Deadly Hallows (The Dead Ringer Series Book 1)

by Taylor Henderson

  Mason raised his hand to the doorknob, then breathed in and out so hard that I saw his chest rise and fall under his shirt. He looked extremely nervous, as if he was going to walk in and find needles and heroin sitting on her bed. I almost offered to open the door for him, but then he twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open.

  The room was bright, and looked just like the room of any normal teenage girl. It actually kind of looked like my room. Her color scheme was gray, white, and turquoise, and everything matched it. Her bed was neatly made, and nothing was out of order. Even her desk near the window had everything organized neatly on top. There were photos of her friends, much like Mason’s room, except hers had more of the family and separate ones with Mason. It was clear that she was closer to her family, and both of them were close to each other.

  Mason stepped inside, and I followed. We’d decided what to look for when we were in his room. I was looking for any sign of drugs or medications. First we needed to prove that there was no possibility of her being on drugs. Mason was searching for a journal, or a laptop, or anything that gave us insight on her life or friends. She and Mason were close, but she hadn’t told him about any one specific friend that he could remember. Plus, I knew most girls didn’t tell their brothers everything. I didn’t tell John everything. There was bound to be something she was hiding from him.

  As soon as we entered, I looked around the room for any places that someone could hide drugs, though it was going to be difficult because she wouldn’t hide them in an obvious place. So the best place to start was with the obvious. I had to start eliminating some places. I headed over to her dresser and pulled the first drawer out, digging my hand down the side and feeling underneath and around the edges, finding nothing. I repeated the action for each drawer, and then headed over to her desk and did the same thing. I took it as a good sign that I didn’t find anything.

  Mason was on his hands and knees looking under the bed. He pulled out a thick book, and I watched as he smiled sadly.

  “What’s that?” I questioned, going to her bedside table to check the single drawer.

  “Sophie’s baby book. She liked to keep it in her room. She was a really nostalgic kind of person. Always talking about the past, and memories.” He flipped to the first page, and stared down at it. “She smiled a lot. Even as a baby. I wanted a little brother, but when I saw her, all wide-eyed and smiling, I loved her so much.”

  I didn’t know what to say, so I just nodded, and turned to dig through her bedside table.

  “I knew all I’d want to do for the rest of my life was protect her. Look how well that turned out,” he muttered.

  “You can’t blame yourself,” I said, not wanting him to think that Sophie’s death was his fault. It was the fault of the sick person who killed her, and no one else’s.

  He sighed. “I know.”

  “So stop throwing yourself a pity party and let’s find out why she was killed.” I moved on and searched all of the spaces I could think of, which included the spaces under and behind furniture where all I found was cobwebs and a really big spider which I lost sight of in my momentary panic attack. As I continued, the only thing I found was a bottle of Midol. I uncapped it and looked inside, but it was just Midol, and nothing else. I put it back where I found it, then went to join Mason. He was further under the bed now, pulling out a thin laptop with a purple case on it.

  “Good find,” I praised him. He handed me the laptop and went to put everything else back.

  “How about you? Find anything?”

  “No,” I said. “That’s good, though.” Not finding any medications, drugs, or anything weird only validated that Mason was right. She didn’t overdose; at least not with anything in this room. Though her being by herself led me to believe no one else had been with her. It also confirmed that someone had targeted Sophie, which still wasn’t the best news.

  “Yeah,” he responded. “I’m glad we can cross overdose off the list. There was a part of me that doubted it, but I was going to stand up for Sophie no matter what.”

  I smiled and leaned into him to offer some comfort. Mason smiled and leaned a little closer to me. I felt the heat return to my cheeks as he closed the space between us. A new tension in the air, one that wasn’t filled with anger and hatred, but instead was heated and causing butterflies in my stomach.

  Just then I heard the sound of the front door opening, and I froze in place.

  “Mase?” called a deep voice.

  Mason stood up, and we exited the room hurriedly. He pulled the door shut behind us quietly as he said, “Yes?” to whom I assumed was his dad before he turned to me and ordered me to put the computer under his bed. I followed his order as he answered his dad. I placed the computer so it would be hidden from view in case either of his parents came by. I didn’t want them to question why he had Sophie’s laptop.

  “Yeah, we’re coming down!” Mason called.

  I heard his father’s confused voice call back, “We?”

  I guess it was time to meet the parents.

  ***

  Mason’s father scolded him for having company over when neither of his parents was home. Of course I didn’t make it better when I came downstairs and his father saw I was a girl. His expression was a strange mix of understanding, anger, hope, and a hint of pride. Mason explained we were working on a project, keeping with the guidelines we had laid out earlier, and said my mom had thought it was more respectful to come here so his family could be together during this time.

  His father seemed to understand, and told me to thank my mother when I went home. I nodded, and said it would be no problem.

  “So we’re going to get through setting up the partner guidelines for our teacher tomorrow, and hopefully start laying out a plan once we read the instructions for whatever it is we are supposed to be doing,” Mason said with a shrug as if he couldn’t be bothered with the project.

  His father offered a slight smile and waved us off. Before we could make it back up the stairs he added, “Be sure to keep the door open, Mason.”

  “Dad, it’s not like that!” Mason cried as he turned to his father. I let out a chuckle when I noticed Mason’s blush. He let out an angry grunt before going up the stairs, leaving his father and me to laugh at his expense.

  I followed him back into his room. He was already on the bed and opening the laptop. He held his head down as I entered, trying to hide the blush I assumed he was still sporting. I didn’t bring it up as I took a seat next to him on the bed. He was busy trying various passwords to get into Sophie’s computer. He tried a few and I was thankful computers didn’t lock you out after a certain amount of tries. They just kept saying you were incorrect and to try again. “I’m sorry about my dad,” Mason said as he tried a new password. It failed.

  “I don’t mind. My parents would be the same way. I found it kind of funny because he was trying to hide the fact he was proud.”

  Mason let out a breath of laughter. “He’s been waiting for me to find a girl. Well, more like Sophie and him were waiting. Sophie said that girls at our old school would try to become her friends so they could get closer to me.” Mason rolled his eyes. “I think she was just lying because a lot of girls don’t like my brand of humor.”

  “And your personality is a bit harsh,” I said playfully. I wondered what he would have thought if I told him girls did that here too. He probably wouldn’t believe me.

  He smiled, passing me a sideways glance just as the computer dinged as notifications started coming up. He had found the right password. I didn’t want to ask how many he tried, or what they were. I assumed he had known her passwords, or had broken in before and knew her previous passwords. Either way I didn’t care. I just hoped that there was something on here that could actually be of use to us.

  Mason opened the finder of her computer and started to scroll through documents, opening any he thought had potential. He opened one, which looked like the start of a book. There was just a basic outline, and f
rom some of the scenes I read through, before Mason closed the document, the story was a romantic thriller. It was sad to think her story would never be written, and that everything else she had planned would never be complete.

  “This looks promising,” Mason said, pulling me from my thoughts.

  I watched as his cursor moved over a file titled “Hands Off.” Frankly, that didn’t sound promising to me, but he knew Sophie better than I did. Mason quickly proved my thoughts wrong when he attempted to open the file. A pop-up asked for a code to get into the document. What document was worth protecting with another password? Something you didn’t want anyone to get into.

  Mason tried long and hard, but he couldn’t figure out the code. I watched him become more and more frustrated with each passing attempt. He was muttering to himself that he knew Sophie, he should be able to figure it out easily. I thought it was tearing him apart to realize that they weren’t as close as he thought.

  Eventually Mason gave up, shoving the laptop away from him and turning to me. “Do you want to come over again tomorrow?”

  It almost sounded like he was asking me to hang out, but I knew he wanted a break to figure out what the code could be without me looking over his shoulder. “I can’t,” I said awkwardly. I didn’t want to really explain why I couldn’t. I didn’t want to have to tell him I failed our math test last week, and now I had to go in for test corrections to raise the grade. I didn’t want to do it, but I needed a better grade. “I have to stay after, but I can try to come by when I’m done. I’ll text you.”

  Mason smiled and led me to the door. I noticed his father watching to see if we would hug or just say goodbye. We did the latter, but I knew his dad would be asking questions the second Mason closed the door.

  Chapter 11

  Miscalculations

  The final bell rang about ten minutes ago, sending my fellow classmates scattering to get home or to sports and after school activities. I went to my locker to put away a few of my books, and also to stall the impending math test. I hadn’t told Mason why I was staying after, but Mr. Miller let it drop when he announced test corrections would only be available until four, and looked at me and a few other people when he added, “If you got a bad grade on the first test, be sure to come.”

  Mason offered me a sympathetic smile when I looked back. I tried not to, but I knew he would just come to talk to me after class about it if I didn’t. Luckily once class ended, Mason didn’t bring it up. Instead he just walked with me before he went home.

  “Don’t forget to text me when you’re done. I’ll let you know if I’ve made any progress,” he said with a knowing smile. If I wasn’t mistaken, he was a little nervous. I wasn’t sure if it was about whatever Sophie had hidden on her computer, or something else. I couldn’t imagine what else it would be, but as he got closer I felt the familiar tension from when we were in his room. I felt light-headed and giddy as we walked side by side down the hallway. When our hands accidentally brushed together, I had to bite my lip to keep myself from smiling. The entire time we were together I felt people staring, but I just ignored them. He left when we went past the main entrance, which left me to suffer another round of this math test alone.

  I sighed, shutting my locker and trudging my way back to math.

  I took in the social circles as I passed a few groups and overheard a few rumors as I went on. I shook my head at most of them and chose not to delve into them further. I was so sick of rumors, especially the ones about Sophie and Mason. They had moved on from Sophie, believing they knew how she died, and had gone to Mason. Most described him as a cold, heartless guy. That bothered me, and I had half a mind to correct them, but really, how much did I know about Mason?

  We only started talking a few days ago, not counting when we had argued with each other. I just felt the need to stand up for him, even though I knew he would do it on his own. I just didn’t want him to have to. I wanted him to know I was here for him, especially since Sophie couldn’t be anymore and she had been there for me when I needed someone.

  I sighed. If she had let me fall that day, maybe whoever killed her would be done. He would have gotten rid of us both, but at least now we had a chance to catch him. Hopefully Mason cracked the code on the laptop soon. We really needed something to go off of, because right now I was grasping at straws to keep Mason going with this idea and to give myself hope we could figure this out before someone else got hurt. Mason and I were going to be in danger once we started getting leads. I had a feeling this guy didn’t want to be caught and would do anything to make sure he wasn’t.

  I shivered at the thought as I walked into my math class to see only one other person waiting for Mr. Miller to show up. I sighed in disappointment when I noticed it was Brad. He must have copied from my test, like he always did, and copied the wrong answers. After knowing my skills in math were lacking when he copied me last year, you’d think he’d try to get someone else to help him. I guess it just showed how little he actually paid attention. If I was him, I’d copy off of me in a science class instead of math. I could ace science tests without studying for them, but no matter how hard I studied for math I always fell short.

  Brad sat in the back, probably to find a way to cheat when Mr. Miller left the room like he usually did to finish a few things before he left for the day. I sat up front and prayed he wouldn’t move to sit next to me again. I doubted he would since we failed the first test, but mostly I hoped he would stop sitting next to me in general. I didn’t like cheaters, but I also didn’t like being a tattletale. That would only give me a worse reputation, and while I didn’t have any friends to really lose, I just didn’t want to suffer from the rumors that would spread. At least the ones about Mason and I were relatively harmless—for now.

  I leaned back in my chair as Mr. Miller entered. A few others followed him in and took various seats around the classroom. It took an extra ten minutes for Mr. Miller to set everything up and prepare to do test corrections. The point of them was to figure out what we did wrong, but honestly, everyone was here to get a better grade and then leave. No one cared how they did it wrong, not even me, we just wanted to save our grade and go home for the day.

  Mr. Miller told us to take a seat, leaving one between us so we couldn’t cheat, and then he passed out our tests. “I’ll be back soon. I have to grab the homework I’m handing out tomorrow. While I’m gone, there’s no talking, cell phones, laptops, or leaving this room.” He looked each of us directly in the eye in hopes of getting us to cooperate. Little did he know that it wasn’t going to work.

  Not even moments after Mr. Miller left the room, Brad pushed himself up from his chair loudly, causing the metal prongs beneath it to scrape across the tiled floor. “Anyone have a calculator?” he asked no one in particular.

  Everyone looked at each other, but no one spoke.

  Brad groaned. “Seriously?”

  Two seats over from me, Riley Graffman, Brad’s ex-girlfriend, crossed her arms and gave Brad a glare. I wondered if she realized how dumb she was to date someone who had the IQ of a goldfish. “I’m trying to correct my test. Can you be quiet?”

  Someone else spoke up, saying, “Maybe Mr. Miller has a spare on his desk.”

  Brad ignored Riley, and instead clomped his way to the front of the room. He walked like his pants were one size too small. I should have focused on my test that was marked up in red on the desk in front of me, but I was too busy watching Brad. Any distraction was better than seeing physical proof of how terrible I was at something, especially when there was a big F on my paper that told me just how awful I was. I guess my peers felt the same way because we were all watching Brad as he leaned over Mr. Miller’s desk, in search of a calculator. As if a calculator would do him any good, anyway.

  As if Riley had read my mind, she said, “Hey, Brad, why don’t you look for a brain while you’re at it?”

  A chorus of giggles went through the room.

  Brad rolled his eyes, impervious to Riley’s
comment. She had a habit of being rude and nasty, even to her so-called friends. They just let her walk all over them. For a moment I was proud of Brad for breaking up with her, at least he hadn’t let her walk all over him. Instead of retaliating, all he did was groan again, louder this time. Then he looked up and smiled. “Would it be wrong to look through his desk?”

  “Yes,” was the instant reply from most of the others.

  I heard one girl in the back say, “Totally.” I hadn’t heard anyone say that since the word went out of fashion in sixth grade.

  I just nodded. I didn’t want to get in trouble if Mr. Miller came back in and heard everyone chatting instead of looking over their test. We would all probably be assumed to be cheating, and this F would stay on my grade report. I just wanted Brad to find a calculator and sit down before Mr. Miller came back, or just give up and wait for him to come back. But Brad, being the person he was, only took our answers as a challenge. A lazy smirk curved his lips as he leaned down to pull open the first drawer in Mr. Miller’s desk.

  “You better hurry up,” one of his friends said from the back of the room. “Who knows how long it’s going to take him to print and bring back the homework?”

  A moment of silence passed as Brad opened another drawer and continued his search. “Did you find anything?” questioned a girl from another math period.

  Someone laughed loudly, and then said, “Condoms?”

  I scrunched my nose in disgust, not wanting to imagine my math teacher in that way.