Lovely Girls(76)

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OCTOBER 17

Alex stood in the school courtyard, holding her phone up in front of her.

Daphne and Shae are over there. I’m going to see if I can get them to confess. I want to make sure I get a recording of this. Hold on.

The picture shifted from selfie to camera mode. There were throngs of students hanging out in the courtyard. Some sat at tables, others stood in groups. Daphne Hudson and Shae Thacker were off to one side, standing close together near a palm tree. They were whispering angrily to one another. Daphne’s arms were crossed, and her cheeks were flushed with anger. Shae’s face was creased with worry. Alex moved closer to them. She lowered her phone so they wouldn’t notice she was taking a video, checking first to make sure that Daphne and Shae were on camera.

“This is seriously bad,” Shae said.

Daphne shook her head. “Just forget about it, Shae!”

“How am I supposed to forget what happened?”

“Hi,” Alex said, her voice off camera.

Daphne looked up. When she saw Alex, her eyes narrowed. “What do you want, freak?”

“We’re having a private conversation,” Shae said.

“About Callie?” Alex asked.

“Um, yeah? She was our best friend. We’re upset. Obviously,” Shae said.

“And it’s none of your business.” Daphne waved her hand in Alex’s direction. “Go on. Get lost.”

“I know what you did,” Alex said.

Daphne and Shae both turned to stare at her.

“What did you say?” Daphne asked.

“I know what you did,” Alex said again.

Daphne stared at Alex for a long moment. Her pretty face twisted into an ugly sneer, and she laughed dismissively. “You’re such a liar.”

“I was there,” Alex said. “I was at the beach that night. I saw what you did.”

Shae blanched. She turned to Daphne. “You said there wasn’t anyone else there! You said you checked everywhere!”

“Ignore her. She’s obviously lying.”

“I don’t lie,” Alex said. “I was on the lifeguard tower. You didn’t check there, did you?”

Shae’s eyes widened, and she turned to Daphne. “Oh, my God, Daph. We’re going to get into so much trouble.”

“Shut up, Shae,” Daphne hissed at her. “She doesn’t know anything.”

“Are you so sure about that? Because you couldn’t see me, but I saw you. I saw all three of you. I know what you did to Callie.”

Shae started to cry. She covered her face with her hands, but her sobs were loud and her shoulders shaking. Other students standing nearby looked over at her.

“Shae, get your shit together,” Daphne said. She glared at Alex. “What the fuck is your problem?”

“You’re my problem,” Alex said. “You’ve been my problem since the first day we met. And now I’m going to make sure you go down for what you did.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Daphne said. “But everyone knows you’re a mental case, so no one’s ever going to believe anything you say anyway.”

“You remember that video of you and Coach? The one I took?” Alex asked. “The one Callie sent out to everyone you know just to humiliate you? That wasn’t the only video I took.”

“Oh, my God. She has a video?” Shae exclaimed.

“You’re both very photogenic. You look great in close up,” Alex said. “I think it might even go viral.”

“Are you filming us right now?” Daphne asked, looking at the phone in Alex’s hand.

“What if I am?”

“Give me your phone.” Daphne took a sudden step toward Alex. There was a murmur among the other students in the courtyard. Daphne looked around, apparently just noticing that their argument had attracted an audience.

“Are you going to break my phone again? In front of everyone?” Alex asked. “That’s going to be hard to explain to the police.”

Daphne took a step back. “Come on, Shae. Let’s go to class.”

“But what are we going to do about her?”

“Don’t say another word.” Daphne grabbed Shae’s arm and pulled her away from where Alex was standing. “Not one more word.”





CHAPTER FORTY-SIX




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KATE

“When did this happen?” I asked once the video had stopped.

“Yesterday morning, right when I got to school. That’s why I left. I mean, everyone was looking at me and talking about me, I wasn’t lying about that. But it was partly because this happened.” Alex gestured at the now-blank screen. “I left and went to a Starbucks. While I was there, I downloaded all of the videos to the USB stick, and then I wiped my tablet and phone. I even wiped the cloud.”

“They don’t admit they killed Callie,” I said.

“I know,” Alex said. “Shae almost did, but Daphne stopped her. If one of them was going to crack, it would have been Shae. It’s too bad, I would have liked to have had that on tape.”

“But we have solid proof that they killed Callie.” I was confused. “The police will be able to make a case without your having gotten Daphne and Shae to confess on camera.”