by Marlowe Blue
On the way to our lockers Morgan stopped short, grabbing my arm and practically digging her nails into my skin.
I pried her hand from around my arm. “What?”
She stared at something not blinking. I followed her gaze to the vending machine, specifically to the letter/number code on each item. Pulling her over to the machine, I located H6. That happened to be a disgusting bran fiber muffin with raisins and cranberries that no one ever bought. It had probably been sitting in there forever.
“Do you think that’s it?” she asked.
“It’s worth a shot.” I dug for a dollar bill in my purse. After feeding it into the machine, a pair of muffins wrapped in plastic dropped to the bottom. I stuck my hand into the machine and removed them. Taped to the back was another sheet of paper folded like a hexagon. Morgan and I stared at each other for what seemed like forever. Finally, I removed the paper and opened it up.
‘Twas two who killed your friends, not one
I must admit it was quite fun
Want to find me? Run, run, run!
Go to the place where it all begun
(If you tell the police, our game is done)
“Well, that’s the creepiest poem I’ve ever read. What the hell does it even mean?” I asked Morgan.
“Is this a clue? Are they trying to tell us who helped Neil?”
I shoved the note in my pocket and pulled Morgan into a tiny space between two trophy cases. “That’s what it sounds like. Or, it could totally be someone just screwing with us.”
Morgan looked around as if the author of the note was watching us. “Either way, forget what I said earlier, we need to tell the cops. You still have that guy’s card right?”
I grabbed Morgan by the shoulders. “We can’t tell anyone about this. I think you’re right. Whoever did this is probably watching us.”
She stared at me open-mouthed. “Seriously, Lela? Did you miss the part where I told you this asshole was in my house—in my bedroom while I was sleeping. Maybe if it happened to you, you would be thinking differently, but I’m scared out of my mind.”
“I know, and I understand, really I do, but if we go to the cops, the clues will stop and then we’ll have no idea who was there with Neil. What if he never talks? Morgan, this person has to be put away.”
Honestly, I didn’t trust the cops. Not with this type of information. I knew how quick they were to open and shut a case and I knew how they would lie to trump up charges. I needed to do as much as I could without them.
As I floated to class in a trance, everything became a blur except for the locker memorials set up for Char, Coach, AJ, and Brayden. Those stuck out to me like flashing neon lights. I was going to find out who had murdered my friends if it killed me.
After school Hunter had to help his dad on a job so I hung out with Morgan and her new friends at Toby’s house. Morgan seemed to have forgotten the eerie note she’d found that morning and relaxed.
The Goldberg’s had transformed their basement into a massive game room. There were arcade games, a pool table, video game consoles, a dart board, a ping pong table, and pin ball machines.
Toby brought down five cans of Cokes and a huge bowl of cheddar popcorn. We sank into the bean bag chairs and the only sounds to be heard was the fizzing sound of fresh soda cans being opened. I hoped whoever started speaking first didn’t bring up the Hex.
“What college are you going to?” Peyton asked.
I didn’t have major plans. I’d planned on going to the local community college to stay by my friends. Coach had planned on going to a trade school to learn how to fix air conditioners while Char and the twins were going to Montana state. Now that they were gone, I needed to get the hell out of Helena Falls. My mother had been on me about applying to new schools and I was finally going to do it.
“I’m hoping to get her to go to UCLA with us,” Morgan replied, winking at me. “Peyton and Shana are going there too. The four of us can be dorm mates. You’ll already have a group of friends.”
Peyton clapped her hands like she was on the basketball court during half time. “Yes! That would be awesome. Do it, Lela, do it!”
Shana took a huge gulp of her Coke and let out a long burp that seemed too big to come from such a tiny person. “That’s awesome, but let’s talk about what’s really important.”
Oh no. Here we go.
“What’s going on with you and Hunter?” she asked.
I exhaled. Talking about Hunter was actually pleasant. He was one of the few things going right in my life. “I don’t know. We like each other. I think we’re just taking it slow for right now. He knows I’m going through things and he’s being very patient.”
Peyton’s eyes sparkled a little more than usual. “Lucky girl. I’ve had a crush on Hunter since like forever. I’ve never really seen him give any girl the time of day. We were all starting to think he was gay.”
Of course. Whenever a guy wasn’t interested in a girl, the fall back reason was that he was gay.
Hunter tended to stick to himself. He did well in his classes and worked hard at his family business. He didn’t seem to have many friends or much of a social life. What drew him to me, I had no idea.
We stayed in Toby’s basement talking for hours. The group was different from what I was used to, but they weren’t bad at all. I couldn’t help but wonder how much I had missed out on by on limiting myself to the Hex. This new group could never replace my old friends, but I was willing to give them a chance.
Friday night Morgan dragged me to a basketball game. Even though organized school activities were strictly against my religion. She had never been interested in school sports before but she wanted to go to support Peyton.
The game was okay. It went by faster than I expected. After I got over the fact that people were going to stare at me the entire time, I allowed myself to have fun. Every time I found myself enjoying life just a little bit, I immediately felt guilty. My best friends had just been murdered. I was supposed to be in mourning. Someone who had a part in their deaths was still running free. I should have been consumed with doing something about that. Laughing and having a good time felt so wrong.
At one point during the game, Morgan reached over and squeezed my knee. “It’s all right, Lela. No one expects you to be miserable for the rest of your life. Char and the guys wouldn’t want that either.”
It was like she could read my mind.
Afterwards, as usual, everyone wanted to go to Ray’s, but I had to pass. Morgan dropped me off at home before she went to join the others.
“You know,” she said as I reached for the door handle. “I can spend the night with you if you want.”
I kind of wanted that, but it wasn’t fair. I knew where Morgan really wanted to be and that wasn’t curled up in my bed talking about our dead friends on a Friday night. “That’s okay. Go to Ray’s. Have some chicken fingers for me.”
She gave me a kiss on the cheek before I climbed out. I watched her car drive away. It was nice to see Morgan having a life of her own and not walking constantly in my shadow.
We made Saturday a beach day. Hunter’s father had given him the day off so I invited him to come along. The day was perfect. Sunny and cloudless. Great waves. I couldn’t have asked for a better day. That was until we walked back to Hunter’s Range Rover. A sheet of paper was tucked underneath one of his windshield wipers. He snatched it off and crumpled the paper in his fist. “Stupid flyers.”
“Wait.” Morgan took the paper from him and smoothed it out.
I looked over her shoulder and shuddered as I recognized the crude handwriting. “Oh no.”
Morgan looked around us because whoever left the note had been there and could still be around watching us. “It says hit the showers.”
Hunter frowned. “Hit the showers? What does that mean?”
Morgan took off in the direction of the restrooms. She wouldn’t stop even as I shouted after her. I left Hunter behind, confused and followed her. There were five showers in t
he ladies’ room. Two of them were occupied. The very last one had a chain going across it with an OUT OF ORDER sign dangling from it.
I ducked underneath the chain and checked the stall, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Morgan yanked the out of order sign down. A note folded into the shape of a hexagon was taped to the back of it. Morgan read it out loud.
“Elevators take toward the sky.
Or send to the ground.
The one great lesson in this I’ve found-
Life is full of ups and Downs.” The last word caught in her throat.
Officer Downs. Whoever was sending these notes knew about him.
19
Morgan stormed from the rest room with me on her heels. Hunter stood outside, leaning against his car, concern etched across his face. “What’s going on?”
“Take us home now,” Morgan ordered. She yanked her beach bag up from where she’d dropped it by the back tire and slid into the back seat.
Hunter looked to me for an explanation, but there was none I could give him without telling him everything. “It would be best to just take us home. Really, it’s nothing.”
We were supposed to stop for a bite to eat, but after that note, I had no appetite.
We rode home in silence until Morgan decided she had to get some things off her chest. I wanted to slap her. She was saying things that didn’t need to be said in front of Hunter.
“Who knows about him other than you, Coach, that criminal kid, and me?”
That was it. There was no one else. Coach was dead so Shawn must have told someone or maybe he had something to do with it. As far as I knew, he was still in federal prison, but I didn’t know how to find out for sure. I would have to ask around. Somebody around Helena Falls was bound to know.
“What are you talking about?” Hunter asked.
“None of your damn business,” Morgan snapped. “Just drive.”
“Morgan!” I shouted back at her. Then I turned to Hunter. “I’m sorry. She’s just a little on edge.”
Hunter sighed. “Yeah, I’d say so.”
We dropped Morgan off and then headed for my house. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I didn’t want to leave Hunter. Just being around him made everything better—even the creepy ass note tucked away in my pocket. He turned into my driveway. “So, you going to tell me what’s going on or not?”
My eyes watered and before I knew it I was bawling. I was embarrassed as I dissolved into a mess right in front of him.
Hunter leaned over and pulled me close. “Hey, hey. What’s the matter? Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
It was just everything. Everything happening at once and nothing making any sense. “I want to tell you, Hunter, but I can’t. I really like you and once I tell you this, you’ll never want to speak to me again and I don’t know if I can live with that.”
He tucked a lock of my hair behind one ear. “Lela, I promise you, there is nothing you can’t tell me. What is it?”
I watched him for a long time wondering if I could trust him. He could take my story and run straight to the police if he wanted although I doubt they’d be able to prove anything.
“Can we drive?” I asked. “I don’t care where we go, I just want to drive.” Maybe the open road would clear my head.
“Sure.” Hunter pulled onto the street. I stayed quiet until we hit the interstate, then all my secrets came tumbling out of me like a river.
I told him everything from Coach’s prank to the real reason I went to juvie. I told him what happened that night with Officer Downs, Coach, and Shawn. Hunter didn’t say anything for a long time. I expected him to pull over and leave me and my disastrous life on the side of the road, but he didn’t.
“I swear it was an accident. I didn’t mean to kill him. I just wanted to stop him from hurting Coach.”
Hunter kept looking straight ahead. “Okay. I’m not gonna lie. That’s definitely . . . heavy. I need some time to let this sink in.” He shook his head as if he were trying to get the thoughts out. Sure, he could get over us vandalizing his father’s business, but how could I possibly ask him to get over this?
He took an exit. “Anyway, what does this have to do with Morgan freaking out?”
I told him about the notes someone had been leaving us. “It has to be someone who knows about Officer Downs. The only other people who know are Morgan and Shawn Perkins who’s in prison.”
“Maybe it’s a family member trying to get revenge.”
That thought had crossed my mind, but I didn’t think it was possible. “How would they know? We covered our tracks. Not even the police were able to find out who killed him. And why would they wait three years? Why would they kill the others who had nothing to do with it and not me?”
Hunter took a left toward the bay. “Who do you think it is then?”
I only shrugged because I couldn’t say what I was really thinking out loud. It sounded so ridiculous but I couldn’t think of any other possible answer. Maybe it was Officer Downs himself. Maybe ghosts did exist.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“To Shawn’s house. You’re not going to have any peace until you get some answers.”
Shawn’s house? My shoulders tensed. “How do you know where Shawn lives? Is he a friend of yours?” I couldn’t see Hunter hanging out with a loser like that.
He swerved around a car in front of us that was going too slow. “Nah. My dad used to let him work on sites sometimes. He thought maybe if Shawn could earn some honest money he would change his ways. That didn’t work obviously. The kid’s a bad seed. He didn’t want to work, he only wanted money the easy way. Anyway, we used to give him rides home after jobs sometimes. He lived with his mom and his little sister.”
Shawn lived in an area called The Ridge which was the rundown side of town. I had never driven through the area before. It was the kind of neighborhood my parents had always warned me to stay away from, especially at night. According to most people, a visit to The Ridge would for sure get you a glimpse at drug deals going down, hookers standing on every corner, and groups of thugs wandering the streets ready to car jack outsiders. You’d also hear the occasional gunshot. I’d always thought that stuff was just an exaggeration to keep us away.
The neighborhood seemed fine, just old and untended. We were going to stick out like sore thumbs riding through in a Range Rover.
We rode down streets of dilapidated houses and yards filled with junk cars until Hunter turned onto an unpaved driveway. The mint green paint on the house was peeling. Bedsheets hung in the window as bootleg curtains. The grass was overgrown and an assortment of faded toys littered the yard. A plastic dollhouse with the purple roof looked like it had seen better days and a hot pink bike lay scattered in pieces.
Hunter cut the engine off. “Ready?”
“No! What am I supposed to say to her? Hey, is there any way your criminal son has been sending me and my friend eerie messages from prison? How are his paper-folding skills?”
Hunter placed his hand on my knee. “You never know. She may be able to give us some information that can rule him out.”
That was the problem. I didn’t want to rule Shawn out. Him being behind this meant there wasn’t actually a ghost after me.
Hunter gave me a reassuring smile. “I’ll do all the talking if you want.”
I nodded gratefully because I had no idea what to say to the woman. I didn’t deserve anyone as perfect as him.
I dragged myself toward the porch and stood behind Hunter as he knocked on the metal frame of the screen door. The sounds of a blaring television came from inside.
We stood there for a minute until someone finally came, a thin woman with fine brown hair pulled back into a low bun. A cigarette dangled between her fingers. She stared at us until her eyes widened with recognition. “Hunter Clark? What the hell are you doing here?”
He graced her with that perfect smile of his. “We just came by to talk to you, Mrs. Perkins.”
/> She grinned at him coyly in a way that made my stomach churn. “I told you about that Mrs. Perkins shit. Call me Sharon.”
Hunter nodded. “Sharon. May we come in?”
Sharon seemed to notice me for the first time and by the way she looked me up and down, she wasn’t pleased with my presence. “Who’s this?”
“This is my girlfriend, Lela Dupree.”
Girlfriend? When the hell did that happen? Not that I was complaining . . .
“Lela Dupree. That name sounds familiar.” Sharon pursed her lips at me then focused her attention back on Hunter. “So that’s your type. Too bad.” She turned from the door, waving us in.
Hunter held the screen door open for me. As soon as I stepped inside I was overwhelmed by the smell of tobacco and boiled hot dogs. The odor must have seeped into everything. I felt sorry for the kid who lived in the house.
Hunter and I took a seat on the couch. It sagged in the middle. Sharon couldn’t take her eyes off him. “I can’t believe you’re cheating on me. I thought you were one of the good ones.” She rolled her eyes at me. “Just like a man. They’ll always trade you in for a younger, prettier model. Same as Mr. Perkins. He had a thing for the blonds too.”
I couldn’t take too much more of her flirting with Hunter. It was gross. I cleared my throat to draw her attention to me. “Sharon, can we ask you a few questions about Shawn?”
She gave a deep sigh and held her cigarette over an ash tray shaped like a toilet, allowing the ashes to fall in. “Mrs. Perkins to you. And what about that demon seed of mine?” She took another puff of her cigarette and frowned. “It’s terrible what happened to those kids, huh? Sounds like something out of a horror movie.”
Hunter shifted uncomfortably beside me. “Yeah, it was awful.”
Sharon shook her head. “Who knew that little twerp Neil Bradley had it in him? One thing’s for sure, he put our boring little town on the map. The story made headline news everywhere.”
It had. The story was on the news every day. Every channel. Soon everyone would forget and move on, but until then, the news was a constant reminder of that horrible night.
