Take the Fall(35)

He rakes a hand through his hair. “Please, Sonia, that isn’t how I really feel.”

I stop, caught off guard by his tone. “What?”

“Just what I said.” He stares at his feet. “That had more to do with Gretchen than it did with you, and . . . I’m sorry, okay?”

I blink, trying to decide if I heard him correctly. Because if I did, does that mean he’s been pretending to hate me for the past six months? And if so, why? He raises his head and the look in his eyes sets my skin on fire. “I don’t understand.”

He opens his mouth like he’s searching for the right words and I try not to think about the blood rushing to my face because I’m scared of what he might or might not say. I step back, grazing a shelf with my elbow, and a book falls to the floor with a sound like a gunshot.

We both jump.

Marcus steps away and exhales. “Look, what happened at the reception?” he says hastily. “Can we just talk about that?”

I cross my arms over my chest, confused and disappointed. “Nothing happened. Everyone in town was there. There were people I didn’t recognize, but no one who screamed killer more than you, as disappointing as that was.”

His eyes are flat.

“I didn’t get any leads on the photo,” I say. “I was hoping to talk to Kip, but he didn’t show, thanks to you.”

Marcus scowls. “I don’t know what that guy’s problem is.”

“He cared about her.” I look away. “And apparently he saw her before she died that night.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he killed her himself.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“Who else was there?”

“Haley, Aisha, Kevin, Yuji . . . Tyrone, who came home from Notre Dame the day Gretchen died.” I decide to leave it at that. “And Kirsten, of course. She was acting kind of strange.”

Marcus raises his eyebrows. “How so?”

“She dressed up in Gretchen’s clothes. It seemed odd at first, but Kirsten was always trying to be like her . . .” My voice trails off as I recall her coming out of Gretchen’s room. Had she been holding something in her hand?

Marcus shifts uncomfortably and I file the thought away for later. She might have taken anything. She had on a whole outfit that wasn’t hers.

“What did she say to you after the service?” I ask.

“What?”

“I saw it on the news. She came out of the church and said something. Then you left.”

“Oh . . . she just said something about peace and respecting Gretchen’s memory.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah,” he says quickly. “And then I left.”

I tilt my head because he refuses to look at me, but before I can open my mouth a door slams and Ms. Jensen shatters the silence, whistling tunelessly.

Marcus turns away so fast I have to grab his arm to keep him from dashing into the open. He’s stronger, more toned than I expected, but he stops.

“Thought you didn’t want to be seen with me.” He looks pointedly at my hand.

I let go. He’s right. I don’t want to be caught alone with him again.

“I want to see your list,” I whisper. “Who could have done it, what motive they had . . .”

He gives a tight nod. “Can you come to Evil Bean tomorrow? I want to see yours too.”

The whistling moves closer and my pulse jumps. I step back. “Okay.”

“I’ll wait a minute before I leave.” He gestures to the door, but steps toward me like he doesn’t want to be left behind. “Just—just watch your back, okay?”

I hesitate, still doubtful I should trust him, but what he said about Gretchen and his feelings lingers and I can’t help wondering what else he was going to say.

I want to believe him, despite myself.

I grab a book off a shelf and shuffle as noisily as I can toward the desk. The librarian’s auburn head snaps up. A sad look crosses her face when she sees me, but she’s polite and doesn’t say much as she helps me check out. I exit the library, looking over my shoulder once. Marcus watches patiently from the stacks.





SEVENTEEN


YOU CAN FIND ALMOST ANYTHING online. A used couch. Lost pets. The love of your life.

Potential murderers are a little harder to come by.

Tricky, but not impossible—Gretchen loved to say that. But she was used to getting what she wanted.

I was supposed to be downstairs five minutes ago, but I scroll through my social media feeds with a pencil between my teeth. Since Kirsten headed me off before I could get inside Gretchen’s room at the reception, I’ve been looking for clues everywhere else I can think of. Most of my classmates’ posts have given way to gossip and general weirdness. “One bitch down” seems to be the current trending topic, complete with pictures of the vandalized memorial. I study them briefly, but the scrawled words and mess of ruined flowers make my stomach sick.

Sasha Fadley recorded herself singing a song dedicated to Gretchen, which was strange because the song didn’t seem to have anything to do with Gretchen at all. Reva Stone shared a link about waterfalls drying up with climate change. Kevin Fowler changed his profile picture to one of himself with Gretchen in a bikini last spring, which led to a heated debate with Tyrone over when exactly they dated.