Second Nature (5 page)

“She’s not there yet.
She’s at pacing and running through the worst-case scenarios,” I pointed out.

Lindsey gave us both a
look as the steam faded from her rant. “I don't do that.”

“Okay, you don't. Anyway,
the fact the killer hasn't contacted us doesn't mean that someone hasn't died.
It just means that maybe someone we don't know died. Maybe the missing link
between Mr. Henning and Rachel has died.”

I couldn't help but nod
along with Vincent. “He’s right. Just because the death hasn't happened here
doesn't mean it didn't happen somewhere else.”

“That’s a lot of double
negatives.” Lindsey frowned at me, completely deflated. The crazy had slipped
away in the reality she was facing. “I don't want to think about it that way.
That means that this is still going on, and we aren’t ever going to see an end
anytime soon.” She turned and looked around us. “I like the idea that maybe he
just wanted to scare us into thinking he was coming for us so we wouldn't look
for him—rather than the very likely possibility that he is watching all
of us now.”

Her words made the breeze
colder and my skin feel like it was crawling off my bones.

“Someone is watching us.”
Vincent nodded at the girl—Coffee Shop Girl with the lip ring. She was
trying not to look noticeable as she sipped her latte and had a smoke, but her
heavily lined eyes darted to us, particularly to Lindsey.

Lindsey waved, offering a
smile. It was very obvious what had happened between them and how the girl still
felt about Lindsey. But the moment Lindsey turned back to Vince it was
shockingly clear how she felt about him.

“Shall we take this
conversation somewhere more private?” Vincent slid his sunglasses on again and
got into his car.

Lindsey sighed and nodded.
“Okay. Meet at my place. I’ll message Sage, Sierra, and Rita and see if they
want to come. You ask Andrew and Jake. We can go for a swim. I need my daily
dose of pool house anyway.” She shuddered when she gave Vincent a look. He
laughed at the way she was finally realizing she needed to overcome her fear of
the place the killer had once trapped her. Vincent forced her to go in there
every day.

“Okay.” Her house was
better than mine any day.

Slutty pots and kettles

The cool water of Lindsey’s
swimming pool wasn't as relaxing as I had hoped it would be. It was a bit
chilly.

And I realized when we
got there that we hadn’t taken our conversation somewhere else. We’d stopped it
altogether. The moment we got there it was as if the summer hadn’t happened at
all. No one wanted to talk about what-ifs.

Jake bounced the spongy
pool ball off my head and grinned. “Why the long face?”

I swam over to where he
was and splashed him, not playfully. “You know why.”

His dark-blue eyes shone
with mischief. “Do I?”

“Don't be obtuse.”

“Did you just call me
fat?” He winked and played at being dumb.

“Yes.” I wondered if the
comfort we had with one another was why everyone assumed I was into him. He was
the person I always felt comfortable with. I wished I could talk to Ashton the
way I talked to Jake.

He swam at me, dunking
me. When I came up he was closer, looking menacing. I faked right and swam
left, but he grabbed my foot, dunking me again. I kicked at him, swimming hard
for the wall.

Jake
laughed
as I splashed him, again not playfully.

“Want a drink, Lain?” He
smirked and wiped his face.

“No.” I scowled.

“Not of pool water, I
mean a soda.” He swam to the edge and jumped out, lifting himself with his
massive arms. He was the thickest of our guy friends and the tallest. I had
always seen him as something of a giant meathead but realized the goofy nature
was an act. There was more to him than I expected, but he was the opposite of
me. He liked being underestimated.

When he got to the bar,
he lifted a Cherry Coke. I sighed and nodded, swimming to the edge to receive
it politely after the merciless drowning I had endured.

I spun in a circle,
seeing Lindsey try to play with Vincent the way Jake had with me, but Vincent
was stone-faced and annoyed. He was on my side, awaiting the next
thing,
worrying and wishing everyone were taking things a
little more seriously.

But they were all playing
and laughing.

I had assumed Lindsey
would be like me with it all, but she was trying very hard to enjoy her denial.
Not that I blamed her.

Her dad was potentially
divorcing Louisa, her scheming stepmonster. She had a serious amount of PTSD
from being in the pool house of doom. She was in love for the first time ever.
And Sage’s eyes never left Lindsey and Vincent unless one of us noticed she was
staring at them. We might be getting framed for murder. And her dad might be
sharing that fate with us.

Denial was exactly what
Lindsey
should
be doing even though I
wished she wasn't.

I didn’t want to be alone
with Vincent as the only ones taking it seriously. It made all that much more
work for me. I watched people watching them. I noticed for me and for all of
them. And I knew Vincent did too.

Jake handed me my Coke,
still in the can and unopened, as he sat next to me and dipped his feet back in
the water. “I am taking this seriously, Lain. I’m also just trying to enjoy my
senior year. Last bit of freedom, ya know?”

“I know.” I nodded, not
mentioning that surviving senior year was more important.

Sierra popped up out of the
waves, spitting pool water at me. “Tell me you’re both coming to Rita’s
tonight.” Her bright eyes darted at the two girls who had become thick as
thieves. They giggled on the lounge chairs and made plans for the
back-to-school party.

Jake shrugged. “When
don't I come to a party?” He didn't sound excited about it.

I blew the pool water off
the top of my can and opened it. “I guess. I don't know why we’re having a
party when we should be strategizing and figuring things out.” I didn't want to
go, but the text from my mom pretty much sealed my fate. She was already
picking out outfits and had the stylist coming to do my hair and makeup.

“Dwelling on the summer
isn’t healthy, Lain. Rachel got herself into trouble and dragged the rest of us
with her. We all need to try to get on with life.” Sierra gave me a soft look
before darting her eyes to Jake. “You agree, right?”

He bit his lip, offering
nothing.

She shrugged. “You're
both coming, so don't even.”

“Oh, I’m coming. Mommy
Dearest has already ensured I will be there.” I sighed as Jake snorted.

Changing the subject,
Sierra lowered her voice, “I just don't know anyone who throws
their
own welcome-to-town party. It’s tacky.”

Jake stood up. “I’ll let
you two get catty.” He walked over to a lounge chair and stretched out.

I glanced back at Sierra
and nodded. “It’s not something any one of us would be allowed to do. Our
mothers would forbid it even if we were ill-mannered enough to try.”

“You don't like her
either, do you?” Sierra’s eyes sparkled with delight and mischief.

Mine narrowed as I
contemplated my feelings for Rita, a girl I hardly knew. “I don't know her well
enough to form an opinion. Her family seems more like new money, which is weird
that our parents would want anything to do with that. And for new money, they
don't seem to have a lot. Also weird.”

“She’s a lot like someone
else we all suffered through having as a friend too. So if she keeps acting
like that—”

I chuckled bitterly. “Oh,
she’s going to keep that up. She’s a total queen bee. She reminds me of my mom.
And her mom and mine could be sisters.” That brought a shudder down my already
cold spine. “There’s no way that she wasn't the queen bee of her crowd in
Manhattan.”

“Yeah, dude, I agree.”
Sierra nodded and brushed her red hair out of her face. “She and Rachel would
have been quite the pair.” The words no sooner left her lips and her father
walked out onto the deck with Lindsey’s dad. They both wore Italian suits and
shoes, looking far too formal for the crowd of bikini-clad teenagers. Even Vince
was in a swimsuit.

“What is he doing here?”
Sierra’s eyes narrowed. She didn't fear her dad the way the rest of us did,
well, the way I did. He was so serious and intense.

He waved at Sierra but
stopped in front of the loungers where Sage and Rita were plotting. As he was
talking to the girls, Sage’s face dropped, paling to match her corn silk
colored hair.

“Oh snap. Whatever he is
saying is bad. Sage looks upset.”

“Yeah, she just lost all
the color in her face.” I nodded, putting the Coke down and moving a little
closer to her, shivering and wrapping my arms tightly around myself.

Sierra’s dad turned and
waved for Lindsey to come to them. Lindsey’s dad shouted at her, “Lindsey, you
have to come with Sage! Climb out!”

Vincent was already
stiff, but Lindsey looked confused as the fun and laughing faded from her.
“Why? What’s going on?”

Sierra’s dad walked
toward the edge of the pool. His left eye twitched once as he spoke,
“Everything is fine. The police just have some routine questions. I need to
take you and Sage down to the station.”

“His eye’s twitching,” I
whispered.

“Oh God.” Sierra gave me
a slight sideways look.

Lindsey froze for a
moment before she nodded. “Okay.
But why just us?
Didn't they already ask the routine questions?”

“It doesn't matter. Get
dressed.” Her dad sounded impatient.

Looking startled, she
walked to the stairs, climbing out and shaking her hair onto the concrete.

My feet moved forward,
pulling me through the water to the stairs. I had to go with them. I had to know
what was going on.

Lindsey gave me a stare
from the deck as Vincent climbed out behind her, looking irritated. His
concerned or distressed face was also his angry one so I couldn’t be sure if he
was mad or worried.

“You can’t come.”
Sierra’s dad shook his head at Vincent. “Just the two girls. The rest of us
have to stay here.”

“I’m driving her there.
I’ll wait in the parking lot.” Vincent’s tone was not one you negotiated with.
Lindsey’s dad smirked and folded his arms over his chest. He appeared to agree
with Vince.

Sierra’s dad conceded,
“Fine, that's fine. But we have to go now.”

“What about the party?”
Sage pulled her sundress on over her dry bathing suit and fixed her messy
blonde bun. I wanted to slap her and scream that there would be no party. We
had to prepare for whatever the killer was working on. If he had sent the
picture of us standing around Rachel and Sage, we’d all be going in for
questioning.

“This won’t take long.
They just have some extra questions about that night and about the scene.” Mr.
Casey shook his head. “But it is urgent that we get going.” He looked at
Sierra. “Go home and wait for me to call you there.”

She swallowed hard, but I
offered a faint smile. “I’ll come with you.”

“Okay.”

“And I’ll drive Sage and
Linds to the police station. We’ll meet you there.” Vincent gave Mr. Casey a
look.

“Be fast.” He and Mr.
Bueller turned and left the deck.

“I think this is where I
go home.” Jake winced. “Text me when you’re going to Rita’s.” His dark-blue
eyes were focused on mine as he walked into the games room.

Sage looked like she
might cry but held it together until it was just
us
.
“What the hell? Why just the two of us?”

My brain immediately did
a loop of the corkboard in my closet and repeated everything Mr. Casey had
said. At the moment I arrived at the word “scene,” I knew the answer. Vincent
turned and nodded at me. “What can you remember?”

“The blood. Sierra’s dad
said the scene. The only reason he would have to ask Sage and Linds anything
about the scene is the blood.”

He looked defeated. “Oh
shit.”

“Sage and Linds, you both
bled at the scene.” My eyes lowered to the red angry scar on Lindsey’s knee.
“You were the only ones injured. And we left that out of our original statement
to the FBI.”

Lindsey’s eyes traveled
south to the scar that was still so fresh. “Oh no.”

“No. They wouldn't be
able to test it against anything. None of us have offered a blood sample to
rule it out against the DNA they would have collected.”

Vincent gave Lindsey a
look. “What if they got the blood type from the blood at the scene, and you
girls are the only ones who match that type?”

“I’m an A.” Lindsey
looked at Sage who nodded. “Me too.”

“I’m an O.”

“That’s not how it’s
done.” I scowled at Sierra and Vincent. “It doesn't matter.
Out
of the hundreds of kids at that party, why you two?
That doesn't make
sense.
Unless they have our blood samples somehow.
Which they don't.
They think it’s us for another reason, and
they’re trying to scare us.”

“What can we do?” Lindsey
asked, looking scared.

Vince shrugged. “Tell
them that Sage was so drunk she decided to go for a pee in the woods. You tried
to help her, tripped and fell, cutting your knee. Sage, you fell and hit your
face because you were so drunk. We, and the police, know you were drugged.”

“No.” I shook my head.
“That doesn't work. We told the police we found Sage and Rita together, very
drunk and sick. We took them inside Rachel’s and then to Sierra’s but neither
of their dads were there. So we took them to Lindsey’s house. Her dad drove
them to the hospital.”

“Lain, we need a plan,”
Vincent snapped.

“I know.” I contemplated
for a moment, processing it. I took a deep breath and recalled in exact detail
what I had said was our original statement. “We got there late, meeting Rita at
the party. She was there early to help Rachel. Rachel and Ashton broke up as we
arrived. He left the party as Sage and Rach started fighting about it. Rita,
you were with Sage the entire night. Rachel was being a dick as usual.
Me, Sierra, and Lindsey
ignored it and all partied together.
We noticed later on that Sage and Rita weren’t feeling well. We brought them to
Sierra’s house, but her dad wasn't home so we went to Lindsey’s and her dad
took them to the hospital while the rest of us went in the hot tub. We left the
party around eleven. We saw Ashton leave before us. Vincent was there, still at
the docks around eleven, and he was trashed. We didn't see anyone else we
remember. Sage, you and Rita remember nothing, exactly the way you actually
are.” I looked at them all, gulping my breath. “That's our original statement.”

Vincent’s lips drew into
a wry grin. “I can’t imagine how busy it is in that head of yours.”

I pointed at Sage. “Sage
was in the woods falling down drunk and gave herself a head injury. Lindsey,
you went into the woods to pee and found her. Rita was with her, also trashed.
We could say that's how we originally found them.”