7. Jayne
JAYNE
“SO, HOW FAR back should I start?” I ask the detective.
“Why don’t you start with yesterday afternoon, and we can just see where that takes us?”
He gives me a look like I’m made of glass and could break at any moment. I’m not used to anyone looking at me like that, ever.
But nothing will ever be the same after last night.
I nod, take a deep, steadying breath, and begin talking.
I’ve never really been much of a joiner.
It’s not that I’m antisocial or anything like that.
If you ask anyone, they’ll tell you that I’m nice to everybody.
Nice enough, at least. And I love a good party as much as the next girl, although honestly, most of what happens in our town could hardly be described as “parties.” Cheap beer and bonfires aren’t really my thing.
They’re not Sadie’s thing either, really.
She always had a hard time saying no to peer pressure, so she did a lot of things that I know she didn’t really want to do.
“What do you say, J? Heading to Trevor’s tonight?” Damian Strong has been trying to get into my pants since last year. The fact that he has now taken it upon himself as his personal mission to get me out tonight has made this day pretty close to a living hell.
“Damian, come on,” I say. “It’s not my scene.”
“But I’m going to be there!”
“Yeah.” I give him a pointed look over our physics lab table. “Like I said, not my scene.”
“Okay, okay. You don’t have to be a bitch about it.”
“Telling you I’m not going to a party tonight doesn’t make me a bitch.”
“What would you say it makes you, then?”
I shrug. “I don’t know, a person with taste?”
And a person who knows that if you’re going to commit to something on your Friday night, it should at least involve indoor plumbing.
Mason Vreeland, sitting a few chairs over from us, lets out a laugh.
“Something funny?” Damian asks defensively.
“Just a sick burn, that’s all,” Mason replies, not bothering to look up from his paper.
Mason and I aren’t exactly what I would call friends, but we are friendly.
We’re in photography club together, and although there’s always been something about him that seems a little off, I’ve been willing to overlook it.
After all, people call me a stuck-up bitch just because I’m aiming for a life beyond the borders of our little fishbowl town.
I know what it’s like to be judged. The fact that Mason also happens to look like he could win a Timothée Chalamet look-alike contest also doesn’t hurt.
We can all pretend that looks don’t matter, but the fact is that life is easier if you’re attractive, even for the loner kid.
Saying no to what could graciously be called an invitation from Damian Strong does mean I have to find something else to do with my Friday night.
Evan was originally supposed to come visit for the weekend, but he had to cancel at the last minute.
Not that I can blame him, since he’s currently on his way to Virginia horse country.
Evan is one of those guys who actually does have a thousand commitments on his calendar.
When he’s off the map, he’s off the map, but when he shows up, he is one-hundred-percent present.
That’s the thing about being part of the equestrian world—one of the main reasons I stuck with riding, honestly—you get to travel all over the place, and you meet the most fascinating people.
Evan lives in Palm Springs, but we fly back and forth to see each other a couple times a year ever since we met at a winter break clinic down in Florida when we were freshmen.
I adore Evan, because he has never once suggested that anything I want to do with my life is out of reach.
“If anyone can make it happen,” he’s always telling me, “it’s you.”
It is amazing to have a friend with that much faith in you, especially when your own family is a little more prone to dreams that exist within a ten-mile radius.
I’m desperately hoping that once Sadie goes off to school at Loyola, she’ll wake up to how big the world is.
And realize how ridiculous it would be to come back here after finally escaping just to marry the former homecoming king and merge the family businesses.
But, hey, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe everyone around here is blissfully happy instead of living out their own versions of Desperate Housewives. All I know for sure is that the word “desperate” is never going to be used to describe me.
I already know I’m going to end up stuck covering for Sadie tonight.
And Liz too, no doubt, although that is really starting to get old.
After everything that happened at the end of last school year, I thought that Sadie might finally start to pull back from Liz.
But somehow Liz weaseled her way back in.
Sadie ended up forgiving her. And Ben too.
I know how important it is to Sadie to be well-liked, but that was taking it all a little bit too far.
It’s possible to be popular and still maintain some shred of dignity. I guess Sadie didn’t see it that way.
“When you say ‘everything that happened at the end of last year,’ what specifically are you referring to? Is this about Liz and Ben?”
Detective Adrian Hunt is clearly trying to remain sympathetic, but I can tell that he’s already regretting the fact that he asked me to tell him about everything that led up to Trevor’s party.
Not that I blame him. I can’t imagine a grown man is wildly interested in the minutiae of teenage life.
But he asked, and I’m going to give him what he wants. And then some.
I knew this question was inevitable. I just can’t explain everything with Sadie if the police don’t also understand what happened with Liz. They need to know that they shouldn’t trust her, whatever she might be telling them, and they need to know why.
“Look, I told you that they slept together at a party last year that Sadie wasn’t at.
But there’s more to it than that. It started before that, I think.
Liz came with our family on spring break last year.
We went to Key West, and it was totally normal that Sadie would be allowed to invite her along.
She’s just kind of always been around, you know?
I feel bad for her. I know it’s really rough for her at home.
But it’s just… As we’ve gotten older, I feel like she’s been a really bad influence on Sadie.
My sister is—was—really worried about what people thought about her.
I think Liz used that to her advantage and made Sadie think that if she didn’t go to this party, or sneak into that bar, or whatever it was Liz wanted to do, then she wouldn’t be cool. ”
“Did something happen on spring break?”
“I’m not sure. I mean, Liz got completely drunk at dinner one night.
She was sneaking wine from the fridge, and it was really inappropriate.
My parents had gotten this special Chenin Blanc and let us each have a tiny glass, but Liz went and refilled her glass a bunch of times during dinner and got really wasted.
My dad had to help her up to bed. It was embarrassing enough just to witness it; I can’t imagine actually being Liz in that situation, if she even remembers that it happened. ”
“Did Sadie and Liz fight about that?”
“Not that I know of,” I say. “But it seemed like things shifted after that. I don’t know, like my family, and maybe Sadie, started to see Liz for who she really is.”
“It sounds like you aren’t the biggest fan of Miss Stratton, then?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “I don’t want her to get in trouble, but would you be the biggest fan of someone who convinced your sister to go to the party where she ended up murdered?”
Detective Hunt clears his throat and looks down at his notes. “Right,” he says finally. “Right. Fair enough. So, with that in mind, why don’t you just tell me whatever it is you’re trying to tell me?”
I pick at the edge of my paper cup of tea. “I feel like I’m babbling. I’m upset and scared, and, yes, I have never been a big fan of Liz’s. But I don’t want to cast aspersions on her. She wasn’t even there when Mason…”
The tears start again, and I have to stop talking. I have to catch my breath.
Detective Hunt gives me an encouraging nod. “It’s okay, Jayne. Don’t worry about anything other than telling me the absolute truth. Can you do that for me?”
I nod.
“Okay, so the reason I brought up spring break is because I think that’s when the cracks started in their friendship.
Sadie and Liz’s friendship, I mean. And I think it led to what eventually happened with…
with Liz hooking up with Ben. I went to this party without Sadie toward the end of junior year.
She had Covid, so she was down for the count.
Parties around here aren’t normally my thing, but I had a friend in town, and he was super curious to see what we do for fun around here. ”
“And this friend is—”
“Evan Garfield. You don’t have to even bother writing his name down, honestly.
He lives in Palm Springs, and he’s in Middleburg, Virginia, this weekend.
” I already know what his next few questions will be, so I answer them.
“We met on the show-jumping circuit. We’ve known each other for nearly four years, and he knows my family and Sadie pretty well.
No, we’re not dating. He’s basically the brother I never had, and there has never been anything romantic between us.
Unless you count a pact to get married if we’re both single at forty for tax purposes.
And, no, you do not need to question him. ”
The detective cracks a smile, and I smile back.