Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Indi
I slept much better last night with the baseball bat leaning up against my nightstand. Although, taking into account the nightmare I had, I wish I hadn’t slept at all.
I shoot out of bed just before six, my heart pounding and holding Mom’s necklace in a fist. I’ve taken to sleeping with it. That way, I can almost pretend she’s beside me, her smell encompassing me as I drift off to sleep.
A hard rap to my bedroom door makes me yell out, and I barely manage to drag my sheets over my body before my gran is inside my room. “I heard noises,” she says, her nose twitching.
I shift, and realize my thighs are coated with my own arousal. God, can she smell me? My cheeks glow but I shrug, and try to sound diffident. “Maybe it came from outside.”
“No. It came from here.” Her eyes narrow. “You don’t have a radio in here, do you?”
I shake my head. I’m too fucking tired for snark, and that would just get me into hot water again. Instead, I stare down Marigold until she sniffs and leaves my room. I hold up Mom’s necklace, watching light glimmer from it in rays of blue and white. I’m tempted to wear it under my school clothes, but then I’m sure the smell would wear off too soon. I take it off and put it back in its box, and then hide it in the back of my closet. Then I grab my uniform and dash to the bathroom for a quick shower.
Not wanting to run into my grandmother again, I sneak out the front door while she’s busy in the kitchen, climb carefully into my car, and freewheel the first few yards before turning the ignition.
I glance in the rearview mirror, expecting to see her standing on the porch, arms crossed and lips pursed, and breathe a sigh of relief when she’s not there.
Most of the trip to Lavish Prep I spend thinking about Addy. In all the fun and excitement lately, I’d forgotten I have a bone to pick with her.
I park and head over to her sports car. She gets a fright when I rap on the window, and I frown at her as she unlocks the door.
“Everything okay?”
Her hair isn’t as smooth as it usually is. She’s only wearing a touch of mascara, as if she was in a rush or couldn’t have been bothered to do her usual morning makeover routine.
“Yeah, course.” She smiles at me, and grabs a joint from the ashtray. Half of it’s gone already.
So that accounts for the red eyes. I thought she’d been crying.
She unlocks the passenger door for me, and hands me what’s left of the joint as I slide in. It’s already lit, and I hit it hard as she starts to speak.
“So you ready to?—?”
“Why didn’t you tell me you argued with Jess that night?” I exhale a plume of smoke.
Addy looks away, grabs the steering wheel, and straightens her arms. “I didn’t?”
“Tiffany said you two had a huge fight.”
“Tiffany exaggerates about everything.”
“So you didn’t fight?”
Addy licks her lips. “I’ve never seen her that drunk before.” She glances at me and then stares straight ahead again. “But she didn’t want to leave.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah.”
“So your fight had nothing to do with the fact that you both had a thing for Briar?”
Addy’s hands fall into her lap as she lets out a rough laugh. When she turns to me, her eyebrows are arched. “What did you say?”
“You. Briar.” I use the joint to gesture from one side to the other, trailing smoke. “Nothing going on there?”
“ Pfft. As if. He’s a fucking prick.”
Which isn’t a no. Not even close.
But I’m also not getting any jelly vibes from her.
“Sure there’s nothing else I need to know?” I lean to the side a little, trying to catch Addy’s eye. “I mean, we are about to go after this guy for rape and murder. I need to know what I’m getting myself into.”
Addy grabs the wheel again, and chews on her lip. Then she snatches the last bit of the joint from me and finishes it. When she grinds it out in her ashtray, her long manicured nails come back dusted with gray.
“I…after the cops dropped the case, I went…I kinda went a bit nuts.”
“How nuts?”
Addy shrugs, and then clicks her fingers at the cubby hole. I open it and take out a packet of wet wipes. She plucks one out and cleans her fingers, eyes downcast. “Briar almost got a restraining order against me.”
“Wh-what?” I say through a laugh. “You’re shitting me!”
“I know he did it, Indi. I fucking know it.” Addy’s throat moves as she swallows. “Turns out I was the only one.” When she looks at me, there’s moisture welling on her bottom lids.
“Can you prove it?” I murmur.
Addy’s silent for the longest time.
“Addy?”
“Proof,” she says. “Everyone always wants fucking proof. We don’t live in a perfect world. If we did, people wouldn’t get away with shit like this.”
She blinks fast, and then turns away to stare out the window.
“I hear you,” I murmur.
My mom’s murder case is still open, but before I left Lakeview, the police told me they had no suspects. Despite the mess the thief had made, he hadn’t left much useful evidence behind besides a partial fingerprint, and it wasn’t in the system.
Either it was his first crime, or it was the first time he was careless enough to leave a clue.
I don’t know if Mom’s murderer will ever be found, and even if he is, who knows if he’ll get the justice he deserves? I hear about cases being thrown out on technicalities all the time.
Cases like Jessica’s.
Because who’s gonna investigate a suicide?
I reach over and squeeze Addy’s shoulder. It makes me think back to when she did the same to me a few days ago.
“We’ll get him, Addy. You hear me? He’s gonna pay for what he did.”
“How?” She throws up her hands. “I’m not even supposed to be talking to him. If the principal sees me anywhere near him, then?—”
“Then it’s a good thing we’re friends, isn’t it?”
Addy glances over at me. “Talking isn’t going to help. I’ve tried that. No one saw anything.”
“Briar did.”
Her eyes narrow and she shakes her head. “I don’t like where you’re going with this.”
“You know what they say about why boys pull your hair, right?”
Addy rolls her eyes. “He’s done more than just pull your hair.”
“We’re not kids on a playground anymore.”
“So what, you’re gonna seduce him? Get him drunk? Hope he tells you everything while you record him?”
I purse my lips, sticking my fingers through a gap in my shirt and rubbing my collarbone. “Not a bad idea.”
“It’s a fucking terrible idea. Jess was his girlfriend, and you know how she ended up.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“You’ll be dead.” Addy’s brown eyes are round, her lips in a thin line. “Don’t do this. We’ll think of another?—”
“You’re right,” I say, waving away the idea with a grimace. “I mean, he’s probably forgotten all about his new bully victim.”
Addy nods, and gives me a tremulous smile. “We’ll figure something out.”
I let out a long sigh and sink back into the seat. Is it weird that I kinda wish I could go ahead with everything Addy said? I’ve never tried seducing someone before—I’ve usually been the prey, not the predator. Could be fun, especially with an arrogant prick like Briar. Getting him to bend to me, instead?—
“Shit, we have to go,” Addy mutters. “School’s starting.”
I sigh again, reluctant to move. But she’s right—we won’t be solving any crimes sitting stoned in her car.
I have to get close to Briar. Maybe even through one of his friends. Addy said his whole crew was still there when she left. One of them must have seen something.
Especially that guy that sticks to him like a burr.
“Yeah, let’s go,” I say, levering my stoned ass out of the car. “Do you still speak to any of Briar’s friends?”
Addy laughs. “As if.”
Damn. Guess I’ll have to work my way into their circle by myself. If I can figure out who the weakest link is… maybe, just maybe, I can get someone to talk.