Letters to Nowhere(46)

When I pulled into the Bentleys’ complex, parking a few spaces from their town house door, I could feel myself ready to grin. I hadn’t flipped out or felt that weird chest tightening dizziness or nausea. Jordan’s friend Tony was waiting with Jordan at the front door.

Tony stuck his hand out for me to high–five him. “Nice wheels, Campbell!”

Jordan rolled his eyes. “He’s got the exact same car but blue.”

I looked where Jordan had just pointed and saw an identical Audi in a deep blue. “Cool.”

Jordan stared at me like he wanted to say something, but maybe not in front of Tony. “Okay, you two,” Tony said. “Big party at my house tonight. You’re coming, right?”

The front door was finally opened by Jordan. Tony and I followed him in. I’d had several days to figure out a plan for getting the information I needed about my parents’ accident, and Tony’s presence today made the last piece fall into place.

“I’m totally up for it,” I said. “If we can figure out something to tell Jordan’s dad.”

Jordan looked at me in surprise, but then yanked his phone from his pocket as it vibrated. I wasn’t trying to look. I really wasn’t. But the front of it was flashed in my line of sight for half a second.

Stevie Davis.

This overwhelming sense of dread and something I couldn’t put my finger on filled my stomach. Especially as I watched Jordan’s eyebrows lift and then he headed for the stairs saying, “Be right back.”

How did Stevie get his number, and why was she calling him? I shoved the thought from my head and turned to face Tony. “Hey, I have a question. More like I need a favor, actually.”

He looked both suspicious and curious. “All right…?”

I sat on the arm of the couch, keeping my eyes on Tony. “I was just wondering if you could get some information for me from your mom? But not tell her who it’s for.”

“This sounds illegal, which I’m not totally opposed to.”

I sucked in a breath, closing my eyes for a second. “I just want to know the location of my parents’ accident. I know the general area, but the police wouldn’t tell me the exact mile marker on the interstate, and I really need to know.”

All the amusement dropped from his round face. “Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you,” I whispered as Jordan thundered down the steps.


February 27

Dad,




You might have raised a lawyer without even realizing it. I’m bargaining and bribing…well, okay, more like asking, but still…I remembered that you told me once how lawyers have to be investigators, too. That’s what I’m doing right now. Digging.




Love, Karen




“Good news!” Jordan said. “We’re going to a party tonight. And Karen, you’re having a sleepover with Blair and Stevie at Stevie’s apartment. She’s already asked my dad and everything.”

“Blair and Stevie are coming to Tony’s tonight?” This revelation distracted me from thinking about the fact that he’d just had a five– to six–minute private conversation with Stevie.

Jordan stood in front of me, arms folded across his chest, grinning like he’d just created this master plan when I knew for a fact that Stevie having her own apartment was the only reason we were going to this party. Or at least the only reason I was going. Jordan could have easily gotten away with it.

“You drove your car, you’re sneaking out to go to a party—you know what you gotta do between now and tonight, right?”

“Rob a bank?” I suggested.

“A layout Jaeger on the uneven bars.”

I grinned just thinking about being able to try it today. Finally. My fingers were already tingling. I glanced at the clock and jumped up, snatching my bag from the floor. “Shit! It’s already two. I gotta call my grandma.”

I took off for the stairs, the phone ringing on her end already. I needed to pack a bag for Stevie’s and possibly find something in my wardrobe that would make me look a little bit hotter than my much older teammate. Yeah, right.

“Hi Grandma,” I said when she answered. “Guess what? I got the car…”

***

“Don’t say anything to Ellen,” Blair hissed in my ear while we were in the locker room during break. “She’ll know she can’t come but she’s gonna sulk about it for a week.”

“Got it.”

“What are you wearing?” Blair asked.

I grabbed my grip bag and waved a hand to stop her from talking. “No distractions! I’m focusing.”

“Sorry,” she gulped, zipping her lips.

Jordan was in the lobby whispering with Stevie about something, but I barely glanced their way as I taped up my wrists for bars. It took me longer than anyone else to notice the four random people and one giant camera occupying space in the lobby.

“NBC is here?” I hissed to Blair.

“Probably to cover Stevie. Another story about the fallen champion or something,” she whispered back.

One of the NBC guys walked up beside us. I recognized him from training camps. They came out to get footage of us working out together whenever a competition was approaching. They’d been to the gym before, too, when Stevie was working toward making the Olympic team the summer before last. They got tons of footage and even interviewed all of us. Being a junior then, I’d thought it was pretty cool.