Page 48

FORTY-SEVEN

All our heads jerk up to the ceiling, listening. Moments later, a voice calls out. “Hello?”

Melinda raises her fist as though she’s about to strike Evie. I lunge forward, but before I can reach her, she holds a finger up to her mouth, threatening me into silence.

“You said no one knew you were here,” she spits at me.

“They don’t,” I whisper.

Melinda is standing so close to Evie, I’m afraid to do anything that might anger her. If she were to attack Evie, I’m not confident I could do enough to help with my arm fastened to the pole.

More footsteps shuffle overhead. I listen closely.

“Cass, are you here?” the person calls. “Your car is parked outside.”

“Nadia?” I say, under my breath.

“Who is Nadia?” Melinda asks me.

“She’s my friend. She’s been helping me try to find Evie.”

“How did she know you were here?”

“I don’t know,” I say. And in this moment I don’t care. All that matters is there is someone on the other side of that basement door who is willing to help.

“Cass?” I hear Nadia call again. It sounds as though she’s getting closer to the basement door.

Melinda darts to the same closet where Evie found the box full of pictures. It puts enough space between them that I’m confident she’s safe, but I only have a split second to react.

“Nadia!” I scream, my chest afire with adrenaline and anxiety. “We’re in the basement.”

Melinda emerges from the closet with a roll of duct tape in her hands. I imagine she’d planned on using it to keep us quiet, but it’s too late. I’m about to shout again when she comes charging at me, fury in her eyes.

“Nadia! Call the pol?—”

Before I can finish, Melinda Terry is on me, her hands closing around my throat. It’s too difficult to defend myself with my left hand tied. My back rams into the metal pole behind me as she keeps charging, threatening me into silence.

Melinda’s face suddenly goes still and her grip around my throat loosens. She reaches instead for the back of her head, right before falling to the floor.

“Cass?” I hear Nadia calling from upstairs. I can hear the desperate jangling of the doorknob. “The basement is locked. Are you okay?”

“Yes,” I call to her, “but hurry.”

In front of me Evie is still holding the painted rock in her hand, ready to strike again. There’s a smear of blood on the paperweight’s surface.

“I had to do it,” Evie asks, her eyes still staring at Melinda’s body on the ground. She’s breathing heavily, almost on the verge of hyperventilating.

I step forward, taking the weapon out of Evie’s hands. “It’s okay, Evie.”

“Do you think she’s… I mean, did I…”

Evie can’t finish the horrible thought.

“No,” I reassure her. “Ms. Terry will be fine. You did exactly what you needed to do.”

Evie sighs in relief, slinking back down to the ground. She leans forward, resting her hands on her knees. Still staring at Melinda, she says, “‘When you face a fierce competitor, that’s when your true ability comes out.’ You told us that at the game.”

I nod, equal parts bothered Evie had to experience any of this and proud she had the courage to defend herself. To do what I could never do.

“I’m going to break down the door,” Nadia yells from upstairs. “The police are on their way!”

“Make sure you tell them Evie is here, too,” I shout back. “And that she’s safe.”

* * *

An hour later, the house is overrun with police officers. Earlier in the week, these same people wore somber expressions, the hope we’d find out what happened to Evie quickly dwindling. Now, their optimism is restored. Evie sits in the Terrys’ living room with Detective Fields, while Melinda sits in the back seat of a police car.

“How did you know I was here?” I ask Nadia.

“I tried calling your phone over and over again,” she says. “When you didn’t answer, I decided to try and retrace your footsteps. I went by the school and ran into some guy. Coach Reynolds. He gave me some names and I started looking up addresses.”

“How did you know I was at Amber’s house?”

“I didn’t, until I saw your car parked outside. When I saw the For Sale sign in the yard, I used that as an excuse to let myself in,” she says. “I knew something was off when you weren’t answering your phone.”

“I wasn’t sure how we were getting out of that until you showed up,” I say. “Thank you for not giving up on me.”

Nadia, I realize, isn’t a con or a criminal. She’s a fighter. She’s stands up for what she believes is important, bending the rules as she sees fit. Sure, sometimes that’s led her down the wrong path, but often, it has encouraged her to act in defense of others. That’s what she did when we drugged my father all those years ago. She was trying to help me out of a bad situation.

Her track record may not be perfect, but she’s loyal, and now, for maybe the first time in her life, Nadia has something worth going straight for.

Detective Fields escorts Evie out of the house toward her police vehicle. They stop when they see us.

“Are you Coach Cass’s friend?” Evie asks Nadia. “The one that called the police?”

Nadia’s posture stiffens, her eyes bouncing from me and Detective Fields back to Evie.

“Yes,” she answers at last.

“Thank you,” Evie says, before walking to the car.

Nadia is more than my oldest friend, more than the person who helped save us. She’s also Evie’s aunt. I hope, in time, they’ll build a relationship, and Evie will see just how useful it is having someone like Nadia on her side.