Ashley exhaled. “I got asked a million times why I was there. At the motel. Why I didn’t … hear anything.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“You already said that.”
“I…” Logan started, but she didn’t know what else to say. She hadn’t expected Ashley to be angry like this. She hadn’t really expected to see Ashley at all. “What did you tell them?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Logan folded her arms. “You were at the motel. You could just say we’re friends. It’s not weird.”
Ashley said nothing.
“Can I come in?” Logan asked.
Ashley glanced back at her room, then reluctantly nodded. Logan climbed in through the window and surveyed the damage. It wasn’t just clothes and photos on the floor. Ashley’s chair was knocked sideways, the contents of her desk swept to the floor, her closet emptied. It was worse than she’d thought.
“What do you want?” Ashley asked.
“I…” Logan pressed a palm to her forehead. “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. You weren’t responding to texts or calls. And—”
She paused. She couldn’t get the sound of handcuffs clinking around Alejo’s wrists out of her head. She couldn’t wipe away the police lights on the blinds, the sound of Brandon’s glasses hitting his nightstand, the look on Alejo’s face when he realized what was happening.
“Paris arrested my dad.”
Ashley eyed the clutter on her floor. Slowly, she began picking up her pictures and piling them on her desk. She was unsettlingly calm about the arrest. Her jaw was tight, her movements cold and rigid. A breeze wafted into the room and fanned over Logan’s back and, suddenly, it clicked.
“He said there was a witness.”
Ashley paused.
“I’m going through the list of people who were at the Bates, but it’s pretty small. Gracia and Elexis are family. They wouldn’t throw my dad under the bus.”
Ashley folded her quilt and tossed it on the bed. “The Bates is pretty much apartments. Lots of people live there.”
“Ashley.”
She turned, eyes glassy with impending tears. “I don’t wanna talk to you about this. I wanna be alone.”
Logan’s heart crashed and she wondered if it was breaking. Her pulse was heavy, slow, deep. It labored with the weight of this grief, but she wasn’t angry like she was at Brandon. It was like someone had come up behind her and snatched her world right out of her palms. It left her cold in its wake. Ashley’s expression said everything—it was anger and sadness, but more than that, it was guilt. It was the same look she’d had when she admitted she’d broken up with Tristan.
“You didn’t even see anything. Why’d you—”
“I did.”
Logan paused. “Oh my god, you mean when he was taking out the garbage?”
Ashley looked away.
“You know it wasn’t him,” Logan croaked. “Why’d you say it?”
“He could’ve—”
“He didn’t.” Logan sank to the edge of Ashley’s bed and cupped her hands over her nose and mouth. “Me and Dad weren’t even in Snakebite when Tristan went missing.”
Ashley huffed. “Maybe they worked together. Like a team.”
“Oh my god.” Logan’s voice was too loud for the room. She closed her eyes and exhaled. “I told you it wasn’t him. You prom ised you wouldn’t say anything unless we were sure. Did you not trust me at all?”