Chapter 40 #2
“Anyway,” Roman went on. “She didn’t take the rejection too well.
I think she thought she could change my mind, because she kept texting me after that, asking for another date, or just talking about random stuff like we were friends.
She also started popping up at my regular coffee spot in the mornings, always at the exact time I’d mentioned I usually go when we talked about our favorite cafés on the date.
She was always really dressed up, so it seemed obvious that she was hoping to run into me looking her very best.”
“So Cherry stalked you?” Julian said, eyes widening with incredulity. “And you didn’t think this was a major fucking red flag that you should’ve mentioned before now?”
Roman snorted and shook his head. “She wasn’t stalking me.
Not even close. That stuff only went on for a couple of weeks, and then she obviously got over it, because I never heard from her again,” he said.
“Nothing she did was actually harmful. I just got the impression it happened because she was only eighteen and had never been rejected before. I mean, we all did embarrassing stuff at that age, right?”
“I guess so,” Julian muttered.
“Anyway, like I said, it was years ago. But I told Cal about it when I found out she was best friends with Cherry, because I didn’t want to keep it from her or make things awkward if she found out from Cherry instead,” Roman said.
“Then we ended up deciding to keep things quiet for a while, because we didn’t want to embarrass Cherry by reminding her of the cringey stuff she did when she was eighteen.
But we would’ve told her eventually, of course. ”
I slowly shook my head. “Roman… Cherry told me a totally different version of events,” I said. “She said you gave her the impression that you were a complete psychopath on your date, and that she rejected you afterwards.”
Roman barked out a laugh. “Really?”
“Yeah.” I cocked my head. “That’s… kinda weird. Right?”
“I don’t know,” he said, slowly shaking his head. “She and Cal’s other friends all think I murdered Cal. So it makes sense that they’d look back at past encounters with me through a totally different lens. And from there, it makes sense that they’d want to paint me as some sort of psychopath.”
Julian was frowning now. “No, I think Violet’s right. It’s weird that Cherry would tell that date story so differently,” he said. “In fact, I’d say it’s downright suspicious.”
“It doesn’t mean she’s a killer,” Roman said. “She was probably just embarrassed about the weird, immature way she acted after being rejected back then, so she made up a different version of the story that made her look better.”
“But it gives us a motive, right?” Julian asked. “Maybe she never got over that rejection and still secretly wanted you. Then it all came to a head when she found out that Calista was dating you.”
“No. No way.” Roman shook his head again, but there was less certainty in his voice now. “Like I said, Cherry only bothered me a little, and it only lasted around two weeks. And it was four years ago. There’s no way she’d get jealous enough to kill her best friend over that.”
Julian turned his attention back to me. “What do you think?”
“I don’t really know what to think,” I said, anxiety churning in my gut.
“It’s definitely weird that Cherry told me that story so differently, but it could be like Roman said…
maybe she was just super embarrassed about how she acted back then, so she wanted to present the story differently because of that. ”
“You don’t think it could be a motive?”
I chewed on my bottom lip as I contemplated his question.
“I don’t know,” I finally said in a reluctant tone.
“I guess it could be, but I’m really not sure it’s enough of a motive.
I mean, if I had a major obsessive crush on a guy and made a total fool of myself in front of him a few years ago, and then my best friend told me she was dating him, I might feel embarrassed.
But I wouldn’t jump from that to planning a murder. ”
“Yeah, but you’re not psychotic,” he replied.
“Neither is Cherry,” I shot back. “At least not that we know of. And I don’t want to start flinging accusations around over something that could be nothing.”
“Wait.” Roman lifted a hand again. “What if you’re both right?”
My brows rose. “How is that possible?”
“What if Cherry is our killer, but it’s not because of jealousy or humiliation over her old crush on me?
” he said. “What if she had some other reason to start hating Cal? Then she found out that Cal and I were dating, and even though that was just a minor embarrassment, it was enough to push her over the edge because of the other thing.”
“Well, that leaves us with a pretty major question,” I said softly. “What’s the other thing? What would make Cherry hate Cal that much?”
Roman sighed. “I have no idea.”
Julian turned his gaze back to me. “Think really hard, Violet. Has Cherry said or done anything else that could be construed as even slightly weird since you met her?” he asked. “Or anything that could be seen as sabotage in your investigation?”
“I don’t think so. She’s always been really helpful, and…” I trailed off for a moment, frowning as my mind spun through memories. Then I shook my head. “No, it’s probably nothing. Never mind.”
“Say whatever it is you were just thinking,” Julian said. “It might not be nothing.”
I took a deep breath. “Well, it’s just… Cherry was the hardest one of the group to convince to help with my investigation,” I said. “She said she thought it was too dangerous. And it wasn’t just once. There were multiple times that she said we should stop.”
Julian nodded slowly. “That could’ve been genuine concern. Or it could’ve been because she wanted you to stop for selfish reasons.”
“Yeah.” I swallowed hard. “There’s another thing too.
At one point, I wanted to speak to a girl who was in the Selection hunt.
She failed the training here at the estate, and she had a huge breakdown afterwards and ended up in a psychiatric hospital.
At the time, I had no idea what happened to her while she was here, so I wanted to talk to her and find out.
Cherry was super helpful with that. She tracked her down and arranged an appointment for us to see her under fake names, so we could pretend to be relatives.
So it really seemed like she was helping me a lot. But…”
I trailed off again, and Julian leaned in. “But what?”
“She only got one fake ID made for herself, and she told me it would be fine because she was the one who’d booked the appointment.
But it wasn’t fine. They wanted ID from both of us, so we almost didn’t get in,” I said.
“Cherry begged the reception nurse to reconsider, and she finally agreed to let us in. I remember Cherry was really shocked by that. I mean, we both were. At the time, I thought she was just shocked that our plan was actually working. But now—”
“Now you think she might’ve been sabotaging you, and she was shocked that it ended up working out anyway.”
“It’s possible, yeah.”
“I’d say it’s probable,” Julian said grimly. “When she booked the appointment, they would’ve told her that ID is necessary for all visiting parties. Not just her.”
Roman cocked his head. “Did she ever do anything else that could be seen as sabotage?”
I nodded slowly, my stomach sinking further.
“When I went into the ossuary tunnel so I could sneak onto the estate, it wasn’t just me,” I said.
“Jeremiah and Cherry were with me too. But then Cherry suddenly tripped and hurt her ankle, and she couldn’t walk properly after that, so Jeremiah took her to the medical center. ”
“She was probably hoping you’d cancel the whole thing,” Julian said. “Because the more you learned about the Club, the closer you’d get to realizing that we had nothing to do with Calista’s death.”
“Maybe. But here’s the thing,” I said, confusion simmering with frustration beneath my fear.
“I could be getting this all wrong. I mean, maybe Cherry really was just trying to help me all along. Maybe she really did hurt her ankle that night, and maybe she really believed that one fake ID would be enough at the hospital. And maybe she only said she thought we should stop the investigation because she was genuinely concerned for our safety. Most people are scared of the Dionysus Club, so that would make sense.”
“Yeah, she could be completely innocent after all.” Julian rubbed his jaw, eyes narrowing. “But this is the closest we’ve come to having a suspect, so I think we need to keep digging into it.”
I mulled it over, chewing on my lip again. “I just can’t see it happening,” I finally said. “I mean... we know the person who killed Calista probably shoved her hard enough to make her smash through the window at the top of the clock tower, right?”
Roman nodded. “Yes.”
“How could Cherry do that?” I asked, forehead creasing. “Calista was five-nine and really strong from all the gym workouts she did. Meanwhile, Cherry barely scrapes five-two, and she’s about ninety pounds soaking wet. She even struggles to open heavy doors sometimes.”
“Shit, you’re right,” Roman muttered. “She wouldn’t be strong enough to do that to Cal. Not unless Cal was weakened somehow. Like… if she was drunk or drugged. But we know she wasn’t.”
“Yeah, the autopsy report showed nothing in her system,” I said. “So it’s not—”
I clamped a hand over my mouth as something suddenly occurred to me, and for a moment, I was sure my heart was about to explode right out of my chest.
“What?” Julian moved closer, putting a hand on my knee. “What is it?”
I blinked rapidly, stomach churning. “What exactly does an EpiPen contain?” I asked in a hollow voice. “It’s just adrenaline, right?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“What happens if someone is injected with one when they’re not having any kind of allergic reaction?”