by Kate Kessler
Audrey squeezed back as they walked outside, but part of her couldn’t help but wonder if there was seriously something wrong with her for thinking just how convenient it would be if the killer did come knocking.
She just hoped it wasn’t actually Luke.
Randy Dyer answered the door in sweatpants and a T-shirt. He looked as though he had just gotten out of bed even though it was almost two in the afternoon. He also looked hungover.
“Hello, Randy.” Neve greeted him with a bright smile. “Got a minute?”
“You know, I don’t gotta talk to you anymore. They dropped the charges, so fuck off.”
Her smile turned into a baring of teeth as she shoved her foot in the door frame so he couldn’t close the door. “Tommy Boggs says he saw Jimmy Dodsworth’s truck on Park Road the night Tala went missing. Jimmy says you were with him. He also said you took off on your own for a while.”
The door swung open again. “Tommy’s an asshole.”
“I won’t argue with you, but that doesn’t change the fact that you left out your whereabouts when I asked you about that night. You knew I’d ask, Randy. Now you just look suspicious.”
“I told you I didn’t kill the faggot.”
“You know, Randy, I’m beginning to think you’re a bit of an asshole too.”
“Fuck off.” He started to close the door again.
“If that door touches my foot I’m going to arrest you for assaulting a police officer,” Neve said quickly. “Now, get your bigoted ass out here and talk to me.”
She’d never seen anyone look so sullen. She’d obviously been spending too much time with Audrey, because—seriously—she wanted to pistol-whip the expression off his face. “What do you want to know?” he asked.
“Did you see Tala at the Falls?”
“No, but I did take off for a little while, so she might have come by. Tommy likes it when high school girls show up at parties.”
Back to referring to Tala as a girl. “Where did you go?”
He looked away, the muscle in his jaw tensing.
“You’re making this harder than it needs to be, Randy. I’m just trying to find a killer.”
He sighed. “I was banging this chick.”
Neve frowned. That hardly seemed to be something he’d want to keep to himself, a fine young man like Randy, who wasn’t insecure about his sexuality at all. “What, is she someone else’s girlfriend?”
“No.”
Her shoulders sagged. “Is she underage?”
Now he looked at his feet. “I don’t know.”
“Who was it?” When he said nothing, she added, “Just spit it out. I can start asking around. Shouldn’t take too long. There are probably at least three girls in this town stupid enough to get with you. But then I might get a lot of fathers upset—including yours.”
Randy lifted his chin to glare at her. “Lucy Villeneuve.”
Huh. That actually came as a surprise. Lucy didn’t really seem to be a fan of Randy’s. Maybe he was right to be insecure. “Well, you’re in luck, Romeo. She’s seventeen and that makes her legal.” When he visibly relaxed, she added, “Might want to make certain of that next time before you get your dick out.”
A sneer tugged at his lips. “You really don’t like me, do you?”
“Not even a bit. So Lucy was back there. Was Kendra with her?”
“Kyle’s sister? Yeah, she was there. Tommy kept trying to get with her, but she told him off.”
“What time was this?”
“How the fuck should I know? Around eight or nine. I brought Lucy back around ten. The two of them hung out until probably eleven and then they left. Kendra got all drunk and sloppy and was talking about Luke Pelletier and how much she loved him or some shit. Tommy made another play and she started crying and told Lucy she wanted to go home.”
If Kendra had been at the Falls with Lucy, she couldn’t have been with Luke—as she’d told Neve she had been back in February when they first looked into Tala’s disappearance. At the time there hadn’t been a lot of talk about alibis because the thought was Tala had run off or had been abducted. So why lie, unless Kendra knew something about what had really happened? Was she covering for Luke? Or using Luke to cover her own ass?
“Is there anything else you need to tell me?” she asked. “Because I don’t want to come back here any more than you want me to.”
Randy thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Nope. No, wait . . .” His eyes widened. “Right before they left, Lucy told Kendra that she was worried about Tala—she’d called but hadn’t gotten an answer. Kendra got this hateful look on her face and said that Tala could die for all she cared.”
Neve stared at him. “You’re just remembering this?”
He shrugged. “I was pretty drunk. And hey, it sounded like something bitchy girls say about each other. I didn’t care.”
“You’re a real piece of work, Randy.” Neve turned on her heel and walked down the steps. “You should go back inside and change that T-shirt. I think it’s got puke on it.”
“You’re fucking welcome, Detective!” he called after her.
Neve raised her hand in a wave. He didn’t even notice that she’d given him the finger.
Her phone rang. She fished it out of her pocket and glanced at the screen as she opened the car door. She recognized the name as belonging to a reporter for a local news station. She tapped the screen to send it to voice mail. She’d deal with the woman later. Better not to leave it too long, though. The reporters had already started talking to anyone in town willing to be on TV. Jesus, one night they’d had Bertie Neeley on there asking him his opinion on the murder. Bertie did the town proud by staring drunkenly at the camera as he asked, “Which one?”
She needed to verify Dyer’s story about the party. If Luke was the killer, or if Kendra was, she was going to need to make sure she had as much evidence as possible. The courts hated prosecuting juveniles because it was such a slippery area. She was going to need an expert in kids and murder to put it all together.
She was going to need Audrey.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A lot of kids came into the office wanting to talk about Tala. It had been a week since her body had been found, and the shock of it had given way to the realization that she was never coming back—and that someone they knew might have ended her life.
“I can totally believe Luke did it,” one guy in a buckskin and work boots said.
“Luke would never hurt Tala,” said another as tears slid down her round, freckled face. “Why would anyone want to hurt her?”
There was one student, however, for whom Audrey took extra time, and who offered insight into Tala and her life. On the appointment calendar, it said their name was Shannyn, but when Audrey looked up to say hello, her first thought was that the person in the doorway did not identify as female.
“Hi,” she said. “You can close the door if you like.”
The teenager did just that before crossing the floor and sitting on the love seat. They wore loose jeans and a black T-shirt that hid whatever slight curves might lie beneath. Their blond hair was shaggy and reminded Audrey of something a surfer might sport.
“Shannyn?” she asked. When the teen winced, Audrey knew her assumption had been correct. “Is there a name you prefer to be called?”
The kid looked a little surprised, which made Audrey’s heart hurt. In this day and age, how hard was it to try to respect a person’s identity? It might be awkward to come out and ask, but she’d always found that better than assuming and then being wrong. Her job was to make people comfortable enough to open up, not shut them down.
“Hank,” they replied. “I identify as male.”
She smiled. “Welcome, Hank. Do you mind if I ask what brings you here today?”
“My mother wanted me to come. I’ve been kinda sinking into a depression ever since they found Tala’s body.”
“I’ve heard that from a few people. Were you and Tala close?�
��
Hank nodded. “Sort of. We didn’t hang out a lot in groups, but once in a while I’d go to her place or she’d come to mine. It was nice to have someone else who was transitioning to talk to.”
“I imagine it was good for both of you. How did you meet?”
“She just sat down one day with me at lunch. She told me I looked lonely, and that she knew how that felt. It took me a second to realize what she meant. I mean, Tala could really pass, y’know?”
Audrey nodded. If Neve hadn’t told her, she never would have guessed that Tala hadn’t been born physically female. “So, the two of you bonded?”
“We did. She said she could talk to me about things she couldn’t talk to Kendra and Lucy—or even Alisha—about.”
“Such as?”
“The fact that she was seeing Kyle in secret, and how guilty she felt about it. I think she really liked Kyle but felt like Luke was the guy she ought to like, you know? Luke’s popular, but not too much, and he’s nice and smart.”
Not too smart, Audrey thought, if he sent threatening notes to his girlfriend.
“Plus, I think Tala kind of liked driving Kendra crazy.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. She knew how much Kendra hated the fact that she was dating Luke. She kinda got off on rubbing it in whenever Kendra was being a bitch to her—which was a lot.”
Girls. “You must miss having someone to talk to like that.”
Hank swallowed. “I do. I mean, I have the online community that Tala introduced me to, but it’s not the same.”
“What’s the group?”
“INTO—Intersex, Nonbinary and Trans Online. It’s kinda like Facebook, but safer.”
Audrey nodded. Neve must already know about it. She had Tala’s laptop. “The Internet can feel like a dangerous place.” How many social media–induced suicides had she come across in her research? So much bullying and threats—and not always from their peers, but from adults as well. People were just shit sometimes.
“Yeah—not like here is much better. Until Tala showed up I was the only trans person at school—that I know of. And that’s just it. There might be more, but they’re afraid to come out. Jesus, being trans is probably what got Tala killed.”
“Maybe try not to think of it like that,” Audrey cautioned. “The responsibility for her death falls on the person who killed her, not who she was.” She didn’t mention that maybe Tala had been killed for another reason. Tala’s murder had been very personal. Unless they were serial crimes, most murders were over something specific. She hadn’t killed Clint just because he was rumored to be a child molester. She’d killed him because he’d raped her best friend. And she didn’t think Tala had been killed because she’d been trans—it wasn’t that well known a detail. No, she was certain Tala had been killed because of something much more personal, but what?
“I’ve been having dreams the last few nights that someone is trying to kill me,” Hank confided. “I wake up screaming. That’s why my mother made this appointment. It’s getting so I’m afraid to be alone.”
Audrey wanted to hug him, but that would have been so unprofessional. “What would make you feel safer?”
“I don’t know. Knowing I could fight them off, maybe? I’ve just started on hormones and I don’t have the same strength as a cis guy.”
“My father taught me to fight,” Audrey confided. “Then, when I was older I took some kickboxing and Krav Maga classes. Isn’t there a martial arts studio in town?”
Hank straightened. “Yeah, on Main.”
“Maybe they have a class you’d be interested in taking? The exercise will be good for easing your anxiety, help you sleep better, and the training might make you feel safer, or at least better equipped to protect yourself. And it will build muscle tone.”
He brightened at the prospect. “You’re right.”
“I also want to ask if I’m right in assuming you don’t have a regular therapist?”
“No. I’m supposed to with the transitioning and all, but I haven’t found one yet.”
Audrey gave him her card. “This is so you can reach out if you want—at least until you get something regular going. I’d like to see if I can find a few suggestions for you. Is it all right if I call your mother and give her the names?”
“Yeah. That would be great, thanks.”
The change in his demeanor—that brightening of spirit—was a not-so-subtle reminder to Audrey that she loved her job. It wasn’t all about forensics, it was about helping kids.
She and Hank talked awhile longer, until their time was up. Audrey made another appointment for him the following week and watched him leave the office with a lighter burden than when he’d come in. She was pretty damn proud of herself at that moment.
She was still basking in it when her phone rang. It was Neve. “What’s up?”
“Do you have Linc’s cell number? The one I have doesn’t work anymore.”
“Oh, yeah. He and Marnie got new phones.”
“Jesus, he’s gone domestic.”
Audrey laughed. “It’s a bizarre thing to witness.” She gave Neve the number. “Can I be nosy and ask why you need it?”
“Are you alone?”
“Yep.”
“ME found traces of GHB in Tala’s tox screen. We’re lucky winter was as long and cold as it was because normal decomp would have destroyed any evidence. I want to know if anyone local is hooked up. I figure Linc would know more than our database.”
“That’s a sad commentary.”
“Yeah, well, we just have the ones who have gotten caught. He might know some that haven’t.”
“You think he’ll give you names?”
“He will.”
Audrey didn’t want to know why she was so confident. “The drug certainly would have made her easier to kill.”
“Don’t I know it. Thanks for the number. Talk to you later.”
She hung up. As she made notes on her appointment with Hank, she couldn’t help but be distracted by thoughts of Tala. Had someone drugged her intending to assault her and then killed her when they discovered she wasn’t physically female? Or had someone planned her death and drugged her to make it easier to do the killing?
Clint’s being drunk had made him easier to kill. The alcohol thinned his blood, making him bleed out faster. It also slowed his reaction time, making it easier for a young girl to bring down a man bigger and stronger than she was.
Tala hadn’t been that big, so who was she bigger and stronger than?
Another girl, of course.
TroothGrrl wasn’t the only person calling out Kendra and Lucy. Other people had started demanding to know what happened to Tala—and what the two of them knew about it. Unfortunately, these people weren’t just sticking to Kendra and Lucy, they were making demands of the state police and the town of Edgeport itself. News coverage of the murder had spread across not only the state but the entire country.
And of course, the fact that Tala had been transgender only made it more scandalous. Sometimes Alisha just hated people.
She went to the hospital after school. Luke’s mother was asleep in the chair next to his bed when she walked in. Luke’s left eye opened—the right was still swollen shut.
“Hey,” he said with a sleepy, mangled smile.
Alisha smiled back. Even beaten stupid he made her heart skip a beat. “Hi.”
His mother stirred, then woke. She blinked and pushed herself upright in the chair, wincing as she straightened her neck. “Alisha. Hi.”
“Is it okay that I came by?” She asked.
“Of course, sweetie. You two can visit while I run down to the cafeteria for a coffee and something to eat.” Rising to her feet, Linda smiled at the two of them and then grabbed her purse and left the room.
“Has she even gone home?” Alisha asked.
“Yeah, but after Kendra tried to visit today she won’t leave my side unless someone else is here.”
She moved closer. “What h
appened when Kendra showed up?”
“Before I could say I didn’t want to see her, Mom lost it. I’ve never heard her talk to anyone like that. Ken was in tears when she left.”
There was part of Alisha that was pleased by that news, and she didn’t like it. “I guess she probably wanted to apologize.”
“You know what she can do with her apology.”
Yeah, that made her happy too. “Can I ask you question?”
Luke reached out and touched her hand. “Sure.”
“Did you text Tala that you’d make her sorry she hooked up with Kyle?”
“Oh, fuck,” he groaned. “Yeah, I did. But I didn’t mean it like that.” His fingers grasped at hers as she turned to go. “Seriously, Lish. I meant I’d be a better boyfriend and make her regret ever seeing anything in that loser. It was just before we tried…you know.” He might have blushed, but she couldn’t tell under all the bruising.
Maybe she was dumb where he was concerned, but she believed him. He looked her in the eye and she couldn’t see any hint of a lie. But then, she hadn’t known her best friend was a fucking killer either.
“I guess that doesn’t look good, does it?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I told Neve you didn’t mean it as a threat.”
“Thanks, but I doubt she took your word for it.” He sighed. “She’ll probably come question me.”
“I’m surprised she hasn’t already.”
“Apparently she tried, but Mom and the doctors told her no. She probably figures I’m not going anywhere soon.”
“Neve’s not stupid. She’ll figure out you didn’t do it. You have an alibi for that night.”
His thumb stroked the side of her hand. “Yeah,” he said, but his tone was hesitant. Alisha didn’t push it. “Mom wants to press charges against Kyle and Josh.”
“You should.”
He shrugged—or at least she thought that was what it was. He didn’t really move a whole lot. “I think Tala’s family has suffered enough. And I don’t blame Kyle. He obviously had a thing for Tala. I should have just walked away from her and let the two of them be together. Obviously he’s more accepting than I am.”
