Page 165 of Not Quite Dead Yet

Billy was leaning on the counter, his phone clutched in his hand, staring at the screen.

‘No,’ he said. ‘Looks like he’s still at Mason Construction. Or he found the Tile tracker you put in his pocket and dropped it there.’

Jet shook her head. ‘No, he hasn’t found it. This is going to work. It’s going to work.’ She hardened her voice, trying to hear it over her heart, and all those damn spiders. ‘Luke is going to lead us straight to him, I know it. He’s going to go to him. He has to, after what we just talked about. And we’re going to follow.’

‘You’re sure Luke’s real dad is the person who killed you?’ Billy didn’t look up.

‘I think it’s the reason why he killed me.’

Jet swallowed. This felt right. It did. They were going to do this; they were actually going to solve her murder. Jet might not have been able to see straight, but she could see the way forward. This was it. Didn’t matter that the world was spliced in half, two layers, clashing and filmy, one world closer, the other a little farther back, two Billys, one within reach and one not. Jet rubbed her eye, her hand doubled too, existing in both worlds. She was used to it now, finding the line between.

‘And you really don’t want to just go ask your mom?’ Billy did look up now, four pale blue eyes. ‘She obviously knows who Luke’s real father is.’

Jet nodded. Shouldn’t do that, almost unbalanced her. ‘I don’t really want to be the one who ruins my dad’s life, right before I die. Mom should tell him about Luke, not me. But if we have to … We give Luke an hour to lead us to him, or we get it from Mom instead. Luke has an hour to lead us to him.’

‘An hour,’ Billy agreed, refreshing his screen. ‘Who do you think it is? Luke’s dad? And don’t say Darth Vader again, this is serious.’

‘Same person as my killer,’ Jet said, seriously.

‘Who?’

‘There’s two options.’ She sniffed. ‘Has to be one of them.’

‘Andrew Smith?’ Billy glanced toward his front door. ‘If it’s him, then Luke would be coming here.’

‘Andrew is one of them.’ Jet also stared at the front door, two doors, the truth somewhere in the middle. ‘I asked JJ at the police station. He says he didn’t touch me at the Halloween Fair. And I don’t think he did. So it wasn’t me who transferred the red wig hair to the crime scene. Which means the killer had to have had contact with Andrew Smith or JJ at the fair. Andrew Smith obviously had contact with Andrew Smith; he was wearing the fucking wig. The construction site on North Street used to be Andrew’s house – he could have been watching the work, knew when the foundations were going in, knew to hide the hammer and my phone there. Or maybe he and Luke talked about it. Luke said he gave him advice, about the company.’

‘Why, though? What could Andrew’s motive be?’

‘For Luke,’ Jet said, her words echoing in her chest, heart in her throat, stuck there. ‘Andrew knew that Dad was going to sell the company to Nell Jankowski, not leave it to Luke,because of me. If you take me out of the equation, then Luke gets the company. That’s his motive.’

Billy narrowed his eyes, not following. ‘But why would Andrew want Luke to have the company?’

‘Because that’s his son. And Andrew has nothing. You don’t think he’d want access to all the money that Mason Construction can bring in? He’s lost everything. Luke could be his damn meal ticket – his drinking ticket.’

Billy chewed his lip. ‘I don’t know. He really seemed to hate Luke when we spoke to him.’

‘Or that’s what he wanted us to think,’ Jet countered. ‘Doesn’t have to like Luke to want to use him. If he knew about Emily, if he helped Luke get away with it back then, he could threaten to expose that, make Luke give him whatever he wanted when the company was his.’

‘But he was so angry that he’d lost his house,’ Billy said. ‘That he’d sold it to Luke.’

‘Exactly.’ Jet slapped one hand on the counter, really just holding herself up, the world tilting again, stomach lurching. ‘Why would he sell his house to Luke if he didn’t really want to, if Nina had begged him not to? He did it to help Luke, knew that project was Luke’s chance to prove himself. He did it for Luke. There’s something between them, has to be. Andrew hates my family, hates my mom; maybe that’s because the relationship ended, because she kept Luke from him, and he blames her for Nina’s death too. It’s all so messy, but Andrew is connected to all of it, every bit. That fucking house on North Street. It makes sense, why he’d want to kill me.’

Billy sighed, conceded, still chewing his lip. ‘Who’s the other option?’

Jet tapped her fingers on the counter, up and down, more spider legs, dragging the name up her throat. ‘Lou Jankowski.’

Billy straightened up. ‘Really?’

‘Let’s look at the evidence,’ Jet said, before she lost her way. ‘The red wig hair. The chief helped break up the fight when Andrew Smith attacked you at the fair. One of the wig hairs could have transferred to him then. Or maybe it wasn’t even Andrew Smith. We saw that photo that Owen Clay took of the little girl in the same wig. She was posing with the chief. The hair could have also come from her, two possibilities. And again, Luke said his real dad has been giving him advice about the company, so maybe that’s how Lou could have known about the foundations going in on North Street, where to hide the hammer. And it’s this thing, with my mom, that I can’t let go. Why would she vote Lou for chief of police when your dad has been our next-door neighbor forever? She had to have known Lou before. He didn’t live far, only in Hartland. And remember: Nell told me that Lou lived in Woodstock for six months, in his thirties. That’s when the affair could have started, when Luke was conceived. Luke could be his. Why else would my mom vote for a stranger? And, man, he doesnotlike me, the chief. He really did not want to let me out of jail, to give me any more time to work this out.’

‘But what’s his motive?’

Jet shrugged. ‘I don’t know. We’ll ask him. Probably the same as Andrew’s. He wanted Luke to take over the company – probably pays much better than chief of police.’

Billy pressed his lips together and Jet’s stomach turned over, watching him, a warm buzz in her ears. The same Billy but, somehow, not at all.

‘But Lou was going to get the company anyway. Your dad was planning to sell to his wife.’