“Nothing is going on between me and Mr. Bennett,” I say through my teeth. “And like I said, you’re not supposed to be talking to me without my mother around.”
Detective Sprague gives me a look that is both disappointed and sad. I feel bad for a moment, because she seems like she’s probably a good detective. She seems dedicated to her job, and she actually seems like maybe she cares about me. But then again, all she really wants is to find out what happened to Mrs. Bennett. Her job isn’t to look out for my best interest. She makes it like Nathaniel was manipulating me, but really, she’s doing the same thing. Besides, there’s no proof anything happened between him and me.
“You need to know, Addie,” she says quietly, “that Nathaniel Bennett is painting you to be a stalker who was acting alone. He’s trying to make us believe that you followed Eve Bennett to the commuter lot, killed her, and got rid of her body. If you don’t speak out for yourself, that is the only story anyone is going to hear.”
Is that true? I don’t believe that. She must be lying—he would never do that to me
Right?
Detective Sprague rifles around in the pocket of her trench coat until she comes up with a small rectangular card. She holds it out to me. “This is my card. I wrote my cell phone number on the back. If you want to talk to me, call me anytime. I mean it.”
I accept the card, but I don’t say anything.
She gives me one last look, then she gets back into her black car and drives away. After she’s gone, I look down at the card she gave me. I turn it around, and her ten-digit cell number is written in black ink. I stare down at the numbers, which blur as the raindrops continue to fall.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter Seventy-Two
ADDIE
I EVENTUALLY HAVE to return home because the rain soaked my jeans, and also I stepped in a huge puddle and now one of my sneakers is waterlogged.
My mom is sitting on the sofa in the living room, doing something on her phone. As soon as I step back in the house, she looks up at me sharply. “Where did you go?”
“Just for a walk.” I step out of my soggy sneakers. “Nowhere in particular.”
She raises her eyebrows. “You didn’t go anywhere?”
“No.”
“Because if you did…”
“I didn’t.” But I don’t tell her Detective Sprague stopped me on the street. Or about the business card wedged in my coat pocket. “It was just a walk. Seriously, Mom.”
“I’m just worried.” She puts down her phone and stands up to face me. She has started looking so old in the last year. I always thought my mom seemed younger and prettier than most moms, but now she looks like she could be somebody’s grandma. “What they are accusing you of is very serious. You have to understand that.”
“I know.”
Her eyes grow moist. “Addie, please tell me—I won’t be mad. Do you know what happened to Mrs. Bennett?”
The urge to tell her everything becomes almost overwhelming. I remember when I was a little kid, I felt like anything that was wrong, my mom could hug me and make it right again. But there is no way for her to make any of this right again. Part of growing up is figuring out that your parents don’t have that ability anymore. “No, I don’t.”
Deny everything.
She swipes at her eyes with the back of her hand. “Because you know I’m on your side, but I can’t help you if I don’t know what happened.”
I open my mouth, but I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to say. But anything I might’ve said gets interrupted when the doorbell rings.
Oh no. I bet it’s Detective Sprague. I bet she’s here to arrest me or something.
“I’ll get it,” I say.
I hurry over to the front door, and I open it up without checking who is outside. But when I see who is standing there, my mouth falls open. Of all the people I would have imagined might be at my door, this is the last person I expected to see there.
It’s Kenzie Montgomery.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter Seventy-Three
ADDIE
KENZIE MONTGOMERY.
Great.
It’s not enough that the police are investigating me for murder. Now my worst enemy from school has shown up at my front door, presumably to torment me. This day just keeps getting better and better.
Kenzie is wearing a white coat that I’ve seen her in before, but now it is drenched by what is becoming fairly heavy rain. Her blond hair is plastered to her scalp, and her cheeks are bright pink. It’s literally the worst I’ve ever seen her look.