Nice Girls(79)

All of it had been a lie.

Jayden bent over, one hand in Ron’s black hair. Jayden grabbed a handful of it, yanking Ron’s head back as far as he could get. The latter was squealing.

“Ask him what you need,” said Jayden to me.

“Did Kevin kill her?” I asked, my voice catching.

“P-please—”

Jayden yanked back harder.

“When I said I was gonna kill you, I wasn’t joking,” Jayden said slowly.

“N-no, please . . .”

Jayden pulled Ron’s head back as far as he could. Then he let go. Ron’s face immediately slammed onto the car floor.

“Talk.”

Ron whimpered, then he began to murmur.

“K-Kevin and Olivia were dating since the s-summer. But he found out she’d been ch-cheating on him—s-sexting her ex. S-sleeping with her ex. Kevin found nudes on her phone that she’d sent to Dwayne T-Turner.”

Neither Jayden nor I moved.

“K-Kevin was pissed off. He and Olivia got into a fight b-back in October. She told him to fuck off.”

“When in October?” I asked.

Ron didn’t answer.

Jayden reached down into Ron’s hair.

“A c-couple days before she d-disappeared,” Ron whimpered.

My skin grew cold. Kevin and Olivia had fought in the same weekend that she’d disappeared.

“And then what? You helped him chop up her body?” Jayden asked.

“No, no, no, we d-didn’t kill her.”

“Why wouldn’t you guys kill her?” I asked. “He was angry that she cheated on him.”

“He was p-pissed, but he thought they’d make up. He thought she’d feel b-bad and come back to him,” Ron slurred, his mouth sloshed with saliva. “B-but then she disappeared.”

Ron seemed adamant about their innocence. But to me, it seemed likely that Kevin had killed her on his own.

I felt the anger burn through me. I’d grown up with Kevin—I had seen him treat others like shit. I’d been treated like shit myself. Yet I had trusted him. I’d been gullible. Kevin had never really changed, had he? He just had a uniform this time.

“Let’s say you’re telling the truth,” said Jayden, his words steady. “If Olivia magically disappeared, why would Kevin leak her nudes? Who the hell does that to their girlfriend?”

“Kevin thought she’d run away,” said Ron, hacking again. “H-he thought she felt b-bad about cheating on him. And she w-was thinking of d-dropping out of school for Instagram anyway. H-he thought it w-was a publicity stunt.”

“That sounds paranoid,” I said.

“I thought s-so, too, b-but look what happened. Olivia was all over the news. H-her Instagram exploded. People were talking about her. Kevin s-said she wanted the attention. H-he thought she took off—the t-timing was right. He wanted her to c-come back, but he wanted to teach her a lesson first. F-for cheating.”

I shook my head—it was a reflex. But I believed Ron. Kevin was vindictive enough to get revenge, but he was also desperate to get Olivia back. In his mind, leaking her nude photo was an easy way to humiliate her. But he didn’t seem to consider the aftermath for her.

On Olivia’s end, I saw why she wanted to drop out of school. She was on the cusp of an Instagram career. She thought she could get further and make more money if she focused on it completely. She was ambitious, and if school didn’t benefit her career, she would drop it.

But in the end, her disappearance hadn’t been planned.

“K-Kevin was part of the s-search committee. H-he had access to everyone who was going,” Ron murmured. “H-he had their email addresses and phone numbers.”

“Why would you help him?” I asked, my voice squeaky. “Olivia didn’t even do anything to you.”

Ron said nothing.

Kevin could have threatened him, or Ron could’ve owed his cousin a favor. Or maybe he found some perverse pleasure in playing around with someone else’s life, someone bigger than he would ever be.

But Kevin was still out there, walking freely in his police uniform. He was lauded as a hero. I wasn’t certain that Kevin had killed Olivia, but I knew he was capable of it.

“What about DeMaria Jackson?” Jayden asked.

“What about her?” said Ron, his voice quiet. “W-we don’t even know who she was.”

Jayden turned in his seat toward me.

“You said DeMaria was connected to all this shit,” he said slowly. “You said they had the same killer.”

“I—I did,” I sputtered. “The police think so, too. He’s lying.”

“N-no, I’m telling the truth!” screamed Ron from the floor. “I leaked Olivia’s nude. But I didn’t do anything else, I promise. W-we didn’t kill Olivia. And w-we don’t know who the hell D-DeMaria is.”

“Goddammit.”

Jayden kicked at Ron. The latter cried out. Before I knew what was happening, Jayden had already stormed out of the car.

I rushed out after him.

“You can’t just leave,” I said, grabbing Jayden by the arm. He shook me off.

“Lying bitch,” he spat. “Olivia this, Olivia that. You don’t give a flying fuck about DeMaria. You didn’t ask a single thing about her.”