I shuddered. What had she found out about Mia that was so important and what did it have to do with me? Did she know—or think she knew—who the killer was?
I hurried to the locker room. Pushing the door open cautiously, I stuck my head in. The room appeared to be empty. I crept inside, letting the door fall closed behind me. “Noelle?”
No answer.
Somewhere, a faucet dripped.
“Noelle?” There was no sound except the dripping faucet and my own voice echoing off the walls. This was a horror-movie moment waiting to happen.
Carefully, I pushed in the door of each stall. I was almost sure I wouldn’t find Noelle in one, since she hadn’t answered me, but it didn’t make sense for her to leave such an urgent note and then not show up. Maybe she’d waited a long time and figured I wasn’t coming. That note could have been in my locker for over an hour before I discovered it.
The stalls to the right were empty so I crossed over to the haunted stalls. I pushed the first one open. Empty. The second stall—no one. Same for the third and fourth. When I came to the final stall, the door was closed, not opened slightly like the others had been. A lock of blonde crimped hair poked through the crack. Hadley.
I should have known. “Very funny, Hadley.”
Hadley said nothing in return, which was very unusual for her. I pushed the door in. Hadley fell forward. Her head knocked against the toilet seat, bounced off, and she landed face first in the space between the toilet and the wall.
“Oh my God, Hadley, I’m sorry!” I shouted, but she didn’t move.
I stepped into the stall and leaned over her. I could only see the side of her face. Her mouth was covered with silver duct tape, and her left eye was wide open, blue and empty. Purple marks covered her neck.
I screamed and tumbled backward. The locker room door opened and several loud voices echoed off the walls. The girls’ soccer team filed in to get ready for practice.
Lexi Harrington froze when she spotted me sprawled on the floor. “What’s wrong with you?”
I couldn’t answer her. I couldn’t even breathe. I stared straight ahead at Hadley’s lifeless body.
Lexi and another girl moved toward me slowly, like they knew something was wrong. They peeked into the stall and screamed. I stuck my fingers in my ears. The others came over to see what the panic was about, and seconds later, the locker room was full of screaming girls.
A whistle pierced the air. Coach Woods hurried over, red-faced. “What on earth is going on in here?”
“Hadley’s dead!” someone shouted.
Coach Woods pushed her way through the girls and peered into the stall. The color drained from her face. I could tell she was holding in a scream, trying to remain calm for us. She froze for a few seconds before spinning around.
“Okay, okay, everybody out.” She ushered the girls to the door, but I couldn’t move, and I couldn’t take my eyes off Hadley. “Someone get Principal Weaver!”
The locker room fell quiet except for Coach Woods’ footsteps coming back toward me.
“Albano, let’s go.” She gently lifted me to my feet. “I want all you girls to go to the office and wait there.”
I nodded and walked forward as if in a trance. As I made my way to the office, Detective Ford and Detective Early raced past me. Principal Weaver was right on their tails.
Stacia and her friends stood in a tight huddled group watching. They were either on their way to a meeting or they’d just been dismissed. Stacia waved at me, but I couldn’t bring myself to wave back. I looked away and followed the soccer team.
In the office, the girls were hysterical. Ms. Garcia and Ms. Duncan tried to calm everyone. They probably had no idea what was going on yet or they would have been freaking out themselves.
Ms. Duncan clapped her hands. “All of you, stop it! One at a time!”
Everyone quieted down and let Lexi speak. “Hadley Fowler’s dead. We found her in the locker room.” Then Lexi pointed at me, her hazel eyes lit with fury. “She did it! She killed her, just like she killed Mia! I saw it with my own eyes!”
17
Numerous gazes pierced me with their silent accusations. I could only shake my head. I meant to say I didn’t do it, but no words came out. Cell phones were whipped out as the girls began to call and text, spreading the horrible news.
Ms. Duncan gathered seats for everyone. I hovered by the office door until Ms. Garcia led me to an empty desk. I sat down in the swivel chair, trying to make sense of things. Someone had killed Hadley, no doubt the same person who had killed Mia. Why had the person lured me there with that fake note from Noelle?
One girl with long, dark hair pulled up into a ponytail stood. “I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want to be stuck in the same room with her.”
“We’re not having any of that,” Ms. Duncan scolded.
Just then, Detective Ford came into the office, and all the girls started talking at once.
“Arrest her!”
“Is Hadley really dead? Did you check her pulse?”
“Neva did it! We all saw!”
“Put her in handcuffs already!”
The detective put his hands up. “Girls, I’m really sorry you had to see what you saw. We’re going to call each of your parents to bring you down to the station for questioning. We also need to pull the surveillance tapes.” He directed the last part of his statement to Ms. Duncan.
She motioned for the detective to follow her. He and I made eye contact as he walked back to her office.
I whipped out my phone and called Father. He was still at work, and I wasn’t sure he would even answer. The phone rang ten times before going to voicemail. I tried three more times before finally leaving him a message. After this, he would make us pack up and leave for sure.
***
I sat in a cold, sterile room at the police station, sipping on a Sprite. The detective had separated us for questioning. It had been hours, and I had yet to be questioned. I passed the time by staring at the stark white empty walls or resting my head against the cool metal table. When I asked to use the restroom, I noticed most of the girls had already been interviewed and dismissed to their parents. Apparently, they were saving me for last, and my father was on his way.
I had almost fallen asleep when the door swung open. Father and Detectives Ford and Early entered. I rose and hurried over to my father. He hugged me and kissed the top of my head, but said nothing. He smelled like a hard day at work. I felt his worry from the tension in his hug. The last thing we needed was the police poking around in our business.
Father sat beside me, while the detectives sat across from us.
“Do we need a lawyer?” Father asked. He sounded exhausted.
Detective Early shook her head. “That’s up to you. We’re not charging Neva with anything. We just want to ask her about what she saw today.”
Detective Ford placed a Ziploc bag in front of me. It contained the note from my locker. “You say someone left this in your locker.”
“Yes. That’s why I was in the locker room.”
Detective Ford raised an eyebrow at me. “We spoke with Noelle. She says she didn’t write the note. We got a handwriting sample from one of her teachers, and it doesn’t match up, but we’re checking for prints.”
I stared at the note in the clear plastic bag. “If she didn’t write it, who did?”
“You tell us,” Detective Early replied. “Somebody wanted you in that locker room for a reason.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
Detective Ford sighed like he was trying very hard to believe me, but couldn’t. “Neva, when you found Hadley’s body, her mouth was covered with duct tape.”
“Yeah.”
“When the medical examiner removed the tape, he discovered her mouth had been stuffed full of candy.” He placed a piece of candy on the table in front of me. “Sour Apple Jolly Ranchers, to be exact. Hadley died from asphyxiation. She choked on them.”
&n
bsp; Father shifted in his seat, and the urge to vomit returned.
Detective Ford twisted the candy between his fingers. “The other girls told us about an incident you had with Hadley over a Sour Apple Jolly Rancher.”
After all that had happened, the candy episode sounded so stupid. Father raised an eyebrow, watching me expectantly. I hadn’t told him about the incident. I didn’t tell him about any of the bad things that happened at school.
“That’s quite the coincidence,” Detective Early stated. I was tired of people saying that.
Detective Ford placed another Ziploc bag on the table. This one contained another note. He slid it in front of me. “Read it.”
Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s the sourest of them all? My heart palpitated, and I slid the note back to him.
“We found that in her back pocket, along with a knife,” he said. “The knife didn’t have Hadley’s fingerprints on it. Her murderer put it there. Tell us what happened when you went into the locker room this afternoon.”
“I got the note to meet Noelle. I went to the locker room. I didn’t see her. I called for her and got no answer, so I checked the stalls. When I got to the last one, I found Hadley. I swear she was already dead when I got there.”
Both detectives stared at me as if they wanted me to say more, but that was the end of the story.
“Obviously, someone is trying to frame me.”
Detective Early furrowed her brow. “Who would want to do that, Neva? Why would someone want to frame you for murder?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t. All I can tell you is that the murderer isn’t me. Didn’t you check the surveillance camera?”
“Yes, we saw someone wearing black pants and a black hoodie enter the locker room about twenty minutes before dismissal. Hadley went in there a few minutes later. We’re still trying to figure out why. She asked her sixth period teacher for a bathroom pass, stating it was an emergency. A few minutes later, the person in the black hoodie emerged. They kept their head down, so we couldn’t get a look at their face.”
“Neva,” Detective Early said, “did you lure Hadley into that bathroom and forge that note from Noelle?”
“No!” I shouted. I tried not to sound so defensive, because that would make me appear even guiltier to them, but I couldn’t help it.
Detective Early raised an eyebrow. “The thing is, we also checked the surveillance tape of the hallway where your locker’s located. At no point did anyone approach your locker to slip you a note.”
Father stood. “This is over. She told you everything she knows. You’re not about to accuse my daughter of murder.”
Detective Ford pushed his chair back. “We’re not accusing—”
“Let’s go, Neva.”
I stood and followed Father out of the room. He stalked ahead angrily. I had never seen him so mad.
“We start packing tonight,” he said as his truck screeched out of the parking lot.
“We can’t just up and run away. They’ll find us.”
“Yes, we can, and no, they won’t. We’ll change our names and appearances. I just need a day or so to find us somewhere to live. Maybe an apartment this time.”
Usually, Father had plenty of time to line up a house and a new job, but this time would be different, and that worried me.
I was tired of packing up and moving, but Father was right: there was nothing for me in this town except cruel stares and false allegations. Not one person cared about me here except for Henry. My heart sank even further. Henry would be devastated. He thought he would have at least another year with me, but that had been cut down to a few days.
Father gripped the steering wheel tightly. “We have to go before they start looking into my background. They’ll want to know what school you came from and if you had any problems there. They’re going to realize there’s no information on us beyond a year and a half ago.”
“You’re right, Father. We’ll start packing.” The fact that he was afraid made me even more scared. All we wanted to do was keep our heads down and have a peaceful existence, but now here we were, running from the law when we had done nothing wrong. As we pulled into the driveway, I wondered if we had saved the boxes from our last move.
“Yoo-hoo!”
As I climbed out of the truck, Dot was already on our side of the street. The sky had grown dark. Had she been waiting outside for us to come home?
“Is everything okay?” she asked, trying to sound concerned.
“Everything’s fine,” Father mumbled as he headed for the door.
“Oh,” Dot said, following us, “because the police have been going around the neighborhood asking questions about you both.”
That caught Father’s attention. “Is that so?”
“Yes,” Dot replied. She scrunched her face up. “But no one in the neighborhood really knows anything about you. All we could tell them was that you keep to yourselves and aren’t very friendly.”
Father rolled his eyes and turned around to unlock the door.
“Mr. Hubert down the street said that only psychos and serial killers are as reclusive as you,” Dot added. “You know, people who have something to hide.”
“Good night, Dot,” Father said, pushing me inside.
***
“Start taking things out of your dressers and closet,” Father ordered. “I’ll find some boxes. You’re not going back to that school.”
School had been cancelled the following day anyway, which was good, because people would have been suspicious of my absence.
Upstairs, I grabbed clothes from my closet, leaving them on the hangers and tossing them onto a pile on the floor. Father left me a few boxes, but not enough for all my stuff. I hoped he wouldn’t make me leave things behind.
An hour later, Father left the house to get more boxes from the grocery store. I decided to take a break while he was gone. I hadn’t seen Henry all day. I opened the back door and peeked out. I was relieved to see his porch light shining like a beacon in the darkness. I ran over to the fence.
Henry coughed as I sat down.
“Hey, Henry. What’s up?”
“Nothing. Just thinking.”
I closed my eyes and readied myself for a difficult discussion. “I have some bad news.”
“I heard about the girl at your school.”
“Yeah, it’s about that. They think I had something to do with it. Someone’s trying to frame me for those girls’ murders.”
Henry took a few deep breaths. “That’s crazy. Why would someone do that?”
“I have no idea. I don’t get why anyone would have this vendetta against me, but they do.”
Henry coughed again. “What are you going to do?”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about, Henry. My father and I . . . we’re leaving. We’re packing up, and he’s looking for a place far away from here. We’ll be gone in a day or two.”
Henry said nothing for a long time. “What about me? You can’t just leave me. You’re all I have.”
“Henry, I told you I wouldn’t always be here. I don’t want to leave you, either, but I don’t have a choice.”
He sobbed, and I blinked back my own tears. The headlights from Father’s truck pulling into the driveway filled the yard. “I have to go back inside. I’ll come back out in the morning. Will you be here?”
Henry had a coughing fit. He sounded like he was choking on something. “Of course . . . where else would I go?”
I wiped my tears and headed for the house. Henry’s cough kept getting worse, and I wished he would go inside and get his inhaler or a drink of water.
I laid my hand on the door handle and looked back at the fence. “Good night, Henry.”
18
The following day, Father called in sick to work. We packed up as much of the house as we could. At lunch time, I offered to go to the deli a few blocks away to get us some sandwiches. Father warned me to be quick and to come right back.
Unfortunately,
when I stepped outside, Dot stood in front of our house, sifting through our mailbox. She slammed it shut and smiled when she saw me. This woman had too much nerve.
“What are you doing?” I demanded.
She folded one arm across her chest and rested her chin on the fist of her other hand. “Oh, nothing.” Even she couldn’t think of a reasonable excuse to be digging through our mailbox. I was glad I had discovered her instead of Father. He might have flipped out, and that was the last thing we needed.
“You know going through people’s mail is a federal offense, right?”
Dot waved the accusation away. “Please. My weekly coupon book is late, and I just wanted to see if you all had gotten yours.”
She had finally come up with something. You would have thought she was doing surveillance for the police. What did she think she was going to find in our mail?
“Get off our property,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Humph,” she said before spinning on her heels and storming back across the street. I watched her disappear into her house, slamming the door behind her.
I sighed and tilted my head up toward Henry’s room. The curtains ruffled. Henry was watching. He hadn’t met me at the fence that morning as he’d promised. I figured he was angry at me for leaving. I gave the window one last glance before heading to the deli.
I purchased two turkey subs, potato chips, and two slices of caramel apple cheesecake for dessert. On the way home, I took a little extra time to observe the neighborhood. It might be my last time walking through it. I admired the sights of the towering willow trees which provided plenty of shade, the colonial style houses painted in a variety of muted tones, and the kids riding bikes and hoverboards up and down the street. I liked this place, with the exception of Dot. It was nice and quiet, and people allowed us to keep to ourselves.
As I neared my house, I noticed Henry’s parents outside, loading up their car. I didn’t encounter them very often.
“Hello,” I said as the couple maneuvered a cooler to fit in the trunk.
Forever Snow (The Everly Girls Book 1) Page 13
