Chapter 64
We tied them up and left them in the room for a few minutes while we took a few minutes to talk in the hall.
Kaylee rushed down the hallway, a huge smile on her face.
“I don’t think we’ll have any trouble getting them to do what we want.”
She held up her cell phone to Everleigh. “You’ll never believe what my friend in Austin dug up.”
She hit the play button and we all watched the video with our mouths open.
“Fucking asshole,” Everleigh said. “Let’s go talk to them.”
They saw us walking back in and began struggling against their restraints.
“Shut the fuck up!” Everleigh said, taking charge instantly. A hush fell over the room as we watched her pace in front of them, waving her phone in her hand.
“I think it’s fair to say you two have limited options now.”
“We know what you did,” Jill said, looking at me and Ev. “I already have everything set up to be sent to the press if anything happens to me.”
“Sure, whatever.” Everleigh shrugged. “The thing is, Jill, things didn’t really go like you thought they did. Maybe everybody was wrong.”
Ev and I exchanged knowing glances.
“The two of you already confessed to murdering Avett,” Jill said.
“We did, that’s true,” Everleigh said, before turning to Harlan. “What do you think, Harlan?”
He shook his head, refusing to meet her gaze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Everleigh laughed. “I thought you might say that.”
She turned back to Jill, a slow smile forming on her face.
“Turns out, Harlan’s been keeping a few secrets of his own.”
We all looked at Harlan. Harlan looked at the door.
“What is she talking about?” Jill asked him.
“How did you and Harlan come up with this little scheme, Jill?” Everleigh asked.
“We ran into each other at the reunion,” she replied, shooting a suspicious look at Harlan. “We were drunk. Of course, West and Everleigh weren’t there, but they were the famous ones of our group, and we all hoped they would come. But when they didn’t show up, Harlan and I ended up talking trash about them towards the end of the night. I saw how passionate he was, how much he hated them.” She paused, staring over at him thoughtfully.
“We bonded over that, didn’t we?” When he didn’t reply, she continued. “After the reunion was over, we kept in touch. He invited me to visit him in San Francisco and we began fantasizing about revenge together. We’d confessed to each other that we’d both seen what happened that night. We were both hiding in the woods, watching what went down separately.”
“And Harlan wanted revenge, didn’t he?”
“Yes. He told me he loved Avett.”
“Is that all he told you, Jill? That’s the only reason?”
“Yes,” she said. “He said it wasn’t fair that you and Theo had gotten away with murder. That you’d just gone on with your lives, with Theo still being rich and you getting famous. Having your wholesome images, all while secretly being a couple of murderers.”
“Right,” Everleigh nodded. “But even we were fooled.”
“What are you talking about?” Jill cried out, impatiently.
“How about I just show you?” She hit a few buttons on the phone and held it up.
The video started to play. My stomach churned as I watched the old familiar scene of the lake come into view again. It was the boardwalk where I’d fought with Avett. In the footage, two figures ran away in the distance. I could tell, even from here, that they were Everleigh and me.
But the video continued playing even after we’d left the frame. From the far left, Harlan ran up the boardwalk. He fell to his knees and peered over the edge. He cried out, and then reached down. Struggling hard, he managed to pull Avett’s limp body from the water.
“No!” he cried out, sobbing as he leaned over him. “Avett, wake up! Avett, I love you!”
He shook Avett, trying to rouse him. He slapped him, but Avett didn’t move. The video was grainy and from a distance. The sound was faint, but Harlan’s voice broke through.
“What the fuck,” I muttered, my head spinning as I watched the video again.
We kept watching as Harlan placed Avett’s body on the boardwalk and began CPR, alternating between pumping his chest and blowing air into his lungs. We watched now, breathlessly, as Harlan kept going, determined to bring his friend back to life.
“Avett, you can’t die!” He cried. “You can’t leave me! I love you, baby, please!”
My eyes widened in disbelief as Avett started coughing, violently spewing up water and turning on his side and curling up into a fetal position. Harlan sprung up onto his feet, a shout of glee escaping from his lips.
Avett coughed and coughed, before looking up at Harlan.
Harlan sank back to his knees, consoling his friend with a spontaneous hug. But Avett wasn’t having it. He pushed him away, Harlan landing with a thud on his ass.
“Get off me,” Avett growled, his words gravely before collapsing in another fit of coughing. Slowly, he stood up and Harlan followed suit, until they were facing each other.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Avett barked. “You aren’t fucking supposed to touch me in public.”
“But..but..we aren’t in public. Nobody’s here. Everleigh and Theo left. They left you there to die, Avett, but I saved you!”
“Those fuckers,” Avett said, shaking his head and wiping his mouth. He was soaked, he had a huge lump on his forehead from the tip of my boot, but he was standing strong and very much alive. “They’re going to pay.”
“But…pay for what? I saw what you were doing to Everleigh, Avett.”
“She fucking deserved it,” he snarled.
“Don’t you understand?” Harlan insisted, his voice rising in the darkness. “You almost died, Avett. If I hadn’t come along and pulled you out, you would have drowned…I saved you! I saved you!” He grabbed Avett’s arm, trying to hug him again.
“Oh, my god, you little prick, all you care about is yourself! What do you want from me? Fuck off!”
Avett shoved Harlan again, harder this time. For a moment, it appeared Avett was going to walk away. But instead, he took a few steps and then turned back to Harlan, flinging his words through the wind like he was throwing fire.
“Stay the fuck away from me, you little queen,” he snarled in his face. “Whatever happened between us is over. It was a mistake!”
Harlan froze. Staring at him in disbelief.
“How dare you!” Harlan said.
Avett’s hand was a blur in the dark video but it was clear he punched Harlan. Harlan stumbled backwards, dangerously close to the edge of the boardwalk. Avett came closer, shaking his head and yelling something incoherent. Harlan’s hand held his cheek as he shook his head.
When Avett went to shove him again, Harlan moved out of the way to avoid the blow. Avett didn’t catch himself in time, off-balance as he stumbled forward and fell head-first back into the water.
“Avett!” Harlan shouted, rushing to the edge. He screamed as he looked into the water, slowly backing up, his hand over his mouth.
All of us in the room gasped.
All of us except for Harlan, that is.
On the video, Harlan looked over the edge again for a quick second before he took off running, leaving Avett’s lifeless body lying in the water.
“What a video, huh?” Everleigh asked, flipping it off.
“Really interesting story behind it, too,” Kaylee jumped in. “Apparently, it was taken by a birdwatcher out looking for owls that night. They turned it into the police, but then that caused all kinds of commotion, didn’t it, Harlan?”
She looked at Harlan, but he still hadn’t looked away from the door.
“Turns out Avett did die from blunt force trauma to the head, but not because of Theo’s boot.” Kaylee said. “What was most interesting to me was that Harlan’s father was the District Attorney for Travis County at the time this video was taken. Also, probably not shocking to anyone, he’s a very conservative, old-school Texan. Once dear old Daddy saw this video of his very closeted son professing his everlasting love for, and heroically saving the life of his gay lover before fighting with him and leaving him for dead — well, needless to say he wanted it covered up.”
“You little prick,” I muttered, staring at Harlan.
“Now, who wouldn’t cover up their child’s crime, right? The love of a parent is stronger than anything, we all know that. And there conveniently happened to be a serial killer in the area that killed via blunt force trauma to the head. When Harlan moved out of the way and Avett fell in the water, his head hit a rock. It perfectly matched the killer’s MO. But that’s not why Harlan’s dad covered it up and Harlan knew that. Didn’t you, Harlan?”
She paused in front of him, waiting. He didn’t reply.
“If it was just murder, he’d have thrown his son under the bus. But Harlan’s sexuality was a direct failure on his father’s part according to those in the elite circles of conservative Texans. He knew that all his friends would shun his family, murder or no murder.”
“They’d have lost everything,” West said. “His dad would have lost his job, they would have lost all their money, the house, everything. Their reputation would have been shot forever.”
“It’s true. Harlan, why didn’t you tell me?” Jill demanded. “I ran off after Everleigh and Theo did. I didn’t see any of this.”
Harlan’s eyes flashed with anger as he finally spoke up. “Because, what the fuck was I going to do? Yeah, it’s all true, obviously. But what you don’t see on that video is why I went along with my asshole father in the first place. If our family lost everything, then my sister did too. She was the one thing I cared about. Except for Avett, that fucking prick.”
His words rang through the air, the truth heavy and shocking to all of us.
“Harlan went on to go to law school,” Kaylee continued. “He moved to San Francisco so he could live the lifestyle he wanted, away from his father’s prying eyes.”
“Then why the fuck are you here now?” West demanded. “Why all this?”
Harlan shook his head, looking away again. “My old man died last year. But not before losing all of my family’s wealth making risky deals in the stock market. Mom died years ago. All that’s left is a ton of fucking debt and my disabled sister.”
“So, it’s just the money?” Everleigh asked.
“No,” he insisted. “If none of this would have happened, I could have stood up to my father and lived the life I wanted out in the open. But he held this shit over me all my life. Forcing me to submit to his wishes, forcing me to become a fucking lawyer, just like he was. Anytime he had an inkling that I was breaking free, like daring to date a man or trying to find some semblance of love, he’d remind me that he could destroy it all in a second if he wanted to. Turns out, he did it by gambling away our inheritance and leaving me fucked anyway.”
“That doesn’t answer the question of why you did this, if not for the money?”
“Maybe I wanted to see someone else pay for it, too. Avett wouldn’t have been in that water in the first place if it wasn’t for you, Theo.”
“That’s not true, and you know it. Avett is responsible for all of this,” Everleigh said, her voice loud and clear. I stared over at her, amazed at how levelheaded she was being about all of this. We’d both carried the burden of this secret for years and finding out we’d had it all wrong was infuriating. I wanted to rip Harlan’s head off. Another part of me felt so fucking sorry for the dude that I almost wanted to hug him.
Seeing him slumped on the floor, knowing she was right, he looked like a broken man.
“He was a fucking prick,” he said. “I wish I could do it all over again.”
“Dude,” I muttered, shaking my head. “What the fuck? This shit is crazy.”
I looked over at West and the others, my head spinning.
“Yeah, what the fuck, indeed.” Harlan sighed, hanging his head in shame.