by Kate Kessler
He nodded. “Be careful. I wouldn’t trust him not to hit a girl.”
She bit her tongue to keep from saying, Like you wouldn’t? “Right. I will be.” She shifted her grip on her food and started to walk away.
“Hey,” Randy said. “Maybe you could tell your uncle about this?”
She frowned. “Which one?”
“Jake.”
She shrugged. “Yeah, sure thing.” When Randy’s shoulders lowered, she shook her head and continued on her way. People used to be afraid of her grandmother. Now they were afraid of Uncle Jake.
Maybe someday, they’d be afraid of her.
* * *
“You are not talking to my daughter.”
Neve was pretty sure Elle Granger silently added bitch to that statement. “Mrs. Granger, I need you to understand that while Kendra is fully within her right to not speak to me, not doing so makes her look as though she has something to hide.”
Elle’s cheeks flushed hot and angry. “My daughter has done nothing wrong.”
“Your daughter attacked a girl because she kissed her ex-boyfriend. Alisha Tripp has substantial injuries.”
“That little slit broke Kendra’s nose!”
Neve cringed. She’d always hated that word, “slit.” It was so degrading. Worse than “slut,” or even the C-word. “Self-defense. Yancy Tripp and Linda Pelletier have asked me to advise Kendra to stay away from Alisha and Luke, or she may be served a restraining order.”
“They’re telling Kendra to stay away? I asked you to do that for Kendra first.”
Neve shook her head with a look of mock regret. “Yes, but in order to do it, I needed a statement from Kendra and you wouldn’t let me speak to her.”
She thought Elle might actually explode, she was so angry. “What do you have against my family? Is it because we’re white?”
Neve’s mouth dropped open. “You did not just ask me that.”
“My husband has friends in state government—”
“Finish that sentence and I will arrest your ass for threatening an officer of the law. And attempting to obstruct justice.” Did she have crazy eye going on? She felt like it. “This has nothing to do with race and everything to do with a girl’s murder—your daughter’s friend, remember? Now, I need to talk to Kendra. I suggest you go get her.”
Elle didn’t budge.
“Now,” Neve ordered. “Unless you want to take a drive.”
The woman looked as though she could cheerfully strangle her. Kendra obviously got her temper from her mother. When Elle finally turned on her heel and walked off to get her daughter, Neve breathed a sigh of relief. Still, she kept her hand near her gun just in case.
Kendra appeared a few minutes later. She looked like hell, with her nose bandaged and black bruising under both eyes. Alisha sure had done a good job of breaking her nose.
“What do you want?” she asked. Swelling made her voice super nasal.
“I want to talk to you about the night Tala died.”
“I already told you everything.”
“No. You told me you were with Luke that night, but Lucy just told me that the two of you were at a party.”
Kendra blinked. “She’s wrong.”
“Is Randy Dyer wrong too?”
The girl looked away. Under other circumstances, Neve might have some sympathy for her, but not at that moment. “You need to stop lying to me, Kendra. It’s going to get you in a lot of trouble. Were you at the party or were you with Luke?”
“I was at the party,” came the mumbled reply.
“Did Luke ask you to lie for him?”
She shook her head. “No.”
It was odd because Luke had told her that he’d been at home that night, but that his parents had been out. Kendra had claimed that she went to the house and hung out with him—something that would have upset his parents. If Kendra hadn’t been with him, had Luke actually been at home? Why hadn’t he taken advantage of Kendra’s lie?
“Have you ever seen Luke’s knife collection?”
The girl started to frown, then made a small, painful noise. “Yeah. His father got him some kind of freaky dagger for his birthday.”
“Does he own any hunting knives?”
“That’s not what he’s into. He likes ancient and fantasy-type stuff. He hates hunting.”
“Why did you attack Alisha at the hospital?”
Kendra studied her toes. “Because she was kissing Luke.”
“And that made you angry.”
“Yeah.”
Looking at her, the languid way she moved and the slow hitch to her speech, Neve had to wonder just how medicated the kid was. “You need to stay away from both of them. I mean it. If you go near Luke or Alisha you will be in a lot of trouble. Do you understand?”
She nodded. “It doesn’t matter anyway. What’s the point?”
Well, that was positive. “It matters because they were your friends.”
“Bullshit. If Alisha was my friend she wouldn’t have gone after Luke.”
“Sometimes things just happen. You could have tried talking to her rather than going for her throat.”
Narrow shoulders lifted in a halfhearted shrug. “It wouldn’t have made a difference. Everyone I thought was my friend has betrayed me. Luke with Tala and Alisha. Tala with my brother. Alisha with Luke.”
“What about Lucy? Has she betrayed you?”
“Lucy’s the only real friend I have. Do you have any other questions? I’m tired.”
She looked about ready to collapse right there. “I need you to tell me you understand that you cannot go near Alisha or Luke. If you see them at school you can’t talk to them, and you need to be as far from them as you can be.”
“Yeah, I get it. Whatever. Like Luke is going to be back at school anytime soon.”
That was said a little too gleefully for Neve’s liking, but the girl was obviously seriously fucked up where the boy was concerned. “No trips to the hospital to try to see him either.” That seemed to burst her bubble. Jesus, had nothing Neve had just said to her made it to her brain?
The girl’s chin lifted. Her black eyes looked terrible in her pale face. The bandage gave her a slightly inhuman appearance.
“Luke loves his knives,” she said, swaying a little. “He likes to throw them. And stab things. He showed us. He was really good at it, but I wasn’t. Do you know how much strength it takes to stab a person repeatedly?”
“Yes,” Neve said. “I do. Go take a nap, Kendra. We’re done.” Jesus, the kid was a piece of work. One minute she was trying to protect Luke and the next she threw him under the proverbial bus.
Thankfully, she didn’t have to deal with Elle again when she left. As she walked to her car, Neve pulled her phone from her pocket and speed-dialed a work number.
“Yeah,” she said when someone answered. “I’m going to need a search warrant.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
It was early Friday, and Neve was having a crap day. In fact, her day was about to get super shitty. She was getting tired of Edgeport, the surrounding towns, and the collective small mind between the three. Or maybe she was just tired of always seeing the asshole side of people. Regardless, she wasn’t looking forward to the look on Linda Pelletier’s face when she saw the search warrant in Neve’s hand.
“What the hell is that for?” Linda demanded when she saw it.
“Specifically Luke’s room and any outlying buildings or vehicles.”
The woman shook with rage. “I can’t believe you’re doing this.”
“It’s my job,” Neve reminded her.
“Your job sucks.”
She nodded. “Sometimes it does. Will you tell me where his room is?”
“You’re the detective,” the woman said with a sneer. “Find it yourself.”
Neve sighed as she walked away. “Let’s make this quick, Vickie.”
The two of them walked up the stairs and easily found Luke’s room—it was the only one that obviou
sly belonged to a teenage boy. There were band posters and fantasy art on the walls—no half-naked women, though. For a kid who was rumored to be such a heartbreaker, he didn’t have much exploitative material. Vickie found only one titty magazine under his mattress and a couple of sites in his browser history.
“He did a lot of searches for articles on being transgender,” Vickie informed her as Neve searched the bedside table. “And some searches on Tala’s name plus New York.”
That made Neve pause. That was the only evidence they’d found that anyone actually believed Tala had simply run away. Would Luke be smart enough to conduct such a search if he’d been the one to kill Tala? Maybe her instincts were off, because even though she’d warned Alisha to be careful around the boy, she couldn’t bring herself to actually see him as an offender. At the moment, he screamed “victim.” Josh Lewis had told her the reason they stopped beating him was that he didn’t really fight back.
At first Neve thought maybe Luke let them hit him because he felt guilty, but she didn’t think it was because he killed anyone. He felt guilty for another reason. Maybe it was the sex thing, or maybe it was something else.
“Take a photo of that search history. We’ll get the guys to look into it.”
“Looks like he was looking at pre- and post-op photos of trans girls too.”
“Before or after Tala disappeared?”
“About a month before.”
Probably wanted to know what to expect. Still, even if he seemed like a decent kid, there was still that text he’d sent saying Tala would regret being with Kyle. That she’d be sorry. There was no doubt he was pissed off about the infidelity.
Neve opened the closet door. On the floor was a small chest that had a bit of a medieval aesthetic to it.
“I think I found the knife collection,” she said.
The trunk wasn’t locked, so she pressed the latches and popped it open.
“Oh, shit,” Vickie said.
Neve sighed. On top of the rest of the daggers and blades was a hunting knife. The blade was bloody, and the tip had been broken off.
“You think that’s it?” Vickie asked.
“Of course it is,” Neve replied. “Right there on top, just waiting for us to find it.”
“You think it was planted?”
“I think that nothing—and no one—involved with this case is what it seems. Everyone’s hiding something.”
“Like this knife.”
“This wasn’t hidden,” Neve said, giving her a look that spoke of slight disapproval. “This was planted. I don’t know if it’s Luke’s or not, but I know he didn’t just leave it here.”
“What are you going to do?”
Another sigh. “What I have to do. I’m going to have the knife tested.” She picked it up with two gloved fingers and placed it in an evidence bag. “And if the blood is Tala’s, I’m going to arrest Luke Pelletier for murder.”
* * *
On Friday, Kendra tweeted: I wasn’t always a good friend 2 u, but u were 2 me. Miss you, Tala. Rest in Peace.
TroothGrrl replied @Kendrahh69 A real friend would want her killer caught. It was smarmy, and she felt bad after she posted it, but not bad enough to try to delete it. She was still upset that Neve had been at Luke’s. And when he told her that his mother said they found a knife with blood on it, she’d almost lost it.
In fact, she was so upset that she skipped class. She was in a stall in one of the upstairs girls’ bathrooms, with her phone on silent, texting with Luke. Or, at least she had been. He hadn’t responded to the text she sent five minutes earlier, which worried her. Maybe he was asleep, but she kept imagining something terrible happening—like Neve dragging him off to prison.
She sent a note to her mother explaining that she’d skipped and why, and hoped that her mother would call in for her so she wouldn’t get sent to the office. And then she checked again for anything from Luke.
Nothing.
Suddenly, someone banged on the stall door. “I know you’re in there. Get your traitorous ass out here.”
Lucy.
Alisha slid the latch and slowly opened the door, prepared to use it as a shield if the other girl took a swing. “Did you miss the part about you staying the fuck away from me?”
“I plan to, but first you’re going to lay off Kendra and me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, right. TroothGrrl. You think we didn’t know it was you? So pathetic. We had a laugh over it at first, but now you’re just pissing us off. You and that HeadSick person. A friend of yours?”
Alisha shook her head. “I still don’t know what you’re talking about. I have better things to do than tweet at you and Kendra—like spend time with Luke.”
Lucy’s eyes darkened. “You’re a fucking cunt, you know that?”
“And I’m recording this conversation for the cops, so keep talking, bitch.”
That actually made Lucy take a step back. “Whatever. Leave us alone.”
“I told you, it’s not me.”
“Yeah, right.” Lucy’s phone buzzed in her purse. As she checked her messages, a big grin spread across her face. “Looks like you’ll get your justice for Tala after all, TroothGrrl. My cousin works at the hospital. She just texted me that the cops are there right now. Arresting Luke for Tala’s murder.”
Alisha didn’t know what happened. One minute she was fine, and the next she was on Lucy. Her knees hit hard against the tiled floor as she took the girl down. Her fingers, like claws, dug into Lucy’s scalp as she picked the girl’s head up and was about to smash it back down.
“Alisha, stop!”
The familiar voice cut through her rage. She hesitated, still holding Lucy’s head as the girl swore and struggled. Audrey stood just inside the door with a worried expression on her face. Not afraid. Not disgusted. Just worried. That was why she loved Audrey so much.
“Let her go, sweetie. You don’t want this kind of trouble.”
Alisha had to force her fingers to loosen. She moved off Lucy, who hurriedly got to her feet, her hair sticking out like a demented ginger halo around her face. There were strands of it between Alisha’s fingers. “You fucking bitch,” she snarled. “You’ll pay for that.”
“I’m pretty sure you started it,” Audrey said, giving her a cool look. “Didn’t Detective Graham tell you to stay away from Alisha?”
Lucy glared but didn’t say another word. She stomped out of the bathroom.
Audrey didn’t look at her, and for a second, Alisha wondered if she was in trouble, and then she saw where Audrey’s attention had gone; Lucy had dropped her cell phone.
Crouching down, Audrey grabbed the phone and looked at it. It must have still been unlocked, because she did something with it before offering her hand to Alisha. “Come on. You’re coming to my office with me. I think you’re done for the day.”
“Neve arrested Luke,” Alisha said dumbly, as if that was all that mattered. It was all that mattered.
“I know, sweetie. That’s why I came looking for you when your mother told me you skipped class. Now, come on. That’s a good girl.”
Class was still in, so at least there weren’t people roaming the halls. Alisha would hate to be seen with Audrey’s arm around her like she was some kind of invalid.
“What are you going to do with that?” she asked, nodding at the phone in Audrey’s hand.
“I’m going to turn it in to lost and found, of course.” She gave Alisha’s shoulders a squeeze. “After we take a look at it.”
Jake came home early from Gracie’s that night. Yancy called in backup for the front desk at the resort, and even Lincoln made time to come to the house and be there for Alisha. The poor kid was so upset, no one knew what to do with her. Alisha wasn’t normally emotional, so seeing her cry was tough on everyone.
“I don’t know what to do to make this better,” Yancy said, her eyes filling with tears.
Lincoln stood beside the sink, ar
ms over his chest. His haircut made him look older—more like the eldest. He was silent.
Jake put his arm around his niece, who sat at the table, wiping her eyes. “It’s okay,” Alisha said. “I’m okay.”
“If his parents can’t afford it, I’ll pay for his lawyer,” Jake offered.
Audrey shot him a warning look, but he ignored it. The kid better not be guilty if he invested actual money in him. That would not go well.
A car pulled into the drive. “It’s Neve,” Audrey said. Jesus, it was not a good time for her to show up.
Suddenly, Alisha viciously wiped both of her eyes, stood up, and went to the door. The adults exchanged glances but let her go. From the dining room entry, Audrey watched as the girl opened the door.
“Hello, Alisha,” Neve said. “How are you holding up?”
“I’m all right,” was the flat reply. “Thanks for coming by.”
Audrey started. Thanks for coming by? “Did you ask Neve to come here?” she asked.
Alisha turned her head to look at her. The kid looked thirty rather than almost seventeen. “Yeah, I did. There’s something I need to tell her—all of you.”
For a second, Audrey lost her breath. She actually considered praying. If Alisha told them that she had killed Tala, she didn’t know what she’d do. Jake would immediately start talking lawyers, and Yancy would cry and Lincoln would brood, but she…she would blame herself. Alisha might be a Tripp, but Audrey was the only one the kid knew who had actually killed someone.
Christ, she needed a drink, but the thought of rum made her stomach churn—traitorous bastard.
They all adjourned to the dining room. Yancy had made tea, so she put the pot on the table along with strainers and milk and sugar.
“Did you actually take Luke to jail?” Alisha asked.
Neve poured herself a cup. “No. He’s under police guard at the hospital for now. The blood on the knife we found matched Tala’s.”
“He didn’t do it.”
“We found the murder weapon in his knife case.”
“It’s not his. He doesn’t collect hunting knives, and even if he did, he wouldn’t keep it there. It’s too obvious.”
