Four of a Kind

by Kate Kessler

  Now that she took a good look at Lucy, she could tell the girl’s expression wasn’t eager at all, but concerned, and she immediately felt bad. Lucy, Kendra Granger, and Tala had been best friends since Tala moved to Eastrock last summer. Of course Lucy would be worried that the body they’d found was Tala—Alisha was.

  She and Tala hadn’t started becoming friends until just before Christmas, but they’d become close incredibly fast. Alisha hadn’t had a best friend since Bailey was sent away. She had lots of friends, but not one she would trust with her secrets, not until Tala. And Tala had trusted her too.

  “Tala would never go back the Falls,” she muttered. “Not by herself.”

  “Maybe she wasn’t by herself,” Lucy suggested with a lift of her eyebrow. “Randy was around that night.”

  Alisha frowned. She knew what Lucy was implying. Tala never would have gone off with a loser like Randy Dyer. Would she? “Don’t be stupid.”

  The other girl slumped against the bus seat, her body turned toward Alisha, who set her book bag between them as a way of maintaining her own space. “I don’t want it to be Tala, you know. I just want them to find something.”

  “I know,” Alisha murmured. “Me too.”

  “And poor Luke. This has been absolutely tragic for him.”

  That wouldn’t be the word Alisha would choose, but it was appropriate. Luke Pelletier and Tala had been dating for almost two months when she disappeared. Of all of them, he’d taken her disappearance the hardest—the most personal. Why would she just up and desert her friends and family? Her boyfriend? People said she went to New York, but Alisha couldn’t believe Tala wouldn’t at least let her parents know she was okay. She wasn’t that selfish or unthinking.

  She turned her attention toward the back of the bus, where Luke sat. He lived in Edgeport too. He sat by himself—the space where Tala used to sit empty—and stared out the window. Something pinched in Alisha’s chest at the sight of him. Suddenly, he turned his head. She didn’t look away fast enough. She forced a little smile when his gaze met hers. Surprisingly, he smiled back. It wasn’t much, just a twitch at one corner of his mouth, but it was something. Then he went back to staring out the window.

  She wondered if he’d heard they’d found a body.

  “Kendra’s been a mess,” Lucy was saying. “I mean, so have I, but Ken’s been really wrecked. I stayed over at her place the other night and I woke up in the middle of the night. She was standing by the window, crying. I was like, ‘What’s wrong?’ and she told me she was upset about Tala. That she just felt so bad all she could do was cry.”

  Alisha looked the other girl in the eye. “She probably wouldn’t like you telling me that.”

  Lucy shrugged. “Are you going to say anything to her?”

  “No.” She wasn’t a shit-disturber.

  “Then it doesn’t fucking matter, does it?”

  At that precise moment, Alisha decided she didn’t much care for Lucy, and like her uncle Jake and her great-grandmother, when she decided she didn’t like someone, there was no changing her mind. “You’re a lousy friend, Luce.”

  The girl’s face flushed, and her eyes glittered. “Fuck you, Alisha.” She grabbed her stuff and stood up—never mind that the bus was moving. For a second, Alisha imagined what might happen if they had to come to a sudden stop. She watched as Lucy stomped to the back of the bus and dropped into the empty spot next to Luke. He didn’t even look at her.

  Alisha turned away and pulled her phone out of her bag. She texted her uncle Jake. He’d know if they’d actually found a body back the Falls, and if he didn’t know, then Audrey would. They would tell her the truth.

  She just wasn’t sure the truth was what she wanted to hear.

  Neve was having lunch the next day at Gracie’s, the local tavern, when her phone. Normally, she had lunch at the field office in Machias, but there was no point in driving over there when the brunt of her work was in her hometown. She’d only end up having to deal with reporters who had gotten wind they’d found a body. The ones skulking about town were bad enough, but she could avoid them.

  She glanced at the screen before answering the call. It was the coroner’s office in Augusta.

  “Hello?” She sucked ketchup off her thumb.

  “Hey, doll.” It was Annette Martin from the medical examiner’s office. “Am I interrupting your lunch?”

  “Nah. I’m good.” She could eat onion rings and talk at the same time. “What’s up?”

  “Well, the body you sent me definitely belongs to your missing girl.”

  “Tala Lewis?” She needed to be sure.

  “Unless you’ve got another one I don’t know about.”

  Neve closed her eyes. Shit. She had expected this outcome, but it was still…what? Disappointing? Enraging? A pisser? “Give it to me.”

  “COD was deep lacerations to the neck, torso, and abdomen. Basically, the poor thing was stabbed to death. I counted forty-one points of entry. She bled out.”

  “Jesus.”

  “I recovered the tip of a blade from one of the rib wounds. The size and shape make me think hunting knife, but of course, we’ll know more once it’s processed.”

  A hunting knife—the second most common household item in Edgeport after a rifle. Practically every male, and many females, owned at least one. Gideon owned at least two.

  She didn’t like thinking of her boyfriend and murder at the same time.

  “It appears that she was killed where you found her,” Annette continued. “She had defensive wounds on her hands and arms. Judging from what we found at the scene, I’d say she bled out as her attacker covered her with rocks. Of course, runoff took away trace evidence.”

  Of course. “How long has she been dead?”

  “Judging from decomp and state of the body, I’d say she’s been out there for at least two months.”

  So she was probably killed the night she disappeared, or shortly thereafter. “Why would a teenage girl climb the falls in the middle of winter?” It would have been cold—icy. If the climb had been difficult the day before, it would have been doubly so in February.

  “Could have been a party. She might have been drinking.” The Falls was a popular party spot, given its remote location. “Tox screens won’t be back till next week. Maybe she was dared to? When I was that age I would have done almost anything a boy asked.”

  “Yeah,” Neve agreed dryly. It almost always came back to a boy. “Me too. Anything else I should know about?”

  “Well, I don’t know if it was simply part of the stabbing, or intentional, but her penis was completely severed.”

  “Her what?”

  “Penis.” There was a pause. “You didn’t know Tala Lewis was transgender?”

  “No.” Jesus H. “The family never said anything about it.”

  “That’s a pretty significant detail to leave out when police are investigating your child’s disappearance.”

  “Tell me about it.” A tickle of anger rose up in Neve’s chest. She didn’t like it when people withheld information. She didn’t care if the family thought it was unimportant, or private. She should have been told that Tala was transitioning, because now it was much more possible that the murder was sexually motivated, or a hate crime. If she’d had that detail two months ago, she might have conducted her investigation differently.

  “Any evidence of sexual assault?”

  “There’s evidence of activity, but nothing that leads me to believe it was forced. I didn’t find any sperm or fluids, but given the time of death and that she’s been outside in freezing temperatures, I’m not surprised.”

  So probably a hate crime, though not necessarily. “Thanks, Nettie. If there’s nothing else, I’ll let you go.”

  “I’ll ring you back when I have more.”

  Neve hung up and shoved her phone into her purse. Then she swung the bag over her shoulder, rose from her chair, and made her way to the bar. She shoved a twenty across the polished surface.
Jake Tripp, Audrey’s fiancé and owner of Gracie’s, was working behind the bar. He was tall and lean, with brown hair that always seemed to flop over his high forehead, and piercing hazel eyes. He would have been too pretty if not for those eyes. She’d seen hardened ex-cons with more open gazes. Honestly, Neve didn’t find Jake all that attractive, and there was something about his relationship with Audrey that gave her pause. The two of them seemed to breathe each other. She was pretty sure that wasn’t healthy. But it worked for them. She just hoped Audrey didn’t ruin her career—and herself—by getting too involved in Tripp business. She couldn’t prove it, but she was fairly certain Jake had something to do with the prison death of Matt Jones the year before. No one missed Jones, but that wasn’t the point.

  “Need a receipt?” he asked. He always seemed to be assessing—reading people. He probably would have made a great cop if he didn’t consider himself outside the law.

  She nodded, and he quickly punched some keys on the cash register. He tore off the strip of paper that printed out and handed it to her. “I get the feeling saying ‘Have a nice day’ would be wasted on you.”

  Her smile was grim. “You wouldn’t be wrong. Thanks anyway.” She shoved the receipt in her jacket pocket and walked out into the sunny spring day. She slipped on her sunglasses as she slid behind the wheel of the Impala. She hadn’t been looking forward to telling the Lewises that their daughter was dead, and now she looked forward to it even less because they had hidden important information from her. Information that might have played a part in their child’s murder.

  It made her wonder what else they might be hiding.

  Audrey came home from Grace Ridge to find Jake and Alisha at the table looking at bridal magazines.

  “Seriously?” she asked as she hung her bag on one of the dining room chairs.

  Jake grinned at her as he looked up, his eyes crinkling at the corners in that way she found utterly sexy. He’d been a little odd with her earlier—distant—but now he seemed more himself, thankfully. “I came home early and Lish wanted help picking out a dress.”

  “Not like you were here to help,” his niece added with mock disappointment. “Uncle Jake says I can have whatever I want.” There was a glint in her gaze that gave Audrey pause. The kid had something on her mind, and Audrey knew what it was.

  “I don’t doubt that.” Jake loved the girl as if she were his own, and spoiled her twice as much. “Have you found anything yet?”

  “One or two,” Alisha replied with a shrug. “Nothing I’m in love with.”

  Audrey sat down at the table and pulled a magazine from the pile. To be honest, she had fallen willing victim to the bridal scene herself. She’d found her dress in a magazine just before Christmas and a local shop that had it in stock. “How was school?”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Jake sending her a sideways glance, but she kept her attention on Alisha, who was still flipping through the magazine.

  Another shrug. “Everyone was talking about the body they found back the Falls.”

  “Yeah? What were they saying?”

  The girl met her gaze. “That it’s Tala. That someone killed her.” Her wide eyes brimmed with tears, but they didn’t fall. She was a lot like her great-grandmother, Gracie, who would have rather swallowed glass than let anyone see her cry.

  Audrey would have reached out for Alisha’s hand, but Jake beat her to it. His niece squeezed his fingers but looked at Audrey. “Have you talked to Neve?”

  She shook her head. “Not today, no.”

  As if summoned, Neve’s car pulled into the drive at that moment. Jake’s expression turned grim as he looked out the window. “My dar, I think you’d best put some steel in your spine.” It was something Gracie used to say when she thought someone needed to prepare for the worst.

  Audrey answered the door when Neve knocked so she didn’t have to see the expression on Alisha’s face. When she saw Neve’s she knew the news was as bad as they feared.

  “Alisha’s here,” she said in a low voice.

  Neve nodded. “I was hoping she might be. Can I come in?” And then, when Audrey stepped back to let her inside, she asked, “Is it okay if I tell her?”

  “She’s going to have questions.”

  “I’ll tell her all I can.”

  “Then sure.” Really, if the choices were for her to hear it right from Neve, or at school the next day, she’d rather have Alisha informed. It was never easy finding out a friend was dead, let alone murdered. Unfortunately, that would be something Audrey and Alisha now had in common.

  Neve shrugged out of her blazer as she walked into the kitchen. Alisha watched her with an anxious gaze. “Was it Tala they found?” she blurted.

  Jake turned his head so that all three of them stared at Neve. She draped her jacket over the back of a chair and sat down next to Alisha. “I’m sorry to say it was, honey.”

  Audrey watched as the girl dug her nails into her palms but was otherwise still. “How did she die?”

  Neve cleared her throat. “She was stabbed.”

  Alisha’s jaw tightened. “Did…did animals get her?”

  Jesus, Audrey thought. Was that how Alisha had been picturing her friend these past few months? Eaten by animals? She supposed there were worse things that could have happened.

  A gentle smile softened Neve’s features. “No.”

  Alisha nodded stiffly. “Good. Does Luke know?”

  “Not that I know of. I just came from talking to her parents.”

  “Oh.” The teenager didn’t seem to know what to do with that information, probably because the idea of the kind of pain that came with losing a child was just outside her imagination. It was outside Audrey’s too, for the most part.

  “Alisha, can I ask you a couple of questions about Tala?” Neve asked.

  Alisha looked to her uncle first, and when he nodded, she glanced at Audrey. “Do you want us to leave the room?” Audrey asked her.

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “I’ll put the kettle on.” It was what you did when people came calling, or there was a tragedy. Tea was the universal balm for emotional upheaval.

  “You’ve been friends with Tala for a few months, yeah?” Neve asked. Audrey smiled at her use of present tense. Just because someone was gone didn’t mean what you felt for them stopped. God knew she sometimes wished it did.

  “Yeah. She wasn’t hanging out with Kendra and Lucy as much as she used to.”

  “Do you know why?”

  “Kendra used to date Luke. I think Tala was uncomfortable with that.”

  “Because Tala was dating Luke?”

  Alisha nodded. “Kendra was always bringing up things from when Luke and her were together. She’d say, ‘Remember that time…?’ and it would be something stupid that none of the rest of us knew about. And she’d always comment on things that he liked.”

  Audrey and Neve shared a glance. “Letting Tala know she got there first.”

  Alisha frowned. “Yeah, well Tala didn’t like it. She was insecure about Kendra. I don’t know why. Tala was way prettier than her. Nicer too.”

  The kettle whistled, so Audrey quickly got cups, milk, and sugar out and dumped some loose leaves in Gracie’s old teapot. Then she set it all on the table. Neve waited until she sat down to continue with her questions. “Luke told me that he and Tala broke up just before she died. Is that true?”

  Wide blue eyes lifted to meet Neve’s gaze. “She didn’t just die. She didn’t have a stroke. She was murdered.”

  Neve’s serene expression never wavered. “Would it make you feel better if I used that word instead?”

  Alisha seemed to think about it, then reluctantly shook her head. “No.” She dumped sugar into her cup. “Yeah, they broke up a day or two before. Luke was a mess. He wouldn’t talk to anyone on the ride home from school. I thought he was going to cry.” She looked like this was something that personally offended her. “I couldn’t believe Tala had done that to him.�
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  Audrey was very careful not to react, but it was obvious from her tone and body language that Alisha thought highly of Luke—maybe too highly.

  “Did the breakup have anything to do with the fact that Tala was transgender?”

  Jake set down his cup. “She was what?”

  Neve barely glanced at him. “Transgender.”

  “Really?” He turned to Audrey.

  She shrugged. “It’s the first I’ve heard of it.” She thought about the tall, lithe Filipina girl Alisha had brought to the house on several occasions and couldn’t come up with one single thing that might have outed her as trans. In the grand scheme, it didn’t matter at all. However, in a murder investigation it mattered a lot.

  Neve was still focused on Alisha, whose round cheeks had gone pink. “Did Luke know?”

  Alisha hesitated, then nodded. “He did. It freaked him out at first, but he liked her and he said it didn’t matter.”

  “So why did they break up? Was one of them seeing someone else?”

  “I don’t know. Tala was supposed to call me that night, but…she didn’t.” A single tear slipped from Alisha’s eye, but she quickly brushed it away. Audrey wanted to go to her and hug her, but she stayed where she was—holding Jake’s hand under the table as they watched his niece go through something neither one of them could fix.

  “I do know that Tala was worried about sex,” Alisha offered. She turned to Audrey. “She had that stuff—what do you call it when you hate your body?”

  “Body dysmorphia,” Audrey supplied. “It’s when someone is obsessed with what they perceive as flaws in their own appearance.”

  The girl nodded. “Tala hated her body. I thought she looked amazing, but she can’t—couldn’t—get surgery for another couple of years, or something, so she still had all her guy junk. She hated it.”

  “It’s common,” Audrey remarked. “Poor kid. Was she in therapy, Lish?”