Good Girls Lie(53)

I run a hand over my arm.

Becca is looking at me curiously. “Does it itch badly?”

“Yes. You’re a right cunt, you know that? The Benadryl is only sort of working.”

“It will be worse tomorrow,” Becca predicts, going to the window. “There’s a lot of activity out there.”

“I know. I couldn’t see anything, just the lights off the fire truck.”

“She must have gone off the back of Main, or else we’d see everything below. Was she bummed about something?”

“No. She was happy, excited. I mean, sometimes she cries at night, but—”

“Cries about what?”

“I don’t know.”

“You didn’t think to ask?”

“I asked. She told me she was fine. I can’t exactly force it out of her.”

Heavy steps pass by us, and then above. It feels like the ceiling will collapse under them. I move out of the way, just in case.

“They’re up there looking,” Becca whispers.

“Looking for what?”

“I don’t know. A note? I can’t believe Asolo locked us up here.”

“She’s trying to protect you.”

“Asolo?”

“The dean. She’s trying to protect you. The police are on campus, and we were all drinking tonight. I hardly think they’d take it well, finding out the senator’s daughter was behind it, especially with an ambassador’s daughter dead. Not good press for the school and the dean.”

“I suppose you’re right. But you know nothing about this, do you, Swallow?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I don’t think it’s me they’re trying to protect. You’re her roommate. You’re the first one they’re going to want to talk to.”

“Bugger.” I drop back in the chair, blow into my cupped palm. Though I’ve brushed my teeth, my breath smells like vodka.

“Yes, little Swallow. Bugger.” Becca looms over me. “You can’t say anything about what happened tonight. Not a word. You say anything and you’re out. Do you understand?”

“Becca, I—”

“I am your Mistress. I command you to keep your big fat mouth shut.”

“I can’t lie. They’ll kick me out.”

“You breathe a word about what happened during the tap and I will make you wish you had never come here. Am I clear?” Becca again looks like an avenging angel, fury written across her face, her mouth tight, her eyes dark.

“I’m clear, Mistress. What am I supposed to tell them?”

“I don’t care. But not a word about Ivy Bound, or we’ll all be screwed.”

“Oh, so you’re happy for me to lie, but not you? What sort of bullshit is that?”

“It’s a test, Swallow. One you don’t want to fail.”

I can hear them moving around upstairs. Soon they will come for me.

I am in an untenable position. Again.

Oh, Camille. What have you done?



42

THE DISCOVERY

Ford watches the sheriff and his homicide niece swing flashlights around in the gloom, combing the bell tower for clues. She is ignoring her phone; her mother clearly knows something has happened and is calling incessantly. The odds of her showing up in town unannounced on this night of all nights... It begs the question, why? And the sheriff just happens to have his homicide detective niece visiting? Before the paranoia sets in, she turns her attention to the conversation playing out in front of her.

“Got something here,” Tony says.

Ford sees the lights playing on a scrap of fabric. It is caught in a splinter of wood at the corner of the cupola’s edifice. It’s hard to tell exactly what color it is, pale, though. She thinks back to the scene below.

“Camille was wearing a gray Goode sweatshirt and black yoga leggings. I didn’t notice any tears in her clothes. Is that gray?”

Tony shakes his head.

“White. Thin. Cotton, like a T-shirt or undershirt. A scarf, maybe. I’m going to get my evidence techs up here. Collect it, take it to the lab, get some fingerprints. Too early to make any guesses as to what happened, whether she jumped or someone gave her a push. But if this isn’t hers... Gotta get all our ducks in a row first.”

Ford doesn’t want to make any unsubstantiated claims, but she also doesn’t want to make the same mistakes her mother made.

“Tony, I’m not 100 percent sure, but I thought I saw a shadow up here. When I found Camille.”

His tone is sharp. “You think or you know?”

“It was dark. I looked up and saw...movement. An outline. Maybe I was seeing things. I can’t be certain.”

He examines the door with his Maglite. “It’s a sturdy lock, not broken. No scratch marks, doesn’t look like it was jimmied. Someone unlocked it.”

“That’s hard to believe. We’ve always been very careful about the keys, went to a keycard system a few years back for extra safety.”

“Who has access to the keys?”

“I have a master set to the school, obviously. I keep them in my safe. Security has the second set, which are kept in their offices. It’s attended twenty-four-seven. Impossible for one of the girls to sneak in and get a set.”