Page 18

‘Isn’t this a frat house?’

‘Yeah. Um. My stepfather makes me stay here.’

‘Your stepfather?’

I clear my throat. ‘John Novelle.’

‘Novelle?’ he asks, suddenly staring at me. ‘Like the Novelles?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Oh!’ Something dawns in his eyes. ‘So, you...’ He puts his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking with laughter. ‘I get it now.’

That makes one of us.

I unlock the door but find as we get inside that the table in the kitchen is currently home to a card game with over half the house in attendance. All eyes narrow in on us as we enter and there’s a chorus of, ‘hey, Daisy!’ and ‘how you doing, Daisy?’

‘Hey,’ I say back, giving the guys an awkward wave.

Things sure have changed since the hazing ended at Halloween.

I turn to Bennet, who’s staring at the guys and then at me with another look I don’t understand.

So, I smile at him. ‘I guess we’ll have to go up to my room. There is a desk.’

‘Sure.’

I take him up to my floor. He doesn’t say a word the entire way.

‘I’ll just get another chair,’ I say as I lead him into my room.

He looks around slowly.

‘Or we could sit on your bed,’ he suggests.

‘Oh, no, I think it would be better to have a hard surface,’ I say, briefly wondering at the odd look on his face.

But I don’t understand, so I decide to ignore it for now. I can maybe ask him about it later. Right now, I’d rather start working. The headache I’ve had since this morning hasn’t gone away, so I’d like to get an early night, though I have a feeling I might be heading to the campus doctors tomorrow to get some migraine pills. For me, this kind of headache only gets worse, and I don’t have any more of the pills I was prescribed at The Heath.

We grab our laptops and walk through the rest of the project, getting a decent amount done over the next couple of hours despite the fact that he’s a bit chatty, which I find a little annoying when I’d rather we just get the work finished. I give him one-word answers and try not to engage until he understands and stops.

Luckily, the headache begins to abate after a while. When it gets to one in the afternoon, I glance over at him.

‘Are we finished for now, do you think?’

‘Sure, I’m getting hungry anyway. Want to come back to the Quad with me for a sandwich?’

I smile easily. ‘I’m actually meeting Lu this afternoon, but maybe next time.’

He hesitates for a moment, but then shrugs. ‘Sure. When do you want to get together again?’

‘I’m not sure. Next week?’ I say. ‘Oh! I’ll give you my cell and we can figure it out closer to the time.’

He nods and hands me his phone. I put my number in the contacts, and he calls me.

‘Now we have each other’s numbers,’ he says, looking at me strangely again.

I give him a thumbs-up. ‘Great. See you in class.’

He falters. ‘Yeah. See you in class.’

He packs up all his stuff and swings his bag onto his shoulder. ‘Well, bye.’

‘See you,’ I say without looking up as I message Lu to tell her I’m ready when she is.

Lu’s reply back to me is almost instantaneous, telling me she’ll meet me outside the front of the KIP house in five. I let the guys know I’ll be with Lu in the group chat and my phone buzzes no more than seconds later with a message.

[Mav] xx

[Blake] Be careful, gorgeous, and when I get back, I want to?

[Shade] Stop confusing her, Blake!

[Blake] Don’t worry, sweetheart, I’ll have fun explaining it to you later

[Shade] FYI, Applegate needs us to go to some research grant thing tonight. We’ll be back late. Don’t wait up for us. xx

I get my shoes and coat on, grabbing my phone as well as the manila file with both the police reports. I go downstairs and find that Lu’s already waiting for me in the driveway.

I open the passenger door as I survey the red sports car she’s driving in surprise. ‘Another cousin?’

She winks at me. ‘Boyfriend.’

I frown at her. ‘You dark horse. You haven’t told me you have a boyfriend.’

‘I don’t,’ she smirks. ‘He just thinks he is and if he’s gonna let me borrow his Miata, he can think whatever he wants!’

I giggle as we speed down the driveway. After Shade’s fast driving, I’m much more used to riding in cars and I don’t find it nearly so frightening.

I open the folder as we drive. ‘How far is it?’ I ask as I scan the real report.

‘Ten minutes in this beauty,’ Lu replies.

She puts on some shades and cranks up the tunes, dancing in her seat while I look on and shake my head. I put mine on too and try to block out the music as my head begins to vaguely thud.

As she said, it doesn’t take long to find the stretch of road, and I feel something odd in my chest as I see tire marks that go off the road at the bend.

Lu parks at the side of the road, turns the music off, and glances at me with a grimace. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to treat this like a road trip, Daisy-bear.’

I wave a hand at her.

I get out of the car, bringing the reports with me and finding the original diagram. I turn it as I look at the scene, and it strikes me how normal it seems. It doesn’t look like someone died here. There aren’t any flowers, or little stuffed animals to mark the site. There’re just some skid marks on the road that lead down the embankment.

I follow them, hearing Lu behind me.

‘Show me the diagram?’ she asks.

I turn and hand it to her.

‘Okay, so the car went off here, down the bank,’ she walks a few steps. ‘It hit… this tree.’ She points at a scraggly evergreen with a thick trunk. ‘Then it flipped over, and your mom was thrown from it to…here.’ She stands a few feet away and points at the ground.

I look around the area, noticing the gouges out of the tree trunk and the sheared-off branches where the car hit it.

‘And the footprint?’

‘Here, not far from where they found her.’

I stand over the place where my mother died. ‘They stood over her,’ I say. ‘The other person.’ I frown as I catch sight of a small photo which I realize is a picture of the plaster cast that was made from the shoe print in the mud. I hadn’t noticed it because it’s clipped to the back of the file. I pull it off and stare at it.

‘I know who stood here,’ I say.

‘How?’ Lu asks.

‘The shoe print. It’s John’s.’

‘I don’t get it. How could you know that? All you can see is a little of the tread.’

I look at the photo again.

‘His nicest shoes look like that on the bottom. Always. He gets them imported from some shop in Vienna.’

‘Well, fuck.’ Lu breathes. ‘He’s only the most powerful man in Richmond, probably further.’

She’s quiet after that and I hear her moving around the area, muttering about where my mom’s left Jimmy Choo was found. Her purse. Her cell.

‘Why did you leave me there?’ I whisper to the air around me. ‘Why did you stop loving me? Was I so awful? So difficult?’

There are tears leaking out of my eyes.

A lot. They’re making my face cold. My headache is getting worse.

I turn abruptly and stumble back toward the car. Tearing open the door, I get in; Lu joins me without a word. We drive back to the KIP house in silence, the mood heavy and subdued.

‘Thanks for taking me out there,’ I say as she pulls up the driveway.

‘I’m sorry,’ she says quietly.

‘I feel better in a weird way. I’m glad I went and saw it for myself. And we know for a fact that John was there that night, now. That’s something. I’ll try to talk to the staff at John’s house on Friday.’

I squeeze her fingers, and she returns the gesture. ‘Message me later, okay?’

I nod and leave the car, making my way upstairs.

The guys are out tonight, I remember with a long sigh. I forgot. I wish one of them was here right now, but at the same time I don’t want anyone with me.

I lock my door.

I need to think, but that’s practically impossible. My head is pounding and sluggish, and it’s getting worse by the minute. I’ve lost my battle with the migraine. I should have gone to the medical center today. I’ll pay for that tomorrow, but I needed to see that place. I wanted to speak to my mom, and the thought of going to the cemetery to do it seems wrong, like she’s not there.

I take off my clothes, leaving them where they fall and get into bed to try to sleep.

My mom was murdered. Our mom.

I need to tell Shade, don’t I?

Tomorrow. I’ll tell him tomorrow.

In the night, I toss and turn. I think I hear someone at my door, but I can’t make myself get up to find out. I’ve only been like this a few times, and only twice at The Heath. One morning was so bad that I was corrected twice for not getting out of bed when Crews told me to. My leg ached for days afterward though the nurse I told about it informed me that it was impossible, and it was ‘all in my head’. Whether she was saying that I was imagining the shocks from the Stinger, or the pain, I didn’t know.

My head.

My head feels like it’s splitting open. I can see lights bursting in my vision that aren’t really there, and my left hand is curled into a bird-like claw. It’s always the one that goes.

I need the stuff The Heath used to give me for it.

I’m wide awake too early and I wonder what time the medical center opens. Around eight, I can’t make myself wait any longer, and I get up. I stagger around my room, throwing on my clothes from yesterday with one eye half open to let in as little light as possible.

I grab my duffle bag and the empty blister pack that says the name of the drug they prescribed me on the back because I can never remember it. It’ll probably be called something else here but at least they can look it up with the name.

Throwing on my coat and my slip-on ballet flats because I can’t tie laces with my hand not working properly.

I leave my room and see that all the other doors are closed. Usually, the others keep theirs open at night since no one else in the house is allowed up here except by invitation. I descend the stairs very slowly, holding onto the rail for dear life. At the bottom, I hear some of the guys in the kitchen. The thought of food or drink makes me want to heave, so I head straight for the front door. Two of the others are leaving. Freshmen. I think one is called Greg and the other might be Jason or Jackson. I can’t remember but I don’t think either of them have been especially nasty to me as far as I know, not even during pledging.

‘Hey, are you okay?’ Greg, the taller of the two, asks.

I glance up to see them both staring at me.

‘No,’ I croak. ‘I’m going to the medical center.’

Jason or Jackson checks his watch. ‘It won’t be open for at least two hours, Daisy. Are you sure you want to go now?’

‘I—’ I feel myself slowly lean against the wall without meaning to.

Greg glances at his friend. ‘Where’s the Admiral?’

The J name gets his phone out and puts it to his ear.

‘Look,’ I slur, ‘I’m just going to the medical center. I don’t need help, thank you.’

‘Voicemail,’ he mutters, doing the same thing again and completely ignoring me.

‘Can you just get out of the way, please?’

‘Commodore is the same,’ he says, looking at his friend.

‘Try the Captain.’

‘But we were told never to.’

‘Just do it, Jay. She looks like she’s about to keel over. I’d rather get in trouble for waking him up from his beauty sleep than let her go out alone like this.’

I frown at them both, opening both my eyes and leveling them with an angry stare. They glance at each other.

‘Blake isn’t answering either. What do you want to do? I have class in ten. I could walk her over there, but then I have to leave.’

‘Naw, it’s okay, bro. I can get her there,’ Greg says, zipping up his jacket. ‘I’m good for an hour. Daisy?’

I sigh, wishing they would listen to me. ‘I don’t need you to walk me there. I know where it is.’

‘Daisy, you can barely stand. The Seamen would not be happy if we just left you like this.’

‘The Seamen?’ I snort. This is the first time I’ve heard the guys referred to as this, and I’ll bet Blake decided on that nickname.

I chuckle a little and then groan, trying to cover my eyes, but my arm is too heavy to lift properly.

‘Jesus, what the fuck is wrong with your hand?’

Even I can hear the horror in his tone.

‘Just a migraine,’ I mutter. ‘Hemiplegic migraine. Out of pills. Need more.’

My left leg shakes a little and I’m afraid for a moment that it’s going to give out.

What am I doing? I’m being ridiculous! I need help!

‘Fine,’ I mutter, swallowing my pride. ‘You can walk with me.’

He lets out a sigh of relief and opens the door. A blast of cold air has me rethinking leaving the warm house, but I need to go, so I steel myself against it, pull up my hood with my good hand, and follow him slowly outside.

The temperature at least seems to wake my brain up a little, though that could be because I’m focusing on the freezing air pummeling my face rather than the pulsating pain radiating through my skull.

Greg walks next to me down the wet driveway and I glance at him.

‘Are you really that scared of them?’

He side-eyes me and nods.

‘Why?’

‘They’re scary.’

I snort. ‘No, they aren’t.’

He looks away. ‘No offense, but if you think that then you have no idea.’

I wrestle a glove onto my bad hand as we walk. ‘Tell me, then.’

‘I shouldn’t.’ He stops and looks at me. ‘But I’m going to.’

‘Why?’

‘Because you should know who you’re living with up there.’

He starts walking again and waits for me patiently, letting me take his arm to go down the hill that leads to the main road.

‘Go on.’ I wince as the wind picks up, trying to remember how far the medical center is.

‘They’re into some stuff together. Dark stuff. Blake goes out at night sometimes and comes back covered in blood. Mav pretends he’s the strait-laced chemist, but he used to help his brother steal cars in high school and I’ve seen him mad.’ He glances at me. ‘He was pissed on Halloween. He almost killed Rob. Took four guys to get him away. Rob’s face looked like a blood bag spilled all over it by the time they did.’

‘And Shade?’ I ask.

‘Shade is a Novelle. That’s all any of us need to know. No offence.’

‘I’m not really a Novelle,’ I mutter, shivering as we walk up the sidewalk.

I see the sign for the medical center up the road and let out a small sigh of relief.

Greg helps me to the door and opens it.

‘Where are they?’ I ask. ‘They weren’t in the house this morning.’

He stares at me blankly.

‘The Seamen .’

He looks uncomfortable. ‘There was a party at their club last night. They usually stay there overnight with...their guests.’

They were at a party.

They said it was a thing with Applegate.

Something hurts in my chest, but maybe it’s just from the migraine.

My knee shakes as I make my way to the front desk, and I squint at Greg.

‘You got me here. Thanks,’ I say. ‘You should get on with your day.’

Greg’s lips thin. ‘You should try calling them. They’ll answer for you.’

Yeah, right.

But I nod and delve into my pocket only to realize I’ve forgotten my phone.

‘I left my phone back at the house.’

His lips thin even more. It’s oddly fascinating. They’ve almost disappeared. Like a lizard.

‘I’ll try to contact them again and tell them where you are,’ he says finally, his shoulders sinking.

‘I don’t think they’ll care,’ I say truthfully.

I sound bitter. Am I bitter?

I shake my head. I don’t know and, at any rate, I don’t have it in me for this right now.

‘I don’t need to be anywhere for a while. I’ll sit over there out of your way, okay?’

‘Okay,’ I murmur, sort of glad he is staying with me when I see the nurse behind the desk who reminds me of Sue, the Blank who liked to get me into trouble with Stoke.

‘Can I help you?’ Her voice is gravely like Stoke’s, and her teeth are smoker yellow.

‘Hi. I’d like to see a doctor please.’

Her eyes are hard and assessing and her lip curves up into what might be a small sneer, but I’m not sure.

‘Name.’

‘Marguerite Evans.’

‘Rough night?’ she sniffs, raising a brow.

‘Yes,’ I say.

She snorts as she types my name and clicks the mouse a few times, muttering something under her breath that I don’t hear.

‘Sit down. You’ll be called,’ she says, not looking at me again.

My vision in my left eye is going blurry now.

‘Any idea how long?—’

‘You’ll be called .’