Almost Dead (Lizzy Gardner #5)(19)

“At one time . . . yes. We were all very close, which is why I’m worried. We were in the same club back in high school.” She stood and went to another room. When she returned, she handed Lizzy a thin spiral notebook. “If you open it up, you’ll see that I wrote down the names of everyone in the Ambassador Club. There were thirteen of us.”

Lizzy flipped the notebook open. Thirteen names, just as she said. A few phone numbers and addresses were scribbled in the margins. “You believe everyone on this list is in danger?”

“I do. I haven’t been able to locate three of the people on the list. They could have moved away or maybe they’re dead, too. As you can see, I’ve made notes—anything I thought might be helpful to you.”

“Have you called every name with a number?”

“No. Rachel was the only one on the list who I contacted. After she died, I went to the police. Then I called you.”

“How did you get my name?”

“Detective Chase.”

Lizzy tried not to grimace, but it wasn’t easy. Did Detective Chase think this was amusing? That man was a walking, talking *. He obviously didn’t take the woman seriously. And, well, Lizzy could hardly blame him. Melony was definitely skittish; although it was difficult to tell whether she was nervous or scared. She kept crossing and uncrossing her legs, making Lizzy think she might be feeling guilty instead of frightened. Was she doing this for attention? It happened, far too often.

“Why don’t you tell me more about your club,” Lizzy said. “I’m having a difficult time figuring out why you believe anyone would want to do you or anyone else in your group harm.”

Melony stood and then walked around a bit before white-knuckling the back of her chair. “Because we were mean,” she blurted, then slumped forward in defeat.

Lizzy lifted a brow. “Mean as in Mean Girls?”

“Yes, but our club included boys, too. There were eight girls and five boys.”

“Was that the club’s intention? To be nasty to other students?”

“No. The group was originally formed with the idea of making an exclusive club for VIP students.”

“VIP students?”

Melony looked heavenward as if she were exasperated, which annoyed Lizzy. Getting any real information out of the woman was like waiting for water to boil.

“Rich kids,” Melony said. “Kids who simply preferred to hang out with like-minded people.”

Lizzy set her notebook aside so she could rub the bridge of her nose. Detective Chase was going to get an earful.

“I know what you’re thinking.”

“No,” Lizzy said. “I don’t think you do. If you did, you might see how very silly your group sounds to an outsider.”

“You shouldn’t be so quick to judge. Rich kids are taunted, too. We were treated like outliers, so we decided to band together and do something about it.”

“Are you saying that kids picked on you?”

“In the beginning, yes. But our group rallied together quickly. They didn’t have a chance after that.”

Lizzy pulled in her emotions. Her mother used to tell her that two wrongs didn’t make a right. But she wasn’t here to lecture the woman, so she kept that one to herself. One thing she never understood or cared for, though, were bullies. “OK, so you started this exclusive group, but it somehow became more of a mean-kid group?”

“Yes,” Melony said. “More or less.”

“And now you think somebody on the other side of the Ambassador Club’s backlash is coming after every single one of you?”

“I do.”

“Any idea who that might be?”

Melony began to pace the room. “It’s not easy to narrow the list down. I’ll be the first to admit that we got carried away. By the time our class graduated, I would chance it to say that there weren’t too many people who liked us.”

“That must have been painful.”

“Not really. We had each other. At least in the beginning.”

“And then what happened?” Please tell me you all grew up.

“It wasn’t until our ten-year reunion two years back that I realized how deeply the scars ran. Dean Newman, one of the boys in our club, talked to me at the beginning of the night. He wanted to know how I was holding up and whether or not the guilt was getting to me. He went on to tell me that he had become an alcoholic and recently joined AA. A few weeks ago, I heard from Dean again. As part of his treatment, he’d vowed to apologize to every single person he might have caused harm.”

“And he just called you out of the blue recently to let you know?”

“Not exactly. He called me because he wanted names.”

“Of the victims of your abuse?”

“Yes,” she managed, unable to look Lizzy in the eyes.

“Did anyone in your group cause verbal and physical harm?”

“A few.”

“Did you?”

“A shove there, a push into the locker every once in a while. Nothing to get worked up about.”

Lizzy held in a moan.

“Mostly just the usual kind of stunts kids pull in high school.”

Lizzy cocked her head. “Could you fill me in, please? What are the usual stunts?”