by Blair Young
It was late enough, Damon was probably back home by now. He often got home late after a fight, but it was just after midnight. I’d never known him to be out much later than that. For a brief moment, I thought about going to see how the fight went, but I decided against it.
I was too tired to carry on a conversation, and I had a feeling he would be tired after his fight, too. If it was his last one, I wanted him to be able to get some rest before talking about it. It had to feel good for him to know that he was finally out.
Though I thought it was hot he was so good as an underground fighter, I was still happy for him. It was hard to see him covered in bruises all the time, and I knew he wasn’t in love with the fighting anymore, either. He wanted to get out of it, and I supported that.
It would help his relationship with Susan, too, and we both wanted that. With all the stress and tension that was in the house, it was easy to set off more arguing. But, neither of us wanted that. We just wanted to get along with Susan for the remainder of the school year, and move on with our lives.
I would see how things went in the morning. But for now, I was going to wrap myself further in my blanket and get some sleep.
I woke to my alarm buzzing on the nightstand, and I groaned as I pulled myself up and looked at the clock. It was my first alarm of the morning. I normally set two, getting up when the second started blaring. But, the first thing that caught my eye in the room were several of the notes I had taken from the night before.
Suddenly, I remembered that I was about to look up the elementary school website when I had drifted off to sleep. I threw the blankets off my lap and headed for my desk, searching the site’s name in the bar at the top of the screen.
At first, it didn’t seem like the site was going to do anything for me besides lead me to yet another dead end. There was a lot of information about the school itself, a list of the staff members with nothing but generic information, and some resources for parents to use if they were interested in sending their kids to the district.
But then, something jumped out at me. There was a gallery of field trips the school had hosted over the past year, several of them dating back more than a few months. Then, it struck me. There were teachers in all of the photos from the field trips – meaning I might be able to find Richard.
Quickly, I scanned the dates of the different trips, then I selected the trip that had taken place the week my parents had been murdered. My heart raced as I scanned the three field trips that had taken place that week, and I eagerly selected the one that was taken the same day my parents died.
I could taste bile in the back of my mouth as I flipped through the screens, when suddenly, it happened. There, in three separate photos was Richard. It was undeniably him, with the kids in his class taken in front of a sign that was more than fifty miles away.
There was no way he could have committed the murders if he was on a field trip with the class that day. Though I had mixed emotions when I saw his face with the kids in the class, I had to admit, it was a relief beyond anything I could have asked for.
I rose from my chair and grabbed a t-shirt, pulling it on before heading out the door and into Damon’s room. He was already up and getting dressed himself when I walked in, though he seemed surprised that I would walk in so early in the morning.
“Damon!” I said excitedly as I walked through the door, but then I froze. “What happened to you?”
I knew he had been fighting the night before, but I’d never seen him so beat up after one of his matches. “Are you alright?”
“It’s nothing. The guy was a little better than I thought he was going to be, that’s all,” Damon said as he waved it off. “I’m fine, really.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “And did you win?”
“Of course I won,” he said with a laugh. “The guy didn’t stand a chance. But anyway, I don’t want Susan to see me like this. She’s going to freak out if she sees even half these bruises. I’m not sure how I’m going to get out of here without her catching me, though. She’s clearly already downstairs.”
I thought for a second. “I could give you a hand with that.”
“How?” Damon asked. He looked at himself in the mirror. “It’s pretty bad on this eye.”
“Just a second,” I said. I hurried back to my room and grabbed several foundations off my boudoir, then I hurried back to his room. “We’ll just use this.”
“Makeup?” he asked. “Great.”
“I know but relax. A lot of guys wear makeup to hide blemishes. What’s the difference if you want to hide bruises?” I asked. “I know girls who have used it to hide hickeys, too, it’s like the same thing, right?”
“I guess,” he said with a shrug. “But I’ve never felt the need to hide anything like at all before.”
“Well, you weren’t worried about Susan seeing you beat to a pulp either. I hope that really was your last fight,” I commented.
“It was,” he said with determination in his voice. There was something about his tone that made me wonder if he was hiding something, but I let it go. He had said before leaving the night before that it would be the last one, and I knew he really wanted out of the hobby, so I knew he was telling me the truth.
He probably would have told me what was on his mind if I asked him, but before I had the chance, he changed the subject. “What did you come in here to tell me? You were pretty excited before you saw the damage from last night.”
I grinned. “Your dad’s not the murderer.”
“What?” he looked at me with wide eyes. “How do you know?”
“I looked at the website for his school, and there’s no way he could have been the murderer. He was on a field trip with his class fifty miles from here the time the murders were committed. There’s picture proof right on the site,” I said with a smile.
He relaxed, and I knew he was relieved to hear the news. “Wow. I – that’s great.”
“It doesn’t really help us get any closer to who really did do it, but I mean, it’s definitely something,” I said. “At least now we know that he didn’t have anything to do with it, and you don’t have to talk to him again. We can just let it go, forget that he’s even at that school and move on with our lives. You lived this long without him, why bring him back into the picture now?”
“I’m just glad that he wasn’t the one who committed the murder,” Damon said. “Whatever happens between him and me now, at least I don’t have to think about that.”
“Right,” I said. “Almost done.”
We had been talking while I put the makeup on the bruises, and now none of them were noticeable. Susan would have to be looking really hard if she was going to find any on him, and even then it would be debatable whether they were actually bruises or not.
“I don’t think she’ll say a thing about that,” I said.
“Good,” Damon smiled in the mirror. “I owe you one.”
“I have to earn my place as the best thing that ever happened to you, don’t I?” I asked with a smirk.
“No,” Damon said as he took me in his arms. He gave me a warm kiss before looking down into my eyes. “You just are.”
I smiled wider. No one had ever made me feel so important before, and I knew I was lucky to have someone like Damon in my life. This was the man of my dreams, that was for sure, and I was glad he wasn’t related to the person who murdered my parents.
Even though it wouldn’t change the way I felt about him, the fact remained. I wanted Damon to be happy, too, and now he didn’t have to worry about that coming to light anymore. Whoever was out there who was really guilty would get caught eventually, I wasn’t going to give up until I knew who it was and they were brought to justice.
But, even I had to admit I was glad that it wasn’t Richard. There were still a lot of questions in my mind, and it only added more mystery to the fact that my father was investigating him when he died, but to know he wasn’t responsible for my parents’ death made me feel really good.
And, I had a feeling Damon would be more enthusiastic about helping me find the right person now, too, knowing that he wasn’t having to deal with his own father in the case any longer. He didn’t have to figure out a way to bring it up, or deal with the condescending attitude the guy had when he spoke to him.
No, we could focus our energy elsewhere, and maybe rule out the fact that anyone on the file might be involved with the death of my mom and dad. It didn’t exactly make our search any easier, but at least we knew we weren’t turning in Damon’s own flesh and blood.
Whoever was out there, he was a stranger to us, but he would still pay.
Chapter 22
Sutton
“Sutton, if you could stay after class for a few minutes, I would like to speak with you.”
The other students glanced my way, but I did my best to ignore them as I nodded to the teacher. It was always a source of gossip when one of the students was asked to stay after class, and I wondered if it had something to do with the fact I was having a hard time paying attention to the lesson.
It was math, so I knew that it was more likely something that had to do with Damon’s grades than my own, but the fact of the matter was that I couldn’t really think of much else besides my parents – and the fact Damon’s dad wasn’t the murderer.
Though I wasn’t disappointed, in fact, I was relieved to know that Richard couldn’t have done it, I was left to wonder who it could be. I didn’t know of any enemies that my father or mother could have had, and there wasn’t much to go on around Secret Bay for clues, either.
I’d hoped that the case file that I’d found in my father’s office would lend a hand in me figuring this out, but ruling out both Damon’s parents only made it seem more complicated. Not to mention, knowing Dean was claiming he’d never met my parents before only added to the mystery there, too.
It had been weighing on my mind for most of the morning, so I had to admit, I wasn’t entirely surprised when the teacher asked me to stay, though I still felt that it had more to do with Damon than myself.
And, it turned out I was right.
“Good news!” he said when we were alone. “Damon’s grades are improving. If they stay like this, he’s going to graduate on time with the rest of the class. And I’m sure you are the one we can all thank for that.”
I couldn’t help but smile. It was a bit of good news among all the stress I had been dealing with over the past few days, and I couldn’t wait to get home to Damon to let him know. He was getting tired of the suspension, and I was glad to know that he only had a few more days in this week before he was back on Monday.
“That’s great!” I said with a smile. “Really good news!”
“I understand he’s not going to be back before next week?” the teacher asked, and I nodded.
“He’ll be back on Monday,” I said.
“Will you pass on the good news for me?” he asked, and I nodded again.
“Thank you so much!” I said with a bright smile. We wrapped up the conversation, and I headed out to the hall to find Abby waiting for me. She had looked a bit concerned when I was asked to stay after class, but her look vanished when she saw the wide grin on my face.
“What did he say?” she asked. “Is it good news?”
“Damon’s grades are coming up!” I said with a smile. “He’s going to graduate along with the rest of the class! I’ve got to let him know as soon as I see him. I’m sure that’s going to motivate him to keep going with his hard work.”
“I’m glad you’ve been pushing him to do better,” Abby said with a smile. “I was worried he was going to have to repeat the class. That would have been really hard if you graduated and he had to stay behind.”
“I know,” I said with a nod. “But really, this is the best thing that I could have heard from the teacher. With everything else that has been going on lately, I could have used a bit of good news.”
“That’s for sure,” Abby said. “So are you ready?”
“Yes!” I said. “I’m just going to grab a few things out of my locker and we can get going.
We walked quickly up the hall toward my locker, talking about the day. It was nice at school now that I didn’t have to worry about the bullies who had been picking on me for the first part of the year. To my surprise, Chad had also gotten suspended for the fight with Damon.
The two of them were out for two weeks, and that meant I could walk through the halls and not have to worry about being creeped on by him, or to have him appear out of nowhere and once again try to apologize to me when I told him more than once I wasn’t interested. I didn’t want to be friends with him, and I didn’t think telling him I forgave him was going to lead to anything but him wanting to hang out or something.
Molly, too, was far more interested in Trent these days than anything I was doing. I didn’t know if she thought that the fact she had apologized to me was enough to erase all that she had done to me over the years or what, but the fact of the matter was that she really seemed pleased with herself and her newfound boyfriend, and she hardly gave me a second glance in the hall anymore.
At the very least, she seemed to have lost interest in torturing me with her stupid pranks, and I was able to walk through the halls with my head held high, not having to worry about her or what she was going to pull next. It felt a lot better than having to wonder what I was going to find every time I stepped out of class or into school day after day.
Abby waited for me to get my things out of my locker, then we were off. I had told her more than once that day I wanted to walk her home. I couldn’t hang out, she made that clear, but I let her know I was okay with that.
“You’re not going to be here much longer, and I want to spend as much time with you as I can,” I told her. “So I want to walk you home.”
“Okay,” she had agreed at last. “But like I said, you’re not going to be able to come in. My mom was clear about that.”
We now headed out of the school and down the sidewalk toward her house, talking about the fact that I had found out Richard couldn’t have done the murder, and now we were basically back to square one. But, Abby did agree with me over the fact it was good to know that Damon’s dad wasn’t the culprit.
It would have been pretty hard for us to accept that he had been the one to end my parents’ lives, especially considering all that Damon had done to me himself before high school. He was sorry for it now, and he was one of the only people who stood up for me now, but, he still felt guilt over the fact that he had been a key figure in what had happened then.
We were about halfway to Abby’s house when I changed the subject from me to her.
“So what are you and Peter going to do? Has he talked about what happens when you move at all?” I asked. I knew it was a delicate question, and I hoped I wasn’t too blunt when I brought up.
Abby sighed. “I hope he and I stay together, but it’s hard. I mean, neither one of us know what’s going to happen, and, well, I mean, I’m not even sure where me and my mother are going to end up. If it’s too far away, we have to be realistic about what we’re going to do about the relationship.”
We walked in silence for a while, and I felt strongly for my friend. I knew she loved Peter, and I hated to think she was going to have to break up with him because of this. She had been through a lot, and they had overcome a lot as a couple.
To think that her moving was going to be the one thing that made them split up made me want to cry for her.
“Have you talked about long distance?” I asked.
“Sort of. Like I said, it depends on how long that distance is. I mean, he doesn’t want to break up with me, but at the same time, we have to be realistic. We’re going to need to rethink how we’re going to handle going to college, and whether we’re going to even be able to afford going to the same schools. His family lost a lot because of what my father did, but they can still afford to live in Secret Bay. They might not live in a great part, but they live here
,” she said.
“Yeah,” I said quietly. I didn’t quite know what to say. I just wanted Abby to be happy, and I wanted her to know that I was still there for her. I wasn’t Peter, and I did want our friendship to continue. But, it was going to be hard for us to maintain what we had when she was so far away, too.
Then again, maybe she wasn’t going to end up too far. It was hard to say, really.
“Well, you know I’m going to stay your best friend, right?” I said.
“You better. I would die if I didn’t have you,” Abby said with a smile. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”
“You’re mine, too,” I told her. And I meant it. Molly was the only other person I’d ever considered to be such a best friend to me. Well, besides Damon anyway, but she turned out to be two faced and a traitor. Abby was anything but those things.
We talked about lighter things as much as we could as we made it the rest of the way to her house, but she stopped me outside the door. I knew I couldn’t go in, but I hoped she would change her mind when we got there. But, she didn’t.
“Thanks for walking home with me,” she said as she gave me a hug. “Text me later when you get the chance, okay?”
“I will,” I promised. “Have a good night.”
“You too,” she gave me a light squeeze before she turned and headed through the door. I knew she wanted to keep it short. It was hard for her to be standing outside the house she knew she wasn’t going to be able to call home for much longer.
And, it hurt that I couldn’t go through that door with her. Her mother was a proud woman, and she didn’t want her home to be seen when it was packed with boxes and they were going to be moving. I could only imagine how hard it was for both of them.
They had gone from one of the wealthiest families in the area to unable to even afford to stay in the district, and now they were going to be moving. I tried not to look into the house as Abby stepped inside, but I couldn’t help it.
I saw more boxes than I expected piled up in the hall, and more around the corner. The sight of it made me sadder than I thought possible. I knew she was moving, but those really made it seem real. It was true. She wasn’t going to be living in Secret Bay anymore, and we had no idea where she was going.
