“Mitch is friends with one of the guys at the auto shop in town.” My mom looks at me, her expression strained. “Mitch will be meeting me at the school around eight so we can meet with your principal.”
I nod, a heavy feeling settling in my stomach. It’s going to be a bad day today; I can just feel it in my gut.
“Riley doesn’t have an alibi for last night or the night your car was covered in blood,” she says quietly.
This has my head jerking up as my eyes focus on her. “Really?”
She nods. “Whether I’m married to Mitch or not, your safety is my main concern. If one more thing happens to you, I will press charges myself against Riley,” she says tightly.
I stare at her, because if my mom did that, it could destroy her marriage with Mitch. “But what if he isn’t behind any of this?”
Her lips tighten as concern filters into her gaze. “If it’s not Riley, then we have bigger problems. Krista, I think you should quit that store.” She holds up a hand when she sees my mouth opening to protest. “Honey, I know you love it there, but think about it. Everything that has happened to you has revolved around that store.”
“I was harassed here at the house,” I remind.
“Most of the time it’s when you’re leaving the store. I just…” She rubs her forehead, her skin creasing as she looks at me tiredly. “I don’t know what to think right now.”
“Look, a restraining order will be in place against Riley. Everything’s going to be okay now,” I insist, though I secretly doubt it.
Cord is still hiding something, and Riley seemed to be telling the truth when he’d claimed that he hadn’t messed with my car. What if something else is going on? I know the beginning started with Riley, but what if someone saw what he was doing and decided to start playing their own game with me? What if…someone is setting Riley up?
A chill sweeps down my spine. Something isn’t adding up, and I’m growing more and more confused by the minute.
* * *
I’m headed to my locker before lunch when someone grabs my arm in a bruising grip and spins me around. I try to jerk my arm out of Riley’s grasp as I stare up at him, glaring. “Let go.”
He ignores me as he physically nudges me up against the nearest set of lockers where no one seems to be lingering. “You are such a fucking, little bitch,” he spats angrily, his eyes flashing. “I didn’t touch your damned car that night it was vandalized, and I didn’t go anywhere near you last night. I want you gone, but I’m not looking to kill you by running you off the road.” He moves in closer, and I can see a vein throbbing near his temple. “You are ruining my life! My own father is turning against me, and now I’ll have an official record with the police department because of the stupid restraining order you guys filed against me. Why the fuck are you setting me up like this? Is it payback for not wanting your idiotic truce?” he bites out.
I stare up at him, taking in the emotions playing across his face and in the depths of his eyes. He’s angry, but I see bewilderment too, as if he can’t understand why any of this is happening. An icy feeling spreads over me, and I decide I need to try to calm Riley down before he gets himself in further trouble. I may not like him, but if he’s being setup, he’s just falling into a trap by confronting me here in a hallway full of witnesses.
“Riley, I want this to all go away too, and I hate that it’s getting worse. Someone really did run me off the road. There are black scratches on the bumper, you can check it out for yourself. I didn’t ask for the restraining order, my mom jumped to conclusions—”
“Leave her alone, Channing.”
We both look up to see Cord walking towards us, his expression blackening when he spies Riley cornering me. I see that his body is tensing, and I know that he’s just itching to tear Riley apart.
Riley looks irritated but is smart enough to back away from me. “I’m fucking trying to.” He looks at me, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “Get that restraining order dropped, and I’ll never bother you again,” he says flatly before he turns and walks away.
Cord stares at me, suspicion flaring as his eyes demand answers. “Restraining order? What the hell has happened now?”
I look around and see that there are students watching us curiously. “Let’s talk outside,” I murmur.
“Do you need to hit your locker?”
“Yeah.”
We walk further down the hall to my locker, and I grab my lunch that I’d brought and my jacket. Then we turn and walk back down the hall and through the school to the back exit. It’s a little chilly outside, but I ignore it as we walk to our favorite tree.
Once we’re settled, Cord looks at me expectantly.
I quietly explain what happened last night, and Cord is silent as he listens, his expression growing darker by the minute.
“Why didn’t you call me?” he asks, his eyes now accusing.
“I was going to,” I say carefully.
“Then why didn’t you?”
Here we go. I’m going to confront him about whatever he’s hiding. I have to at this point, because there’s too much happening now for me to ignore it. “I get the feeling that you know something.”
Cord’s expression shuts down, and he falls silent.
My heart begins to pound as I gaze back at him accusingly. “You do, don’t you? How can you sit back and watch this happen to me if you can stop it?”
“Shit.” He leans back against the tree and scrubs his hands over his face as he releases a heavy sigh. Then he drops his hands and looks at me, his expression torn. “Can we not do this here? Can we talk after school?”
I search his gaze, and the churning emotions I see in his eyes warn me that whatever he’s hiding is really bad. “Are you going to tell me the truth?”
Now he looks pained. “Yeah.”
“Okay. Where do you want to talk?”
“Maybe somewhere in the van? I don’t want to talk at my place.”
Sidney’s and my mom’s suspicions about Cord echo in my mind, and even though I want to trust him, I decide it’s wise to stay where I know I’ll be safe. “You haven’t been to my place before. Mitch and my mom will be gone until five-thirty or so. We can go there and talk,” I offer.
Cord nods in agreement. “That works.”
Because I know he’s hiding something, and since Cord seems lost in thought as his expression remains troubled, neither of us speak while we eat. The rest of the day is draining, and not only am I called into the principal’s office over the restraining order that’s been filed, but I also have to talk with the school counselor. By the time school lets out, I’m more than a little relieved to be exiting the building.
When I approach my car in the school parking lot, I see that Cord is squatting near the back of it, studying the black scratches on the bumper. I walk over and look down at him, his dark hair hiding his expression from me. “What are you thinking?” I ask quietly.
He rises to his feet, and his lips turn down as he tucks his hands in his jeans pockets. He looks like he wants to say something, but then he just shrugs. “I’ll follow you.”
“Okay.”
I watch as he walks away to where he’d parked his van across the parking lot. Then, I climb into my own car and leave the school with Cord’s van following behind.
It’s not long before our vehicles are parked in the driveway at the house, and I am leading Cord up to my room. He pauses just inside the doorway as he looks around. There’s not much for him to see since I haven’t really decorated or anything.
“It’s ugly, isn’t it?” I muse.
His eyes run over the green walls. “It’s not that bad.”
“Right.” I walk over and shut the door, just in case someone should happen to come home early. Then I move to my bed and sit down, patiently waiting for Cord to finish his perusal of my room.
His eyes settle on me, and he sighs as he comes over and sits down beside me on the bed. He runs his hands over his knees, looking uncomfortable
.
I’m not sure what he’s going to tell me, but I still care about him very much, so I move closer to him and touch his knee. “You can tell me, you know. We’ll figure it out together,” I assure.
His green eyes search mine. “You have to promise not to repeat what I tell you. Will you promise?”
I can’t help but hesitate. If I’m seriously in danger, it’d be stupid to keep silent about something that could save my life. “Am I in danger, Cord?” I ask intently.
“I honestly don’t know,” he says with frustration. I watch as he rubs his jaw with his hand, and I can tell that he’s going over something in his mind.
“What do you mean?” I ask, pressing for more information.
“If you can’t promise to not say anything, will you at least promise to sit on the information for twenty-four hours so that I can try to get it sorted before anything is done about it?” he asks, his eyes burning into mine as he awaits my answer.
“Cord, what is going on?”
“Promise me, Krista. Please,” he says simply, his expression letting me know that my word on this is important to him.
“Okay. I promise.” If he’s going to be honest with me about something that could cause serious damage to him, Dane, or even Owen, I can at least give him that.
“Emmaline told me something before she left me the night she was murdered. She wasn’t happy with how I was taking the breakup, so she wanted to lash out and hurt me,” he explains in a heavy voice that is weighed down with whatever he’s about to reveal.
I nod and wait, bracing myself.
His eyes meet mine with resignation in their depths. “She says she screwed Dane.”
This new revelation has me blinking, then my lips part with shock. “Dane? Your brother Dane?” I ask when I manage to find my voice.
The weight of his gaze holds mine. “Yes.”
“And you believed her?”
Cord nods as his lips tighten. “She wouldn’t have said it if it weren’t true. All I’d have to do is ask Dane, and she knew that. I’m guessing she found out something she wasn’t supposed to and was going to have some fun toying with him until she ruined him, because that’s what she liked to do to those around her.”
“I don’t understand. Dane is with Owen, right? I mean, maybe not publicly, but he’s really into him, isn’t he?” I ask as I struggle to understand why Dane would sleep with Emmaline behind Cord’s and Owen’s backs.
“He loves Owen. I don’t think he’s ready to admit that, though, and he’s definitely not anywhere close to doing anything about it. That’s their hurdle to figure out.”
“Why mess around with Emmaline then?”
“That’s the million-dollar question. I was going to ask Dane about it, but then Emmaline went missing, and everyone started pointing their fingers at me. I wanted to protect Dane, so I kept my mouth shut. Dane quickly stepped in saying that he was with me that night, so I went with it and just tried to ride out the shitstorm that we got caught up in.”
“Wait, so you two weren’t actually together that night?” I ask sharply as I catch on to what he’s admitting to me.
Cord’s eyes hold mine. “No,” he says softly. “I was home alone, and Dane was at the warehouse. Any surveillance footage from that night has since been erased so that there is no proof that he was there.”
“But…” It sinks in that Cord no longer has a legitimate alibi, and neither does Dane. This is a whole lot worse than I had ever imagined this secret to be. Cord continues talking, and my thoughts cease as I listen intently.
“Dane hated Emmaline, he couldn’t stand the way she treated me. The only way he would have messed around with her was if she had something on him or Owen,” he says grimly.
“You think she was blackmailing him?”
Cord nods. “That was the one thing Emmaline excelled at. She probably wanted to see just how far she could push him and bend him to her will,” he says as his lip curls with disgust.
My brow wrinkles. “But with sex? Wouldn’t that have bothered her to be with someone that hated her?”
Cord gives me a look as he reaches up to brush his dark hair away from his face. “It worked for her and me, didn’t it? Emmaline…she had a lot of messed up ideas where sex was concerned, and the shit she liked…” He rubs his face. “That was one fucked up girl, Krista. She got high on making others miserable.”
“So Emmaline was blackmailing Dane…” I murmur as I think over this new information.
Then, it sinks in.
Dane has no alibi, either.
I look up at Cord, eyes alarmed. “You think Dane killed her?”
Cord gives me a pained look. “He had motive, and he could have been anywhere that night.”
I want to point out that Cord himself could have been anywhere that night too, but I keep quiet as I sort everything out in my head. Cord could have easily followed Emmaline home and killed her to protect his brother, but would he have? And if he had, why would he confess all this to me now? He’s putting his life and his brother’s on the line by coming clean to me, and all he’s asked is twenty-four hours before I take this information to the police.
No, I don’t think Cord killed Emmaline.
That leaves Dane.
“Do you really think Dane has it in him to kill someone?” I ask softly.
“Fuck,” Cord mutters as he drops his face into his hands. “I like to think not, but I don’t know, Krista,” he says, his voice now muffled.
I reach out and touch his shoulder. “So all this time you’ve been protecting him because you think he did it. Have you tried to talk to him about it?”
His head lifts, and he gives me a look. “Yeah, right. How do you ask someone if they committed murder? I didn’t want to ruin our relationship without solid proof.”
“That’s understandable,” I say quietly.
Cord reaches up and takes my hand from his shoulder so that he can hold it. His eyes search mine, and he looks sad. “If Dane killed Emmaline, he could be the one who’s after you. He could have followed you last night, he was right there before you left. Hell, he’s brought you up numerous times lately, hinting for information. It’s why I suggested you quit. He started bringing you up shortly after the bloody car incident, and that's when I realized you might actually be in danger, just not from Riley.” He shakes his head, confusion settling in. “It just doesn’t make sense, though. Why would Dane come after you? You’ve never done anything to him.”
“Do you really think it’s possible that he could be the one that ran me off the road?”
Now he looks bleak as his shoulders drop. “I don’t know why he would do any of this, but yeah. I’ll check his car tonight for scratches. Maybe he killed Emmaline and enjoyed it so much that he wants to do it again? That’s my biggest fear, Krista.” His hand tightens on mine. “I care about you both, so whatever we choose to do next is going to have consequences, you get that, right?”
I nod, feeling absolute sympathy for the situation he’s in. “If he killed Emmaline, he’s dangerous, Cord,” I remind.
“I know.” He looks torn now as his gaze drops to our joined hands. “I can’t turn him in, Krista. He’s my brother. You can’t either until I know the truth. You have to give me time to get to the bottom of it,” he says grimly.
“How are you going to do that?” I ask.
His head lifts, and he looks at me with conflicted eyes. “I guess I’m going to have to confront him. No matter the outcome, I’m fucked. If he did it, he’s a danger to you and to everyone else. If he didn’t, how do you fix an accusation like that?” he asks darkly.
I feel horrible for him, and I lean into his side, wrapping my arm around his waist to give him as much support as I can. “So what do we do?” I ask gently.
His arm slips around me, and he hugs me tightly. I feel his lips press against the crown of my head. “You won’t do anything until I can get this sorted, right? If he’s innocent, Krista, this could destroy his life
if you jump to conclusions without any real evidence.”
“I’ll wait,” I agree reluctantly. “But what if he wants to hurt me?”
“I’ll figure something out.”
I draw back to look into his eyes. “Like what?”
“I don’t know!” he says with frustration.
“Cord, I’m scared,” I confess.
He reaches for my hand, holding it tightly. “Give me a little time. Please.”
“What am I supposed to do in the meantime? I work tonight,” I point out.
“You quit,” he says firmly.
I blink, and another conversation floats around in my mind. “Wait a second. Dane suggested I quit before.” I stare at Cord as I recall past conversations with Dane. “He’s also warned me away from you.”
He blinks, looking completely taken aback by what I am telling him. “What are you talking about?”
“If he wanted to harm me, wouldn’t he want to keep me close instead of pushing me away?” I ask with confusion.
“Why the hell would he warn you away from me?”
I think back to what Dane had said to me. “He said that he wants me to distance myself from you until this stuff is resolved, but the way he said it to me was weird. He also claimed that he was worried that it could get pinned on you.” I hesitate and peer at him, debating on whether or not I should tell Cord about the other odd conversation I’d had with Dane.
Cord notices, and his eyes sharpen. “You said he specifically warned you away from me. Tell me, Krista.”
I nod and look at him warily. “Back when he caught us in the fitting room, he implied that you attached yourself to others easily, and that we should slow things down. Way down. It was as if he was hinting that you were obsessive or something.”
Cord scowls and rises to his feet, his hand rubbing the back of his neck with irritation. “What the fuck? Why would he try to do that?”
“To protect you?” I rise to my feet to stand in front of him.
He shakes his head. “He knows how much you’ve come to mean to…” his voice trails off, and he looks away.
WHO KILLED EMMALINE? Page 18
