Chapter 60. Brynn
brYNN
I feel beaten up after seeing Silas. The guy hates me for existing; I’m a thorn in his precious foster kid world.
His insinuation that Cody used me to get to my parents hits me hard.
I’m still seeing stars. I left his office with a sour taste in my mouth and more questions than answers, food the last thing on my mind.
I arrive at the police station over an hour before I’m supposed to meet the detectives, but someone shows me straight into the same interrogation room. The sweat trapped under my white capris and striped top sends a chill through me as I watch the minutes tick by.
It doesn’t make sense, Cody harming my parents to leverage them. He wasn’t like that. He had trouble forming a sentence around them just like everyone else my entire life had.
My stomach starts knocking. Forget your hunger, I tell myself. I need to stay sharp. Relay what I know. Find out if Dahlia and Teddy helped to carry out Cody’s plan, which was clearly inspired by those news articles. Learn the truth of what happened that night and make them pay.
Simone and Clive shuffle into the room.
“You’re early, Miss Gallardo.” She folds her arms on the table.
My knees start bouncing. “Dahlia Schenkel called me. She and another guy were in the car with Cody that night. She said she called 911.”
“Slow down.” She motions with her hand. “We have no record of any 911 calls.”
Clive places the evidence box on the table between them.
“Th-that’s impossible. My mom’s voicemail said the police had arrived—that they were being rescued.”
They look at one another with blank expressions.
She turns back to me. “What voicemail?”
Wait, what? “I told the officer working the desk that night. I argued it was proof they were still alive. All he said was that I needed to bring in their toothbrush or hairbrush to identify the bodies. He had no interest in anything I had to say.”
Simone frowns.
Clive purses his lips.
They watch me pull out my old phone from my bag—the one from a former life, when my world was still whole. I place it on the table and press play.
Honey, it’s Mommy. Shit, is this thing recording? Um, Daddy and I had an accident. A small one. Uh, we’re fine . . . We really wanted to hear you sing tonight. I’m afraid we may miss it now.
Look! Someone’s running toward us. That didn’t take long. A good sign, my love!
The police are here, baby girl. I’ll call you later. We love you.
I gesture to my phone. “If that wasn’t a cop, who was it?”
“Not one of ours,” Simone says. “Your mother may have assumed it was the police. Who knows the state she was in after the car rolled.” She glances at Clive. “Could have hit her head.”
“Well, she sounds normal to me. If someone else was there, why didn’t this person try to help them?” My voice cracks.
Clive looks up from his notes. “Maybe they did.”
“Then why didn’t they come forward?” I mash my quivering lips together.
His eyes soften. “Mind if I take a look at your phone?” He points. “I won’t delete a thing, I promise.”
I hesitate, then slide it toward him.
Simone lifts her palm to me. “You’ve been carrying around this piece of evidence all these months and only decided to share it with us now?”
“I thought . . .” My ears grow hot.
“This would help take our eyes off of you?”
My breath catches. “I was at Pete’s, waiting for Cody to come back. And like I said, I did tell an officer that night. I had nothing to do with this!”
Clive stops chewing the end of his pen. “The last time you came, we analyzed the location-sharing app on Cody’s phone—specifically, the route he took that night—and you asked if we found your mom’s phone. I found that interesting.”
I close my eyes, rubbing my temple. “I don’t remember.”
“Did your mom have the same app on her phone?” His voice rises. “Was Cody tracking their car that night?”
“Come on, Brynn, level with us.” The skin around Simone’s eyes creases. “All these performing arts students come together on one night and you’re telling us you’re not somehow connected?”
“I swear, I never heard of Dahlia and Teddy before now.” I grip the edge of my seat.
“Detective Bodie, invite Miss Schenkel to join us. You can dismiss the others.”
“Which one is that again?”
“The tall blonde.”
I swallow. “Others?”
“Teddy, who was also in the car with Cody that night. A couple members of Cody’s band. Oh, and some of your former classmates. We went way back, Bull Shark Brynn.”
Oh, shit.
Dahlia takes a step back before entering the small room wearing a green maxi dress that hugs her slight build. She pretends not to see me as she sits down in the chair adjacent to mine. She smooths her dress underneath her and then leans forward in her seat, waiting for the detectives to begin.
A lifetime passes.
She keeps recrossing her legs, keeping her back ramrod straight. This is the first time I’ve seen her not dressed in one of her uniforms. She’s better-looking with her hair down—I’ll give her that.
Simone glances up from her phone at last. “Okay, Dahlia, let’s start from when you picked up Cody at Pete’s Saloon. Whose car were you in?”
“Silas’s,” she says, her voice soft.
Simone nods. “Detective Bodie tried tracing Mr. Walker’s car. St. Ignatius reported it stolen a week after the Gallardos’ accident.”
Dahlia holds the front of her neck. “Um, when we got there, Cody and I changed seats. He liked to drive. Didn’t get much of a chance living in the city.
” She clears her windpipe. “We headed onto the Saw Mill; we were talking about his band’s set that night when, out of nowhere, he saw a car flip in his mirror. ”
Simone squints. “His rearview mirror? I thought you saw the Gallardos’ car from the other direction.”
She clears her throat again. “I meant from the southbound side. Sorry, I’m nervous. Anyway, Cody insisted that we try to help whoever it was. He circled back around and pulled off on the shoulder. He ran over to help.”
Simone cocks her head. “No one else got out of the car to help?”
Dahlia shrugs one shoulder. “He said he’d be right back. He wasn’t gone long before we heard Silas’s trunk pop open.”
“Hm.” Simone taps her finger on the police report before her. “Your friend Teddy says Cody was looking for a tire iron.”
Dahlia rewets and bites her lips. “I-I didn’t know what he was after.
Cody headed to their car again—and then the ground, everything, shook.
Teddy started screaming about the other car being on fire.
The explosion knocked Cody into the ravine.
We both jumped out of the car and started running.
Teddy got to him first. He was still alive.
We didn’t see any burns . . . only blood.
” She drops her head, hugging her waist.
Her cat-like eyes flit over to mine, then to the detectives.
The back of my neck tingles. She’s lying.
My heart begins to pound. That bald guy’s car conveniently gets stolen a week after the accident. Dahlia admits they moved Cody’s body. It’s obvious she and Teddy played a part in Cody’s plan. Why else protect him?
Dahlia’s lips curl around her teeth as she cries. “I know we should have stayed and not tried to take Cody to the hospital ourselves. When he died, we didn’t know what to do.”
I shove her shoulder. “So, you and Teddy dump him on the street in Dobbs Ferry to make it look like a hit and run? Like he’s nothing to you?”
She recoils, holding her arm. “I’m truly sorry we did that.” She turns to the detectives. “We made a mistake.” Her voice cuts out.
Simone turns to me. “What about the call Cody made to you that night after he left Pete’s, Miss Gallardo?”