The Cabin (11 page)

Blake's body tensed beside me.
Not now. Whatever it is, not now!
“I'm very sorry to hear about your daughter, Lawrence. Mackenzie's told me Tilly was a great person.”

“Thank you,
Spike
. She was a great person, one of the best. My Tilly was going to be a doctor. All she ever wanted was to help people.”

I smiled at the bittersweet memories of Tilly tending to us all whenever something was wrong. She would never get to pursue her dream career, and that was such a shame because she would have been an amazing doctor.

“She would have been great at it,” I said. “I lost count of the times she played doctor when someone hurt themselves. You remember when I sprained my wrist a few years ago and she insisted on checking it regularly and changing the bandage?”

Lawrence laughed. “She drove you crazy, if I remember correctly.”

“Yeah, I had to keep stopping what I was doing so she could look. There wasn't even anything to really check.” I would have understood if it had been a cut she could re-dress, but there was nothing to do. That was Tilly though. Even if there was nothing significant that she could do, she still tried to help.

“Aaron mentioned that too. Do you remember when he had pneumonia at the beginning of last year, and Tilly spent most of the week at his bedside?” Lawrence smiled fondly at the memory. “It was a shame they didn't have the chance to make a go of things. He's a good lad, and it was clear he was in love with her.”

Tilly and Aaron's relationship was so on and off, you could barely give it the
relationship
title. Each time they got back together, they were great, but it never lasted very long. They seemed more stuck in a habit than anything else.

“Yeah, they would have been good together,” I said. Maybe being older and more mature, they would've stood a better chance, but they'd never get that opportunity. “Aaron misses her a lot too.”

“Yes, he's here often to be close to her.”

I tried to hide the surprise on my face.
Aaron came here often?
We all visited but not much anymore. He mentioned coming a few times not long after the accident, but then we'd both stopped—I thought. It didn't make sense that he wouldn't tell me he still visited with Tilly's family. We talked to each other a lot about Tilly.

What other secrets did Aaron have?

“He still comes a lot? I didn't know that,” I said.

“Almost every week. He sits in her room or sometimes we look through pictures. I was surprised at first. Tilly was always crying over him or ranting at how much of a ‘stupid, pissing idiot' he was.”

I could hear her words so clearly. She had used that phrase for Aaron so many times.

“It really does mean a lot that he still cares for her so deeply,” Lawrence said.

It would appear that Aaron did care about Tills much more than I ever knew, but was that enough to make him hate Courtney for being the unfortunate one behind the wheel the night? And hate Josh for his part in it?

There was something very wrong with thinking Aaron could've been their killer. He may have hated Josh, but he wasn't vengeful. He didn't ever wish harm on anyone. That wasn't his personality. That wasn't me or any of my friends.

“That's nice. I'm glad he comes over. Tills would have been too,” I said finally.

Lawrence smiled, but his lips barely curled. “She would be.”

“How long ago was the accident?” Blake asked, putting a little too much emphasis on the word
accident
.

“Eight months ago,” I replied. I couldn't quite believe months had passed. It still seemed like yesterday. I could still clearly hear the sound of crunching metal, smashing glass, and my friends' screams. The minivan had rolled over before coming to an abrupt stop in a ditch. I had been in the row of seats in front of Tilly and Gigi, and if the truck had hit just a few inches forward, I probably would have died too.

“Eight months and six days,” Lawrence corrected. He shook his head. “I will never understand why Giana drank that day.”

I bit my lip. She hadn't meant to get drunk. Before losing about fifteen pounds, she could drink about five or six drinks and not feel a thing. She'd only had two beers. And she'd known enough not to drive. That's why Courtney was behind the wheel when it happened.

“She didn't mean to,” I whispered. It wasn't Gigi's fault—or Courtney's or Josh's. It was a bloody accident. Why were so many people having a hard time understanding that? We all wished we could rewind time and have a do-over of that day, but we couldn't, and it was just something we'd have to live with.

“I believe that, but the accident happened as a direct result of Giana's drinking. She was a better driver than Courtney.” The way he said Gigi's name gave me chills. She was Giana now.

Ice froze my heart. The venom in his tone was the same as Kyle's when he'd told me how much Courtney had hurt him—he seemed so bitter now. I swallowed a massive lump building in my throat.

Tilly's and Gigi's deaths were an accident. We were hit by a truck. The driver was irrelevant when you had a massive truck ramming you up the arse. They never stood a chance, and if Gigi had been driving, it still would have been Tilly that died.

The man sitting in front of me wasn't who he used to be. He was cold and detached. His eyes were empty and had no empathy.

It's him.
Lawrence was the killer.

It had to be him. The alternative was unthinkable.

I felt my face burn as blood pumped too hard. Gripping Blake's hand, I shot up to my feet. “We should go. We have to meet Megan soon.” Blake frowned, looking at me as if I had lost it. Maybe I had. At this point, going crayon-eating crazy was entirely plausible. “I'll stop by soon, Lawrence.”

He shook his head, surprised by our sudden departure. “OK.”

I held Blake's hand in a death grip and pulled him through the house and out of the front door. I could barely breathe properly. My lungs felt like they were made of lead.

“Him,” I hissed in a whisper. “It was him!”

Blake took charge. With one hand on the small of my back, he pushed me forward, quickly leading me to his truck. “Get in,” he said, opening the door for me.

“It's him,” I repeated, hands shaking in disbelief.

“You don't know that. He didn't say anything incriminating. The way he spoke about Gigi is the way most people talk about Josh. Hating someone doesn't make you a killer, remember? Don't mess the investigation up by charging into the police station when you're all emotional like this,” he said, wiggling his fingers in my direction. “Mackenzie, just sit tight.”

“What? We can't just do nothing!” Was Blake insane? Who knows if the police had even questioned Lawrence on his whereabouts that evening. They may never even consider him a suspect if we didn't speak up.

“We don't have a choice. There's no evidence. If he's pulled in for questioning now, he'll have a chance to make sure his tracks are covered. Please, think about this carefully. Let's at least wait until Wright has the results on that blood back before we go to him with this.”

I took a deep breath. He was right of course. Logically, I understood that I could screw everything up if I accused Lawrence without proof, but I was so desperate to clear our names and not have people look at me like I was a monster. I felt like I was crawling out of my skin.

“Fine, you're actually making sense,” I replied.

He smiled. “Look, let's go back to my place for an hour before I drop you off at Aaron's, so you can both go to Megan's later. You can't go while you're panicking.”

“Yeah, OK. Thanks, Blake.”

“Say that again.”

I rolled my eyes, looking out the window and smiling to myself. I'd teamed up with a proper idiot.

I walked up Aaron's driveway and something caught my eye outside his neighbor's house. I stepped back behind the shrubs separating the two houses and peeked through the bushes. My jaw dropped. Aaron was in the back of Wright's car. There was an officer in the passenger's seat too, who was turned around saying something to Aaron.

Rubbing my stomach, which had a knot in it, I stared intently until a second later when Wright pulled onto the road and drove away—with Aaron still in the back of the squad car!

Blake was long gone, or we would have tailed Wright.

Oh God, what's going on? Was Aaron arrested?

I felt like a robot as I planted one foot in front of the other toward Megan's house. My hands shook. I got halfway there when I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed. I might trust Aaron, but I still felt sick and uneasy about the whole situation.
Pick up, pick up.
I held my phone so close to my ear that it hurt. “Wright just took Aaron to the station,” I said the second Blake answered.

“Oh, I'm fine. Thanks. How're you?”

I sighed sharply and rubbed my forehead. If I could just have one conversation with him that wasn't bloody hard work, that'd be great. “Cut the sarcasm for five seconds. What does he want with him?”

“This probably won't come as a surprise to you, but I'm not psychic.”

“Blake,” I snapped. “Why don't you take anything seriously?”

“I am. I don't know what Wright wants with him,” he replied a little too coolly. Blake had his theories, and for once, I wanted to know one.

“I know you're lying. Why don't you just tell me what you're thinking?”

“Because, Miss Keaton, you take this detective job far too seriously.”
And you are too trusting of your friends
, I silently added because I knew that's what he wanted to say to me.

“Just tell me, Blake. Please.”

“The blood, Mackenzie. I think they've had the results back and the blood is Aaron's.”

I hadn't even thought of that. “No,” I snapped. “The blood—it can't be his. Aaron wouldn't hurt anyone.”

“Whatever,” Blake replied, and I could picture him rolling his eyes. “Just call me when you know more.”

I shivered with the cold. The sun had slipped behind a cloud, abandoning me. “Why? What're you doing?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Good-bye, Blake,” I said and hung up the phone, not in the mood for any more of his stupid jokes.

I walked up to Megan's alone and tried to calm myself down. It was probably routine questioning and we would all be called back in too. That was it. I shouldn't let seeing Aaron in the back of a police car get to me.

Before knocking on Megan's door, I sent a quick text to Mum and Dad, letting them know I'd arrived safely at Megan's house, since they needed to know my every movement now.

Taking a deep breath and plastering on a fake smile that I was beginning to hate, I rang the doorbell. I didn't want Megan to know what was going on. It would just upset her, and Blake and I were just sort of keeping what we were doing to ourselves. Besides, he was the only other one that seemed willing to help.

Megan opened the door and visibly relaxed. “Oh, thank God you're here!”

I walked inside, wringing my hands out. Time to act like a normal, sane person. “What's up?”

“My family is driving me crazy!” She slammed the front door behind her and led me into the kitchen. “Where're Aaron and Kyle?”

I licked my lips in preparation for the lie. “Not sure. Did they say they're coming too?”

“They just said maybe.”

“Do you mass-produce that stuff?” I asked and pointed to the four new bottles of whatever that Italian alcohol was we'd had the other night. At least it was a safer subject.

She turned and rolled her eyes. “My grandparents keep sending it over. They brought these with them. Mum's pissed because she only just got rid of the last lot.”

“Why don't you just tell your nan you don't like it?”

“That's what I said. Come on. Let's go to my room.”

Megan's room was small and claustrophobic. There was literally only space for a bed and wardrobe, but she'd tried to create the illusion of space by painting it a light-mint color and hanging large mirrors on the walls.

She sat down on her bed and hugged a pillow to her chest. “Mackenzie,” she said slowly.

I sat down and faced her as she nervously fiddled with the ends of her short hair. Something was wrong. I'd seen Megan nervous before, but never around me. She looked like she was ready to bolt for the door.

“What's wrong, Megs?”

“Huh?” she muttered, not even looking up.

“Well, you either have something important on your mind, or you've got worms.”

She stopped twiddling hair around her finger. Her chipped purple nail polish poked out brightly between the strands. “My dad's right, isn't he? The truth always comes out eventually.”

My heart gave an uneasy thud. “Sure. Usually. Why?”

“I did something, Mackenzie.”

“Go on,” I whispered, completely unsure if I wanted to know what she had to say or not. If Megan told me she'd killed Josh and Courtney, I had no idea what I would do. But that was just ridiculous—same as the possibility that Aaron had done it.

“Megan, talk to me. What did you do?”

“The night of the crash. I…I spiked Gigi's drink.”

I recoiled in shock and tried to make sense of what she'd just said. “You did what?”

Megan sucked in a shaky breath and gulped audibly. “The accident was my fault, Kenz. I
spiked
Gigi's drink.”

There was the
spiked
word again.

Shit. Megan
spiked
Gigi's drink. I thought it was strange that she was drunk on so little. It all slotted into place in the worst kind of way. My chest ached. Megan's actions had directly led to the accident. Gigi was the more experienced driver and would've taken the shortcut through the country roads that Courtney was afraid of. I rubbed my forehead.

“You drugged her,” I whispered in disbelief.

Megan's eyes widened. “Oh my God, Mackenzie, don't think that. I put vodka in her beer. I have no clue where to get Rohypnol from!”

“Why? I don't understand. What did Gigi do to you?”

She shook her head. “I can't tell you that.”

“Are you serious?” I spluttered. “Megan, you can't say something like that and then not explain. Tilly and Gigi
died
in that car accident. This is nonnegotiable. Tell me what happened. Now.”

Courtney was the only one not drinking the night of the car accident, because she was on antibiotics. She had just passed her driving test and wasn't confident behind the wheel at all. With little choice and Josh in her ear telling her “a van is no different to a bloody car,” she had driven. She'd pulled out at an intersection, and then we had been hit.

“I…I…” She stopped to chew on her lip. “Promise you won't think any differently of me?”

“Just tell me.” I couldn't promise her that. She'd spiked Gigi's drink. I couldn't promise anything right now. “Why, Megan?”

“Because whenever we were drunk, we slept together.” She said the words in such a rush they blended together. But I still heard her crystal clear.

“What? You and Gigi…you did what?”

She glared. “Don't look like that. You slept with a killer.”

Great, Kyle had a big mouth.

I held my hands up. “I'm sorry. I just didn't expect that. I didn't know the two of you were involved.”

“We slept together whenever we were drunk.” She looked down at the bed, ashamed. I wasn't sure if that was due to sleeping with a woman or what she did to Gigi the day of the accident. It had to be the latter, because she had to know I would be her friend no matter who she wanted to sleep with. “I wanted her that night, Kenz.”

“But you're not gay,” I blurted out and mentally slapped myself. That wasn't the most important part of what she had just told me, but it
was
true. I had never even heard her mention a celeb girl crush like the one I had on Mila Kunis and Tilly had had on Mischa Barton.

“I know.” She shrugged. “But there was something about her. The first time was in the summer, after school was out. I'd just turned fifteen. All of you were on holiday or busy, so me and Gigi were hanging out in her room. We were drinking Malibu, and she just kissed me out of nowhere. At first I was stunned, but then I kissed her back. It was so different than anything I'd ever felt before—softer and more intimate. Anyway, we didn't stop with a kiss, and whenever we were drunk, we'd have sex.”

What the hell was going on with everyone? Was I the only one who hadn't slept with someone in our group? First Kyle and Courtney, now Megan and Gigi.

“OK,” I said, taking a breath to digest the information. “Why did it only happen when you were drunk?”

“She said I wasn't ready to be out, so nothing could happen, but you know her—she had no self-control when she was drunk. She was half-right; I'm not a lesbian. I still like guys, and I've never felt anything for a girl before or since her, but I just wanted her. It wasn't because she was a girl; it was because she made me feel things that I never knew were possible.”

A tear trickled down Megan's face and settled on her jaw. I felt awful for her. The pain in her face and words stole my breath. “It's all my fault. Gigi died because of me. Tilly too. They both died because I was selfish and wanted to get laid!”

I wrapped my arms around her. “Shh, it's OK. You didn't mean for anyone to get hurt.”

“B-but it's my fault. I have to tell the police. I-I have to.”

I pulled away and gripped her face in both of my hands, forcing her to look at me. Her eyes were wide, scared. “Megan, that will achieve nothing. It was an accident. The collision could have happened if Gigi had been driving. It was getting late, and there wouldn't have been much visibility on the country roads either. It was dark and foggy that night, remember? No one saw the truck.”

“But—”

“Think about it. You
spiked
her drink to take advantage of her. Do you have any idea how bad that looks?”

She started sobbing, covering her mouth with her hand. “I know. I get it. I do. I get how it looks, but I swear to you, Mackenzie, I didn't hurt Court and Josh. Please believe me. Please.”

I wrapped my arms around her trembling body again. “Shh, it's OK.” It so wasn't OK, but I needed her to calm down so we could talk more. “Megan, you can't go to the police. I know you didn't kill anyone. I believe you, but the police might not.”

“But I didn't do anything to them,” Megan replied.

I pulled back so I could see her and try to make her see sense.

“I should come clean about Gigi. People blame her for the accident, but it was my fault for spiking her drink.”

“People blame Josh and Courtney for the accident too.” I closed my eyes. God, what was going on? Were Courtney and Josh killed for revenge?

“There are about a million what-ifs, Megan. I could have gone to the toilet before we left, and we would have been a few minutes later and missed the truck. We could have left an hour earlier when Kyle wanted to or pulled over at the burger joint like Aaron wanted. There are so many things we all could have done that would have changed what happened that night, but you can't go back in time. It was an accident.”

She nodded, wiping her nose on the back of her sleeve. Her dark eyes were bloodshot. “I feel
so
guilty.”

“I think we all do. That's part of being the ones who survived. Take me through everything that happened that night. I have to know what happened, why you spiked the drink.”

Did I really want to hear how much I clearly didn't know Megan and Gigi? We all kept our secrets, but I hadn't thought Courtney or Megan would have kept their relationships with Kyle and Gigi from me. We could talk about things like that—a week ago, I had thought I'd known everything about my friends.

Apparently not.

Megan grabbed her pillow and pressed it into her chest. “It was the last night of the trip, and we hadn't been…together in a few weeks. She kept flirting with me, but when I tried to kiss her, she pushed me away. Do you remember me suggesting someone else should drive back because Gigi drove there?”

Megan had suggested to us during the afternoon before anyone had started drinking. I only had a provisional license at the time or I would've volunteered. Gigi had insisted that she didn't mind and wanted to drive back too. Her stepdad owned the van anyway, so she hadn't wanted anyone else being responsible if anything happened to it.

At the time, I'd just thought Megan was being considerate and wanted Gigi to be able to drink on the last day; I'd had no idea about her ulterior motive to sleep with her again. They'd never acted any differently around each other—not that I'd noticed anyway. But, as I was realizing, there were a lot of things I'd never noticed.

“Yes,” I replied.

“When it was decided that Gigi was driving back, I took matters into my own hands. At the hotel, she said she was just going to have a beer or two, so I put vodka in them,” she said, her voice raw with emotion and regret.

“How could she not know?”

Megan smiled. “Probably because you bought the cheap, crap stuff.”

I tilted my head to the side and glared. “I'm not forking out for the good stuff when you lot down it in seconds. What happened next?”

“Well, it worked. When you all went out, we went to her room and… Well, you don't want the details. I knew Courtney couldn't drink, so she ended up having to drive, and you know the rest. It was my fault, Mackenzie.”