Deadly Hallows (The Dead Ringer Series Book 1)

by Taylor Henderson

Brad shook his head and raised a picture frame from inside the drawer. “Found this,” he said. “Damn. Mr. Miller’s wife is hot.”

  Riley rolled her eyes and tossed her auburn hair over her shoulder, clearly unimpressed by Brad’s comment, or just trying hard to show she was unaffected by his remark. After all, while she claimed the breakup was mutual, everyone knew he broke up with her for Jessa Donahue. He even said, to Riley’s face, that Jessa was prettier than her. It had to sting. I knew I would still be hurt if anyone did that to me.

  The guy two desks from her, Jason, hopped out of his seat and went to join Brad at the front of the classroom. “Yeah she is,” he said, after looking at the picture.

  It wasn’t long before everyone was out of their seats, heading to the front of the classroom to examine the picture, and see Mr. Miller’s wife. I was surprised he was married. He never wore a ring, and he was really young-looking. I thought I’d have met or seen his wife at least once by now unless she was an extreme loner and never left the house. I hadn’t cared much about seeing the picture, but my curiosity got the best of me once I realized I’d never seen her and eventually I went to join my classmates who were huddled around Brad, looking at the picture.

  In the picture was Mr. Miller and a gorgeous blonde with wide, clear blue eyes, and a freckle dotting her upper lip. Mr. Miller was wearing a tuxedo, and had his arm around her thin waist. He was grinning from ear to ear, like it was the happiest moment of his life. From the way that the woman was dressed, it probably was. She was wearing a lace wedding dress with a sweetheart style neckline, and if it was possible, she looked even happier than Mr. Miller. She had one arm tossed over his shoulder, and on her wrist was a dainty arrow tattoo. They were a really cute couple. Both were good-looking, and seemed to have an elegance about them.

  “What are you doing?” came Mr. Miller’s voice from the doorway. He startled me with his sudden words, and I could tell that I wasn’t the only one. Everyone glanced around nervously, unsure of what to say or do. We had clearly been caught.

  “Your wife is really pretty,” Jason muttered.

  “I like her tattoo,” I mentioned awkwardly.

  Mr. Miller’s eyes flitted from Jason’s to mine. As he stepped further into the classroom, we all hurried back to our seats, everyone except Brad, who remained standing and holding the picture. Mr. Miller was furious as he came forward, snatching the picture from his hands.

  “I was looking for a calculator,” he mumbled, his face turning red as he lowered his head and went back to his seat.

  Mr. Miller said nothing, just tucked away the picture, handed Brad a calculator, and stood in front of his desk with his arms crossed. He said nothing for the remainder of test corrections, just walked around the room, his face still red with anger. No one asked him for help. No one approached him to ask any questions. Even when they left, everyone left their tests on the desk in the front nearest to the door instead of on his desk. Mr. Miller seemed off for the rest of the time, and I was thankful when I finally finished my corrections and was able to escape.

  But I couldn’t help but wonder…why hadn’t I seen his wife before?

  Chapter 12

  Code Crackers

  “I need a new backpack,” Mindy said with a scowl on her delicate face. She tugged at the straps on her bag, trying to readjust one so it would be the same length as the other. Frankly, I didn’t see why she needed a new one. She hadn’t had this one for a full school year yet, there couldn’t be that much wrong with it.

  I leaned up against the lockers as she continued to struggle with it. “Because the strap won’t adjust? I’m sure you could just get that fixed instead of buying a whole new one.”

  Mindy shook her head, scowling as she shoved the bag halfway inside her locker and continued to tamper with it. She twisted, tugged, and yanked until the strap moved less than an inch and got stuck again. “Not just that. The zipper is messed up too, and it has a hole in it. I’m worried that it’s going to rip open and all of my things are going to fall out.”

  I glanced over her floral styled, brand name backpack, then at my plain black bag that was hanging off one shoulder. I didn’t see any hole, and the zipper looked fine to me. I think she was just searching for something to complain about because there wasn’t anything going on today. The rumor mill had shut down for a while, and that sent everyone into an agitated state. Probably because they had nothing to talk about anymore. I didn’t say anything though, and just shrugged. I hoped that if I didn’t respond, maybe she would let the topic drop and move on to something else. I wasn’t sure what though. Our conversations had been pretty shallow lately. It was as if we had nothing to talk about but gossip and stuff that didn’t matter. It was a waste of time.

  A distressed sound escaped her red lips as she gave up with the strap. She yanked her bag from the locker and balanced it on one leg as she shoved a notebook in it. “I wish I no longer needed to be bothered with high school problems,” she said, meeting my gaze.

  I hoped she wasn’t still referring to her stupid backpack, but it didn’t seem like it. “Like what?” I questioned.

  Mindy tucked her dark curly hair behind her ear and carefully closed her locker door. She was always careful when shutting it, as to not make all of the stuff she had decorating the inside of the door fall. She slung her bag over her shoulder and frowned. “You know, dealing with high school boys, homework, living with my parents still, and the drama.”

  “You’ll still have all of those problems in college, you know. You won’t have your own place when you come back to visit. You’ll still have to do homework, and deal with immature guys. Plus I believe drama only happens to those who insert themselves in it, because otherwise you wouldn’t be involved.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You’re a killjoy. A girl can dream and hope that when she goes to college the boys will be a little more mature, the homework will be less stressful, and that the drama will fade into the background.”

  “I’m a realist. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming, but you can’t just wish away everything. That’s not how it goes.” I responded with a shrug.

  “It’s annoying,” she stated as she absentmindedly examined a nail. Then she looked up. “Need to go to your locker?”

  I shook my head no. I opened my mouth to say I had all of my stuff, when I heard someone scream my name. Mindy furrowed her eyebrows as she looked over my shoulder. I turned around, looking down the hall to see Mason running toward me. He had a big smile plastered on his face, his hair was moving as he ran, and he shoved past a few people who got in his way. I was almost embarrassed for him as everyone watched him run up to me, placing one hand on each shoulder as he yelled, “I figured it out.” His eyes were wide in excitement, and he was smiling so hard I could see his teeth.

  “Figured what out?” Mindy asked, staring between the two of us in utter confusion.

  Mason shook his head, his smile wider than I had ever seen it before. He glanced at Mindy, saying, “Do you mind if I borrow her for a second?” He didn’t even wait for Mindy to answer before he pulled me down the hallway. He was moving fast, weaving in and out of people skillfully. I heard Mindy call after me, but Mason wasn’t letting go anytime soon. He almost caused me to trip going up the stairs. He didn’t stop until we were inside of the library, looking for a place to sit.

  Once we were inside the library we walked slowly, his hand still holding mine as he pulled me toward an empty study table in the far corner. I blushed when I realized that I didn’t want him to let go of my hand. I hadn’t even paid attention to the action when he pulled me away from Mindy, but now I couldn’t ignore it. The butterflies were in full flight when we reached the table. Unfortunately, he let go of my hand, and then he yanked a chair out from under the table so quickly that I thought it would fall over. He sat down in the chair before it could topple over from the force of his pull. I followed suit as he slid his backpack off.

  “You’re going to be just as excited as I am,�
� he promised as he unzipped his bag and pulled out Sophie’s laptop with the purple case on it and placed it in front of me.

  Once he opened the laptop, the computer screen lit up to reveal a virtual diary—Sophie’s virtual diary.

  My eyes grew wide in amazement. “How did you get it open?” I asked as I started scrolling through the pages. There were over two hundred, and it looked like every new entry was a different page. No wonder she kept it behind a lock.

  “It took some trying, but once I started going through the possible combinations and passwords she’s used over the years I found the right one. I’ve taken the lock off so we can each take turns reading through it since it’s so long.” He pointed to the page number, which I had already taken into account. He had made it to page thirty-eight before he’d brought it to me.

  I was hurt that he hadn’t told me as soon as he figured out the code, but at the same time could I expect him to tell me? This was very personal to him, and he had just met me. He didn’t need to tell me everything, but I thought that was why we had exchanged numbers, for instances just like this.

  “I would have told you sooner, but I actually got caught up in reading this,” he explained. I felt a little bit better now that he had said he would’ve told me, but not by much. He should have told me. “This thing reads like a teenage drama book. I hadn’t realized all this stuff was happening in Sophie’s life, even the stuff from when we were in Nantucket, which is what I was reading so you wouldn’t have to. I want to focus on the more recent entries if we can.”

  “You mean from when you first moved here to when she died?” I asked curiously as I scanned the pages of her diary. I felt as if I was invading her privacy, but if Mason was letting me read it, then it must not be too bad.

  “I want to start a little earlier just in case, but if you don’t want to read that then you don’t have to. I was reading it over, and was shocked at what she’d been hiding from everyone. I thought I knew her better than this, and now I’m realizing I didn’t really know her at all.” His voice dropped.

  To be honest, I didn’t think it was possible to know everything of someone else’s life. They would always have secrets, at times dark and disastrous to those around them. There would be times when they couldn’t share every last detail, or kept something to themselves, because when you get down to it everyone wanted to be looked at with respect. No one was immune to that, apparently not even Sophie.

  “What do you mean?” I asked. He was looking between me and the computer screen, as if he was begging me to question him on it. I thought it was personal, and would have been happy to leave it alone, but clearly he wanted to talk to someone about it. Even if it was someone he didn’t know very well.

  “She was stressing over a guy from our hometown.” Mason chuckled lightly as if entertained by the thought. It happened to every girl growing up; Mason was doing it to me. “We grew up with him, and she had developed a crush on him. Typical girl falls for her brother’s best friend kind of thing. If I had known I would have helped her out, because he had a thing for her too, but both of them were worried about me.” He paused, living in the nostalgia of the moment. “I would have just been happy she was going to be taken care of. Mark adored her.”

  “What else did it say?”

  “She was stressing from the move we were about to make. My dad was coming for work, and thought this town would be good for us,” Mason scoffed. “If only he had known, then maybe Sophie would still be alive.” A look of pure pain and anger took over his features.

  Instinctively, I reached out and took his hand. I provided a short squeeze to offer a bit of comfort. It seemed to loosen him up enough to offer me a soft smile as a thank you.

  “I don’t think it would have worked out any differently, though. If it was meant to happen, it would have happened anywhere, not just in Shady Hallows. At least then she wouldn’t have had to die away from people who cared about her and knew who she was.”

  I squeezed his hand again. He hadn’t made a move to break our contact so I didn’t think he minded it. “It doesn’t matter where it happened. We felt the loss, and while most people in this town seem insensitive, they really do provide condolences and space. They realize what it means for you guys to lose her, and we are going to find who did this to her,” I said confidently.

  Mason smiled and opened his mouth to speak, but the bell rang and cut him off. “I have to go to class.” He moved his hand away from mine, although he seemed unwilling to from how he hesitated, but maybe that was my imagination. “I know you have a free period, so how about you send the file to yourself, and then you can read it whenever you want. I’ll send it to myself too so that way I can return the laptop before my parents notice it’s gone.”

  “Why would they want it?” I asked as I typed in my email address.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But I don’t want to find out either, and then have to explain that I have the laptop so I can find out who murdered her.” He paused to let the information sink in. I lowered my head so I could hide the embarrassed blush racing across my face as I grew hot under his gaze. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to have that conversation with my parents.”

  “I wouldn’t either,” I said. “So I’m glad you thought ahead before we were found out.”

  Mason let out a soft laugh, careful to avoid a noise violation in the library. “How about you come over tonight, and we can pretend to work on that project again?” There was an odd pause between his words, as if he was nervous and needed to take a moment to prepare for my answer in case I said no.

  “Sure. I’ll see you tonight. How about around five?”

  “Perfect,” he said with a smile before shoving the laptop into his backpack and slinging the bag over one of his shoulders. He waved goodbye before rushing from the library to make it to his next class on time, but he left behind the butterfly effect of his question. Once again it sounded more like a plan to meet up than to search for a killer, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. I’d be surprised if his parents stayed in town after this.

  Chapter 13

  Smooth Talker

  I arrived at Mason’s at five like we agreed on, but I beat him home. No one answered when I knocked, and for a while my texts went unanswered as well. I was about to go home, thinking he had changed the plans and forgotten to tell me. I saw him reading on his laptop in math, and assumed he had gotten lost in reading the diary again. I started reading it, but I didn’t find it as interesting as he did. Maybe because it was typical girl things, and I had experienced them first-hand. There was a lot of drama, which honestly made for a good read, but nothing I couldn’t pull myself away from.

  I was about to head home when I saw a car pull into the driveway. It didn’t look like the one his dad had driven the night I met him, and Mason didn’t speak much of his mom. I tensed, now was not the best time to meet his mother. It looked bad enough to be standing outside their house, but to have someone she didn’t know standing outside of her house would have been worse. Luckily for me, Mason soon got out of the car, and waved goodbye to whoever had driven him.

  Whoever was behind the wheel pointed to me, causing Mason to glance in my direction and smile. He raced toward me, covered in mud and dirt. He was sporting what had once been a white shirt, black basketball shorts, and cleats. He made a move, which seemed as if he was about to hug me, but I sidestepped him, unwilling to be covered in the filth that was all over him.

  “Hey, sorry,” he said, trying to catch his breath. “I got invited to play a pickup game of soccer with a couple of guys who were waiting for their girlfriends to finish practice.” He moved his backpack from his shoulder to the ground and started digging in the bag for his key.

  “You made friends?” I asked, making sure the sarcasm was clear. I wanted him to know I was teasing him, and not being rude. While I was shocked they had invited him to play, he didn’t need to know that.

  “Friends is a loose term,” Mason said
as he picked up his bag and moved to unlock the door. “They needed three more people for a game of football, which most of the guys preferred, but they only needed one more for a soccer game. So when they saw me walk by they called out, and I got a little sidetracked.” He let out a laugh before turning to show me a stunning smile. “Sorry I kept you waiting. I got L. Jay to give me a ride back so you wouldn’t think I ditched you.”

  “That’s nice he offered you a ride,” I said, avoiding admitting that I had considered leaving and thought that he had ditched me. L. Jay was a nice enough guy, though if you didn’t know him he seemed as if he had a chip on his shoulder. I had never spoken to him, and probably never would even though we were only a year apart and had encountered each other a few times. He’d be graduating this year, and like everyone else he’d move out of town, go to college, and either never come back, or come back to start his future family here.

  “Well, he didn’t.” Mason laughed again. “Overton offered, but his girlfriend finished swim practice before the cheerleaders did. Needless to say, he got a little distracted when she showed up so L. Jay’s girlfriend made him bring me home when I said I was meeting you.”

  “You told them we were meeting up?” I asked curiously as he opened the door and gestured for me to go inside before him.

  “Yeah, I did. I hope that’s not a problem,” he said, turning to drop his bag on the ground.

  “No, it’s not! They probably think we’re dating now though,” I said with a laugh. My cheeks heated as I realized how much that didn’t bother me.

  He smiled, a small glint in his eyes that made it seem as if he liked the idea too. “There are already rumors about it, and who knows, it probably helps us in the long run. They won’t think we’re sneaking around looking for a killer, instead they think we’re just seeing each other. Would it be so bad to be seen with me? Is there a boy in your life you aren’t telling me about, Casey?” The humor in his voice was clear, and the smile on his lips told me he already knew the answer.