MALLORY
“I was brilliant,” I say.
Josie Boots stares at me like a sheep.
“Derek Sickler left you, didn’t he?” she whispers.
“Well, no. No. He left town.”
“He left you,” she says louder, gloating. “That’s it, isn’t it? And you never left this town.”
I grit my teeth. How dare she?
“He left you!” she says louder.
“Shut up,” I hiss.
“He did! He ran away from you! He—”
I don’t realize I’m lunging at her until I swing my arm and slap her so hard that she almost falls over together with her chair.
A whimper escapes her. I sniffle, wipe my palm that tingles at the slap, and sit back in my chair, watching her.
She sobs a little. No spunk like her mother used to have. Al would’ve clawed my eyes out. Would’ve spat at me. Josie’s weak. Her cheek turns bright red, and when she looks up at me, her eyes are glazed with cowardly tears.
“That’s right,” I hiss.
I don’t tell her the truth. And the truth is that I drove to Derek’s house that very night. His car was in the driveway, but the door was locked. When I rang the bell, I smiled when I heard the lock turn.
My smile was gone in seconds when a stranger’s face appeared in the doorway.
“Can I help you?” a young woman asked, looking at me with suspicion. She was wearing a hoodie, his hoodie.
“Who are you?” I snapped.
She snorted. “Excuse me? Who are you?”
Was she kidding me? “Where’s Derek?”
“Not home yet.”
Home. Like she had a claim to share this home with him.
I turned on my heel and walked off, fuming. Then I called his number.
He picked up right away. “Yes?”
“Where are you?” I snapped impatiently.
“None of your business, Mal,” he answered.
“Who is the girl at your house?”
“What are you doing at my house?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“Do you know what time it is?”
“Who? Is? She?” I yelled.
“None of your business,” he said coldly. “What do you want?”
“We are leaving tomorrow, right?” I tried to calm myself so I wouldn’t sound desperate.
“Who is we?”
“You and I.”
“There is no you and I.”
The air was sucked out of my lungs. “You said we are going away together.”
“I don’t remember that part. Anyway, don’t call this number again.”
I gasped, but he’d already hung up.
I called his number, but it went straight to voicemail.
I called again.
Voicemail.
I screamed at the top of my voice, infuriated. Dialed his number and hit the voicemail.
Call.
No answer.
Call.
No answer.
Call.
No answer.
Call.
No answer.
Call.
No answer.
I sat in my car by his house for an hour. No sight of him.
I drove home, then called again.
No answer.
I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t think of anything but him. So I kept dialing his number all through the night, dozens of times, a hundred. I dozed off at dawn, got up, and right away went to check the newspaper. The bar fire and Dougie’s murder were breaking news.
I gritted my teeth. They all deserved it.
I dialed Derek again, but hit voicemail.
I hopped in my car and drove to his house. If that woman answered the door again, I would break her face. If Derek dared to ignore me, I would blackmail him. Dozens of scenarios raced through my head as I drove, but when I pulled into his driveway, an unfamiliar car was parked there.
An old guy was sweeping the porch.
My heart sank as I got out of my car. “Where’s Derek?”
“Who?” The guy looked at me with interest.
“The young man who stayed here for the last several weeks.”
“Oh, him. He left. Got his deposit back two days ago and took off early this morning. He and his girl.”
Panic twisted in my stomach, making me sick. “What girl?”
He shrugged.
With shaking hands, I pulled out my mobile and called Derek again.
“The number you dialed is no longer in service,” the automated system said, smashing my dreams into a million sharp pieces.
I wanted to set this entire town on fire. I got in my car and cried, then drove around town, hoping to spot his car. Hoping he was still around. Hoping we could talk.
I don’t tell the last part to Josie Boots, the daughter of that bitch, Alysha. The daughter of the guy who’d promised me a future, then betrayed me. What happened to him serves him right, and she doesn’t get to twist my story.
Except, this, right now, isn’t going according to my plan. I need to find out what this moron in front of me did with Derek’s body.