Blake stood up, and everyone's eyes followed him to the front window. The police officer, our guard, turned his body to face him straight on, letting him know he was still watching. "We couldn't have been that drunk. None of us drank enough to be that out of it during a fucking murder!" he said.
"Well, no one heard anything!" Kyle said.
Blake spun around. "I'm aware of that, Kyle. What I don't get is why. Or how."
The kitchen door opened, and the shaved haired detective raised his eyebrows. He walked into the room, carrying himself as if he owned the place. "We need to have a little chat."
One by one, we all shared a quick glance. That meant something. We had told him what happened - well, the boys had - so why did he say 'we need to have a chat' as if he didn't believe what they had said?
I watched him silently as he walked to the fire and stood in front of it. He was the focal point of the room. Clicking his tongue, he said, "I'll get the pleasantries out of the way first, I'm DI Wright. Now with that over, the door has been unlocked for us this morning, right?"
"Yes," Aaron replied, frowning at the stupid question asked.
Wright clicked his tongue again. "The back door in the kitchen is locked, too. When was it locked?"
"Last night," I said, remembering that one. "Courtney locked it before we started drinking. Why?"
"Hmm, that's what I thought. Mr Harper," Wright said to Blake. "The only doors are that one," he said, nodding to the front one beside Blake, "and the kitchen, correct?"
"Yeah," Blake replied.
"I can find no evidence of forced entry, and since both doors were locked, that leaves us with another possibility."
I frowned. "What's that?"
"One of you did it." He swung his arms behind his back. "So... who wants to confess?"
My heart stopped, and my mouth fell open.
Chapter Five
"No," Megan whispered, shaking her head.
I couldn't believe it. I wouldn't. None of my friends were murderers. We all had our issues with Josh, sure, but none of us wanted him to die. And Courtney, she was perfect, sweet, funny, and loyal. She was the best friend anyone could ask for. No one hated her. This was a random attack. It had to be. There had to be someone else.
"No. You need to keep looking. There must be somewhere they could have got in," I said, shaking my head. "Blake, you know this place better than anyone--"
Blake shook his head. "They've checked the doors, Mackenzie. I watched them. There is no other way in."
"That can't be true!" I insisted and turned to the hostile looking officers. "The windows!"
"Are all closed and locked and have been since you arrived, so I'm told," Wright replied. "No one could get into the property without breaking in."
"Please keep looking." I couldn't believe one of my friends had done it. Was it not enough to have lost them? Now we were accused of being the ones that had done it.
"They don't need to keep looking, Mackenzie. We know who did it," Aaron said and stared at Blake.
"Don't be an arsehole, Aaron," I replied. Josh was Blake's brother; he had more to lose than all of us.
Kyle stepped close to Aaron, backing him up. "Who was it then, Kenz? Come on; was it one of your friends or the creepy stranger?"
Blake said nothing. Why wasn't he saying anything? He wasn't defending himself.
"It was none of us! The police reveal one stupid theory and you start turning on each other." I shook my head. I thought I knew my friends better than that. I thought our friendship was stronger than that. "Will you all please stop this so we can figure out what happened to Josh and Courtney? The way you're all acting is disgusting. We need to stick together, not rip each other apart."
"She's right," Megan said. "I don't believe any of you could do this."
I felt Blake's eyes burning into the side of my head, but I didn't meet his gaze. I refused to believe I spent a whole day and night with a murderer. Even though we didn't know him, I didn't believe he was capable of killing two people in cold blood.
Wright clicked his tongue. "As interesting as all this is, I need you to get into the cars now." I felt naked under his intense glare. It was clear he thought one of us did it. "We're all taking a trip to the station," he said, pursing his lips, "and then my colleagues are going to search every inch of this house." He nodded towards the front door and walked out.
I sat in a small interview room, biting my lip. My fingertips were stained black from the ink. My mouth had been swabbed, and the underneath of my fingernails scraped. I wore grey sweats and a plain white t-shirt, as my clothes were being sent off for examination.
DI Wright and a female officer he had introduced as DI Lancer sat opposite me. I refused to have anyone else with me because it would seem like I had something to hide. I gulped as Wright opened his mouth to speak.
"Tell me again, Mackenzie, what happened last night?"
I shook my head. "I don't know. We were all drinking. God, we drank a lot. The last thing I remember is Blake waking me up from the sofa and..." I was going to have to admit that we'd slept together and I wasn't sure why it was embarrassing, it just was. I licked my dry lips. "We went upstairs. In the morning we woke up and went down. That's when we found... What we found."
"Where was everyone else when you and Blake went upstairs?"
"I think everyone but Megan was still in the living room. I didn't really see, I was drunk and preoccupied. I assume they were there because they didn't want to get in an argument with Josh, too."
"Argument?"
"Yeah, Megan and Josh had a disagreement about where to sleep and Blake told her to go up. Oh, Josh and Aaron fought about it, too."
"They physically fought?"
"No."
"What was the argument about?"
"Megan and Josh's?"
He blinked hard as if I had asked a stupid question. There were two arguments. How was I supposed to magically know which one he was thinking of? "Yes."
"Um. Courtney wanted everyone to crash downstairs, but Megan wanted a bed. Josh told Megan that it was his house, and she had to sleep where he said. Blake stepped in and told her to go to bed. It was nothing really."
"What was Joshua's argument with Aaron over?"
I bit my lip, watching the tape spinning around in the black, rectangle box, recording our conversation. "Josh said something about Aaron dumping Tilly before the accident." I frowned, was that it? "I think. He spits that out occasionally. I can't remember exactly what they said, but they shouted and then Courtney told them to stop."
"And then?"
"And then we went back to drinking."
"Why did Courtney want everyone downstairs?" he asked.
I shrugged. "She said we should all drink until we dropped. I don't think she really cared if anyone wanted to go to bed though."
"But Josh did?"
"Josh is Josh." Was Josh. He wasn't an 'is' anymore.
Wright's bushy eyebrows pulled together. "What does that mean exactly? What was Josh like?"
"He didn't really care about anyone other than himself. He liked to be the big man, and we were all supposed to be in debt to him for organising things like the trip." I dropped my eyes to the table. "And the theme park weekend."
"Was that the one that ended in the car accident?" he asked. "Two people died that day, is that correct? Tilly Moss and Giana Beaucoup."
"Yes," I whispered. "How do you know that?" Tilly and Gigi were at the back left of the minivan, right where the lorry hit.
"It's a small town, Mackenzie." He leant forwards, resting his elbows on the table. "Josh organised the trip which led to two of your friends' deaths."
"I know where you're going with this. No one blames Josh for what happened, it was an accident." We just blamed him for how he behaved and what he said after.
"How can you be so sure your friends feel the same way? It would seem that Megan hasn't forgiven him. Aaron, too."
"Not forgiving someone is one thin
g, murder is another. None of my friends are capable of murder."
He sighed. "So that brings us back to you."
I gulped. My palms began to sweat. "I did not murder them."
"Let's talk about your relationship with Courtney Young for a minute. You'd been friends how long?"
I frowned at his use of past tense. Insensitive bastard! "About eight years. We met when we were eleven, in the first year of high school." We had met on the first day actually. We sat next to each other because everyone else seemed to know someone. Neither of us had been put in a form with our friends from primary school, so we stuck together.
"And in that time have you had any falling outs?"
"A few, I guess. We never argued for long though. I think the longest we've ever gone without talking was three days." It was going to be longer now. I pressed my fingernails into the palms of my hands. Tears welled in my eyes. I would never hear her laugh, or sing like a cat being strangled again.
He wrote something down, and I thought he was going to ask more questions like that, but he changed direction. "How long had Josh and Courtney been together?"
I shrugged. "Um. Just over a year."
"You don't seem too thrilled by your friend's relationship with Joshua, why is that?"
"Like I said before, Josh is a selfish person. He brought her down. She was so much more outgoing and confident before him. After they got together she didn't have her own voice or opinion, she just backed up whatever he said. She deserved better." His eyebrows arched. "That doesn't mean I wanted anything bad to happen to him." Not that bad anyway.
"What happened after Tilly and Giana's death? From what I can gather, that's when the feud began."
"It wasn't a feud. He said some things that were insensitive."
"What things?"
"He said that at least it wasn't him and Courtney."
"That died in the crash?"
I nodded. "Yes. Of course I was glad everyone else was okay, but I don't know how he can place anyone else's life below his own. He also said the accident was Gigi's fault anyway because she got too drunk to drive, so Court had to. Apparently that meant she deserved to die."
"And you hated him for it."
I played with the hem of my top in my lap. I didn't hurt anyone, but he was constantly leading me there, wanting me to admit to something I hadn't done. I wanted to tell the truth, but I was scared, too. "Hate is a very strong word. I didn't ever want anything bad to happen to him, but I wished he would break up with Courtney and get out of our lives."
"How badly did you want him out of your life?"
"I didn't kill him!" Why wasn't he listening to me!
Wright's mouth twitched, and he leant forwards. His breath blew across my face. It smelt of stale tobacco mixed with mint. "I'm not saying you did it, but do you know who?"
"No, I swear, I don't. My friends didn't though. I know that much."
"Hmm," he murmured. "Did you each have a bedroom to yourself?"
"No. Megan and I were sharing; the others had a room each." But I stayed in Blake's.
"And you unpacked as soon as you arrived?"
"I did."
"Everyone else?"
I don't know. I'm not their mum! "I'm not sure. Megan didn't, she never does."
"Hmm." He clicked his tongue. What did that hmm mean? "Who had a key to either or both of the doors?"
"Josh."
"Just him?"
"I don't know. He didn't give anyone else one that I know of. Blake might have one, it being his lodge too."
I wanted to ask why, but something stopped me. Wright was intimidating. He looked like a powerful man. Tall, muscular, take no shit attitude and probably a bit in love with himself. Like one of those kids that were told every day that they're perfect, amazing, destined for greatness. Basically, someone that would come to realise that opinion was solely their parents' and they were, in fact, not perfect and would have to deal with people who were generally better at things than them. Courtney was a little like that at first and then she got with Josh. I preferred her before.
"You stayed with Blake all night?"
"Yes."
"He was still there when you woke?"
"Yes. I woke first."
He nodded once.
"What did you have to eat while you were there? Did you cook?"
The sudden change in direction worried me. I'd never been interviewed by the police where they thought I could have done something wrong before. "We all cooked enchiladas."
"You all cooked?"
"We all helped, yeah."
Why the hell was that important?
He gave a short nod again. "And the drinks. I suppose you all got a round too?"
"Yes," I replied slowly. There was something I was missing. And it was probably so obvious Wright was screaming at me in his head, come on, Mackenzie, I'm asking because... But I had no idea what that because meant.
"So you all drank, you fell asleep and when you woke Joshua and Courtney were--"
"Yes," I replied quickly before he could say dead on the kitchen floor out loud.
"Not a peep in the night, huh?"
"No."
He arched his bushy caterpillar eyebrow. "I think that's it for now. You're free to go back to the waiting room with the others."
Already? He looked at me and half-smiled. He's not done with me at all. I stood up and walked out of the room, anxious to get back to my friends and make sure they were okay. Megan's emotions ruled her, and I was worried she would be falling apart.
"Okay?" Blake asked, pulling the door open for me.
I shook my head. "Not really." Megan sat on the chair, curled up in a ball; Kyle's arms were around her, rocking her like a child. I knelt down. "Megan?"
Her body trembled. "She's not said anything since she came out of being questioned," Kyle said. "How'd it go?"
"He thinks it was one of us," I replied, looking between my friends and Josh's brother. Blake had moved to the other side of the room. He stood against the wall, looking out of the window, acting as if he was alone.
Kyle followed my gaze to Blake. "Maybe it was," he whispered. I shook my head. We couldn't turn against each other. We had to stick together until the police found out who was really responsible.
I was about to speak up and defend Blake when Wright came back into the room. His arm stretched out as he opened the door wide. "We're going to do a drug test on you, too, Mackenzie," he announced as if he had just said we're going to get you a cup of tea.
"What? Why do you need to do that?" I asked. He hadn't mentioned that before. I thought they had finished with the tests.
Oh, that was the because.
He rubbed the dark stubble under his chin. "Standard procedure, especially when I have two murdered teens and five more claiming to remember nothing. Take a seat, Miss Keaton, Mr Harper." He closed the door halfway, having a conversation with someone on the other side.
Blake sat on the faux leather chairs, staring into space. I took a seat between him and Megan. "This is like a dream," Megan whispered.
"A nightmare," I countered. "Have you both been in yet?"
Blake shook his head. "Aaron went first." He looked up. "Did they tell you what they're testing for?"
"This is the first I've heard of it. Drug test though, so everything." I shrugged. "I really don't know. I've never had to do a drug test before. This is crazy." Did they test for every drug or just the most common ones? "Have you seen your mum yet?" I asked Megan.
She shook her head, sobbing. "I-I think they're all here, or they've been called, but we can't see them until we've done this anyway." Her voice wobbled as she tried to talk through crying.
Blake stood up and walked to the window again. He leant on the windowsill, deep in thought. He was going to face his parents soon, and they were going to have a lot more to deal with than getting him through this - they had also lost a son.
"Megan, come with me," Wright said, poking his head round the door.
>
Megan shot me a look as if to say either wish me luck or help, and left the room. She looked terrified; dark circles dominated her eyes, making them shrink into the sockets.
I ran through everything in my head for the millionth time. Once I'd fallen asleep there was nothing. No noise in the night that disturbed me and I ignored. Surely, if they were being murdered they would have made a noise. They had to have made a noise. Courtney would have screamed, and her scream could wake someone from a coma.
The door opening and Kyle being summoned broke me away from going over it all again. Wright was calling us himself. Why wouldn't he send an officer to do that? Did he need that much control that he did the shit jobs himself too?
I sat back and closed my eyes. There was nothing new I could remember, and it scared me that so much of the evening was either a blur or completely missing. That didn't look good. We couldn't have been drugged. No one else was in the house, unless it had been done before we left for the weekend. By who though?
"Blake, are you okay?" I asked once we were alone.
He shook his head. "Me and Josh..." Shaking his head again, he turned to me. My breath caught in my throat. He looked so haunted, almost as if he was in physical pain. You and Josh what?
"What, Blake?"
"This is going to kill my mum. She'll wish it was me."
I blinked in shock. Sure, Blake had decided to live with his father, but that didn't mean she didn't love him as much as Josh. "No, that's not true."
I gulped. He looked as if he was in despair; his eyes were on fire. I knew in that moment he really believed what he said was true. He really believed his mum loved his brother more and would prefer him to be dead. "She wouldn't want it to be you."
"No, she wouldn't want it. But she would want it to be Josh a hell of a lot less."
"Blake, come with me," Wright ordered.
He walked out without another word or even a glance in my direction.
When it was my turn, I was lead into a small room with a black table like they had at the doctors. "Sit down, this won't take long," a lady told me. She didn't introduce herself.
"Thanks," I said, taking a seat.
"Roll your sleeve up."
Covert Page 4
