Almost Midnight (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3.5)(120)

On Fredericka’s lips were the words: Cary did it. But she didn’t say them. Why waste her breath? They wouldn’t believe her. Not without proof.

And she didn’t have any.

“The edges look as if someone used a torch,” Burnett said. “Has anyone had access to your shop but you?” His head tilted to one side as if to hear her heartbeat.

“Not that I know of,” she said and she didn’t look at him because … because she didn’t want to see disbelief in his eyes. Oh, he would know she was telling the truth, but everyone knew that some people just excelled at lying. He probably thought she was one of them. Why not? She was the daughter of a rogue, after all.

Oh, she could remind Holiday that she’d lost a key, and anyone could have gotten in there. She could tell her about her realization that she and Cary were through, and that he was having a hard time accepting it. But again, what did that prove?

“Fredericka.” Holiday said her name. “I know you’ve had a lot on your mind lately. With your father’s death and then the ghosts. I think maybe—”

“I didn’t do it!” she repeated. “I don’t hate Kylie anymore.”

“But you used to hate her, didn’t you?” Burnett asked, as if testing her ability to lie.

“Yes, I used to hate her. Not anymore.” She closed her hands into tight fists. Not angry at Holiday or Mr. James. Her fury was directed at Cary.

“Why didn’t you show up at math class this morning?” Mr. James asked.

“I overslept,” she said, and even to her ears it sounded like a lie. “Are we finished here?” she asked, wanting to go for a long run. Wanting to feel oxygen burn her lungs, until the burn of anger in her chest subsided.

“No, I’m not finished,” Mr. James said. “What are you not saying, Fredericka? You are holding back. I can tell!”

She inhaled and tried to fight the sting in her eyes. Not just from her emotions making them bright, but from tears. Tears of injustice.

“I’m supposed to go help Brandon Hart plant flowers in front of the gallery. Can I please be excused?”

“No!” Mr. James snapped. “You will not leave here today until you start talking.”

She tilted up her chin, inhaled his vampire scent that instinctively annoyed her senses, and met his bright eyes.

“What does it matter what I say? I’m the daughter of a rogue. You’ve already got me down as guilty!” Would her father’s sins ever stop haunting her?

She stood up and walked out.

She heard Mr. James call her back, but then she heard Holiday say, “Let her go.”

Fredericka couldn’t help but think that Holiday would be happy if she did go. Far away. If her shadow never fell on the school again.

Tears of anger, of frustration, burned her eyes and she headed for the woods to run until it hurt to breathe.

She ran five laps around the property. The perfect blue sky peered down at her through the trees as if mocking her angst. The smell of the forest, of the wet earth, just reminded her of a certain artist and his woodsy scent.

Each time she came close to the fence, the temptation to jump over it and go see Brandon hit. She didn’t. Because that would just make her look guilty.

After about three more laps, her lungs struggling to breathe, she collapsed on a large rock by a stream. Only a little more than twenty-four hours until the full moon offered her escape from the hurt, but it couldn’t come soon enough.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them. Then she closed her eyes and let the tears flow freely.

Once she’d cried it out, she pulled her phone from her pocket and texted Brandon.

Sorry. Can’t make it today. See you Friday.

She hoped she could see him Friday. Hoped by then she’d figure a way out of the jam Cary had put her in.

She got a text right back.

Damn. I was looking forward to seeing you.

Me, too.

Everything OK?

No,

she typed. Then deleted it. The last thing she wanted was to get Brandon involved in her problems. He had enough on his own plate.

Fine. Except missing you.

Miss you, too. How did you get under my skin so fast?

Sorry.

Don’t be. You make me … happy.

Closing her eyes, she held the phone to her heart. His message offered a slight reprieve from the pain collecting there. What she wouldn’t give to have him hold her right now. To feel the sense of happiness sneak into her chest and chase away all the pain, the injustice that seemed to be a legacy left to her by her father.

A few minutes later, she jumped off the rock and started back to her cabin, but that’s when she heard it again.

The rush of water.

What did the falls want with her this time?

*

It was dark, almost seven, and her clothes were still wet from the falls when Fredericka stepped up onto the cabin’s front porch. Somehow the trip to the falls had led her to this idea. Had it come from the death angels? Maybe. She just hoped it worked.

The door swung open before she knocked.

Della, her vampire eyes already a bright lime green, stood there staring at Fredericka. “Just take your wolf ass away from here. I swear to God, if you lay one finger on Kylie, I’ll have you whimpering like a pup.”

Fredericka held her chin up. “I didn’t do it.”