Deadly Hallows (The Dead Ringer Series Book 1)

by Taylor Henderson

  I scratched my arm, nervous and anxious because of his reaction. “Maybe he wanted to keep the affair a secret?” I questioned. The words sounded idiotic even to my own ears. If that was the case then he wouldn’t have moved to Shady Hallows, and he would have stayed far away from my mom. He moved here for a job, but he would have found a way out of it if he needed to.

  “He wouldn’t do it,” Mason repeated. He turned slightly and stared at me. His green eyes piercing into my blue ones as he asked, “But what about your mom?”

  My mouth fell open in shock at what he was implying. I had accused his father, so it was only fair for him to do the same, but I hadn’t expected it to be so blunt. I had at least suggested both of our parents, not just his father. “What about her?”

  He shrugged despite the fact that he knew what he was implying, and that he had targeted her specifically. “Maybe she wanted to keep the affair a secret like you claim my father did,” he retorted.

  I glared at him. “My mother kept it a secret pretty well already!” I cried, shocking Mason with my outburst. Normally I was so quiet and reserved that it made it seem as if I didn’t have a backbone, but I stood up for myself and my family when it came down to it. No one, not even Mason, could take a jab at them. “She left for a year, Mason. She was gone for a year to keep Sophie a secret.”

  Mason looked at the ground in shame. I hadn’t told him about that, so it was only fair that he take a jab at my mother when I suggested his father could be responsible for it. I just wasn’t going to let him without him knowing how far she had gone to conceal the truth. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” He kicked some mulch and continued to keep his eyes trained on the ground.

  “No, you didn’t,” I snapped. “You don’t know that she left my dad here to raise me and my brother alone, and then came back without so much as an explanation. For a year we heard she was working for her job at the time and living with my grandmother. They never told us what was going on, but clearly she left so she could have Sophie! I was young so I don’t even remember it other than from when my dad brings it up. I bet he doesn’t even know…”

  Mason looked up then and turned to face me. He raised his arms from his sides and gently placed his hands on my face, cupping my cheeks and caressing my head in his hands. He consoled me until my breathing slowed and became normal again. Once again I was struck by how comfortable I was with him and how much I enjoyed having him close to me, touching me. I wished that it could be like this more instead of fighting, and chasing down a killer. I felt relaxed and safe around him.

  “Who else could it be, though?” he asked, looking directly in my eyes.

  There was another tense moment. I didn’t want to tell Mason what thoughts were going through my head, but we had to get them all out now or there would just be more fighting later. It was best to think of everyone then find reasons to cross them off of the list of suspects. “What if your mom found out about the affair?” I asked gently.

  Mason pushed away from me, dropping his hands from my face. The pain on his face at the accusation was obvious. There went our moment.

  “She could have gone into a rage and accidentally hurt Sophie and moved her to where she thought no one would find her.”

  Mason looked pissed. It was like his parents were an extension of himself. The thought that one of them could have killed and hidden Sophie was harsh and sickening. “Well, what about your dad?” Mason questioned. “He has the same motive, according to you, and he’s from the area. He could have taken her up there when he found out his wife cheated and had an illegitimate child. He’s lived here for how long? How hard would it be for him to find a trail so few people travel on and dispose of her body?”

  I paused, not knowing how to respond to that. He was right. The parents that we each grew up with were our main suspects and it was hard to think of them under such a harsh light. All of their secrets and lies affected us, whether they thought they would or not. Even if they were innocent, this new information surely made it seem like they were behind it. I just hoped that they weren’t. It was hard to think of my parents as murderers. They were my parents. They were supposed to keep me safe, just like Mason’s were.

  While I didn’t want to admit it, it was possible that my dad could have been Sophie’s killer. I shuddered at the thought. “Honestly, it could be either one of them. We need more information, and I know just what to look for. Meet me after school tomorrow in the library, and tell your new guy friends you’ll be busy after school instead of playing soccer again. We have some work to do.”

  Chapter 17

  Sex, Drugs, And Rock And Roll

  The computers beeped softly as they turned on. I waited impatiently for mine to load, bouncing my leg as I did so. Next to me, Mason gave me a soft smile, then placed his hand on the thigh of my leg that was closest to him.

  “That won’t make the computer go any faster,” he joked, pulling his hand away. I resisted the urge to groan as he moved his hand. I enjoyed his touch far too much, and that could only lead to trouble. He had already made it obvious that he wasn’t going to push for anything more than just friendship between us. Maybe it was for the best. We had more important things to worry about.

  Focusing my attention back on the computer, I was excited to see that it was fully loaded. I used the mouse to click on the Internet icon, and thankfully I didn’t have to wait long for the Google page to come up on the screen. I had come up with the idea of doing research on the drugs that were found in Sophie’s system. Mason and I needed to have as much information as possible on Sophie’s death before we proceeded any further with trying to figure out who killed her. Hopefully something in the way that she died would lead us to her killer, who hopefully wasn’t either of our parents.

  The toxicology reports stated that Sophie had unusually high levels of oxycodone and triazolam in her blood system, which had led the police to believe that she had committed suicide by overdosing on them. Just to be sure that those were the only drugs found, the first thing I did was search for the interview that had been released with the chief of police who had announced Sophie’s cause of death to the public. Then I opened up another page so I could research one of the drugs. Next to me, Mason was doing the same thing. We had agreed to each search one of the drugs and find out as much as we could about them. The main thing we wanted to know was who had access to them. From there we could narrow down who to look into.

  For the time being we had decided to eliminate our parents as suspects. It was just easier for the both of us that way, especially since neither of us wanted to think that one of our parents was capable of committing murder. The thought alone was horrifying. If we found something that led us back to one of our parents then we would have to look at the possibility of them being the murderer, but for now we were going to go over and exhaust every other possible suspect.

  I reopened the page to the interview with the chief of police and skimmed through the article to be sure we hadn’t missed anything. Nothing stood out, other than the two medications that were found in her system. I glanced at Mason to find that he was doing the same thing I was. I smiled softly. Great minds think alike.

  “I’ll try to find anything I can on oxycodone,” I whispered, gaining his attention.

  His dark hair fell over his forehead and into his eyes as he nodded. “Okay, tell me what you find. I’ll look up triazolam, or however you say it.”

  I shifted positions in my chair, getting more comfortable as I clicked over to the blank tab that I had opened and did a search for the drug. My eyes widened as the results came up, showing that there were over ten million of them. Good Lord. Luckily, the first link on the page seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. The title of the result was:

  Oxycodone Uses, Dosage,

  and Side Effects.

  I clicked on the link and it took me to a website that had detailed information on all sorts of drugs.

  I read the passages on oxycodone, scrolling through the
information to find what was the most useful. Everything was written in medical terminology, and I only understood the information that was the most obvious, like what it was prescribed for, and how to get it. Other things like its chemical make-up were lost on me.

  “I found something,” I whispered to Mason, who was reading intently.

  He pulled his gaze away from the screen and regarded me with curiosity. “What’d you find?”

  I looked back to my screen and read a passage from the website to him. “Oxycodone is an opioid pain medication. An opioid is sometimes called a narcotic. This medication is prescribed to treat moderate to severe pain, mainly in instances after surgery.” Then I looked at Mason and asked, “Did Sophie or someone in your family have surgery recently? I don’t know how else she would have gotten hold of the medication without a prescription.”

  Mason’s eyes widened as I finished talking. He raised a hand and held his head as he said, “Oh shit,” in a normal tone. Then he must have realized that we were still in the library because he glanced around to make sure that no one had been bothered.

  “What’s wrong?” I reached for his hand that wasn’t on his head. It was my turn to comfort him. I squeezed his hand tightly in mine.

  Mason shook his head slowly. “I had my wisdom teeth removed and that was the medication they gave me to help relieve the pain. I knew I heard that name somewhere before. I couldn't remember.” Then he looked down and pulled his hand from mine. “I’m pretty sure my mom had some too when she had shoulder surgery to have a bone spur removed. I don’t think either of us finished it, because our doctors were really adamant that we should only take it as pain persists, because it’s an addictive drug. We probably still have some lying around the house.”

  I bit my lip in thought, not wanting to say what was going through my head. There were two different trains of thought going. One was that his mom had access to oxycodone, and the other was that Sophie had had access to it too. I didn’t want to mention it either because one would accuse his mother again, and the other would make him think that I was starting to believe that Sophie had committed suicide when I truly wasn’t sure.

  “Don’t say it, Casey,” Mason warned.

  I shrugged. “I didn’t say anything.”

  “But I know what you’re thinking,” Mason stated. “My mom didn’t kill her, and neither did anyone else in our families.”

  “Mason,” I started, but he held a hand up to stop me.

  “No. Before you speak, listen to this,” he said as he turned himself back toward the computer. “Triazolam is generally only used as a sedative to treat severe insomnia, but is also an anticonvulsant. Muscle relaxant properties are also present.” He turned to me as if that proved a point…too bad I didn’t see it. “This is a drug used as a sedative. While it’s used as an anticonvulsant, you need to look at the muscle relaxant aspects of it. It’s fast acting for the sleep inducement. You pop a few of these and you’re out like a light for about an hour and a half.”

  “I’m still not following you,” I said. I could see that he was saying Sophie could have fallen asleep, but I was sure that wasn’t where he was going with this. Was he saying someone slipped it to Sophie? It would knock her out if she wasn’t careful, and an hour and a half is a lot of time when she wouldn’t be able to fight back. I just wish we knew someone with a motive to do this to her. It was just a theory for now.

  I glanced up to see Mr. Miller coming toward us. I had completely forgotten that I was supposed to go see him after class today to talk about my math test corrections. I had still somehow managed to fail the test, and with the second one looming over me, with no time to study between my investigations, I didn’t see myself doing well on it. I barely had time to do the homework that was due each day. I hadn’t been sleeping well, and I was doing homework until three or so in the morning to keep up. I didn’t want to find out when I hit a limit.

  “Change your screen,” I whispered to Mason as I quickly got rid of my oxycodone research and switched to YouTube and started typing the first song title that came into my head.

  I felt Mason’s eyes on me, and when I looked at him he gave me a ‘what the hell’ look. I glanced at his screen and he hadn’t gotten rid of his screen yet. I tried discreetly pointing to Mr. Miller, who was now within earshot, but Mason didn’t notice until it was too late.

  “Casey,” Mr. Miller said to gain my attention. “We were supposed to meet after class today.”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Miller,” I said quickly, hoping to keep him from looking at Mason’s screen. He was frozen in fear of getting caught, and I needed him to focus. “It slipped my mind, I guess.” I kicked Mason from under the table, causing him to jerk, and Mr. Miller to look at him. Not what I wanted.

  “Why are you looking up triazolam?” he asked curiously, taking notice of Mason’s screen.

  Mason froze for a second, but he recovered quickly. “My mom has been having trouble sleeping since Sophie’s death, and we took her to a doctor the other day and he prescribed her triazolam.” Once again he stumbled over the pronunciation, but Mr. Miller corrected him.

  We both must have looked at him in shock. “Now don’t look at me like that. My wife used to take it as a stress reliever. I had a few family members who had seizures take it since it’s also an anticonvulsant. I believe it’s only used for a short time though. They try to limit its use to those it’s prescribed to,” Mr. Miller explained lightly. “Though I did see a few kids passing them around during the summer. They were acting as if it was candy. They didn’t understand the side effects or the risk of the medication when taken improperly. Utterly ridiculous,” he stated before turning his attention back to me. “I want you in my class in fifteen minutes to discuss what we are going to do about the upcoming test, and the one you handed in for test corrections.” He gave me a warning glare to say I better show up before he walked off.

  I let out a sigh of relief when he was gone, but Mason, who had been waiting for him to leave, blurted out his new theory. He grabbed my arm, forcing me to look at him. “If they were passing around the drug this summer when we moved here, could Cole have given Sophie the drug?” There was an urgency in his voice I wasn’t familiar with, and I wasn’t sure where this was going except to have me interrogate someone I had grown up with.

  “Cole could get his hands on anything you needed,” I said. “He’s always been the first to have it, and pass it around for the right price.” Cole was a smooth talker, and could get out of any situation he got himself into. He was also pretty smart, street smart anyway, and knew that once it became big, it then became big profit. With small towns came a lot of bored kids.

  “I think Sophie might have gotten it as a stress reliever, as Mr. Miller said. She was stressed from the move, as we’ve read in her diary, and the guy who could have been passing them out was the same guy she was trying to impress. I think he’s worth looking into,” he said as I slung my bag over my shoulder.

  “I think so too, but it will have to wait until later,” I said. “I have to go see Mr. Miller about these tests and then I may be too distraught to focus on this.” I rolled my eyes. Only I could become more stressed out from a math test than a murder investigation. I really needed to get out more, then hopefully out of this town one day. If I lived that long.

  “Tomorrow?” he asked.

  “Tomorrow.”

  Chapter 18

  Impress Me

  At lunch the next few days, I slowly came out of my shell. To most of these people I was just looking for a way to fit in. I was the type of person they tended to overlook, until recently. I was hurriedly becoming a center of attention for my peers, and frankly it was all because of Mason. Before him I was overlooked even when I tried to stand out. I was only ever able to make a few close friends, but I knew everyone around me, we just weren’t friends per se. I could say a friendly hello, and they would respond, but nothing further would come of it.

  Now, I was having them come up to
me. They were the ones putting in an effort to try to start conversations with me, mostly to get the latest gossip over the fake relationship Mason and I were using as a cover story, but either way it worked in our favor. I was invited to different parties, to join different groups, and as the options began to open around me I noticed that while it helped social opportunities, it worked best for when we started looking at our classmates as suspects. If it came to that.

  I hadn’t even gotten a chance to talk to Cole yet, but today was the day. I saw Cole sitting by himself before his group of friends and a posse of girls came to battle for his attention. I rolled my eyes at the thought, but nonetheless walked over and took the seat next to him. He glanced up to see me, and offered a soft, but award winning smile. His eyes were a light blue speckled with green and gold flecks, which you couldn’t help but stare at and he knew it.

  “Well, it must be my lucky day to have the Casey Hale join me for lunch,” he said as he turned on the charm. He leaned forward, closing the space between us as a smirk covered his full lips. There was no doubt in my mind that his action had caused more than a few people to stare in our direction. “Does your boyfriend know you’re here, or are you sick of him already? I knew it would be a short fling between you two.” His golden hair fell into his eyes, and I couldn’t ignore how attractive he was. Sexy was the word that came to mind. I could see why so many girls fell into his lap.