What Lies in the Woods(39)

“Fuck.” Cass sank down, her back against the door, and tucked her arms tight against herself.

“Cass,” I said. “We need to decide what to do.”

She looked at my blankly. “There’s nothing to do. She’s dead. We can’t help her anymore.”

“What to do about Persephone,” I said.

Cass’s mouth opened slightly, as if she was searching for words she couldn’t find. “Naomi, we can’t do anything. Not right now, at least. We have to shut up and let this blow over.”

“Blow over?” I echoed, incredulous.

She winced. “You know what I mean. We can’t let anyone know about Persephone right now.”

“Why the hell not? It’s what Liv wanted. She wanted Persephone to be found. To have peace. We have to do it for her.” I set my jaw, rising to my feet. “We pushed her to this. We were afraid and selfish and we wouldn’t listen.”

Cass shook her head. “Naomi. It won’t bring her back. It’ll just cause more hurt.”

“What if she didn’t?” I asked.

“What do you mean, if she didn’t? If she didn’t kill herself, she’d still be alive.”

“I mean, what if someone else killed her? She was shot. She wouldn’t have used a gun. And the pond—that was the fourth ritual. Fours are lucky. It always drove Kimiko crazy, remember, because it’s an unlucky number in Japan, and—”

“And what?”

“And she wouldn’t have killed herself there,” I said, almost shouting.

“Come on, Naomi. Who would want to kill Liv?” Cass said.

“She was looking for Persephone. Maybe someone didn’t want her found.”

“Don’t,” Cass said in a fragile whisper. “Don’t turn a tragedy into a conspiracy, Naomi. She was sick. She’d tried before. Please. I’m barely holding it together. Please just leave it alone and let her rest.”

“She wouldn’t have used a gun,” I insisted. My voice sounded strange to my own ears.

“Shit.” Cass rubbed the back of her neck. “Who would want to kill her, though? I mean, other than us.” She gave a strangled kind of laugh.

“What do you mean, other than us?” I asked.

“Nothing. Just—Liv wanted to tell our big secret, and now she’s dead. If it wasn’t suicide, and the cops find out the truth…” She drew in a long, steadying breath. “But it doesn’t matter. Obviously, we didn’t do it. And you’re right. I’m scared out of my mind, but we don’t really have a choice. We have to tell the cops.”

I stared at her, my mouth dry. “Do you have an alibi?” I asked.

“Jesus, Naomi.” Cass gave me a shocked look.

“I’m serious. Do you have an alibi for around dawn this morning?” I asked her.

“I was at the lodge around five until about twenty minutes before you dropped by,” she said.

“Was anyone with you?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Percy was there. Why, do you have an alibi?” she tossed back, anger crackling.

“I don’t,” I said, and swallowed. Her eyes widened. “I was in the woods last night. I was passed out in my car on the side of the road until after dawn. Which Chief Bishop knows. And you’re right. Liv didn’t have any enemies. But we had a good reason to want her to keep quiet.”

“Okay,” Cass said slowly. She rose and walked over to the bed. She sat beside me, and we stared ahead, not saying anything for several seconds. When she did speak, her voice was thin. “You wouldn’t have killed Liv. They’ll see that. Won’t they?”

I wished I believed her. But I’d spent a lot of time talking to police, twenty years ago. They’d had the answer they wanted and everything they had done was to make sure reality agreed with it. Once they realized Cass and Liv’s descriptions matched Stahl, nothing would have persuaded them that he wasn’t their man. And Bishop already had it in her head that I was a suspect.

“What do we do?” Cass asked, sounding lost.

“I think we have to keep quiet for now,” I said.

“Are you sure?”

“Just for now,” I repeated. “Until we know more about what happened. Can you do that? I’m not asking you to lie to the police, but…”

“Keeping quiet isn’t the same thing as lying, right?” Cass said. “If you think it’s the right call, I won’t say anything yet. But are you sure?”

I didn’t answer right away.

Maybe Liv had died by suicide—broken by our refusal to listen, by our abandonment of Persephone.

Maybe someone had killed her. And there was only one reason I could think of why someone might want to do that. The same reason that Cass and I would be suspects. Liv had found Persephone, but someone didn’t want her found.

“We should figure out what Liv knew,” I said. “We should find Persephone ourselves.”

“Are you kidding? You just said we needed to lie low,” Cass said, looking alarmed.

“It was what she wanted.”

Cass gave me a steady look. “Naomi, I know you. And I know when you’re about to do something stupid. If you go looking for this girl, someone is going to notice. And all those questions we’re trying to avoid? You’re going to have to answer them.”