by Tara Brown
Hearing it from my father was like a death sentence. “So we continue to try to solve it?”
“I have a guy on it. He’s looking into things. The security is tight. She isn’t going to get to—”
“She delivered this.” I shook the picture. “She came in my room and woke me up this morning. She had already delivered this. She knows us.”
“She’s one of you.” Finn said what I had to assume my dad was thinking.
He nodded. “I agree. She’s here, messing with you and inside the house. She’s someone who can come and go without issue. The servants don’t even see her. She’s one of you.”
“Not one of my friends.” I didn’t believe it. Even Rita was no longer a suspect to me. Not after the sleepover.
“Maybe not a close friend, but someone. Like an Andrew. You need to start eliminating people from the list of suspects. We need to start taking this seriously.” Dad scowled. “And I don’t want Finn leaving your side, at any time.” He gave Finn a firm look. “Never.”
“I won’t.” Finn didn’t so much as blink at it. “I’ll clear my schedule and I’ll be with her 24-7, dedicating all my free time to figuring this out.”
“If anyone can, it’s probably you. Excuse me though. I need to have a word with the security team. Something must be on their footage.” My dad walked out of the room.
Finn stepped closer, taking the picture from me and placing it down. He pulled me into his arms and kissed the top of my head. “I will find her and I will end this.”
He said it and I believed him. I always did.
“We need to go,” I spoke into his chest.
“Okay.”
We left for Lainey’s house after we’d promised not to be late for the fancy dinner with all our friends. When we got there and spread out the pictures, Lainey paced while scanning all of them displayed across her floor.
Vincent was doing the exact same thing, right behind her. “Rocks, paper, scissors, jeans, and scar?” Vincent muttered. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Shh.” Lain waved him off, her mind still clicking away at the photos, taking her own memory shots of everything. Her brain was fascinating. If I were going to kidnap any of us to lock away and torment, it would have been Lain. Just to see what her crazy brain did under such strange conditions.
“That rock looks familiar.” Finn gave me a look, speaking low so the others couldn’t hear. “I have a rock similar to that one.” He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled it out.
“That’s the one from where my phone was.”
“Where your blood was.” His brow knit as he said it.
I looked at the small gray stone with the dark droplet on it and then the picture Lain had gotten for Christmas. “I think that’s the same rock.” I wasn’t quiet like he was.
Lain’s eyes drew my way. “What?”
“The rock. Finn has that rock here.” I lifted it from his palm ever so delicately. Something about it made the stone fragile in my mind.
“That’s the same rock.” She turned it in my palm and rolled it over. “When did you take this?”
“Take what?” Finn cocked an eyebrow.
“The rock. When did you take it from the beach?”
“The same week Sierra’s dad asked me to come by and help him out. We met at the beach in front of the house where she went missing from, where the phone was found. The last place she was seen.” He turned the rock over in my palm. “Her blood was there. I took the rock then.”
“This picture was taken before you took the rock, so the day Sierra went missing maybe.” Lain looked confused. “And to take a picture of the same rock, the very same one. How random.”
“Not so random. Her blood only fell on a couple of stones. Maybe three.”
Lindsey’s eyes narrowed for a flash of a second before she sighed. “So the picture was taken the day after you went missing. November first.”
“I guess.”
Linds made a thinking duck face. “What pants were you wearing?”
“I don’t know.” My mind tried to get the answer but Lain was too fast.
“A Frankenstein’s bride dress.”
“Oh right.” I lifted a finger. “I was wearing my costume. I only had underwear and a tank top underneath. No jeans.” I glanced at the picture of the Robin’s jeans.
“What was Jenson wearing?” Finn asked like he had to force the name Jenson out.
“I don’t know.” I glanced at Lain.
“He was wearing a Frankenstein costume.”
“He had his jeans on underneath I think.” I added it with very little confidence. “We need to go back to the institution and see if we can’t find something better than whatever was in that stupid journal or folder or whatever. I mean, what if she has Jenson and that’s why she’s been trying to torment us into going there? What was in that journal?”
“I already told you, there was nothing in it. It was some dry notes, nothing of importance.” Linds said it, but her voice rose the way it always did when she lied. She was the worst at it.
“No more lies, Linds. What was in there?” I snapped, making everyone jump, even Finn.
“A letter to you.” She winced.
“It said, ‘Dear slutface, I hope you liked the cell. You’re going back.’” Lain’s eyes softened. “Nothing else. I swear. It started out with notes we thought we might get something from, but when we got them home and really looked, they were nothing. Not even about Lucy W. The only thing in there that pertained to the case was the letter.”
The name made my gaze lower. It was out, in the room where he was. Finn. He and slutface were in the same room. I never wanted them to meet. Although they had. I’d introduced him to her the very first time we’d met. I was such a slutface I had even offered him—God! “Okay.” I took a breath. “Now what?”
“Now we eat Christmas dinner and pretend none of this is more important than the great Crimson Cove traditions,” Vincent spoke after a moment of silence.
We all nodded but no one looked like they were up to a big meal.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Bloody New Year
“You look stunning.” Finn leaned in, kissing my cheek.
“You already told me that ten times.” I tried not to sound like I cared that he was doting on me. But he was right. I looked amazing.
My gold dress glittered like it was real gold, because it was. It was a maxi-style gold leaf dress with the single strap made of braided gold. The cinched waist went from my large bust to the floor in a pleated skirt.
“I’ll probably tell you another ten times before the night is through. Did I also tell you I love what you did here?” He lifted my hand and kissed the scars that were covered in pretty designs. They disguised my fading marks perfectly. I had them hand drawn in a henna style, but in gold so they looked like gloves made of tattoos.
“Yeah. It’s giving me an idea.” I tried to smile. It was New Year’s, and for the first time I was spending it with a boy I really liked.
“What is?”
“The henna. I think I’m going to find an artist and get some tats done. Cover the scars and make them something I want, not something I’m stuck with.”
A glint of disapproval flickered in his eyes. “Tattoos?”
“Yeah.”
“You think your parents will agree to this?”
“No.” I laughed. “But I’m almost seventeen and I don’t care. I want them covered.” I wanted to pretend this hadn’t happened.
He opened his mouth to speak but his eyes dropped to his side. “Your phone is buzzing.” He pulled it from his pocket. The gold flakes inside the clear cover matched my dress perfectly. It glittered almost as much as I did.
My heart sank when I saw the text came from a random number.
“What does it say?”
“Hey, Slutface, did you remember to put a tracker on this date in case he disappears too?” I lifted my eyes to his and then Lainey’s. She looked upse
t too. She turned and looked at Linds who also had a worried expression. Vincent seemed angry when his eyes met mine.
“Clearly, you’ve all received the same text.” Finn sighed. “And why not?—we were having fun.”
“Great.” I couldn’t help but sound defeated as a picture was sent from the same number. It was the wings on the Robin’s jeans and a concrete floor.
“Your last date still misses you,” I read Finn the next message.
“Oh shit. Do you think it’s—?”
“Jenson.” I said it the same moment Linds did. I saw her lips move with mine.
Sage came hurrying up to me, dragging poor Rita with her. “Does this mean what I think it does?”
“It might.” As I spoke the circle grew. “It means I was right. We need to go back to the institute and save him.”
Ashton leaned in. “I have the car coming around. We can all ride together in our limo.”
“No. We’re taking the helicopters.” Vincent lowered his phone. “It’s a three-hour drive up the coast to Ellisville at night.” His eyes met mine. “I assume you think that’s where he is.”
“I do.” I turned to Lainey who nodded too.
I didn’t look for my father. I didn’t tell my mother. None of us did. We didn’t waste a single second as we followed Vince to the back of the club and up the stairs to the rooftop. One helicopter was there and the other was waiting in the sky above us. Me, Lainey, Linds, Vincent, and Finn climbed into the first one.
As we lifted off and the other landed I watched as Rita, Sage, Ash, and Jake climbed into the second one.
“How long will it take?” Lain shouted.
“About an hour and a half.”
“Did you get the same message?” Linds peered at my phone.
“I don’t know.” I showed her mine.
“Yup. Weird she’s not putting us in group chats anymore.”
“Let me send this number to a friend and see if he can find it.” Finn took a screenshot of the text on my phone with his and sent a message.
“I don’t think we need any help figuring out who sent it.” I sighed and leaned into him. His warmth exaggerated how cold I was and made me shiver.
The ride was long, each of us no doubt imagining what we would find. Jenson in his own cell, stripped of his clothes the way I was. Or maybe he was part of it and this was a trap. Either way, none of us was willing to wait and let him suffer a minute longer. Even if it was a trap, we had to be sure he wasn’t a victim. The anxiety of it was horrible.
The coastline was beautiful at night. So many lights sparkled along the dark water’s edge. If it had been any other time in my life, I might have enjoyed the view. I might have gotten drunk and ready for the next leg of the journey or party or whatever.
But this was not the kind of ride you enjoyed.
My palms sweat. My dress itched. My stomach ached. My heart raced.
I didn’t relax into the view.
I didn’t relax at all.
“Five minutes,” the pilot finally shouted.
Vincent gave us all a look. “No one separates. We go everywhere in a group of three. We stay together. No hero bullshit. No one just checks around that corner to see. We stay together. Phones on. Ready to call 9-1-1.”
I nodded in sync with Linds and Lain.
“And when we find Jenson, we call the cops. No messing around,” Finn added. His eyes met the rest of ours. “We are not detectives. We aren’t capable of handling this. We call the cops, even if it creates questions. We have the texts to back this up. As far as we know it’s the same group of girls who tortured you here.”
Vincent points. “He has a point. We need a backstory for when the police come. So that’s it?”
Lainey nodded. “It works. It could have been the same group of girls who tormented Sierra. Jenson’s ex-girlfriend is Monica Dunlop and she was at the party tonight. She will have solid alibis so we don’t have to worry about accusing an innocent person. And, Sierra, you never knew who took you captive and tortured you, just that it was girls our age. So we won’t be hanging this on anyone, but the police will be onto this case and start to see all the clues adding up.”
“We still run the risk of being fingered for the crime though. Sage and I both left blood at the crime scene. Nothing changes that.”
Finn gave us a look. “Something could change it.”
Vincent’s eyes lit up. “For real?”
“Yeah. I might be able to fix it. No promises but I’ll try.”
“I’d owe you forever.” Vincent said it like he was the Godfather.
“No.” Finn shook his head. The helicopter landed before they could start making weird blood debt promises.
When the second one landed and everyone was out, we met the security detail at the front door of the institute. A man with a gun and a stern face hurried toward us. “You can’t be here. This is a secure area, no one’s allowed inside.”
“I’m Vincent Banks. My name alone gets us in.”
The man looked confused. “No one goes inside.”
“We think our friend is inside hurt.” I pushed forward. “Do you really think this is where we want to spend New Year’s? I’m wearing a dress made of actual gold.” We had to get in there.
“We’ll find him if he’s in there.” The man shook his head and lifted his radio. “Guys, there might be someone inside. Teenager perhaps. I want full floor sweeps with two-man crews. Every room.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Happy?”
“No.” Vincent looked like he might explode.
“Can I just talk to you for a second?” Finn nodded his head off to the side.
The guard looked skeptical but he followed. Finn leaned in, whispering something. The guard’s eyes lifted and he pulled back. “You have ten minutes.” He held his radio to his face. “There’s going to be some teenagers coming in to see if they can find their friend.”
Finn didn’t gloat or even meet my gaze or Vincent’s. He walked to the front door and opened it, holding it for us. Vince scowled and looked at me. I shrugged and followed.
“What did you tell him?” I asked as we got inside the foyer and I fought the urge to run from the building screaming.
“I offered him money and told him the whole thing was probably a prank being played on us to get you girls scared and excited.” He said it so flatly I almost laughed. But there was nothing about this place that could make me laugh. I didn’t know how many times I’d told myself I’d never come back here, but I chanted it in my head as we moved toward the main cafeteria and the dirty little hole where I’d been kept.
When we got there and found nothing, Vincent turned and gave us all a look. “We split up into teams to cover more ground. We have ten minutes. Me, Lindsey, Lainey, and Jake will go together. You guys go together. Meet back here in eight minutes.”
“We’ll take the basement.” Finn grabbed my hand and started dragging me down the hall.
“Wait for us,” Sage whimpered and clicked after us.
“I don’t know why we have to take the basement. No one ever lives once they go down to the basement in the horror movies. That’s where the heroine finds the dead people when they don’t return to the meeting place.” Rita clung to my arm, letting Finn drag us both.
“No one’s going to die. Mr. Casey has the guards. There’s probably nothing here. The photo is a hoax. We shouldn’t be here. It’s a trap designed to scare us even more. She knows we won’t take that chance. We have to be sure Jenson’s not here, trapped.” Ashton spoke but he didn’t stop walking.
My dress caught the light from our phones, adding glittering reflections on the walls of the dimly lit staircase as we hurried down. We got to the door I hadn’t been able to leave last time but this time I kept going. The hall got darker and darker as we got farther from the stairs. Eventually, we were relying entirely on our phones.
It was quiet with no guards shouting or even talking. No footsteps except ours interrupted the silent darkness.
> “Why aren’t the guards down here?” Rita asked in a soft whisper, like she was reading my mind.
“Maybe they already checked down here,” Ash whispered back.
“Maybe.” She didn’t sound convinced.
“Or maybe they haven’t come here yet.” Sage walked faster, keeping up with us.
“Shhhh. Listen.” Finn paused and lifted a finger. My cell phone flashlight lit up his hand, making it the only thing I could see in the dark.
Nothing moved, except my heart. It beat like it was trying to escape my chest.
Our movements slowed as we rounded corners and looked in rooms.
When we finally reached a back room at the very end of the hallway I sighed, relieved until I inhaled sharply. The smell of something rotten reminded me of when I was in the cell. I froze as Ashton and Finn scanned the small room.
The flashlights paused on the exact same spot as the smell got worse.
“Oh shit,” Ashton whispered. I shined my flashlight on their faces, too scared to look into the room.
“What?”
Finn turned and bit his lip as Ashton whispered, not looking at me at all. “Jenson.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
New Year’s Evil
The ambulance was warm. Too warm. The blankets felt as if they were trying to pin me to the cot, but Finn’s large hand moving on my forearm made me stop fighting.
“Just stay calm.” He was trying to relax me with his tone, but the wild look in his eyes told me not to listen to him. I needed to be on high alert.
“You kids have nothing but bad luck.” The paramedic shook her head. “I heard you were the kids who were here before—and now your friend. I’m so sorry.”
