasn't searching for answers.
He looked like someone trying to avoid them.
The stranger remained silent for a moment, almost as if he was giving David a chance to speak.
A chance he didn't take.
David kept his eyes fixed on the floor.
His hands clenched tightly at his sides.
And somehow, that silence said more than any explanation ever could.
I swallowed hard.
Because the more I watched him, the more certain I became that David knew something about Stein.
Something important.
Something he had been hiding all this time.
The thought made my chest tighten.
Not because I was angry.
Because I was afraid.
Afraid that whatever happened to Stein was bigger than any of us imagined.
Afraid that the answers we'd been searching for wouldn't bring closure.
Only more questions.
Then David finally lifted his head.
For the first time in what felt like forever, his eyes met mine.
And in that brief moment, I saw something I hadn't expected.
Guilt.
Real guilt.
The kind that doesn't disappear with time.
The kind a person carries for years.
And suddenly, I wasn't wondering whether David knew the truth anymore.
I was wondering how much of it he had been carrying alone.