Chapter 25 #2
“Stay back!” Jodie demands, brandishing the knife.
“Of course not. I was afraid you could tell the cops that you had seen us at the Gamma party the night of Tim’s murder.
Then, when Taryn told me that the stalker chased her in the basement, and I realized that you were the person who was blackmailing me into sending her those texts. ”
That doesn’t make sense. “Wait, what? What did you just say? Someone is blackmailing you to blackmail her?”
“Stop acting like you don’t know. If you come any closer, I’ll stab you. I’m not bluffing, Nash.”
I stop in my tracks. From the crazed look in her eyes, I know Jodie means it. She looks like a cornered wild animal. But what she just said doesn’t make sense. I need a second to think.
“So what you’re saying is that someone is making you do this stuff? “
“Of course I am. Taryn is my best friend. I love her like a sister. I would never do anything to hurt her.”
A bitter snort comes out of my mouth. “Could have fooled me. You’re some best friend calling Taryn a slut, leaving a doll’s severed head in her locker and spying on her.
Did you kill Tim, Jodie? Did you drug Taryn and Tim and then try to pin the murder on Taryn and make her believe that she did it? ”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” She screams. “You killed Tim. And you’ve been blackmailing me and stalking Taryn. Are you working alone, or is Gen helping you?”
“I have nothing to do with any of this.” I yell. “Stop trying to shift the blame onto me. I hate Gen, she’s a bitch. Why would I be working with her?”
Jodie is holding the knife with white-knuckle force.
Her hand is shaking, but her voice is firm.
“You’re both jealous. You’ve had a crush on Taryn for a while, right?
And Gen is convinced that Taryn and Mack are fucking behind her back.
This is why you told me to make her break up with them.
You wanted Taryn to yourself, and Gen thought that if Taryn backed off, Mack would take her back. ”
“Jodie.” I bite out. “I have nothing to do with any of this. I love Taryn and I would never hurt her. And I have a solid alibi for the night of Tim’s murder.”
She shakes her head. “Stop lying to me.”
“I’m not. If my alibi wasn’t airtight, do you think the cops would have let me leave the state so easily? The same can’t be said about you. Taryn told me what happened the morning after Tim’s murder. You were awfully quick to decide to run away.”
“There was blood everywhere, and Taryn was covered in it. She had the murder weapon. What was I supposed to do? I don’t know if she did it and I don’t care. I love her regardless. She’s my best friend. When I realized that she had been drugged, my priority was to protect her. I had to act fast.”
I’m not convinced. “Did you want to help her, or did you want to help yourself? If you had killed Tim, wouldn’t it be very convenient to let Taryn think that she was responsible?
So you’d have someone to run away with you.
That alone would be enough to call the cops, but the fact that you put an air tag in Taryn’s car and ambushed her and assaulted her last night is all the confirmation I need. ”
“I did what?” Her eyes are almost bulging out of their sockets. “I was here all night. Ask Talia and Gen, they can vouch for me. It’s you, Nash. You did that and now you’re trying to blame it on me.”
“Try again. I was out running with Colsen last night when Taryn ran into me. Colsen can vouch that I was with him all afternoon during and after practice.”
Something shifts in Jodie’s expression. “Really?”
I take my phone out of my pocket, since it isn’t really dead. “Call him and check with him if you don’t believe me. We saw the person who attacked Taryn ride away on a black sports bike.”
Jodie lowers the knife. “I swear it wasn’t me. Talia is at dinner, but you can call her too.”
I want to believe her, but I don’t know if I can. “Jodie, if you’re lying to me, so help me God.”
She sounds sincere when she nods in the direction of her phone.
“It was me who did the text messages and the headless doll. But I swear I did it to protect Taryn while I tried to figure out who wanted to hurt her. You have my phone. I communicated with the stalker via that app, but the first few messages came through my regular texts. I had to delete them because I couldn’t risk Taryn seeing them by accident.
But before I did, I took screenshots. They’re in a folder called proof. ”
I find the folder and look at the screenshots.
My blood curdles in my veins and my pulse quickens when I see that Jodie was telling the truth.
There are several messages that confirm it.
Unknown: I see you. Good job leaving Hemlock Beach, bitches.
But I know what you and your friend did, and if you don’t do what I say, I’ll call the cops on you.
In the meantime, put this app on Taryn’s phone.
If you tell her anything about this, I’ll also call the cops.
Keep your mouth shut and wait for my instructions.
The screenshots are date stamped. The first message is from shortly after Taryn and Jodie arrived in Star Cove. The app the message refers to is the spy app.
The messages escalate in tone, and the demands become worse with each new one.
Two days pass from the first message, and the stalker demands that Jodie download the app she has been using to text Taryn.
Unknown: Your best friend is a filthy slut. Look at how she was dry humping the Cove Knights’ goalie last night. It makes me sick to my stomach.
There’s the photo of Taryn and Tucker that alerted Carole and Lexi that the no fraternization rule was missing from the paperwork the cheerleaders had signed.
Unknown: Share this photo with the cheerleading coaches and with all your teammates. Everyone needs to see what a disgusting whore Taryn is.
“The photo was your doing? Not Gen’s?”
Jodie is weeping as she nods. “I tried to fight him. I swear.”
She’s right. The next message confirms it.
Me: Why would I do that? Taryn didn’t do anything wrong.
Unknown: It’s up to me to decide right and wrong. Do what I say if you don’t want to spend the rest of your life in a prison cell. You have one day, or I’ll call the cops. Tick Tock, bitch.
Fuck. It gets worse from there.
Unknown: Your best friend is the biggest whore I’ve ever seen.
The second she gets told she can’t mess around with the hockey players, she’s kissing Nash.
And I know she fucked his teammate Colsen on the night you two arrived in town.
I know because I was there. I watched her sleep in Colsen’s bed.
You need to tell her to break up with them. Or I’ll call the cops.
The next message demands that Jodie scare Taryn in the basement of our building.
Jodie tries to refuse, and the stalker takes his threat up a notch.
Unknown: If you don’t do it, I will. And believe me, you don’t want me to start playing this game instead of you. I already killed Tim, and I liked it. If you do what I say, there’s a chance I’ll let you and Taryn live. If not, your BFF might lose her head just like Tim.
“Holy fuck.” I bite out.
The last message to Jodie was from yesterday morning. The stalker complains that Taryn is still seeing us. Evidently, he—or she—took matters into their own hands and assaulted Taryn.
If she hadn’t gotten away and if Colsen and I hadn’t been on our way back to camp in the rain… I shudder at the thought of what could have happened.
“I get it. You had no choice.”
Jodie drops the knife. It lands on the floor with a cluttering sound.
I don’t even think about it; I take her into my arms. “You must have been terrified.”
She’s crying so hard she can barely talk. “I didn’t know what to do.”
“Come here. Let’s get you some water and talk about this, ok? I’m on your side.”
“Really? You aren’t going to call the cops on me?”
I shake my head. “Believe me, I’d be tempted. But that’s Taryn’s call, not mine. And if I know her like I think I do, she’ll understand that you were in an impossible situation.”
“What are we going to do, Nash? When I thought you were the stalker, I hoped that if I caught you red-handed, I could make you stop. But now I don’t know how we’re gonna get out of this.”
She’s right. “First off, send me your screenshots and let me take some of the messages from the app. The stalker confessed to Tim’s murder. So if Taryn decides to call the cops, you two should be off the hook.”
Jodie still looks hesitant. “But there’s still the fact that we ran and we got rid of the murder weapon and a lot of other evidence.”
“That’s true. But maybe the police team can find the stalker with our help.
Even if you deleted the first text and the rest were sent through the app, their forensic team can do stuff that’s impossible for us.
If we cooperated, hopefully they would cut a deal with you and Taryn about the destruction of evidence. ”
“Maybe.” She sighs. “We’ll see what Taryn says. It would be great not to have to look over our shoulder every second of every day.”
I get that.
“Nash, are you sure she’s gonna forgive me?” She says one second later.
I can’t promise her that. “Taryn loves you, Jodie. And she has the biggest heart of anyone I know. You’ll find a way to make things right with her.”
“Will you be there when I talk to her, please?”
I chuckle. “It’s a little funny that you’re asking for my help, since a second ago you were ready to julienne me.”
“I thought you were the person behind all this mess. Can you blame me?”
“No. I can’t. Let me really text Tucker so we can all sit down together and talk about this. Maybe at our place, though. It’s better if Gen doesn’t get wind of this.”
She agrees. “No shit. She can’t have killed Tim, but I wish there was a way to pin everything on her. She’s a horrible human being.”
“No shit.” I snort.
As I open my message app to write to Tucker, my phone vibrates with a text message, and so does Jodie’s.
“What the fuck?” We both gasp.
It’s a photo of Taryn, gagged and bound to some pipes in what looks like a utility room.
Unknown: I finally got my little bitch and I’m about to have some fun. You’re invited to the party if you can figure out where we are. But don’t be late. Tick Tock.
“Shit!” Jodie cries out. “That could be anywhere.”
I state at the photo and panic makes it hard to think.
“Fuck, I got it! He’s in one of the utility rooms at the arena. Look, see behind Taryn? Every office, locker, and every other room at the arena is numbered.”
“Let’s go, Nash. I’m bringing this,” Jodie grabs the knife from the floor.
“Good idea. I’ll grab my hockey stick from the locker room on the way there.”
We run like the wind.
Thank fuck the stalker was stupid enough to give us a hint of his location.
We find the door with the numbers three, two, one, just like in the photo. It’s a utility room in the underbelly of the practice arena here at camp.
“Get ready to strike and watch your back.” I whisper to Jodie as I open the door.
“What the fuck?” She says. “Taryn isn’t here. Are you sure you got the right room?”
I open my mouth to answer her question, but something heavy crashes on my head. The last thing I hear is Jodie’s bloodcurdling scream, then everything goes black.