Good Girl, Dead Girl (Valencia Lamb Book 1), page 18
Turning to the doorway where Sykes is hovering, I blow out a relieved breath. “Can you help me move this?”
My mom watches, quiet, as the secret safe is revealed. “I didn’t know you knew about that,” she whispers.
I unlock the safe and scoop out the phone and the journal. Files and papers go into my backpack, and I zip it shut. I’ll have to find a better place to hide everything. Even though the monsters who broke into my house didn’t find the lockbox, I don’t feel good about leaving my only leads in this place any more. But where to put them?
Mom puts an arm around me when I meet her at the threshold. “Why don’t you go up and pack some things? I’ll be right here when you’re ready.”
The bedrooms upstairs are worse than Dad’s office. My entire dresser has been emptied out. One side of the wooden frame is cracked clean through. A shudder runs through my limbs at the thought that someone dug around in every one of my drawers. Someone saw--touched--my bras and underwear. I make a mental note to burn them and buy new ones.
Guilt hits hard and fast when I compare tonight’s act of aggression with that time I snooped in Leif Agani’s apartment. I did the same thing to Leif’s boxers a few days ago, but it’s not the same, right? I’m investigating a murder. Whoever ransacked my house doesn’t have the same excuse. Leif is a murder suspect. I’m just a girl. I haven’t done anything wrong.
A scrap of paper tossed onto the top of the dresser grabs my attention. I keep papers and notes on my desk. Skin breaking out in a clammy sweat, I reach for the misplaced page. Pressing the crushed edge flat reveals a note scrawled in pencil.
Stop looking. You won’t like what you find.
Spinning, I look around. The accordion closet doors hang open, baring sloppily-hung clothes. My bed is too low to the ground to hide anyone. My hand rises, trembling, to my throat. My hasty searching is futile. McCandles and the rest would have swept the house to make sure the monsters were no longer inside.
I look at the note again. The handwriting looks vaguely familiar.
“Honey, you almost ready to go?” My mom calls from the bottom of the stairs.
Handing off the note to a deputy, I pack in a hurry, eager to leave this house and its haunted aspects behind.
Hours laying in the darkened hotel room, alone, leave me wide awake and strung out on anxiety. Odds are I’m not going to sleep tonight.
Half an hour ago, my mom gave up and went to the hotel gym to burn off the trepidation that coursed through her.
I sit up, flinging off the thin, insubstantial comforter, and flip on the light. No point in laying in bed if I’m not sleeping.
My mind returns to Leander. To the fight we had in his truck earlier tonight. Today has stretched on for so long it’s hard to believe our confrontation was only hours ago. Less than a day has passed since we were kissing in a movie theater. Now, our relationship grows cold in death. If grave robbers were to dig it up, they would find rigor mortis has already laid claim to the corpse of our coupledom. I don’t think there’s any way to reanimate it.
After Interim Sheriff McCandles cleared my dad’s name, I decided to finish Gracia’s articles. For closure. But that isn’t what this is shaping up to be. I still have tons of questions about that night. About what happened in that hotel room.
Dressing in a hurry, I text my mom to let her know I’m going to Portia’s. That should keep her from worrying about me for a while, since I never told her my friends weren’t speaking to me. I didn’t want to give her more reasons to cry.
Cranking the engine in the Corvette, I drive through town. The houses get smaller and closer together. Trees are older and gnarled, their naked branches arching above the narrow street. Pulling over in front of a small bungalow, I peer through the passenger window. Every curtain and blind in the house is closed. No light bleeds from their edges. Everyone inside is asleep. If I’m not going to get any rest tonight, I might as well work on solving Gracia’s murder.
My mind squeals to a halt when Rock comes to his bedroom window shirtless, eyes half-lidded with sleep. He’s been hiding a ripped torso under the St. Vivian’s uniform. Scratching at his bare ribs, Rock’s eyes widen when he registers me through the glass. The frame moans as he lifts it. “Missed me so bad you couldn’t wait for morning?” he yawns.
“Desperately,” I hiss, aware of how close the next house is to my back. Grabbing onto the window sill, I curl against the siding. “Can I come in or what?”
Rock glances toward his closed bedroom door, then steps to the side so I can hoist myself through the opening. I grunt in displeasure when the window lowers as I slip through, catching the waist of my sweatpants. “Help.”
He’s silent as he lifts the window and holds it open so I can slide inside without losing my pants. Collapsing onto the floor, I make sure my clothes are where they’re supposed to be. “Your window tried to murder me.”
Rock rolls his eyes, the whites glowing in the dark. “Want me to kiss it and make it better?”
“You stay away from me, Rock Agani. I’m swearing off kissing.”
Holding up both hands, he flicks on the lamp beside the rumpled double bed. I think I catch a chuckle, but when I whirl to glare at him, Rock’s face is blank. “Junior is that bad at it, huh?”
I itch my forehead with my middle finger.
He did some questionable shit.
I shove that thought away. Leander was a fantastic kisser, and I will never kiss him again. I will never be able to look him in the eye, knowing what we both discovered about my dad. There is nowhere to go but forward. I’m too stubborn to stop digging, now that I’ve burrowed in so deep.
The small lamp Rock lit barely illuminates his room, leaving a skirt of shadow in the corners. Double bed, closet snicked shut, posters of classic cars and bikes taped to the walls. It looks the same as it did when we were kids, but I can’t pretend nothing has changed.
Sinking onto the floor facing me, Rock leans back against his bed. I prop myself on one leg of the desk, and even then we’re practically in each other’s laps. This room felt a lot bigger when we were gangly little kids.
Rock and his brother have lived with their grandma for as long as I can remember. A couple of cousins live here too. I don’t know what the deal is with their parents, but Rock’s mom left before I can remember, and his dad lived above the auto shop. The fact that Grannie Agani ran a tight ship didn’t stop my dad from finally putting his foot down about me spending time with Rock, however. I got the distinct vibe that there were things about Dino Agani my dad didn’t want me to learn the unpleasant way. Given his recent drug bust, it tracks.
Quiet settles over us. Rock fidgets with the drawstring on his gray sweatpants. I look away, studying the faded and curling posters.
The room hasn’t changed, but Rock has.
“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” Rock pulls a pillow off his bed and drops it in his lap.
“Zip it, Rock.” But I smile a little. There’s something about Rock’s teasing that unties some of the knots in my insides. I allow my head to tip back so I can look at the constellations of glow-in-the-dark stars dotting the ceiling.
Rock’s eyes follow the trajectory of mine “You remember when we put those up?”
“Your grandma got so mad when she saw how we stacked her dining chairs.”
He huffs a laugh. “She spanked me with her sandal after you left. You know my great granddad made those chairs?”
“Huh.” I want to sit in the quiet for a while longer, pretending the rest of the day never happened. That Leander and I haven’t broken up. That thieves didn’t toss my house and steal my laptop, along with all of Mom’s jewelry. The silver rose studs Portia left on my desk were gone, too.
I wish I could ignore all of it.
Rock shifts closer, his knee bumping mine. “Why are you here, V?”
No such luck.
I flop forward, my forehead landing on his leg. “Leander and I broke up. He was helping me look into Gracia’s murder, and he said some things. And someone ransacked my house.”
Rock sucks his teeth. A tentative hand brushes over my hair before withdrawing. “That’s … a lot.”
Now that I’m talking, I can’t stop. “If I tell you the rest, you have to swear not to tell anyone. Especially not your brother.”
“Does it look like Leif and I gossip while sharing an ice cream cone?”
“Whatever floats your boat.”
“V.”
My shoulders sag. “Okay, okay. Remember when we broke into Leif’s apartment? I didn’t tell you, but I found something of Gracia’s.”
Rock goes still under me. “What was it?”
“Her phone.”
A gust of hot breath blasts the crown of my head, as if he has his body curled over mine. Through the curtain of my hair, one of Rock’s hands braces against the floor. “I knew it. You did take someth-- Are you sure it was hers?”
“I recognized the case.”
His body tenses and releases. “Do you have any idea how many girls have sparkly phone cases?”
“Trust me. I know it was hers, Rocky.” The nickname slips out through a crack in my frustration. Scrunching my nose, I open my mouth to take it back. This boy and I haven’t been on a nickname basis for years.
Rock stares for a beat too long. Then, “No one has called me that since the last time you did.”
“I’m sorry. I--”
“It’s fine.”
I have no one to confide in. No soul willing to listen as I hash out everything I’ve discovered about the night Gracia was murdered. But maybe Rock, my once-upon-a-time best friend, is willing to listen. Tipping my face up at that steady expression that used to be so familiar, so comforting, I know he is.
It all comes spilling out. The sparkly yellow phone I found in Leif’s bottom drawer and smuggled out without telling Rock. My frustration at not being able to unlock it despite multiple attempts. Theories about Leif and Gracia and Destin. “It was a dead end,” I say to wrap up the verbal barrage. “I can’t figure out the code.”
“Rock? You awake, honey?” Grannie Agani’s voice is quiet but clear through the closed bedroom door.
Mouthing a curse, Rock catches my eye. “If she finds you in here, I’m done. She instituted a ‘no girls’ rule after she caught Leif with one in his room a few years ago.”
I grin as I sit up. Interesting.
Shooting me a warning look, Rock opens the door just wide enough to stick his face out. “Hey Gran, what’s up?” Rock’s whisper carries through the stillness in the house.
His grandma can’t see me, but I’m tempted to show myself. Grannie Agani always liked me.
She won’t when she finds out everything I’ve done to her grandsons.
The stinging reminder makes me suck in a breath. On second thought, maybe I’ll stay out of sight. There’s nowhere to hide except the closet, but I’d have to pass behind Rock to reach it. That leaves the bed. I won’t complain about wedging myself under there with all the dog-eared paperbacks my childhood friend has collected, but it’s tricky. Soft, deckled edges brush against my neck. A copy of Moby Dick slides off the book stack and lands on the carpet in front of my face.
The old woman presses closer to Rock, but he holds. “Is Leif in there with you? I heard you talking.”
“No, sorry Gran. I was, uh, studying.”
“Studying. At 5 AM?” Naked skepticism coats her words. Outside, grasshoppers are chirping in the dark.
Rock shrugs. “Couldn’t sleep, so I thought I might as well.”
The harrumph Grannie Agani gives makes it clear she isn’t buying what he’s selling, but she doesn’t pursue it. “Well, study quieter. If you wake up Daisy and Peter, I’ll tan your hide.”
“I will. Sorry, Gran.”
I’m smirking when he gets the door closed and sinks down in front of my hiding place. “If you wake up Daisy and Peter, I’ll tan your hide,” I mimic in my best Grannie voice.
Rock runs a hand down his bicep. “You can try.”
Lashing out with a socked foot, I catch him in the side. “Oomph.” He grips my ankle, not releasing it when I tug.
“Let me go,” I murmur, trying to stifle a laugh. But he holds onto my foot with merciless fingers, tickling my sole until I’m thrashing and squalling, a fish hooked on a line. More books fall off the haphazard stacks, burying me in the written word. “Rock, seriously. Stop.”
He frees my foot, and I go still. Embarrassed, for some reason, that I’m spread out on the floor before him. He coughs into his hand.
Eyes on me, evaluating, he speaks. “Maybe you should leave the phone with me, since you stole it from my brother. I’ll look at it first chance, and let you know if there’s anything important on there.”
I don’t want to do that to him. “No, I’ll take care of it. If there’s anything bad, I don’t--You don’t need to see it.”
Rock’s gaze is unwavering. “You’re the one who broke into my room at the ass-crack of dawn. Don’t you think you owe me a look? It’s probably boring stuff like newspaper articles and how to grow daisies, or something.”
Outside, the sky is indigo blue. It might be nearing morning, but the sun is still fast asleep.
I tuck my dark hair behind my ears. “Only in your dreams do I owe you anything.”
“I think you mean your dreams.”
“More like nightmares.”
“So you do dream about me.” He is way too smug for 5 AM.
“You wish.”
“Sounds like you’re wishing for something, not me.”
“That’s not what I said,” I snap back.
“Okay, but seriously. You owe me.” For the blackmail.
“Maybe, maybe not.” Guilt and resolve blend in my gut. It sucks that Rock’s brother is my prime suspect in Gracia’s murder, and that I’m forcing Rock to help me investigate. It’s manipulative and exploitative and a whole lot of other things my mom would be ashamed of if she found out.
Taking out my phone, I open the camera roll. Pressing a couple buttons, I stow it. “I deleted the video. You don’t have to help me anymore. I won’t make you.”
“That’s. . . Thanks, V.” Rock’s brows rise. He’s surprised.
What am I becoming?
A clanging sounds in the kitchen. Cupboards open and close.
“Sounds like Grannie is working on breakfast. That’s my cue to leave.”
“You gonna climb out the window again? Because you’re so good at it?” Reclining against his mattress, Rock crosses his arms.
“I am good at it, thank you very much.”
He grins, lips splitting wide to show crooked but pearly white teeth. Lordy, that smile sends me back.
My backpack makes a dull thud on the dewy grass. Girding myself, I slip out as gracefully as I can. The stupid window stays open this time rather than scraping away my dignity like earlier. Rock’s descent is so smooth it’s obvious he has climbed out that window a hundred times.
I hurry to the car, not wanting Grannie Agani to spot me through the front window. Rock leans his forearms on the sill and locks eyes with me. “I want to know what’s on that phone, V.”
I touch the pocket of my bag where the phone is hidden, Making sure it’s still there. Decide honesty is the best policy. “Leif might have killed her, Rock. Do you really want to be the one who discovers it’s true? Would you be able to do the right thing, if that happens?”
A muscle in Rock’s jaw twitches. He encroaches into my space in the cab, bringing his face inches from mine. Eye to eye and nose to nose. He braces one hand on the steering wheel. Crowding me against the seat. “Leif didn’t kill Gracia. My word is good.”
I can’t move. “You sound like an old-fashioned knight or something.”
After a beat, Rock withdraws. “I did sound pretty noble, just then, didn’t I?”
Drawing in air in quick pants, I ignite the engine. “Want me to hit you with my car again? That should take care of it.”
Somberness takes firm control of Rock’s expression. “You flatten me and you’ll regret it. Leander’s an idiot, and so are your friends. But me? You need me.”
That shuts me up. Because it’s not a threat; it’s a fact. I do need him. Since I’ve alienated everyone else in my life, Rock is the only available bay I can shelter in when an unexpected squall rises. There is no one else I can rely on while I investigate. And based on the gleam in his eyes, the smug bastard knows it. There he is, showing off those white teeth. My stomach flips. I hate that smile.
I gun my engine, watching to see if he’ll flinch. He doesn’t.
Folly and Ignorance
My new laptop is set to arrive in a few days, which leaves me with my mom’s old desktop computer for homework. It’s frustrating. All of my stuff was on that laptop. At least I have a subscription to an online music streaming service, so I can still listen while I work.
When I got home from school, Mom asked to do a movie night. She suggested calling off work so she and I could spend some time together, but I told her I had a lot to do. It’s true. Just not homework like I implied. I do miss my mom. We haven’t spent quality time together in ages. I promised to save some time for her this weekend. I’ve already lost one parent; I need to be smart about spending time with the one I still have. Who knows how long I’ll have her?
Today is Friday and Destin’s birthday. Normally, he, Portia, and I would celebrate at the local bowling alley and arcade, amassing as many tickets as possible and combining them for the dumbest prize we could afford. Bowling alley Chinese food and egg tarts would cap off the night. I texted Destin this morning to wish him a happy day and haven’t heard back.
Finishing the paragraph I was typing, I flop my head back and close my eyes. I am one hundred percent over being in a fight with Portia and Destin. I’m over sitting next to them in class without exchanging a single word. I’m over eating lunch alone with Rock, who has been sitting with me since he and Janice broke up.
