Dirty Girls

by Lily White

  “Ah, so the fancy FBI guy doesn’t know everything after all? Why am I not surprised?”

  “Pledges?” I asked again, refusing to take the bait and enter into a pissing contest over who was the better investigator.

  Shaking his head, Simon relaxed more, his seat groaning to take the weight.

  “Soren runs some kind of rich kids club. Tristan was never involved in it, but apparently Kendall got a bug up her ass and wanted to be part of the in crowd. From what she told him, kids are willing to do anything to be part of that circle, and Soren gets his kicks by challenging them to do messed up tasks in order to be accepted. Like a twisted fraternity. Tristan wasn’t sure about all the rules, but whatever they did to Kendall was enough to force her to drop out of Winter Ridge Prep and be homeschooled for the rest of the year. She only agreed to show her face at the school again after Soren was arrested and his friends had graduated and left for college.

  His eyes met mine.

  “They fucked her up, Jonah. Bad. And based on that, I’m assuming whatever happened to Teagan was another screwed up task gone wrong.”

  The picture was becoming clearer.

  “So you’re assuming that Teagan died for one reason, but that her body was staged-“

  “To cover up what really happened,” he answered for me. “That’s exactly what I’m thinking. Whether she was a message to other pledges or what, I’m not sure. I don’t really care at this point. I just want Soren Callahan behind bars.”

  Finally understanding his train of thought, I tapped my fingers on the table and pushed away from the edge.

  “So then I need to talk to Tristan.”

  Anger returned, his pale cheeks glowing volatile red. “Leave him the fuck out of this.”

  A normal man would have taken pause to that tone, would have held up his hands as if to surrender.

  I wasn’t a normal man.

  “His name won’t appear in any official document, but if I’m to help, then I need to speak with the same people as you. Perhaps a non-family member might extract more information. I’m sure you’ve already thought of that, though.”

  Nodding, Simon was happy to accept the idea as his own.

  “Fine. He’s working at Bailey’s Diner tonight. You can talk to him there. But don’t you dare mention his name anywhere in a report. Soren Callahan is getting out of prison as we speak. The last thing I need is him taking an interest in my brother.”

  “Understood.”

  Calming down at the agreement, Simon waved his hand as if dismissing me from the room. Before I could exit, he called out, his voice gruff with warning.

  “Anything you learn, you’ll immediately report to me.”

  It was a demand more than a question. I turned to look at him.

  “I mean it, Jonah. We’re not competing on this case. It’s mine to solve. You’re nothing more than a consultant.”

  Inclining my head, I silently appeased the bull while walking through the doorway with the intent to visit the crime scene before speaking to Tristan Nichols.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Olive

  Washington State isn’t so bad if you can afford to live here. It carries a reputation, though. And not a good one. Homelessness is a problem if you wander into the wrong places. People scraping by for food to eat and a roof over their heads. It wasn’t always this way. And if you ignore the recent human problems, you would find that the landscape hasn’t changed much.

  The Cascade Mountains are beautiful this time of year with fall burning the leaves into a wash of gold and red. Soon the snow would fall and turn the branches into skeletal fingers, their knobby spindles reaching for a grey sky as if to push the clouds aside and reveal the sun.

  As we drove down a long stretch of road through Mount Rainier National Park, I ignored my brother singing along to the radio and bundled into my seat to escape the chill. It was useless, really. The cold I felt wasn’t from the outside and couldn’t be subdued by the heater blasting against our faces or the heavy jacket I was smart enough to bring with me when we left.

  No, that cold crept up from inside me, a nagging worry blending with the chill of expectation.

  Would he remember what happened a few days before he was sent away? Would I still feel a sense of wonder when looking at a face that was too beautiful to tame?

  Will he have changed? I wondered as the wind whipped against the car that was speeding along toward him.

  “What’s on your mind, Olly? You’ve been dead silent since we left the house this morning.”

  Shaking my head, I attempted in vain to ignore Nolan.

  My older brother wasn’t exactly what one would consider a saint, but he was the only person I had left.

  After our parents died, he offered to take custody of me so I wouldn’t have to go into the foster program. He was only three years older, which made it a joke that he was my official guardian until I turned eighteen three months ago. Despite the fact I was now officially an adult, Nolan continued to parent me, taking far too close an interest in everything running though my life and my head.

  “Speak, Olly. I hate it when you ignore me.”

  My arms hugged my body tighter, as if that alone could prevent Nolan from extracting every thought in my mind.

  “I’m just cold.”

  “You’re always cold.”

  Soft laughter shook his shoulders.

  “Which is weird considering you should be used to this weather by now. We’ve lived here for over ten years.”

  Our family hadn’t always lived in Washington. Originally from California, my father had moved us to Winter Ridge when a better job opportunity came along. We really couldn’t afford the area, but good ol’ dad was a stickler about keeping up with the Joneses. So much so that the debt he left behind after the crash that killed mom and him had almost forced Nolan and I to sell the family home.

  Thankfully, that didn’t happen, and while we were able to keep the house, Nolan had to give up going to college in order to take a job working in a bike shop in the city to afford to keep us afloat.

  Several times I’d offered to drop out of Winter Ridge Prep so we could move to a more affordable area, but Nolan had refused. I was there on an academic scholarship and he wouldn’t think of allowing me to let that go.

  In truth, the money donated as a scholarship was really just pity money handed over by a few Winter Ridge families who felt sorry for the daughter of a dead mommy and daddy. I hated to think people who would eventually ask for something in return were paving my way.

  The question of college was one we could barely discuss. There was no way we could pay for it, but Nolan was determined to figure it out. He wouldn’t let me go without an education. I had no idea where the money would come from, but I kept my mouth shut and let him keep dreaming.

  Nolan’s fingers gripped the wheel, his knuckles blanching white from the strain.

  “We’re almost at the prison. Should be there in less than an hour.”

  Turning to glance at me, he scowled when I didn’t meet his gaze. “Something else is bothering you.”

  I couldn’t help fidgeting in my seat. Nolan had pinned me in place with his observation. He knew it and I knew it.

  “Maybe I hate long car rides.”

  Shrugging, I dared to peek at his face, hating how he kept turning to look at me instead of watching the road. Mom and dad died while driving in a similar landscape and the thought of death was a cloud hovering above me now: theirs and that of another girl I was hesitant to mention.

  Nolan and Teagan McKay were once hot and heavy. She would come over to our house often, the two of them disappearing into Nolan’s room for hours on end.

  Giving them their privacy, I would head into the back family room and relax on the couch while watching television. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what they were doing, and while our parents worked long hours, Nolan took advantage of the lack of oversight.

  Her face has haunted me since the day her b
ody was discovered. A bright, straight-toothed smile, the white enamel blinding where it was emblazoned in the school halls and over every front page of the paper.

  Maybe it was because her death reminded me of my own mortality. Or maybe it was because my parents died shortly after and I’d somehow connected the two events in my messed up head.

  Whatever the reason, Teagan was smiling again in my mind’s eye, with dead eyes and pale skin, her body hanging limp between two trees where the Winter Ridge kids still partied.

  Soren was arrested for selling drugs a few weeks after she died, but the rumor was his arrest had more to do with Teagan than anything else.

  Nolan’s fingers gripped the wheel tighter, the crunch of the leather wrap a blunt, grating sound that forced my attention toward the passenger side window to keep from looking at my brother.

  “This is about Teagan, isn’t it? You’re thinking about her because we’re on our way to pick up Soren from prison.”

  His breath came out on a hissing sound.

  “What the fuck ever, Olly. You and I both know Soren had nothing to do with Teagan’s death. For all we know, the whore decided to screw some stranger and got herself killed in the process. It’s not like we live in the safest area. We’re a few minutes outside of Taylor Mountain for God’s sake. It doesn’t exactly have a sparkling, squeaky clean reputation.”

  Rolling my eyes at his reference to a serial killer that went on a spree twenty something years before we were even born, I spotted a deer in the forest as we raced by, its head bent down as it foraged for food. Why we even drove the scenic route, I didn’t know. All I remembered was Nolan mumbling something about avoiding highway traffic. I wasn’t sure if the traffic would have cost more time for the drive than these single-lane mountain roads.

  “Yes, I’m thinking about Teagan. It’s hard not to. Everybody thinks Soren had something to do with her-“

  “That’s bullshit and you know it.” The car swerved a bit as he interrupted me, his voice deepening and booming with his refusal to believe the great Soren Callahan could be guilty of any crime.

  “And I don’t know why you’re so worried about it now anyway. You weren’t all that worried when you let Soren take your virginity.”

  My eyes snapped his direction. “He told you?”

  The car swerved again and I reached for the door to steady myself.

  “Slow down, Nolan.”

  Ignoring my request, Nolan must have punched the gas pedal harder, the car lurching forward, tail end sliding as he rounded a curve.

  “No, he didn’t tell me. But I suspected it. You just fucking told me by admitting it.”

  I should have known Soren didn’t say anything. One month shy of my sixteenth birthday, I hadn’t exactly been legal when I slept with him. Not that the State of Washington would have given much of a damn, but with Tristan’s detective brother breathing down Soren’s neck, he wouldn’t have bragged about another technical crime he’d committed.

  “How stupid can you possibly be?”

  Shooting me a glare that felt more like a bullet fracturing my skull, Nolan ignored safety while continuing at a fast speed, his anger damn near crushing me within the close confines of the car.

  “You know he doesn’t give a damn about any girl he fucks and yet you spread your legs for him? The fuck, Olly? Are you planning on jumping him as soon as he walks through the prison gates? It’s been two years since he’s seen a chick. Maybe he’ll be desperate and decide to give you another ride.”

  Mumbling under his breath, Nolan added, “I shouldn’t have brought you to pick him up.”

  His hand slammed the steering wheel, knuckles blanching again as he gripped it and made his demand.

  “You’ll stay away from him from now on.”

  Laughter bubbled up my throat.

  “Uh, that’ll be kind of hard considering you invited him to stay at our house for a while. Don’t you think?”

  Shaking his head, Nolan took another curve, the corner of his mouth crooking up when I gasped and gripped the handle of the door tighter.

  “Tell you what, Sis. Let’s just forget we had this conversation. We’ll be at the prison soon and I’d like to be happy to see Soren rather than punching him as soon as he steps through the gates. The deal is he may be staying at our house, but he’s off limits to you. Understand?”

  What Nolan didn’t know was that I regretted the time I’d slept with Soren. He was right to say I’d been stupid to do so, and in the years since that incident, I’d dated Charley Holt who’d showed me what it felt like to be respected. It was too bad we’d parted ways for him to leave for college. Meanwhile, I was still finishing my senior year at Winter Ridge Prep after taking off for an extended absence after my parents died.

  “Yeah, I understand.”

  The rest of the trip to the prison was made without speaking, the radio and wind brushing against the car’s exterior the only sounds that filled the space between my pissed off brother and me.

  I can’t say I was upset we weren’t talking. The last thing I needed was to spend half an hour getting lectured by my brother who acted more like my overbearing and protective father. But at the same time, I wasn’t happy to be left alone with my thoughts.

  Teagan was still smiling in my head, her eyes still dead and cloudy, her body still strung up and displayed.

  I never actually saw the body, but that’s how Tristan described her. He only knew based on what his brother had told him. The kids that found her had taken pictures to post on social media, but I never dared to look at them. They were taken down quickly, but nothing on the Internet really disappears.

  Sighing, I stared straight ahead as we rounded another curve, my stomach revolting at the thought of seeing Soren again.

  Would he still make me feel like butterflies were erupting in my stomach?

  Or would Teagan’s beaming smile flash in my mind while Tristan’s whispered warnings played like a broken record in my head?

  CHAPTER THREE

  Olive

  Pulette Pines Correction Center wasn’t exactly what one would picture when imagining a prison. While I was expecting large cement buildings and thick metal barred gates slamming open and closed with the finality of life lived in the worst of circumstances, what I was met with looked more like a summer camp surrounded by tall chain link fences with razor wire rolled over the top.

  After passing a large sign reminding drivers they were now entering state property, we weaved along a narrow two lane road past office facilities until reaching a batch of cottage type houses surrounded by acres of farmland and forests.

  My confusion must have been written all over my face because Nolan laughed and explained, “I thought the same thing when I came to visit him a year ago. But this is minimum security, so they don’t have to live behind iron bars all the time. You should see the uniforms. It’s more like a pair of khakis with a regular t-shirt.”

  Scanning the groups of men walking in orderly fashion out to a field in the distance, I couldn’t believe the sight.

  “Aren’t they worried someone will escape?”

  “And do what?” Pulling into a parking space, he asked, “Commit more white-collar crimes?”

  Nolan flashed me a grin, his handsome face framed with sun-streaked golden brown hair, the shade a tad lighter than mine. Green eyes pinned me in place, the anger he’d felt while driving gone now that we’d arrived.

  “Soren had a damn good lawyer, Olly. He should have done another five years at a prison much worse than this, but because it was his first time and his family had money, his sentence was more like a vacation away than hard time.”

  I blinked at the realization that the justice system in this state, or hell maybe even the entire country, was different depending on how much leniency you could afford.

  “Come on, we need to get up to the gate. Soren said they would be letting him out around ten this morning. I’m sure they’re processing him now.”

  Reaching i
nto the back seat, Nolan grabbed a duffel bag before climbing from the car entirely. I eyed the bag as he walked through the brisk fall weather, the jeans and jacket I wore doing nothing to stop the wind from sinking into my skin.

  “What’s that?”

  “Clothes,” he answered, his voice distracted as we walked the length of the chain link fence. A group of prisoners glanced our direction, particularly at me.

  “Soren said he’s bulked up since they arrested him two years ago and he won’t fit in the crap he was wearing when they led him away from court. He gave me his size and I grabbed a few things to get him by until he can go to a store.”

  My stomach twisted and I told myself it was because of the men staring at me and not because Soren’s body would be more beautiful with heavy muscle.

  Two years wasn’t a long time, but I’d heard prison could change a person. What kind of a man would Soren be now that time and hard work had shaped the person he’d become?

  “If those assholes don’t stop staring at you, I’ll be hopping the fence and beating the fuck out of them.”

  My hand gripped his arm, our eyes meeting as I tilted my head in question.

  “You’ll break into prison to start a fight all because someone looked at me? That’s dumb.”

  Before he could answer, we walked up to a large rolling gate. The guard on the other side held a clipboard. His dark hair was brushed back and his uniform was pressed. But where I’d expected a stern stare and thin rigid lips, he smiled at us with glimmering grey eyes instead, inclining his head before asking his question.

  “You here to pick someone up? Visiting hours aren’t until the weekend.”

  “Soren Callahan,” Nolan answered. “He’s supposed to be released today.”

  The guard chuckled to himself while checking the clipboard.

  “That son of a bitch doesn’t deserve to walk out of this place.” He flicked a finger at the clipboard, a loud sound echoing across the gate. “But I guess that’s what a rich mommy and daddy can buy for you.”

  Reaching for a handheld radio attached to his waist, he pressed a button, static sounding before quieting down, the guard’s voice clipped when he asked, “Is Soren Callahan ready to go? D.O.C. number 213786.”