Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
MADELINE
Fingers thread through my hair gently, tracing the strands.
I hear and feel Luke’s body take a deep breath.
Is he smelling my hair? It’s hard to keep my face relaxed while pretending to be asleep.
Then lips, soft and warm, press to my shoulder, my collarbone, and the curve of my jaw.
Each one is unhurried, like he has all the time in the world to explore every inch of me.
As though we’re in our own little cocoon and all of the outside noise doesn’t matter.
I keep my eyes closed for a few more seconds, then I let them flutter open, staring at the vaulted ceiling with a completely straight face.
“You’re escalating,” I say, my voice filled with sleep. “First watching me sleep. Now this. Should I worry?”
Luke lifts his head, his eyes meeting mine. He’s propped up on one elbow, shirtless, the sheet low on his hips. He looks almost sweet. Almost.
“Yeah,” he says, his voice low and serious. “You should worry. I am.”
I fight it. I really do. But the corner of my mouth twitches, and I lose the battle, a smile breaking through. “No one would ever believe me,” I say, rolling toward him, my hand coming up to trace the stubble on his jaw. “That Luke Locke is like a teddy bear on the inside.”
He catches my wrist, his thumb brushing the sensitive skin there, his expression shifting to something darker, hungrier. “You do make me growl a lot.”
I burst into laughter, the sound loud and unexpected in the quiet room. He silences me with a deep and thorough kiss, and by the time he pulls back, I’m breathless and a little dizzy—almost forgetting about everything else.
Almost.
A sudden thought hits me.
“Luke.” I push against his chest, not that he goes anywhere. “The girl. Twenty years ago.”
“What?” His playful mood falls away.
“Bennett said it or the cops told him, or whatever. ‘We haven’t had something like this since twenty years ago,’” I say, sitting up. Luke gives me room. I clutch the sheet to my chest. “Who was she? What happened to her?”
Luke sits up too, running a hand through his hair, his brow furrowing. “I don’t... I was a kid. I wasn’t even here.” Right, he doesn’t even really live here. I forget that at times. Hell, what happens to us when school is over?
Okay, now is not the time to be thinking of that. There is enough going on, I don’t need to be adding additional stress.
I swing my legs over the side of the bed, feeling for my clothes from yesterday.
I pull my shirt over my head, my voice rising.
“I’m talking about the pattern. If this happened before—if someone died twenty years ago the same way—then it’s not random.
” I meet his eyes. “What if it’s the same person?
What if they’ve been here the whole time? ”
“A pattern is more than two.”
I pause. “I get that, but still. What are the odds of two women?” I hold up my fingers and wiggle them. “In a small town being chopped up and tossed in the lake?”
“If I believed what I see on TV, then yeah. It’s common.” I roll my eyes, but I can’t really disagree. “But yeah, I’m getting what you’re putting down.”
“You think your brother knows who it is?” He wasn’t here twenty years ago either.
Luke stands, pulling on his jeans. “We can ask him. If he doesn’t, I’m sure we can figure it out.” I smile and walk over to him. He’s not shutting me down. Luke has been that way from the start.
“Thank you,” I tell him, placing my hands on his chest.
“For what?”
“For doing all this with me.”
“Don’t have much of a choice.” He lets out a low chuckle.
“You do.”
“No, Buttercup, I don’t. If you’re in, I’m in.
That’s how it goes.” I could get really used to this whole boyfriend thing.
His giant comfy bed and shower too. “Let’s finish getting ready, and we’ll go ask.
The sooner this shit is done, the sooner I’ll be able to breathe again. ” He runs a hand down his face.
“The sooner I can run around without being tracked.”
“Sure.” Luke chuckles harder this time.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, Buttercup.” He shakes his head, smiling. “You’re just adorable is all.” I narrow my eyes at him. “Babe, you either need to get your ass moving or I’m taking you back to the bed you’re standing too damn close to. You’re baiting me.”
“Baiting you? I’m just standing here.”
“Looking adorable,” he says, like that should make me understand.
“You’re crazy.”
“Yeah, we’ve established that. Days ago.” He gives my ass a small smack. I let out a pretend annoyed huff and head into the bathroom. I need to at least look like I didn’t have sex last night or really early this morning.
I quickly finish getting ready. It takes Luke half a second. Men.
We find Grant and Georgia in the kitchen, both looking like they slept even less than we did. I spot Bennett’s car in the driveway now through the kitchen window. He’s home!
“Where is he?” I ask. When we’d come out of the bedroom, we saw that Bennett’s door was open, but he hadn’t been inside.
“Probably his office,” Grant says, gesturing toward the hallway.
Luke takes my hand. “Stay here. Let me talk to him first.” He gives it a small squeeze, but I’m already shaking my head. No way he’s going without me. As a matter of fact, without all of us.
“No.” I pull him back. “This involves all of us now. We all go,” I push. He’s not the only one that can demand things.
He hesitates. “I can maybe get you because he’s hooking up with your sister.”
“Luke.” Now I’m the one growling. He better not call what we’re doing hooking up. Who am I kidding? He’d probably kick his own ass.
He keeps going. “But he’s not going to want to be telling random students shit.” I get that.
“Fill us in,” Georgia says.
We walk down the hallway together and stop outside a closed door.
“Normally he keeps it open,” Luke says, knocking. “Bennett? We need to talk.”
“Come in,” he calls back.
Bennett’s office is exactly what I’d expect—dark wood, leather chairs, walls lined with books. He looks up from his desk.
“Morning,” he says, his eyes going from me to Luke and softening a fraction.
Luke might have lingering resentment toward his brother, but Bennett loves Luke.
I can see that clear as day. They didn’t have a lot of love growing up.
I bet that makes it hard to express it later on in life.
Even though these circumstances aren’t ideal, I’m thankful that they’ve at least brought these two a smidge closer.
“Morning,” I say back a tad too quickly. I’m way too eager, but I have a lead! See, this is why they say you should sleep on it.
“The girl,” I say, stepping forward. “Twenty years ago. The one who died. Who was she?”
“What?” He gives me a perplexed expression.
“Yesterday, when you and the police were trying to warn us about Grant.”
“Oh.” His brows rise in realization. “Yeah, I don’t know. I didn’t ask. I wouldn’t likely know the person, and this is the police’s responsibility,” he reminds us, but I’ll be forgetting it the second I leave this office.
“Damn,” I mutter. I’m not giving up, but I want it to appear that way. I’ve already got Luke hovering. I don’t need Bennett, and likely my sister too.
“Go be teens and leave this to the authorities.”
“Right.” I nod in agreement, lying.
“Thanks,” Luke says to his brother, giving him a chin nod before leading me back out of his office and toward the kitchen.
“Georgia.” I head over and drop down in the chair with her. Those curls of hers are extra unruly today. Wonder if it has anything to do with last night. “Yesterday, remember, it was mentioned that another girl died like twenty years ago the same way.”
Her eyes widen, and I know we’re on the same page. “The library. That’s where we can try and figure out who it is.” She starts to get up.
“Hold on,” Luke says, putting his hand out in a stop motion like he’s Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet and the mere act can halt my movement.
“Thanos over there,” I hear Georgia say from beside me, and I can’t stop the small laugh that slips out. “You were thinking it too?” I nod.
Luke drops his hand. “You all stay here with Grant and my brother. I first need to go talk to Joey.” Yeah, that’s not happening. We don’t need Luke hauled down to the station next. He won’t be as lucky as Grant because he’s gonna put up a fight. Then they will have a reason to hold him.
“Shop’s closed on Sundays and Mondays.” I cross my arms, relieved. “So we can’t talk to him today anyway.”
“I,” Luke is quick to correct me. “I can’t talk to him today.”
“Agreed. No one talks to Joey today, then.”
“Oh, I can find his ass today, bet.”
“Luke.” I grab his arm. “Pump the brakes.”
He looks down at me. “Madeline—”
“We don’t even know if Joey’s involved yet. We need more information before we go charging over there.” I give his arm a squeeze. “We need facts first. Plus, we don’t want to spook him if he really is involved in this somehow.”
“Information is power,” Georgia adds, her voice small but steady.
Luke exhales through his nose, his muscles tense under my hand, but he doesn’t pull away. “All right.”
“To the library we all go then.” I drop my hand from his arm, already moving toward the door.
The campus is quiet as we walk. A few students drift toward the dining hall or back to dorms. The normal hustle and bustle of the campus is muted with the curfew and all classes, sporting events and practices being canceled until Wednesday.
Grant was able to do his computer magic and get us the name of the previous victim, Rebecca Chen. So, we are not going in completely blind. Now, we just need to find anything and everything about her that we can.
The library is nearly empty when we arrive—most students are still sleeping. The librarian at the front desk barely looks up from her phone as we pass.
“Basement,” Georgia whispers, pointing to a door marked Archives. “That’s where they keep the old stuff.” Of course she knows this place like the back of her hand.
Luke tries the handle. Locked. He pulls out his wallet, sliding a credit card between the door and the frame. A few seconds of wiggling, and the lock clicks open.
“Where did you learn that?” Grant asks.
“Juvie,” he mutters, holding the door for us. “Learned all sorts of useful shit there.” I don’t know if he’s joking or not, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he spent a few nights there before. With the way he loves to fight.
“Madeline’s dad taught her,” Georgia says as she passes him.
I rub my nose with the back of my hand to stop a sneeze from forming. The basement is musty and dim, with rows of metal shelves stretching back into shadows. We all make a plan and then split up to see what we’re able to find. Divide and conquer.
“Here!” I pull down a yearbook, flipping through the glossy pages. “Rebecca Chen...”
“There.” Luke appears over my shoulder, his finger stabbing at a photo.
She’s beautiful. Dark hair, bright smile, wearing an Ice Crew jacket.
“She looks like you,” Georgia mutters. She kind of does.
“Keep looking,” I say, my voice trembling. “Find everything.”
And we do.