The Dead List

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  “Dare!” Penn exclaimed.

  Holy crap, my head swung toward him and my eyes widened until they felt like they’d pop out of my head. Neither of the other boys spoke, and I knew without looking at them they shared identical expressions.

  Oh, this was going to go bad, because Jensen and Gavin gave each other horrible dares. Like eating dirt and laying in the middle of the road and running naked through old Mrs. Towery’s yard. And when I glanced at Gavin, I could see his brain working, coming up with something devious.

  I couldn’t let this happen.

  Grabbing Penn’s hand, I sprung to my feet and pulled him up with the, breaking our circle.

  “Hey,” Gavin said, craning his neck back. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m done playing this game. Penn is walking me home.”

  Penn frowned thoughtfully. “I am?”

  “Yep.”

  “Oh, you guys suck.” Gavin shook his head. “It’s still early.”

  I ignored him and waved with my free hand. “Bye!”

  Stepping around Jensen, I started down the steps in the tree first so Penn could follow me, and thankfully, he did. He didn’t hop down from the second step up like I did. It wasn’t even that far off the ground, but Penn was always super careful when it came to heights. Heck, he wouldn’t step foot in the tree house without one of us with him. I still couldn’t believe he’d ever go in that tree house even with us in it.

  He hesitated, stretching his leg out until the toe of his black sneakers brushed the ground and then he finally let go of the tree. I waited until he was beside me.

  “Duuude,” I heard Gavin say to Jensen again, but whatever else was said was lost in Penn’s and I’s shuffling along the leafy foliage as we began to walk back.

  Shoving his hands into his pockets, he didn’t say anything as he watched the thick limbs above us. “We didn’t have to leave, you know.”

  “It’s getting late.”

  “We still had plenty of time.”

  I jumped over a massive tangle of exposed roots. “I didn’t want to play the stupid game again.”

  Penn glanced over at me. “You kissed Jensen.”

  My heart felt like it also jumped over those roots. “It was just a dare. It didn’t nothing.”

  “Anything,” he corrected softly, and I grinned at him. “I could’ve done the dare, you know, whatever Gavin came up with, I would’ve done it.”

  “I know.” I swung my arms wide as we continued to the road, trying my best to not think about that dare—the kiss. “That’s not why I wanted to leave.”

  Penn knocked his shoulder into mine. “Liar.”

  “Nuh-uh.”

  “You know,” he said, wading around a large rock. “Summer’s almost over. We head back to school in two weeks.” The small smile on his face faded when I looked over at him. “I think this year is going to be different.”

  I didn’t understand why, but a shiver of apprehension wiggled down my spine. “How?”

  Penn pulled his hands out of his pockets, letting his thin arms dangle at his sides. “It just is. I don’t… I don’t think we’re be playing this game again next summer.”

  I halted, staring at him.

  He walked a few paces ahead and then faced me. “Can I ask you something, Ella?”

  I folded my arms along my waist and nodded.

  “Do you really think we’re still be friends?”

  “What?” Surprised, I stared at him.

  “I mean, we’re still be friends in a year? In two? When we’re in high school?” He reached up, running his hand through his messy, in need of a trim, hair. “Never mind. It’s a stupid question.”

  “It was,” I told him as I pushed forward, joining him. “We’re always going to be best friends. No matter what.”

  Chapter 12

  Linds had been right. The police pulled me out of gym class on Wednesday afternoon, and I was led into a small conference room off the principal’s office. First they went over everything that had happened when I found Vee’s body, and then they talked to me about Gavin.

  According to Trooper Ritter, Gavin had been dating Vee over the summer. Did you know? They asked. Would there be any reason why Gavin wouldn’t have told me? I couldn’t think of a reason. And why had Gavin and I broken up? Talking to them about the decline of our relationship was more awkward than having the sex talk with Mom.

  Which had involved how to open a condom wrapper and all that jazz.

  “We’ve been friends since we were little,” I said, glancing back and forth between the two troopers. I wished Shaw was here. At least I was comfortable with him, but with Shaw being related to Gavin, I guessed he couldn’t be the one to question me. “I mean, we were just better as friends than boyfriend and girlfriend.”

  “So you broke up with him?” Trooper Ritter asked.

  I nodded, feeling uneasy with this whole line of questioning. “It was mutual.”

  “Now, I’m a little confused,” the other Trooper stated. He rested his elbow on the table as he spoke. “If it was a mutual breakup, why didn’t Gavin tell you that he was dating Vee?”

  Knots formed in my stomach. That was a damn good question. One I didn’t have an answer for. “I don’t know. I really had no idea they were… they were seeing each other.”

  “And how does that make you feel?” he asked.

  I glanced at Trooper Ritter, knocked off kilter by the question. “How do I feel about them dating? I… I don’t know.” Really, I hadn’t even begun to wrap my head around that. I’d never once heard Gavin even talk to her let alone be around her. “We weren’t seeing each other anymore, so…” Or at least I assumed they started dating after we broke up, but who knew?

  I didn’t know anything anymore.

  “Is… is he a suspect?” I asked after they asked a few more questions about him.

  Trooper Ritter smiled tightly, causing the skin around his eyes to crinkle. “Right now, everyone is a potential suspect.”

  That statement didn’t sit well with me. Feeling a little sick to my stomach, when I was excused, I stood slowly. I hesitated at the door, turning back to where they sat, tilted together, both speaking in a low voice. “How… how did Vee die?”

  Ritter glanced up, his lips curved down at the corners. “That’s not something we’re at liberty to discuss right now.”

  I lowered my gaze. “Was it quick for her, though?”

  He seemed to get what I was asking, and when I glanced up, his Adam’s apple bobbed. Meeting my gaze, he didn’t say a word, but it was all in his eyes and what he didn’t say that gave me my answer.

  Vee didn’t go quickly.

  #

  I wasn’t too surprised when Gavin showed up at my house after Jensen dropped me off. He looked worn out, as if he hadn’t slept in as many days as I hadn’t.

  Without saying a word, I stepped aside and he shuffled into the foyer. His pale cheeks bloomed red as he glanced at me, our eyes meeting for a second before his darted away.

  Gavin sighed, his shoulders tensing. “I’m guessing you’ve heard.”

  I studied him closely, trying to think back to a time where they weren’t any secrets between us. It hadn’t always been like this. Until the eighth grade, he was afraid of putting contacts in his eyes. He’d never been farther out of state than Virginia or Maryland. This summer was the first time he’d gone to the beach. He wanted to be a graphics designer when he graduated college. I knew that the sides of his stomach were ticklish and between the three of us—Jensen, him, and me—he was the only one who’d said that Penn wouldn’t understand what Jensen and I had planned to do.

  We hadn’t listened to him.

  My chest rose with a deep breath as I pushed those thoughts aside. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Turning so that he faced me, he thrust his hand over his hair. “I didn’t think it was important.”

  I gaped at him. “You didn’t think it was important to let me know you were dating V
ee? Especially after she went missing?”

  “Her going missing had nothing to do with me,” he said, dark eyes flashing.

  “I didn’t say it did, but it’s weird that you never said anything.”

  He dragged his hand down his face. “I know, but it wasn’t something that I thought you’d like to hear about. You know? It wasn’t like Vee and I were dating.”

  I stared at him as his words sunk in. “So you… you guys were just hooking up?”

  Closing his eyes, he nodded. “Just a few times, really, over the summer. It was nothing serious.”

  Wow. I didn’t know what to think. I don’t know why, but I never thought Gavin would be into the ‘just hooking up’ thing. Which I don’t even know why I thought he wasn’t. I don’t even know what I knew anymore. Walking around him, I went to the couch and sat down.

  Gavin followed me. He didn’t sit, though. He stood by the worn recliner that had belonged to Dad, but he hadn’t taken it with him when he moved. Why? Because he and Rose had purchased all new things for their home. “We ran into each other at a store. It was after we broke up. I swear it was. I never messed around with her.”

  “Okay,” I whispered. I believed him, but that didn’t matter. It was neither here nor there at this point.

  “I was… I was missing you and she was there. One thing led to another and we hooked up. Like I said, it wasn’t anything serious.”

  “But you kept hooking up with her?”

  As he dropped into the recliner, he kept his gaze glued to the water rings on the coffee table. “Yeah, we did.”

  Again, I had no idea what to say. He’d been with her the night she disappeared and not once had he thought that might be something he wanted to share with people? The police? Her family? He could’ve talked to his cousin about it.

  “The whole time you and I went out, we never went that far,” he said quietly, and I stiffened at where this conversation was heading. “I thought that maybe something was wrong with me. That I was, like, universally unattractive.”

  “It wasn’t that.” I was quick to correct him. “It’s just that you and I…”

  “Are better as friends. Yeah, trust me, I didn’t forget what you said.” His shoulders rose and fell heavily. “But Vee was interested in me and…” He laughed hoarsely. “It wasn’t a big deal. I never thought it would end like this.”

  I doubted many people did.

  He looked at me then, features taut. “You’re looking at me like you have no idea who I am.”

  “It’s not that. It’s just you never seemed like the kind of guy who was into random hookups. That’s more…” I didn’t finish that train wreck of a sentence.

  “More like Jensen.” He took it there—right there. “I didn’t say anything because of that. I didn’t want you to know, because, yeah, as stupid as this sounds, there’s a part of me that still thinks there’s hope for us.”

  Oh God.

  I squeezed my eyes shut. Somehow this painfully awkward conversation just went from icky straight to oh, shit, get me out of here. “Gavin…”

  “Look, you don’t need to respond to that or even think about it, especially right now.” He slapped his hands down on his knees. “But I’m telling you that I had no idea why Vee went missing, and I sure as hell didn’t have anything to do with it. You believe me right?”

  Forcing my eyes open, my gaze latched onto his and those knots were back in my stomach, weighing me down. Deep down, I knew Gavin didn’t have anything to do with Vee disappearing. I’d known him all my life, and the boy did not have something that… that evil inside of him. But I was disappointed. Not that he’d been hooking up with Vee, but because he hadn’t told anyone and maybe that information wouldn’t be helpful, but we’d never know now. “Yes,” I said. “Of course.”

  Tension seeped out of his body and he all but slumped over. “Thank God. I don’t care what anyone else thinks.” He scrubbed at his jaw again. “My cousin—you know Jordan Shaw? One of the deputies?”

  “Yeah.”

  “He told me—I mean, I don’t know if he was supposed to do this or not, but they weren’t looking at me too seriously, especially not after they interviewed me.”

  I picked up a throw pillow, tucking it against my chest. “Why?”

  “They… man, they told me what happened to her. I guess to see how I reacted or something.” Blood drained from his face, and my fingers tightened around the edges of the pillow. “God, I got sick.” He broke off, laughing harshly. “I actually got sick.”

  “What… what did happen to her?” I asked.

  He opened his mouth, closed it, and then shook his head. “She was stabbed multiple times. Some of the wounds weren’t deep. Like someone was torturing her. They showed me pictures. That’s when I lost it.”

  “Oh God.” I shouldn’t have asked. I could’ve lived the rest of my life never knowing that.

  “Worst thing? She’d been alive that whole time.” He tipped his head back, throat working. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse. “She’d been killed within twenty-four hours of you finding her. She’d been kept alive.”

  I hugged the pillow to my chest, unable to fathom how someone could do that to another human being. I didn’t know anyone like that and I didn’t want to.

  Gavin stayed a little while longer, and then he said something about getting home, talking everything over with his parents.

  “Are you staying here by yourself?” he asked at the door. “Your mom is out of town, right?”

  I was trying not to think about that. “I might go to Dad’s.”

  “I think that would be a good idea.” He drew in a deep breath. “Or if you want, I can stay with you.”

  “Thanks, but I’ll probably head over to his house.” I forced a smile. “But, seriously, thanks for the offer.”

  “Yeah.” His gaze searched mine and then he looked away. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Bye.”

  I closed the door behind him, locking it and the deadbolt. Turning around, I leaned against it, shoulders sagging. I believed Gavin, but was still shocked that he’d kept his relationship or whatever with Vee secret. Apparently, I didn’t know him as well as I thought I did. And Vee? She’d been kept alive as I suspected, stabbed and most likely tortured.

  Pushing off the door, I headed into the kitchen and grabbed a frozen pizza out of the freezer. As it baked in the oven, I fielded a concerned call from Dad and then Linds, using the latter as a reason as to why I wasn’t staying at his house.

  Mom would freak, and I was probably going to get next to no sleep. I was safe here, but, just in case, I planned on sleeping with a baseball bat next to me. But as soon as the sun went down, I began to really rethink this whole staying by myself thing. Every noise in and outside the house stretched my nerves to the point when my phone chirped close to nine that night, I about jumped out of my skin at the sound of the text message.

  What r u doing?

  A flutter started in my chest as I stared at the text from Jensen. This was a first. We’d exchanged numbers, but he hadn’t texted me before. I sent back a quick: Nothing.

  Did u go to your Dads?

  I sighed, preparing myself for a text lecture. No.

  There was a beat. Want company?

  Holding my cell in my hand, I shook my head like an idiot. Being that it was close to nine, it was kind of too late to hang out. If Mom was home, she would’ve gotten all frownie face, but like Gavin had offered earlier, it wasn’t so much hanging out as it was peace of mind.

  The flutter got crazy in my chest like a nest of bees were trying to find their way out. I’d turned down Gavin, and even with the Vee situation, he would’ve been the smarter bet.

  Jensen was anything but the safer option.

  My fingers trembled as I typed back one word I shouldn’t have.

  Yes.

  #