by Kai Juniper
"A lot of people pressure other people to take drugs. That's not murder."
"It is when you know it could kill someone."
"Any drug could cause death. A court would blame Jason, saying he should've known better."
"Okay, yeah, but you agree with me, right? That Braden did it intentionally?"
"Of course he did. He wanted to be the best player. Lead the team. He had to get rid of Jason in order to do that."
"And he doesn't get punished for it? He just gets to walk free?"
"I don't know what to tell you. You could bring that to the police but they're not going to do anything. You can't hear what Braden's saying to Jason on that video and you can't prove what those pills are. The evidence is too weak to prove anything."
My phone rings.
"It's Alyssa," I say to Jackson. "She's probably calling to complain about Kade. They broke up at lunch. I can call her back."
"Go ahead and answer it. I'm going to get something to eat."
I answer the call. "Hey, Alyssa."
"Did you watch it?" she asks, talking really fast.
"Watch what?"
"The video. Did you watch it or not?"
"Yeah. You're the one who sent it?"
"I didn't know what else to do. You're the only person I know who doesn't think Braden is perfect. I knew you'd believe what you saw."
"How did you get this?"
"I took the video last year. I hurt my knee so I sat out that game. My cheerleading coach had me take video of our routine so we could critique it later. That clip you saw was just me taking a test video before the game. Last week my coach asked me to find the video so we could compare this year to last. When I was watching it, I saw Braden giving Jason those pills. Braden knew Jason was having heart palpitations. All the players knew. He complained about it all the time."
"But Jason didn't go to the doctor?"
"Only the team doctor. His parents couldn't afford a regular doctor."
"And the team doctor covered it up so Jason could play."
"I guess. But Braden's the one who killed him."
"Alyssa, what do you expect me to do with this?"
"Give it to the police. Tell them you've seen Braden taking those pills. Show them the ones from the drawer."
"Wait—you know about that?"
"I put them there so you'd have evidence. I did it when I brought the pizza over last week."
"Where did you get them?"
"From Braden's backpack."
"Why didn't you turn him in yourself? Why are you involving me in this?"
"Because you're not afraid of him," she says, her voice shaking. "I am."
"Why? Did something happen?"
"I don't want to get into it. I just know that as long as Braden's out free, nobody's safe. He's a monster but everyone refuses to see it. Except you."
"Alyssa, I can't do this. I wasn't even here when it happened. The police will ask where I got the video, and then what? What do I tell them?"
"Then send it anonymously. Tell them to search Braden's locker. He always has pills in there."
"But it's a year later. Finding the pills won't do any good."
"He'll at least get charged with having the drugs illegally. Will you do it? Please?"
"I don't know. I need to think about this."
"I thought I could count on you. Don't you want Braden to finally get punished for what he's done?"
"Yeah, but I don't think this video will do it. We need more."
"Whatever," she says, getting angry. "Just forget it."
Chapter Twenty-Six
I look up and see Jackson in front of me.
"Was it her?" he asks. "Did Alyssa send the video?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"I could tell from where it was taken. She always sits in that section when she's not cheering."
"She wants me to give it to the police. She's afraid to do it herself."
"If you do it, send it anonymously."
I sit down on the couch and pull up the video. "I'm going to send it right now. If I don't, I might change my mind."
"You can't just send the video. The police won't know what they're looking at."
"I'll send a note with it, explaining it."
"Nothing's going to happen."
"Maybe not now but it might in the future. This might get the police to question what really happened. They could find something else later on that links back to this, proving Braden gave Jason those pills to kill him."
Jackson's phone dings. "I need to make a call."
"Go ahead," I say as I search for where to send the video.
Ten minutes later the video is sent. I feel anxious, like I need to go walk off all this nervous energy. I've never turned someone in for something. I'm sure nothing will happen to Braden but still, just sending that video to the police made me nervous.
"You done?" Jackson says, coming back in the room.
"Yeah." I get up. "I'm going to grab a soda. I'm not ready to study."
"Hey, that call I just made?"
"Yeah?"
"It was my friend, Mick. The tech guy from school. He said he can get into Devon's phone."
"Really? When?"
"Right now if you want. He wants to go somewhere private. He doesn't want to be seen with me, which I totally get."
"How much does he want?"
"A thousand, but I'll pay it."
"Jackson, no. I'll take it from my allowance."
"Don't worry about it." He smiles. "You can pay for the next hacked phone."
"I'm serious. I don't want you paying for it. Just take me to an ATM."
"I'm paying for it. Think of it as the money I'd spend if I could actually take you on dates."
"You wouldn't spend that on a date."
"You're right." He pulls me into his arms. "I'd spend more than that. Take you anywhere you want to go. Buy you flowers." He kisses me. "Get a room in a fancy hotel. Order room service and then—"
"That all sounds great," I say, pushing him back. "But right now we need to meet with your friend. What'd you tell him?"
"I said we'd meet him at the parking lot where I took you for your driving lessons."
"I'll go home and get the phone."
"You sure you want to do this?"
"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"
"You might not like what you find. It might not be about Braden. It could be something about Devon. Stuff you'd be better off not knowing."
"I still want to know." I race to the door. "I'll be right back."
When I get to the house, Shayla is there.
"Hey!" She hugs me. "I haven't heard from you. You okay?"
"Yeah. I just have a lot going on."
She follows me to my room, whispering. "How are you doing this?"
"Doing what?"
"Living with the guy arrested for Andrea's murder and dating the guy arrested for Kristen's? If it were me, I wouldn't be able to sleep, especially with Braden in the room right above me."
"Jackson is innocent. As for Braden, I don't know. I'm just trying to stay away from him." I take Devon's phone from my drawer. "Shayla, I'd love to catch up but I really need to go."
"It's okay. I'm leaving too. My mom just sent me over to get her check. She forget to pick it up this morning. She's not letting me work here anymore because of Braden."
"Probably a good idea," I say from the walk-in closet. While she was talking, I changed out of my uniform and put on jeans and a t-shirt. I go back to where she's standing by my dresser. "Sorry I haven't called. We'll go do something when things aren't so crazy."
"Okay." She gives me a hug. "Be careful."
"I will."
We walk out together and she gets in her car. As she drives off, I see Jackson's Range Rover pulling out of the driveway. He drives down and picks me up.
"Mick's on his way there," Jackson says. "I have the cash. You got the phone?"
I hold it up. "Right here."
"Wha
t the hell? Did he drop it in the garbage disposal?"
"I know, right? I'm surprised it even works."
"The phone has deep scratches all over it and it's coated with dirt and sand. I tried to clean it but then worried I might damage it so I decided to leave it alone.
We get to the parking lot and see a brown pick-up truck that's so rusted that part of the door is missing.
"That's him," Jackson says.
We pull up beside him and get out.
A short heavy-set guy wearing jeans, a black t-shirt, and faded black baseball cap gets out of the pickup. He looks old for a high school guy but it could be the beard. He has a thick black beard.
"Hey, Mick," Jackson says, handing him the money. "Thanks for doing this."
Mick stuffs the money in his back pocket. "Where's the phone?"
"Right here." I hand it to him.
"Looking for anything in particular?" he asks as he inspects the phone. "An email? A file?"
"No," I say. "I just want to see what's on it."
"The guy left it behind," Jackson says. "It's possible he wiped everything before tossing it."
"I'll see what I can find." Mick opens the door of his truck and I see a laptop sitting on the seat. He connects the phone to his laptop and starts typing. "What do you want the new password to be?"
I give it to him, then watch as he types some more. He unhooks the phone and hands it to me. "Take a look through it and let me know if there's anything on there I need to unlock." He looks at Jackson. "So I hear you're doing the homeschool thing."
"For now, yeah."
"I don't know how you do it. If it were me, school would be the last thing I'd care about with all the shit you got going on."
"Studying keeps my mind off the case. And it makes me feel hopeful. Like I might have a future."
"How's the case? Or are you not allowed to say?"
"Everything I know you've already heard on the news."
While they've been talking I opened Devon's email but nothing was there. His texts were erased too. Music files. Social media apps. They're all empty. I open his photos and feel a lump in my throat. There's one picture. A photo of my mom and me.
"You okay?" Jackson asks as I wipe my eyes.
"Yeah." I show him the phone. "It's me and my mom."
He leans down to get a closer look. "How old were you?"
"Ten. He came to New York for my birthday."
"Does he have other photos?"
"No. Just this one."
"Anything else on there?"
I shake my head. "I can't find anything. He either closed his email account or it's not connected, and he's wiped his texts."
"Let me see it," Mick says. "I might be able to get the texts back." He takes the phone and types something in it. "Looks like he wiped them clean. They've been overwritten. The guy either knows what he's doing or just happened to permanently erase them without knowing he did it."
"I'm guessing it's the latter," I say. "He's not good with tech stuff."
"Did you watch the video?" Mick says. "Looks like it's the only one on here."
"What video?"
He hands me the phone. "So anyway," he says to Jackson, "Mr. Detmeir, the gym teacher, got fired for watching porn at school."
"No shit?" Jackson laughs. "When was this?"
"Last Friday. They took him out in handcuffs."
I slowly walk away from them, my eyes glued to the screen. The video shows Braden running into the living room, screaming something at Brock. It looks like Brock's trying to calm him down but can't. Braden's pacing the room, tossing his hands up, his face getting red.
Turning the volume all the way up, I start the video again, walking away from Jackson and Mick so I can hear above their talking.
I see Braden racing into the living room.
"Holy shit!" he says. "What the fuck just happened?"
"Braden, what is it?" Brock says, getting up from the couch. "What's wrong?"
"Something happened. At the party." He's breathing hard, making him hard to understand. "Andrea."
"Andrea? Your ex?"
"She fell."
"Fell?" Brock says, sounding confused.
"She fell off the railing."
"Where? What railing?"
"At the party. We were fighting. She was drunk. I told her to go. I told her a million fucking times to go but she wouldn't. She kept saying she was going to tell people."
"Tell them what?"
"That I raped her. And beat her. She was going to tell the cops."
"Braden, why would she say those things?"
"Because she's a fucking bitch! She wants to ruin me!"
"So you never hit her," Brock confirms. "She was lying."
"I hit her but only when she deserved it. She hit me too! The bitch hit me all the fucking time!"
"And what about the rape? Was she lying about that?"
"She was my fucking girlfriend. It's not rape if she's my girlfriend."
"Did she tell you to stop?"
"Who the fuck cares? Why are you taking her side?"
"I'm not taking anyone's side. I'm trying to figure out what happened. You said she fell off a railing?"
"At the back of the house. I went outside to see if she left and found her at the railing. It's a long ways down. Nothing but rocks."
"And what happened?" Brock asks.
"She was sitting on the edge, saying she was gonna tell the cops. Saying I was going to jail. I yelled at her to stop but she wouldn't. She just kept taunting me, telling me my life was over. I shoved her and she fell." He pauses to breathe, thick heavy breaths. "She fell over the edge."
"You pushed her," Brock says in a quiet voice.
"She fell!" Braden yells. "It's her own damn fault! Why the fuck was she sitting on the edge?" He pounds his fist on the wall. "How the fuck did this happen?"
"Braden, where is she? Did you call an ambulance?"
"No. I just left. I...I didn't want people saying I did it."
"Did you at least check on her?"
"I looked. I didn't go down there."
"And?"
"There was blood. A lot of blood."
"Was she moving?"
"I think so."
"Fuck." Brock runs his hand through his hair. "Braden, how could you do this?"
"I didn't do it. SHE did!"
"Devon, get in here!" Brock yells.
The video goes dark, like Devon slipped the phone in his pocket.
"What is it?" I hear Devon say.
"There's been an accident," Brock says. "I need your help."
"What kind of accident?"
"The kind we've had before."
"No. I'm not doing it again. You said last time was it."
"I'll pay you. I'll pay you more than last time."
"I don't want your fucking money. Clean up your own damn mess."
"Devon, get back here!" Brock yells.
The video ends.
"Oh my God," I mutter, staring at the phone.
The video is a confession. It's proof that Braden killed Andrea. It's all the police need to lock him away.
"What was on the video?" Jackson asks as I walk back over to him.
"We need to go home."
He nods. "Yeah, okay." He turns to Mick. "Thanks again."
"Anytime. You need anything else, just let me know." Mick gets in his truck and drives off.
"What's going on?" Jackson asks.
"We have our proof."
"Proof of what?"
I get in the Range Rover and wait for him to get in on the other side.
"Rumor, what is it? What's on the video?"
"You're not going to be a suspect in at least one murder." I hold up the phone. "I have proof that Braden killed Andrea."
"The video?"
I nod. "Braden confessed to it. He pushed her. She didn't fall. He pushed her over the railing."
"Let me see the video."
I play it for him. Jackson watches,
barely blinking, his eyes glued to the screen. When it ends, I take the phone back.
"Can you believe it?" I say. "We finally have proof that Braden did it."
"That fucking bastard," Jackson says. "This whole time he's been living his life like nothing happened, knowing he fucking killed her. Destroyed her parents. Made everyone think it was her fault because she was drunk. Let the cops, and everyone else, think I was the one who did it." He blows out a breath. "That bastard is going down."
Twisted Pine Academy, Book 4
The final book of Twisted Pine Academy is almost here!
Twisted Truths, Book 4, releases February 4th!
To pre-order now, click here.
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One Night
Anyone But Her
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Road Trouble
Lucky Star
Kinda Hate You
Third Date
