Investigating Julius Drake

by daisy harris

  I took a step to the right, waiting for Julius to ease into position on the other side of her, before reaching for Maude’s phone. “The jig is up.”

  As my hand closed over hers, Maude smiled. She didn’t, however, let go. “Hold on a moment, I’m texting someone.” She jerked out of my hold and kept typing. Her smirk was pure evil. “My biggest fan. Want to see what people will do for me?”

  This time I grabbed Maude’s wrist. Instead of yanking away again, she just smiled. “You may want to back off, Henry. You’ll upset her.”

  “What?” I checked the parking lot, but no one new had shown up. A chill wind blew through, sending ripples across the puddles.

  “Hey!” Zoe stepped out of the car. “Let go of her!”

  “Henry.” Julius’s gaze was sharp. “Back away.”

  I twisted in place, scanning the lot. Then I spotted Zoe Ward on the far side of the sedan. She stared at us with eyes full of tears, hands shaking as she pointed a gun at my face.

  I stood stock-still, too freaked out to even breathe.

  “Zoe,” Julius called. “We’re letting go of your sister.” He lifted his arms, taking one, then two steps back. “Now, put the gun down.”

  “She won’t do what you say.” Maude jerked out of my hold. Carefully, she straightened her clothes. “Zoe trusts me. She believes in me.” Lowering her voice, Maude smirked. “She says I’m the only one who really understands her.”

  “You’re a bitch,” I said through gritted teeth. Stepping away, I raised my hands to head level. My pulse was galloping, but I forced my voice to be steady. “See, Zoe?” I shouted. “I’m letting go.” Zoe won’t shoot. She’s too nice. Besides, I bet she’s a lousy shot. Still, I ran through what prayers I remembered from Sunday school.

  “I may be a bitch.” Maude snickered. “But I’m the bitch who got you to come out of the closet in under ten moves.” She showed us her phone.

  My anxiety expanded like an explosion in my chest. There on the screen were the texts she and I had exchanged. Every line exposed what an idiot I’d been. I lifted my chin, focusing on the other end of the parking lot. I’d keep my gaze forward for the rest of my life before letting Julius see my humiliation.

  “You haven’t told your mom yet, right?” She smirked. “It’s so freaking simple to get boys to spill their secrets. They’ll admit anything. They’ll make me the most gorgeous girl they ever met.” Her gaze flickered to Julius, and she gave him a snide wink. “They make me the doting mother they wished they had.”

  “Hey,” I barked. Maude could say what she wanted to me, but she needed to stay away from Julius. Yeah, his family life sucked, but I wouldn’t let Maude use that to humiliate him.

  “No one turned you into anything, Maude.” Julius’s lip turned down in the corner, telling me he was more hurt than he pretended. His voice, however, was steady. “You were an illusion. Nothing else.”

  Practically spitting, Maude got up in his face. “People told me things. Personal things. Private things. Information is power.”

  Julius held his ground. “Knowledge is power. Information is just dots on a screen.”

  Maude faltered for a second, blinking.

  I took the opportunity to shout, “Zoe? How about we all step away from this and go home?”

  I’d grown up around firearms, but it was clear Zoe hadn’t. Her grip on the Glock was too low. She’d never be able to handle the recoil one-handed. Besides, her finger was already on the trigger—a huge mistake. She must not understand that a nervous jerk could discharge the pistol before she was ready. Without meaning to, she could hurt any of us, even herself.

  “Maude texted that you were threatening her.” Zoe’s hands shook, making the gun weave and bob.

  “As you can see, we’re not.” Julius rotated so he could call to Zoe without Maude in the way. “Henry’s correct. We weren’t hurting your sister. It was a misunderstanding. Zoe, put down the gun.”

  “Zoe,” Maude’s voice was firm. “Not yet.” Her gaze flashing, she thumbed something into her phone. Under her breath, she mumbled. “Doesn’t matter what you think. I’m tracking in the top hundred. A few more suckers and I’ll be in the Hall of Fame.”

  Julius glanced at her screen. “What are you doing?”

  “The game, you dumbass. You think I’m the only one playing?” She looked up from her screen, and her eyes were wild. “The players are good lately. Some bitch in South Korea duped five of her classmates into jumping off the same bridge. I better step up if I want to maintain my status.” Maude paused like she wanted us to understand, or maybe to cheer her on. When we didn’t, she lowered her voice. “I’d do this just for the fun of it, even if no one was keeping score.”

  “So, there’s a competition?” Julius glanced at Zoe. Her arm was trembling.

  Maude followed his line of sight to her sister. “You doing okay, Zoe?”

  “Yeah.” Zoe switched the gun to her left hand. If the mascara dripping down her face was any indication, she was losing her composure. “Should we call the police?”

  “No.” Maude strode toward her. “You two,” she shouted to Julius and me. “Come.”

  “Why?” I stepped my legs apart.

  “Henry.” Julius gave me a warning look.

  He might be smart as anything, but Julius Drake hadn’t been raised by a dad in the army. It was always a mistake to give in to an enemy’s demands right away. “Seriously,” I hissed. “Do we want to be completely at Maude’s mercy?”

  Maude took the gun from Zoe’s hands. “You already are.” Her grip was a lot surer than her sister’s had been. “Get your asses over here and get in the car.”

  “Give it time,” Julius muttered as we crossed the parking lot. “She’ll slip.”

  I knew she would. The only question was whether she’d shoot someone in the process.

  The corn chips smell of the car had my stomach churning. As Zoe pulled away from the curb, my heart lurched like it was trying to fight its way out of my chest to safety. We’re gonna die. Julius and I are actually going to die.

  “These boys are just like the others.” Maude gestured at us from the front passenger seat, not taking her eyes off Zoe. “They follow you around, thinking they know you. At cheerleading practice, then at the dance. They’re like all the rest.”

  Zoe nibbled her lip. “Yeah. I guess.” She blinked at us in the rearview mirror, creases forming on her forehead. “They keep showing up. I don’t know—”

  “Maude’s been using your picture,” I swallowed despite my dry throat. “For a fake account. She’s talking to boys and pretending to be you.”

  “Shut up.” In a flash, Maude backhanded me with the Glock.

  Thwack. Lights swam in my vision. My eyes stung, and I pressed my thumb and forefinger into the sockets to counteract the pain. “Fuck.” I panted. Scared as I was, I wanted to smack her so hard her head spun.

  “Next time, I’ll kill you,” Maude growled. She shook out her hand.

  I snarled, biting my tongue. Hopefully, the bitch would shoot herself in the foot.

  “So.” She gave Julius a once-over, a smile slowly spreading across her face. “You must be the cute boy Henry likes.”

  Julius gazed calmly out the window. “If Henry has something to say to me, he can tell me himself.”

  Hands fisted, I tried to mimic Julius’s quiet dignity. “He knows how I feel.” Maybe he hadn’t before, but he did now.

  Maude snorted. “Oh, really?” She waved the gun back and forth between us. “Do you, Julius? Know how Henry feels? Funny, you didn’t mention a boyfriend.”

  I stared down the barrel, the black tube looking at me like a blind eye. Through my haze of humiliation, I wondered if I was fast enough to snatch the gun out of her grip. I tried to get a hold of my rapid-fire breathing, and settled the rogue thought. No way would I bet our lives on Maude having slow reflexes.

  “So, where are we going?” Julius asked lightly.

  “The Fremont Bridge.”
Maude’s demeanor shifted to one far more pleasant as she spoke to her sister. “Zoe, do me a favor and drop us off? I can walk home after.”

  “Uh . . . Okay.” Zoe craned forward as she drove. The rain had picked up, and she squinted through the windshield. Her arms shook like rubber bands in the wind.

  We passed a neighborhood of restaurants and coffee shops and lights flickered on our wet windshield. Out on the sidewalk, people laughed and walked arm in arm, like they were having the time of their lives. Oblivious to us passing.

  Everything was in slow motion. I wished I’d kissed Julius all those times I’d wanted to. Now I was going to die and never get the chance.

  Zoe pulled into a parking lot. She stopped, eyes straight ahead.

  Maude turned to train the gun on us again. “Get out of the car.”

  In a final attempt to get some sense into Zoe, I murmured, “Sorry you got into this.” Though I waited a beat, she didn’t respond.

  Heart sinking, I pushed open my door. Outside was dark other than cars’ headlights, and fat droplets landed on my head. With blood pumping through my system at a hundred miles an hour, I didn’t feel the cold. I only felt weight as water sank into my hoodie.

  Julius climbed from his side and belted his jacket.

  Maude had already gotten out. She closed the door and then waved off her sister.

  The car peeled away in a splash of puddles and ricocheting of gravel. I couldn’t imagine what Zoe was thinking. Maybe she’d come to her senses and call the police? However, if Todd Terwillager made it to Idaho before he realized Maude’s lies, it was unlikely Zoe would realize that her sister was a psycho in the next five minutes.

  “What now, Maude?” Julius crossed his arms. “Done playing your game? You planning to kill us now?”

  “Oh, I’m not going to kill you.” She jerked her head at the sidewalk that ran along the edge of the lot and onto the bridge. “You’re going to kill yourselves.”

  I dug my feet into the gravel. Fuck it. I’d fight her right here. Maude was probably a lousy shot. Brain racing, I widened my stance.

  “Henry.” Julius’s voice was low, and he reached for my arm, though he didn’t touch it. His eyes were solemn, and he shook his head a tiny fraction. “Come on.” Walking to my side, he jostled me forward toward the bridge.

  My mind was blank. Julius must have had a plan, but no amount of running through scenarios in my head clued me in.

  “What are we going to do?” I whispered as loud as I dared.

  “Get some information out of her,” he murmured.

  “We know she’s The Other Woman. What else do we need to know?”

  “I want to get the name of the website she’s using.”

  “That’s nuts.” My teeth chattered as a fresh wave of panic hit me. “Who cares? We need—”

  “Hey,” Maude huffed as she ran to catch up. “No talking.”

  She poked me in the back with the pistol, a hard, cold threat against my spine. With legs as stiff as stilts, I marched along the bridge.

  “So, I’m guessing you want us to jump?” Julius asked her.

  Cars rushed past on one side, and water loomed below on the other. My head swam as I tried to remember the meager swimming lessons Mom had taken me to at the Killeen rec center.

  “You’re a smart guy, Julius.” Maude stopped and gestured at the wall that ran along the bridge. It was a little taller than waist height, thick concrete painted gray. “Get up there.” Maude shoved Julius in the shoulder.

  I flinched, wanting to defend him but holding back. Julius had a plan. I wasn’t sure I trusted said plan, but I trusted Julius.

  “You too, pretty boy.” Maude poked the barrel into my shoulder blade. “Get up there. Just think—if you fall in the river, you may have a chance.” She waved her gun in my face, smiling. “More of a chance than you have with me.”

  Oh God. I placed my hands on the flat surface, peering over the edge to the water below and trying not to vomit. A goose floated there, a tiny speck of lighter gray on water that was almost black. Man, it was a long way down.

  “Need a hand?” Julius reached for me, his mouth a tight, worried line.

  “Nah. I’m fine.” I hoisted a leg up on the concrete and balanced to stand. The air was thin at the top, so light I could barely breathe. With nothing between my body and the water below, I felt too buoyant. A single gust of wind could end me.

  Forcing my focus anywhere but the water behind me, I surveyed the area. At the end of the bridge lay the neighborhood of Fremont. To the other side was a highway full of speeding cars.

  Julius stared at Maude. “I just have one question.” He rocked onto his toes, then back onto his heels, showing off his impeccable balance. How is he not scared? “Why would you do all this?”

  Maude crossed her arms and tipped her head to the side. “Oh, you probably know the answer, genius.”

  Julius smiled pleasantly. “Let me guess. The less-pretty sister? Ignored at school, disliked at home. Always wishing someone would love you best?”

  “Oh, there’s that.” Maude returned Julius’s gaze with one equally steady. “But mostly, destroying boys like you is fun.”

  “Fun?”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a car pulling to a stop at the edge of the bridge. The driver climbed out. I held my breath.

  “These boys, they tell me everything.” Maude sneered. “Anything I want to hear. And I can use that to hurt them if I want to.”

  “And do you want to?”

  “Want to what?”

  “Hurt them.”

  At the edge of the bridge, a flash of white suggested that the driver might have pulled out a cell phone. It was a long shot, but I prayed that he’d seen us standing on the ledge.

  Maude swallowed, her expression falling flat and confused. “Why not? They all deserve what they get.”

  “Ahhh.” Julius put his hands together, steepling his fingers and tapping his chin. “You’re not doing this because you’re angry, you’re doing it because you’re hurt.”

  She slid her jaw forward. “Why do you say that?”

  “Hal was at that party, wasn’t he? He wasn’t a stranger you lured online, you’d met him.”

  Maude broke eye contact, glancing into the distance. “We didn’t talk or anything.”

  “Yes. But you tried to talk to him. Before he met your sister.” Julius lowered his hands slowly, showing every move as he reached for his pocket. Maude let him pull out his cell phone. When he’d clicked around, he showed Maude, then me, a picture. It was the one from the party that summer: Zoe smiling with Hal Stubenmeyer. In the background, a lone figure gave the camera the finger.

  I’d thought it was a photobomb or some random girl trying to be funny. Now I looked closer. Her face was grainy, but she wore the same scowl as she did right now. Her eyes were just as furious. The extra person in Hal’s lone selfie was Maude Ward.

  My guts flipped, and I struggled to keep my balance as understanding washed over me.

  “You tried to talk to him, didn’t you?” Julius asked. “Before your sister swooped in.”

  Someone was shouting. Though I didn’t dare check, I knew they’d seen us standing there. Maybe they’d called the police? They must have. But what if Maude panicked when she heard sirens and shot us both?

  In one hand, she held the gun, and in the other was her cell phone. If only I could get the gun off her. I tensed. Come on, Maude. Get distracted.

  To our right, a siren wailed. Maude jerked, turning her head.

  I leaped at her, grabbing for the gun, but she swerved before I could nab it. Batting at her hands, I knocked her phone away. It dropped to the ground, and I scrambled for it, tearing skin off my knuckles as I snatched it from the wet concrete.

  Julius landed next to me, but Maude had already recovered her composure. In both hands, she was clutching the Glock, and she shook it at us.

  “Give me my phone back!” she screamed, face red and crazed. “Give i
t to me.”

  “No.” My hand sweated around the plastic, but I gripped her phone like the pin on a grenade. “Not unless you put the gun down.” I struggled to get a breath into my chest as I waited for her to squeeze that extra centimeter and end my life. “Put it down!”

  Maude just narrowed her eyes, her hands shaking as she struggled to keep the gun aloft. “Fuck you.” She advanced, barrel pointing at my chest.

  I glanced to my right. If I was about to die, I’d spend my last second looking at Julius.

  He smiled at me, eyes sparkling. He’d never been so handsome.

  Time stood still.

  Closing my eyes, I prayed.

  Then shouts filled the air, so many I couldn’t keep track of them. I opened my eyes to see Maude Ward as the police surrounded her and snatched away the weapon.

  She glared at us, while cops dragged her arms behind her back and ushered her away.

  “It’s done,” Julius murmured. “We did it.”

  I sucked in air. “Fuck.” I glanced in Maude’s direction. She stood ashen faced, with a police officer gripping her wrists as they spoke to her. More of them flooded the area, surrounding us.

  Julius’s face was bright and amazed. “You got her phone.”

  I cleared my throat, trying to regain words when my head was still spinning. “Yeah.” I looked down, seeing it in my hand. “I guess I did.”

  A uniformed officer headed in our direction. Julius grinned and whispered close to my ear, “We won.”

  “Tell me again what happened.” The officer held a notepad, his pen perched in his hand. “This girl . . .”

  “I told you.” Julius rubbed his face. Like me, he was wrapped in a generic, gray blanket. His fell off his shoulder as he waved. “Maude Ward is behind The Other Woman—the fake account that was catfishing half the Clinton Academy swim team. She’s been manipulating teenage boys for months.”

  The officer’s small eyes were confused. Rain dripped off the brim of his hat. “She what?”

  I touched Julius’s shoulder. In the past ten minutes, I’d recovered enough to think straight. For once, I thought it was best if I did the talking. “Maude Ward—the girl who had the gun . . .” I paused, giving the officer a chance to jot down our information. “Well, she’s been catfishing boys online.”