Take the Fall(38)

My skin goes cold. I’ve never seen anything of Marcus’s that looked like that. But it disturbs me that I have no trouble picturing what Kip’s describing.

The bells jingle again and Haley walks in with Yuji. They’re not holding hands or even standing that close, but I raise my eyebrows because the two of them together is something I never thought I’d see again. They were inseparable freshman and sophomore years. Like, so much no one else could stand to be around them. I’m ninety-nine percent sure Gretchen and Yuji were never interested in each other except as decent opponents on the tennis court, but the time they spent together drove Haley nuts and Gretchen knew it. When Haley finally told him she was ready to try out being single, it hit him pretty hard. The poor guy wandered around looking wounded long after tennis season ended.

Haley meets my gaze and gives me a nervous wave. Dina peeks her head out of the kitchen, covered in flour. When she sees Haley, she smiles at me, looking relieved, and disappears again.

“Hold that thought, Kip, I’ll be right back.” I grab a couple of menus and lead Haley and Yuji to a table by the windows. “Hey, guys . . . what’s new?”

Haley flushes, sweeping her hair to one side, but Yuji glances behind me with a frown. “Didn’t you mix it up with Kip and Marcus the other day?”

“I did.” I search for my pencil, pretending not to notice the hostile glare he directs at Kip. “You guys going to split a chocolate milk shake?”

Yuji leans forward with a solemn expression. “Good for you.”

I tilt my head, unsure what to say. Haley presses her lips together.

“Look, what happened to Gretchen . . . it was horrible,” he says. “But Marcus is a good guy. He would never have hurt her.”

Haley’s eyes widen. She opens her mouth and I prepare for the diatribe regarding Marcus’s guilt to launch off her tongue, but instead she folds her hands in front of her. Marcus is the closest friend Yuji has in Hidden Falls.

“For someone who’s supposed to be innocent, he’s sure been acting weird,” I say.

Yuji shakes his head. “I’d be freaking out too if I were him.”

“Then I guess it’s good he has a solid alibi,” I mutter.

He frowns. “That doesn’t even matter. Gretchen had—”

“I thought we weren’t going to talk about her,” Haley says.

Yuji’s gaze snaps back to her, the tips of his ears going red.

Haley picks up her purse. “But if you want to continue, I can go—”

“We’re not.” He grabs her hand, freezes like he’s gone too far, but she puts her purse down and he relaxes.

Haley looks at me with a thin smile. “One chocolate milk shake, two straws.”

I nod, relieved to step out of their crosshairs, though I wonder briefly just how much Haley blamed Gretchen for their breakup. She’s one of the few people not featured on the SD card.

I look at Kip, but he’s busy, hunched over something in front of him. I make my way back to the kitchen, stopping to bus an empty table and take an order from a trucker. I bring Yuji and Haley their milk shake—with whipped cream and two cherries—and run back to the kitchen for the BLT Kip will undoubtedly order. His arms rest on the table when I come out, and I notice he’s holding my little nub of pencil in one hand and a small pocketknife in the other.

“What’s that for?” I ask.

He turns the knife over, examining it like he really hadn’t thought about it. “Sometimes I use it for photography, but today it’s a pencil sharpener.” He hands my newly sharp pencil back to me and sweeps the shavings onto a napkin. “You dropped that; it was looking pretty dull.”

I peer closely as he wipes the blade, imagining it scratching out a face in a photograph. I draw back, goose bumps rising on my arms. But the picture of Gretchen and me was grainy and amateurish, clearly not taken by someone who knew what they were doing.

Unless it was supposed to look that way.

I set the BLT on the table before my arm can give way and drop it.

“Hey, thanks, how’d you know what I wanted?” Kip asks.

I force a smile, hoping he doesn’t notice I’ve clasped my hands so tightly, I snapped my pencil. “Psychic, I guess.”

He picks up a french fry and gives me a wistful grin. “You should use those powers to find the killer.”

I fold my arms and stare at the floor. “Did the cops really question you the other day?”

He hesitates. “Who told you that?”

“I heard a rumor at school.”

He pushes the food aside and gnaws on his lip. “I talked with Sheriff Wood. But he just wanted to know what I saw.”

What if you saw something that night and you don’t even realize it?

I tilt my head. “After the party?”

He nods. “I was walking my bike home with a flat through the woods. I saw Gretchen sitting on the rocks by the top of the falls.”

My heart picks up as I try to envision this as he saw it. “She was alone?”

“Yeah. She was just kind of sitting there, looking sad.” The corners of his mouth pull down. “I wanted to say something but, I don’t know, I didn’t want to bother her.”

I shake my head, my jaw trembling.

Glasses and plates clink at a nearby table. A news report drones softly from the TV mounted in the corner. There’s a group of old ladies a few tables away arguing about politics. And suddenly the diner lights are so bright, they wash everything out in a fluorescent haze. I struggle to focus on Kip’s face.