14
I raced home, eager to put as much distance between me and school as possible. Home was the only place I could get away from the stares and accusations. I couldn’t help but feel guilty, even though I wasn’t. The whole way, I wondered who would leave such a disgusting note.
Blane was right about one thing—it was too much of a coincidence. Was it someone who had been with us that night? The only people there had been Mia’s friends. Surely one of them wouldn’t have killed her. It had to be someone who knew about what they’d done to me. Who knew how many people had seen it on YouTube before it was taken down? But why had they killed Mia, and why were they trying to frame me for it? My mind went to Henry and Aubrey, the only people I had told the full story. Aubrey had told me on the way home from the hospital that I needed to get back at them. I tried to imagine her strangling Mia with an extension cord, but I couldn’t. Aubrey had her issues, but she wasn’t capable of murder. She was also the one to call me in a panic with the news. And Henry—he never left his house.
I slowed down once I neared my house. I couldn’t wait to talk to Henry.
“Yoo-hoo!” Dot called from across the street just as I’d made it to the walkway. I cringed. I was so not in the mood for her.
I waved politely and continued up the walkway to our front door. I looked over my shoulder in time to see Dot toddling across the street. Jamming my key into the lock, I paused at the sound of her high heels clicking against the concrete. I would have had enough time to slip inside, but then she’d only ring the doorbell.
I turned and forced a smile. “Hi, Dot.”
She pouted. “Hi, sweetie. I heard about that poor girl who was killed. That’s terrible. Were you friends with her?”
“I wouldn’t say we were friends, but I knew her.”
She touched my cheek, and I flinched. She pulled her hand away. “I’m sorry. This must be so hard for you. You shouldn’t be alone. Why don’t you come over to my place until your father gets home? I’ll make some tea, and we’ll talk.”
“That’s okay, Dot. I’m not alone. I have my friend Henry from next door.”
Dot furrowed her eyebrows. “But—”
“I think I hear the phone ringing. Got to go.” I opened the door only as far as I needed to so I could squeeze inside, shutting it behind me. I watched through the peephole as she teetered away. You’d think for someone who wore heels so much she’d be better at walking in them.
I tossed my backpack on the table and grabbed an apple from the counter. I rushed to the backyard, hoping Henry was there. Beethoven blared from the other side of the fence. He was listening to his radio today. Henry had to be the only kid our age who listened to classical music.
I knocked on the fence. The music cut off.
“Have you heard?” I asked as I settled onto the grass.
“Yeah. It was on the news. That’s crazy.”
“Henry, today was the worst day ever. The kids at school think I did it.”
“You? Neva, you wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“I know, right? Someone told me the killer left a note near Mia’s body that read, ‘Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the deadest of them all?’”
“Really?”
“Yeah, and whoever did it stuffed a candy apple in her mouth. That’s why they think it was me. They think I did it out of revenge for the House of Mirrors prank.”
Henry didn’t reply for a moment. “She was one of those kids?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, then she deserved what she got.”
“Henry!”
“What? She did.”
I stood and kicked the fence. How could he be so callous? “Henry, if you don’t stop saying things like that, I’m going to stop talking to you.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s a cruel thing to say. A girl is dead.”
“Well, I’m sorry, Neva. But when someone hurts someone I care about, I’m not going to be sad when something bad happens to them.”
“What they did to me was terrible, yes, but she didn’t deserve to die because of it.”
“I’m sorry,” Henry said. “What are you going to do?”
I shook my head. “I’m not going to do anything. I had nothing to do with Mia’s death, and there’s no way they can pin it on me without evidence. As far as school goes, I’ve always been a loner. I guess I can deal with whatever they want to throw at me.”
“I’m sorry you have to deal with this. You’re a good person. You deserve better.”
I heard the back door of Henry’s house open and close. “Is that your mom?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s she doing?”
“Shaking out the rugs.”
I sat down again, leaning my head against the fence. I looked through the crack. Henry wore a black hoodie. How appropriate for such a bleak day.
“Should I turn the music back on?”
“Sure, why not?”
He flipped his radio back on, and, surprisingly, the music soothed me. I sat with Henry until Father came home.
***
Father paced across the kitchen. I’d told him everything, from my sneaking out early Sunday morning, to the House of Mirrors prank, to the candy apple and the note found with Mia’s dead body.
He ran his fingers through his hair. “We’re going to have to leave earlier this time. I’ll put in my notice at the job—forget it, we’ll just pack up and leave now.”
“Father, don’t you think that will look suspicious if we disappear all of a sudden?”
He stroked the light beard growing on his chin. “Yes, I suppose it will. But we must do something. We can’t have the police snooping around here.”
I knew what he was worried about. “You should get rid of the animals.” While it wasn’t a crime to hunt, it was strange to have the number of animals my father kept in various freezers in the basement. Not to mention the heads mounted on the walls. People who didn’t understand would think we were some sort of freak show.
Father froze and watched from the corner of his eye.
“What?” I asked.
“Are you sure you didn’t do this?”
My jaw dropped. “Father, are you serious? Of course I didn’t! How can you even say that?”
He put his hands up. “I’m not judging you. If you did, I completely understand why.”
Killing a girl and taking her heart would break my curse, but I hadn’t done it. I hadn’t summoned the grit to do it in more than two hundred years—why would I now?
“As far as I know, Mia still had her heart. Of course I didn’t do this.”
Father closed his eyes and sighed. “Okay, but maybe you should start getting serious about it. I mean, it’s really not that hard. I could show you—”
I knew deep down inside he’d always wanted me to do it, to rescue us from this burden. “Stop it. Please, stop.”
He sank into his seat with a look of defeat.
“You couldn’t do it, either,” I said. “You couldn’t kill me when my stepmother ordered you to. You didn’t have the heart to. You had mercy on me, and let me go. Why do you expect me to be able to murder someone?”
He nodded. I felt awful, because my refusal to break my curse kept him trapped in his. His only crime had been sparing my life, and all he had gotten in return was centuries of grief with no end in sight.
“Father, if you could go back and make that decision again, would you still do it? Would you still let me go?”
He glared at me. “What?”
“Letting me go cost you your wife and children. At that point, you had no idea the witch would curse and banish us, separating you from them forever. If you could do it all over, would you have made the same choice?”
Father lowered himself onto a barstool. “Neva . . .”
I blinked as my eyes brimmed with tears. “You should have done it. You should have just killed me. Both of us would have been better off.”
Father came
to me and pulled me from my seat by my forearms. He hugged me tight against his chest. “Don’t ever say that again. I have never regretted my decision for a second. Life isn’t easy for us, but I know one day you’re going to summon the courage to break our curses before it’s too late, and then we can lead happy, free lives.”
But so much had been lost already that we could never get back.
He made it sound so easy. I wished I could muster up the courage to meet the witch’s demands. What did a killer have inside that made him capable of taking another person’s life? How could Mia’s murderer look into her eyes and then wrap an extension cord around her neck?
Feeling weak, I headed for the staircase. “I’m taking a nap.”
“Okay, I’ll wake you for dinner.”
I nodded and trudged up to my room. In my bed, I snuggled underneath my soft down covers and made a mental list of anyone I knew who would want to hurt Mia and frame me for it.
I thought about almost everyone at school, and no one came to mind. Not one of them had anything to gain from killing Mia, as far as I could tell. When I got to the bottom of my list, one name entered my mind again—Henry. I quickly pushed the thought away, because it was so ridiculous. Henry never left his house—of course he couldn’t have done it. I may have mentioned Mia’s name to him several times, but how would he know where she lived, and that she’d be alone Sunday night? He couldn’t have. And the “Mirror, Mirror” note. . . at that point, Henry had no idea Mia had been involved in the prank. Henry had some issues, but he wasn’t a murderer. He was my best friend.
15
The Tuesday after Mia was murdered, Hadley and Noelle were back in school, and boy, did Hadley kick the witch-hunt up a notch. I couldn’t walk down the hallway without at least ten people shouting that I was a murderer. One boy even threw an apple at me. Shamefully, I retrieved it from the ground and ate it, because I couldn’t help myself. I wondered how long this would go on.
In Mrs. Davenport’s class, everyone stared at Mia’s empty desk next to Hadley. I couldn’t bring myself to look at it. Mrs. Davenport attempted to run class as normally as possible, but Hadley had other ideas.
As soon as Mrs. Davenport had taken attendance, Hadley’s hand shot up.
“Yes, Ms. Fowler.”
“I heard the police are on campus questioning students today. Is that true?”
“Yes, the police are here, but there’s nothing to be concerned about. It’s just routine questioning. They want to find out if Mia had any enemies or problems with anyone.”
Hadley glared at me. “I know someone who had a problem with her.”
Everyone turned to look at me, and I sank in my seat.
“Hadley, we are not doing this. Knock it off,” Mrs. Davenport said firmly. “Now open your books to chapter seven.”
Hadley huffed, but she kept quiet for the rest of the period.
It wasn’t until social studies that Principal Weaver came for Tate because it was his turn to meet with the detectives. Tate hadn’t said a word to me since Saturday night. He hadn’t even glanced in my direction, as if he had forgotten I existed. I hoped he didn’t believe the rumors about me. His accusations would hurt me more than anyone else’s.
Tate left with his backpack and didn’t return for the rest of the period.
After class, I hurried to catch up with Noelle. Even if she was upset with me and thought I was a killer, I liked Noelle, and I wanted to give her my condolences on the loss of her friend.
“Noelle?”
She glanced over her shoulder. “Oh, hey, Neva.”
I walked beside her, matching her quick steps. “Hi. I wanted to say that I’m really sorry about Mia.”
She gave me a small smile. “It still doesn’t seem real yet. I keep looking around for her, or I pick up my phone to send her a text . . .”
I could only imagine. They’d been friends for most of their lives. “I’m sorry,” I said again.
Noelle squeezed my shoulder. “And I’m sorry about all this. I think everyone feels like they need someone to pin this on. Of course you didn’t kill Mia. I’m also sorry about what they did to you in the House of Mirrors. I swear I didn’t know anything about it, or I would have warned you.”
“I know you didn’t have anything to do with that.”
“Ready, Noelle?” Hadley asked, wedging herself between us and bumping me out of the way.
“Yeah,” Noelle answered. “Did Tate come out yet?”
Hadley shook her head and threw me a dirty look. “No, not yet. Let’s go before we end up like Mia.”
“Hadley, stop it,” Noelle said. She gave me a sympathetic glance. “I’ll see you later.”
“Later.” I watched Hadley pull Noelle away and whisper something in her ear. I hoped she wouldn’t somehow convince Noelle to change her mind about me.
***
Wednesday was worse than Monday and Tuesday put together. First, a dozen candy apples tumbled out of my locker when I opened it that morning. The word MURDERER was written on tags and tied to each of them. Then a memorial assembly was held for Mia in the auditorium. Several students and teachers spoke on her behalf. I didn’t believe half of the speeches people gave. Mia had suddenly changed from a notorious mean girl to a beloved angel whom everyone adored. I sat in the last row, but that didn’t keep kids from staring at me. I’d never wanted to disappear so badly. To ensure the day was a total train wreck, I was called out of my class during first period for questioning.
“I hope they give you life!” Wyatt Owens yelled as I exited the classroom.
The questioning took place in an empty room of the front office.
Ms. Garcia, the office secretary, opened the door for me. A man and woman sat at a table sifting through a stack of papers, and they glanced up as I entered. I jumped when Ms. Garcia shut the door behind me, sealing me in with these strangers.
“Have a seat,” the man said, motioning to a chair across from them.
I lowered myself into the chair. I wasn’t sure what to do with my hands, so I just folded them in front of me.
The man cleared his throat. “Neva, is it?”
“Nay-vuh,” I said. I hated having to always correct people when they said my name wrong. The next time I would choose an easier name to pronounce.
“Nay-vuh,” he repeated, smiling. “That’s different.”
I twisted the ruby ring I always wore around my middle finger. The ring had once belonged to my mother. “It means snow.”
The man nodded. “I’m Detective Ford, and this is my partner, Detective Early.”
Detective Ford wasn’t a bad-looking man. He had thick coffee-colored hair which was sculpted perfectly to his head, a carefully trimmed mustache, and broad shoulders. He wore jeans and an oversize shirt like he was trying too hard to look young. He didn’t look like any detective I’d seen on TV. Detective Early was a tiny woman with raven hair that fell to her shoulders and sunken cheeks. She wore a sharp-looking black business suit with a white blouse underneath. Although she smiled, she didn’t seem as nice as Detective Ford. Her eyes weren’t very friendly.
Detective Early scribbled something on a Post-it as she spoke. “Neva, you do understand that you don’t have to speak with us without your parents present, but these are just general questions. We need to find out what happened to your classmate.”
I nodded. I didn’t think my father being there would make it any better.
“Were you friends with Mia?” Detective Ford asked.
“I wouldn’t call us friends. We had been hanging out for about a week, here and there.”
Both detectives made a note on their legal pads. What were they writing?
“If you were hanging out,” Detective Early said, “you must have liked her.”
I had started to like Mia a little, but for most of the time I’d known her, I couldn’t stand her. How was I supposed to answer that question?
“Yeah, I liked her.” It wasn’t exactly a lie.
&
nbsp; Detective Ford screwed and unscrewed his pen cap. “Can you think of anyone who didn’t like Mia?”
I took a deep breath. “Mia was popular and everything, but she was a mean girl. She liked to have a lot of fun at other people’s expense. I’m sure there are plenty of kids who didn’t like her, but that doesn’t mean they killed her.”
Detective Early leaned forward and lowered her voice. “You know, Neva, out of everyone we questioned so far, almost every one of them mentioned your name.”
My stomach jerked. I prayed I wouldn’t hurl on the table. “What did they say about me?”
Detective Early scratched her eyebrow. “They said you had beef with her.” She sounded awkward using that word. “They told us about the House of Mirrors. It wasn’t very nice what they did to you.”
I studied the lines going across the wooden table. “No, it wasn’t.”
She broke into a smile. “I was in high school once. I know all about mean girls and being picked on. It can make you downright mad. If they do it enough, it can push you over the edge. Sometimes people just snap.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “I’m not some stupid kid. I know exactly what you’re doing. Yes, I was angry about the prank, but I didn’t kill Mia. I could never murder anyone. I was with my father the entire night. I know about that ‘Mirror, Mirror’ note. Anyone who knew about the prank could have done it. They recorded it. The whole school knew about it by Sunday night. I had nothing to do with Mia being murdered. Are we done here?”
Detective Ford whistled. “She’s right. She’s not some stupid kid. Neva, if you’re done, we’re done. You don’t have to speak with us right now if you don’t want to.”
I scooted my chair back and looked both detectives in the eyes before heading for the door.
“Neva?” Detective Early called as I reached for the doorknob.
“Yeah?”
She smiled again, but it was totally fake. “We do have some more to discuss. We’ll be in touch.”
16
On Thursday, after school, I discovered a note on a ragged sheet of notebook paper in my locker. It read: “Neva, please meet me in the locker room. I found out something about Mia. I’ll be waiting—Noelle.”
Forever Snow (The Everly Girls Book 1) Page 12
