One of Us Is Next(88)

“According to Mr. Jackson, the two of you discussed this in great detail,” Detective Mendoza says. “When you first told him about the accident, he looked you up online and saw media coverage of your mother’s wedding planning business. That’s why he proposed the revenge pact—he knew you could provide access to Mr. Kleinfelter.” For the first time, Detective Mendoza’s voice gets the tiniest bit gentle. “You were still processing a traumatic revelation when you met him. The law understands that, especially when we have your full cooperation. Can we count on that?”

“No.” My voice gains strength, finally, because the hell with this. The only thing I know for sure right now is that I had no clue who Jared Jackson was before tonight. “Jared Jackson is wrong, or lying. I never met him online or in person. I didn’t know Brandon had anything to do with what happened to my dad until right this second.” Everything’s coming unglued now: tears fall, my heart accelerates, and my voice shakes. “I didn’t do any of this.”

“Then how would Jared know that Brandon was involved in your father’s accident, Phoebe?” Detective Mendoza asks. Not like he’s mad. More like he’s genuinely curious.

I open my mouth. Close it.

“I told him.”

I blink, utterly confused. Did I just say that?

Detective Mendoza’s head swivels from me to Emma’s bed. My eyes follow. She’s sitting up, pale but alert. Her hand is folded in my mother’s. “I told him,” she repeats in a low voice. “And I told him I was Phoebe.”

Mom’s face goes rigid with shock as Detective Mendoza moves closer to the foot of the bed. “Are you saying you executed this revenge pact with Jared Jackson, Emma?” he asks.

“I…no,” Emma says haltingly. “Not like you said. I met him online, and I pretended to be my sister because I was mad at her for…other stuff.” She flicks a glance at me, and I flush. “And I told him what happened to my dad and he—he said we could help one another.” Emma’s voice trembles as she pulls her hand from Mom’s and starts fumbling with the edge of her hospital blanket. “But he never mentioned Eli. I had no idea they even knew one another. And as soon as the Truth or Dare game started, I hated it. I regretted everything. I told Jared to shut it down, and he said he would.”

Her voice shakes harder, and her eyes fill. “But the game kept going. I didn’t understand why, but I was afraid to get in touch with Jared again. I kept hoping he’d get bored and stop. And Brandon…” Emma lets out a choked cry as tears spill down her cheeks. “Brandon wasn’t supposed to die.”

I hear my own sharp intake of breath as Detective Mendoza asks, “What was supposed to happen to Brandon?” The gentler tone from before is entirely gone.

Emma hesitates, and my mother speaks before she can. “That might be enough for now,” Mom says, the shell-shocked look on her face slipping away. Her shoulders straighten, like something’s finally clicking into place, as she adds, “I think we should hold off on any further conversation until we have a lawyer present.”





CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE




Maeve

Saturday, March 28

“Ladies and gentlemen, here they are. Being introduced for the first time as husband and wife, please welcome Eli Kleinfelter and Ashton Prentiss!”

The crowd in the hotel ballroom gets to its feet for a standing ovation as Eli leads Ashton onto the dance floor. Everyone is clapping so loudly that we nearly drown out the music. Last night, Ashton and Eli told everyone that they still planned to get married today but understood completely if people didn’t want to come.

We all did, down to the last guest. Except the Lawtons. The wedding is basically uncoordinated at this point, because Mrs. Lawton has her hands full elsewhere.

Nobody knows what really happened between Emma Lawton and Jared Jackson. Eli was only able to get bits and pieces of information last night and this morning. From what he can tell, Emma stumbled across paperwork for her father’s worker’s comp settlement shortly after Christmas. She was angry enough to look for Simon’s old revenge forum, where she met Jared Jackson and told him what Brandon had done. Jared raised the idea of a revenge pact, and Emma didn’t immediately shut him down. But after that, it gets murky.

According to Eli, Emma says she stopped talking to Jared right after the Truth or Dare game launched. She insists she didn’t know Brandon was going to die, or that Eli was a target. And Jared insists that she did.

The rest of us are just waiting for the truth to come out.

I don’t know how Eli managed to worry about Knox and me in the middle of all this, but he made sure we knew that Phoebe’s only involvement was Emma using her name. “Phoebe is no longer a person of interest to the police,” he told us.

Phoebe herself texted Knox and me right before we left for the wedding:

I love you both.

Thanks for what you did.

I’m so glad you’re ok.

I can’t say anything else right now so please don’t ask.

I’m sorry.

I wish things were different, and that she could have been part of today. Ashton and Eli’s wedding ceremony turned out to be the perfect antidote to yesterday’s trauma. Watching them exchange their vows reminded everybody that love and hope and beauty still exist, even when things seem impossibly dark. My mood has been lifting steadily all day, and now that Ashton and Eli are moving across the dance floor—unsteadily, because Eli cannot dance, but beaming at one another—I almost feel normal.