I Know Lucy (A Fugitive #1)(43)

“Well, I’m sure an intelligent woman like yourself will be able to give us a hand.” His blue-eyed gaze made the girl blush. Thankfully my eye roll was hidden behind my shades.

“Give us the picture, Zach.” Uncle Alex motioned me over and I dug the photo from my back pocket, caressing my thumb over Dani’s face before passing it to the girls.

They crowded around it. The two girls shook their heads, but one nodded.

“I think I do remember her actually.” The short Asian girl looked at me.

“Zach, this is Colette. She’s a senior at Lowell.”

“Hey.” My forced smile was met with a friendly grin.

She tucked a black lock of hair behind her ear and kept talking. “I can’t remember her name, but I do remember she dated a senior who was like super hot.” Her eyes danced. “Miles Filmore. He was rich and gorgeous and totally swoon worthy.”

“I heard he was a bit of an *.” Not to rain on her parade, but I was after honesty.

“Well, I guess he was a bit of a bad boy.” She blushed. “Totally under appreciated by that chick though.” She handed the photo back looking slightly disgusted. “She just up and disappeared. I mean who does that?”

“Do you know the story behind that?” Uncle Alex asked.

“Not really.” Colette shook her head. “But those guys might know.” She raised her hand and waved across the field. “Hey Stefan, come here for a sec!”

The guy frowned, looking reluctant to leave the game, but jogged over anyway. “What’s up?” He puffed.

“Do you remember that girl Miles was dating? The quiet one.”

He looked blank until my uncle popped the photo in front of his face. His eyes rounded. “Yeah, the one who freaked out at the mall.”

“Were you there?” I leaned closer, my heart rate accelerating. “Nah, but Miles told me the story. Apparently they were on this date, he was buying her a Christmas present or something and they ran into a friend of his Dad’s. Riley just went white, like a ghost, and took off. Miles tried to bring her back, but then out of nowhere this tall, blond, skinny guy jumped out and started attacking Miles.”

“Who was he?” Uncle Alex tipped his head.

Stefan shrugged. “Just some druggie. Miles said his eyes were all bugged out and kinda creepy. He thought the guy was seriously trying to kill him. The mall cops arrived and he was taken away, I think.”

“And you never saw…Riley again?” It was a struggle to say her name. Dani suited her so much better.

Colette shook her head. “She wasn’t at school on Monday…or any day after that.”

“Does anyone know what happened to her?”

They all shook their heads as a bunch of soccer guys came running towards them. “What’s the hold up?” One of them slapped Stefan on the back.

He lifted up the picture. “Do you remember her?” Several of them shook their heads, except one guy who frowned, reaching forward to grab the photo.

“Who is that?” he asked.

“She went to Lowell, you wouldn’t know her.” Stefan snatched the picture back.

“But I do know her. I think she went to Balboa High. She looks really different in this picture.”

“Wait, do you go to Balboa?” Uncle Alex pointed at the curly-haired guy. He looked younger than me. He stepped forward with a nod.

“How do you know her?”

With a huge grin the guy shook his head, his dark curls bouncing. “If you knew her, you wouldn’t ask that question.” Waving his hand, he called over his shoulder. “Hey, Brayden. Come check out this photo!”

Stefan nudged his opponent. “When did she go to Balboa, Justin?”

“I’m telling you man, I know this chick. She was at Balboa for like two months.”

“When?”

“A couple years back maybe. I wasn’t there then, she used to party with my brother’s crowd. I’ve definitely met her before.”

“Party?” I could barely get the word out.

The guy looked at me, his brown eyes dancing. “Absolutely, bro. She was wild.”

“She so was not. You’re talking about a different girl.” Colette shook her head.

Holding the photo up to his face, he looked at it closely. “She definitely looks different, but I bet you a hundred bucks when I show this to Brayden he will tell you it was that chick he used to hang with.”

“What was her name?” Uncle Alex asked.

The guy shrugged.

“Riley.” Colette answered.

“Nah, it wasn’t Riley. Tyler or something?”

I swallowed, my throat burning as it tried to contain the bile.

Brayden took his sweet time sauntering across the green park. By the time he finally reached his younger brother, most of the Lowell High players had lost interest and gone off to restart their game. The Balboa High player still stuck around, gazing at the photo with this annoying grin. I snatched it back and turned towards Brayden as he approached with his girlfriend and another girl. They looked older than me. I felt small beside them and tried to push up to my full height.

“Hey.” I stuck out my hand to shake. He just kind of looked at it then over at Justin.

“So what am I looking at?”