Poisonous: A Novel (27 page)

Max leaned forward. “I don’t understand.”

“I guess some people were upset, but everyone knew that Ivy would post
anything
on her blog. The picture with Heather and Christopher in, um, you know … well, more people ‘liked’ that picture than any other picture Ivy posted. I think … well, I guess, Ivy thought the more people who liked her photos, the more popular she was. I mean
hundreds
of people clicked ‘like.’ It kind of egged her on, you know?”

Max hadn’t thought of the situation from that perspective, but it made sense as soon as Bailey said it.

She was about to ask another question when Bailey continued. “The more scandalous the photos, the better, and Ivy kept looking for things to post. She said if people didn’t want the attention, all they had to do was screw around in private. And it wasn’t just, you know, sex … it was anything. Like when Missy and Kyle were smoking pot on the beach …
someone
told Ivy about it, and she practically ran down there and took a photo. Sometimes she didn’t even need a photo. She saw Missy and Doug lip-locked under the bleachers when Missy was supposed to be all hot and heavy with Kyle, but Ivy’s phone was dead so she just posted an update about it later that night. She was actually pretty strict about that—she had to see it herself or someone had to send her a photo. And people did—Ivy didn’t take the first picture of Christopher and Heather.” Bailey took a deep breath. “That was me. I gave it to her.” Her voice cracked. “I wish I could have a do-over. I was just so angry when Christopher dumped me … I really liked him. And he wasn’t nice about it. I … I wouldn’t do something he wanted and he just said if I didn’t, he knew girls who did.”

“What about the video?”

Bailey shook her head. “I didn’t know about the video then—I was so mad at Ivy about posting the photo after I told her I changed my mind, I didn’t talk to her for weeks. And then she posted the video and Heather killed herself and I felt so awful, so guilty. That’s why I went to the Brocks in the first place. I know I can’t bring Heather back, but they needed to know the truth.”

“One thing I noticed reading the police statements and reviewing social media is that Ivy never really talked about herself.”

Bailey thought about that a minute. “I guess that’s strange, huh. Ivy was very private.”

“She had a boyfriend who broke up with her a few weeks before she was killed. But Ivy never talked about the breakup on her blog.”

“She did—subtweets.”

From how David had explained it earlier, Max was vaguely aware of the practice but she didn’t quite understand it. She must have looked confused, because Bailey explained, “It’s when you’re talking about something or someone without mentioning their name, but everyone knows who you’re talking about. Ivy was so mad at Travis. I stopped going on social media after Heather, and transferred schools … but people talk all the time. Right before I left for San Diego, I heard about the photo of him smoking pot. I was stunned, because Travis is a jerk, but he’s one of these ‘my body is my temple’ athletes. It’s
all
he cares about. If you told me he took steroids, I’d believe it. But pot? Not his style. But … I didn’t doubt the photo. I don’t know who gave it to her or if she took it herself. Then I heard Travis claimed it was fake.”

“And Ivy didn’t post anything else fake?”

“Not to my knowledge.”

“So you could say that Ivy saw her social media presence as a popularity measure.”

“Yeah—yeah, I guess that’s what it was.”

Max pulled her iPad out of her purse and flipped to a page where she’d typed the names of everyone Ivy had humiliated in the three months leading up to her murder—at least the names David and her staff had identified from the archived pages. Rick Colangelo was on the list. Now she remembered—Ivy had posted something about him being bisexual.

“You said that Rick Colangelo was Travis’s best friend?”

“Yes. What did Ivy say about him? I’m serious that I didn’t follow anything she wrote. I don’t use social media anymore.”

“She outed him.”

“Rick—he’s gay?”

“She claimed he was bisexual.”

Bailey looked stricken. “I didn’t know. I guess … I don’t think anyone knew that. I’d always seen him with girls. He dated a girl from my school.”

“Maybe he didn’t want people to know. Maybe he was unsure himself.”

“Travis—oh, God, I’ll bet Travis said something to her, and Travis totally egged her on when he didn’t like someone. But that wouldn’t be right because he and Rick were tight.”

“Where’s Rick now?”

“I don’t know.”

Max made a note to find out everything about Rick Colangelo. And to talk again to Travis Whitman. If Ivy outed Travis’s best friend, it would give both Rick and Travis a motive.

She showed the list to Bailey. “Did any of these people have lasting or serious repercussions from Ivy’s postings?”

Bailey frowned. “I don’t feel comfortable doing this. I know what you’re asking: would any of these people have killed Ivy?”

“The police have a theory,” Max said. “They think that whoever killed Ivy didn’t plan on killing her. That they met up with her to scare or threaten her, and in the heat of the moment killed her. A crime of passion, I suppose some would call it. Anger. Spontaneous. The police don’t have solid evidence tying any of their key suspects to the crime scene.”

Bailey reluctantly looked at the list of names. There were dozens, a rather intimidating list. Max watched Bailey’s reaction as she scanned the names. She went from pale to white. “I … I never realized how many people she hurt. We hurt.”

Pilar walked into the kitchen and cleared her throat. “Honey, you’re going to be late if you don’t leave now.”

Bailey handed the iPad back to Max. “I’m a senior and can’t wait for high school to be over. I have no friends anymore, at least no one I trust. Some people avoid me because I was friends with Ivy. Some people come up to me with the latest gossip, to see what I’ll do or say. Most everyone is superficial, secretly thrilled that another person has been exposed for being a slut or a pothead or a cheater or whatever. As if the fall of one person makes them somehow better, higher up on some invisible ladder. After Heather, I hated myself. It’d be a lie to say it was easy, because there were days I didn’t want to go to school, I didn’t even want to get out of bed. Then I thought about my dad.” She closed her eyes and didn’t say anything for a minute. When she opened them, they were moist. “I don’t remember much about him. A few things—but I was six when he died and even before then he was deployed for months at a time. But when he was home, he would take me fishing. We would sit at this lake near base for hours and I would just be so happy that he was safe. And he would talk to me about his childhood, how his grandpa took him fishing because his dad was always too busy with work. And he said, and I’ll never forget, that even though he’s gone a lot, he’s always thinking about me and my mom. And the first weekend after he gets back, we’d always go fishing. Because he said it was while fishing that he learned how to be a good friend, a son, a grandson, a husband. He said the solitude of fishing made him a better human being.

“I hated myself because I had disappointed my mother, but mostly, because I didn’t live up to my dad’s expectations. He told me many times that courage was the most important thing. Courage, because it wasn’t always easy to do the right thing. It took courage to say goodbye every time he left. Courage to go to school and make friends. And my dad … he was the most courageous person I knew. Mom tells me stories…” Bailey’s voice drifted away as her eyes locked on Pilar. “Anyway, I thought of him looking down at me and being disappointed, and I couldn’t live with that. So I got out of bed and went to school, and I still do it even when I want to hide. Because I’m not going to let my dad down, and my mom needs me.

“There’s only one person on this list who you didn’t mention who
might
have had a reason to go after Ivy. Sarah Thomsen. She’s a year older than us. Someone told Ivy that Sarah had cheated on her SAT test. Ivy ran with it, and Sarah—who’d been accepted into early admission at Stanford—was then denied admittance. They rescinded their acceptance. She was the valedictorian, but the school decided to take that away. Sarah lost it. She went after Ivy big time … she also claimed that she hadn’t cheated. She appealed the decision. She ended up being valedictorian because the school couldn’t prove she cheated, but Stanford still refused to admit her. I don’t know where she ended up going—but I know she blamed Ivy.”

“Who gave Ivy the information?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you think it was true?”

Bailey hesitated, then shook her head. “I really don’t know, but if I had to guess, I would say no. Sarah was always the smartest girl in school. Honors society. AP classes. If you told me Christopher or Travis cheated? Yeah, I’d believe it. But why would Sarah cheat?”

“Sometimes, smart people panic, and fear a poor test score would hurt them. Or they don’t do well on standardized tests.”

“I get that, and maybe that’s what happened—Ivy was certain it was true. She didn’t outright say it, but implied that she witnessed the cheating. I didn’t know Sarah well—she was a year older than me.”

“And you don’t know where she went to college?”

“No. It’s a good college, but on the East Coast. Pennsylvania, I think. Maybe Carnegie-Mellon? I could find out if you think it’s important.”

“I don’t know that it is, but having the information only helps.” Max paused, then asked, “Do you know Laura Lorenzo? She would have been a senior when you were a freshman.”

Bailey considered, then shook her head. “The name kinda sounds familiar, but CM is a big school. I can’t picture her.”

Pilar said, “Ms. Revere, I really have to end the conversation now. Bailey’s going to be late.”

“Thank you for your time. Would it be all right to call tonight or tomorrow if I think of something?”

Pilar looked at Bailey, and the girl nodded. Max slipped her a card and said, “Please, if you think of anything else, no matter how unimportant, call me. And please watch the ‘Crime NET’ segment tonight. It’ll air at nine on NET in this time zone, or through our Web site at seven, as soon as the East Coast airs the broadcast. It’s archived, so you can watch it at your convenience. Something you see or hear might spark a memory.”

Bailey nodded and walked Max to the front door. She said, “Is it really important to find out who killed Ivy? If it was an accident, as you say—not premeditated—is it really that important to know?”

“The truth is always important,” Max said. “Ivy’s family is torn apart. Her mother thinks Tommy Wallace is responsible, and that’s affected everyone in the house.”

“Tommy?” Bailey was surprised. “Tommy is a sweet kid. He wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“He’s been in a couple of fights.”

“But he never started them. He was always defending Ivy’s little brother, Austin. If anyone has a temper, it’s him. I don’t think I’ve met an angrier kid.”

She closed the door and Max was already walking down the path when Bailey opened the door again and called, “Ms. Revere?”

Max turned.

“I did remember something about Travis,” Bailey said as she walked down the path toward Max. “He came to see me at school on Tuesday. It was really weird. He was talking about you, asked me what I knew. But he said one other odd thing—he accused me of putting a phone in his locker.”

“A phone?”

She nodded. “I have no idea what he was talking about. I completely forgot about the phone comment because he’d heard that you were in town and wanted to know what I knew—which was nothing. My mom and I were out of town, looking at colleges, and all I knew was what you’d said on our answering machine.”

Chapter Twenty-two

Max got on the phone after directing David to drive to Travis Whitman’s house. She called Jess directly, not wanting to go through a middleman. “Jess, it’s Max. I need you to background a couple of people. Are you ready?”

“Give them to me.”

“Rick Colangelo. He would be a high school senior this year, David’s research indicated he moved to Scottsdale shortly before Ivy’s murder. The other is Sarah Thomsen. She graduated valedictorian from CM two years ago and goes to college in Pennsylvania—or in that general area.”

“Got them. What do you want to know other than the basics?”

“If you can find out if they were in northern California the night that Ivy was killed, that would be great.”

“That might be a bit harder, but I’ll see what I can turn up.”

“Thanks.” She hung up. To David she said, “Travis knew I was here on Tuesday at lunch—before I spoke to him. He confronted Bailey at school and asked what she knew about me and what I wanted. Said she’d left a phone in his locker.”

“Did she?”

“She says no.”

“He must have had a reason for thinking she left it,” David said. He avoided the freeway, slow with commute traffic, using side roads to cross into the adjoining town of Larkspur. “Travis has probably already left for school.”

“Let’s check anyway, it’s only a couple of minutes.”

His truck wasn’t in his driveway, and neither of his parents were home. David and Max drove by the school and didn’t see his pickup in the student parking lot.

“How did he know you were in town Tuesday?” David asked. “Who knew?”

“The police knew. Lorenzo, since I met with him Tuesday morning. Austin and Tommy.”

“Paula Wallace, because Ben called her,” David added, “Bailey and her mother, because you left messages. Who else did you leave messages for before lunch Tuesday?”

“The Brocks. But I met Lorenzo in a public place Tuesday morning—someone could have seen me with him.”

“But would they have known why you were here?”

“Lorenzo could have told anyone,” Max said. “Maybe not even on purpose; he was calling around, trying to dig up dirt.”

Their cameraman, Charlie Morelli, was already at the police station by the time Max and David arrived. “I can’t fucking believe you, Revere,” Charlie said.

“Cool it,” David muttered.