The Amateurs

by Sara Shepard

  That’s what I told them, Aerin almost said aloud.

  Aerin’s mom air-kissed Minnie. ‘We wouldn’t miss it.’

  Then Tori and Amanda rushed to the car, pulled Aerin out, and embraced her tightly. Both girls smelled vaguely of booze, and Aerin noticed that Tori was wearing the four-carat diamond ring that used to be her mother’s until she traded it in for something bigger. ‘Oh, Aerin, you’re so brave,’ Amanda murmured. ‘We love you so much.’

  Aerin wriggled desperately out of her friends’ grip. So she was some sort of heroine now? It wasn’t as if they knew she’d solved Helena’s murder. They were just enjoying the epic drama.

  ‘I don’t want to deal right now,’ Aerin grumbled, grabbing her friends’ hands and stomping toward the guesthouse, not caring that her dress was getting soaked. She put her head down as she passed through the wide-open front door, but people were still staring. Fuck all of you, she thought rabidly, weaving around some more girls in bunny ears.

  Amanda handed her a beer from an ice-filled trough in the kitchen. Aerin turned to thank her, but when she met Amanda’s gaze, she looked a little afraid. Aerin turned away and downed the beer quickly, barely tasting it.

  Then she heard the whispers from around the corner.

  ‘I heard he confessed to having an affair with Helena,’ one voice said.

  ‘Me too,’ said another. ‘It’s so nasty, don’t you think? But he’s saying he didn’t kill her. I believe him.’

  ‘You’re an idiot, Frances. Of course he killed her. He probably got bored of her and just wanted to get rid of her.’

  ‘No way. He plays golf with my dad all the time. He’s really nice.’

  Aerin must have had a furious look on her face, because Tori stood and clenched her fists. ‘I’ll kill those bitches,’ she growled, starting into the next room.

  ‘Tori, no,’ Aerin said weakly, following her.

  They walked through the archway and ambushed Brooklyn Landers and Frances Hamilton, two sophomores Aerin didn’t even know, sitting on a long couch, gin and tonics in hand. Tori walked straight up to them. ‘You want to say that again to her face?’

  The girls turned pale at the sight of Aerin. Frances grabbed Brooklyn’s hand, and the two of them scuttled into the powder room and shut the door behind them. Tori looked at her. ‘Want me to shove a broomstick in the door so they’re stuck in there?’

  ‘That’s okay,’ Aerin said, feeling as if she’d had six beers instead of just the one. Lobbing her empty can into the trash, she gestured to Amanda and Tori that she needed a second alone and wandered to the covered back porch. She slumped down in an Adirondack chair and stared blankly at the woods.

  If she was really honest with herself, she saw Frances’s point. Why would Mr. Ingram kill Helena? Maybe Helena had given him an ultimatum? It had also come out that Mr. Ingram sometimes smoked pot – maybe he and Helena had smoked together. Maybe they’d gotten into harder stuff, too, had Loren deliver them pills, something that made them crazy.

  Her thoughts clicked back to the comment Helena had made about things being under wraps between her and Aerin. That app had seemed like such a good lead – it had all added up. Maybe Helena had downloaded it somewhere, just not on her phone? If that was true, though, had Helena been trying to say that Aerin should download it, too? If only Helena had downloaded it for her that last day. She’d been using Aerin’s phone after all, checking the weather, seeing if it was going to snow more.

  A light went on in her brain. Wait. What if Helena had downloaded it?

  She must have gasped, because Chase Grier, a sarcastic varsity soccer player who was scooping ice cubes out of a big bucket nearby, turned and gave her a strange look. ‘You okay?’

  Aerin’s mind was thundering fast, but she managed to nod. ‘Fine.’

  Chase didn’t move. All at once, she felt too visible. She darted around the side of the guesthouse, her shoes sinking into the wet grass. Once alone, she wrestled her phone out of her evening bag and clicked on the App Store. Then she heard a noise in the darkness. She raised her head, vision unfocused. A shadow lurked a few feet away, backlit by a spotlight.

  ‘Hey!’ she screamed out as the figure began to approach.

  ‘Aerin, it’s me!’ called a voice. ‘What are you doing out here? Peeing?’

  The figure stepped out of the light. It was Madison, resplendent in a candy-pink gown, her long black hair blow-dried ruler-straight. Aerin had completely forgotten Madison was coming to this. And then she realized – Madison was exactly the girl she needed.

  She pulled her closer, her heart beating fast. ‘I have something to show you,’ she said excitedly. ‘Something you definitely need to see.’

  Madison was even more paranoid than Aerin was, so she grabbed Aerin’s hand and led her through a footpath into the woods behind the Morgenthaus’ property. The rain was finally stopping, but the trees and plants were covered with dew and smelled moldy. Aerin could feel the end of her dress getting soaked in the mud, but she didn’t really give a shit.

  She told Madison what she’d figured out. ‘I thought about the Under Wraps app. Helena didn’t load it on her phone – she loaded it on mine.’

  Madison shifted her weight. ‘Why would she do that?’

  ‘Because the police wouldn’t look on my phone for clues about her. She could communicate with Mr. Ingram and no one would know. Helena was always misplacing her phone – or pretending to, anyway. She was always borrowing mine to do little things like check the weather or send a text. Now that I think of it, it happened daily. But she wasn’t just checking the weather – she was on Under Wraps, talking to Mr. Ingram.’

  ‘Okay,’ Madison drawled. ‘But why didn’t you ever notice the app?’

  ‘Because it was probably hidden in a folder, like Maddox said. But just now, I went to the App Store and tried to download it. Apple told me it was already on my cloud, which means someone already bought it for me, on an old phone. I definitely never bought it. It had to be Helena.’ She tapped her screen to light it up again. ‘I’m downloading it on this phone now. I need you to show me how to use it, though.’

  ‘Sure,’ Madison said, sounding impressed.

  A few seconds later, the icon for Under Wraps, a commingled U and W, appeared on the screen. With shaking fingers, Aerin clicked on it. Welcome back, SamuraiGirl0930. That must have been Helena’s username.

  A password prompt appeared. Aerin’s fingers hovered over the keyboard. ‘Skip?’ she said aloud, typing it in. Wrong, red words on the app. She tried Scoops, bands Helena liked, even Kevin. And then, her stomach turning, she typed in HelenaIngram. Welcome, a message said.

  ‘We’re in,’ she whispered.

  A cheerful jingle played, then a navigation screen appeared. A bar on the right-hand side showed icons for Received Messages, Sent Messages, Compose New, and Tell the World. Madison clicked on Sent Messages. ‘Let’s see what she was talking about.’

  A bunch of files loaded. The posts reminded Aerin of Instagram: first a picture, then a caption. Madison scrolled to the oldest message at the bottom of the list and opened it. A selfie of Helena sitting on her bed appeared – the room’s decor exactly the same as it was now. Aerin reached out to touch the image on the screen. Helena seemed so alive.

  I can’t believe I’m really thinking about doing this, read the caption. Nothing more. Madison tapped a button that said More Info. Data popped up on the screen. ‘Only one account received this message,’ Madison explained. ‘HAR1972.’

  ‘Do you think that’s Ingram?’ Aerin whispered.

  ‘Who else could it be?’

  There was a lump in Aerin’s throat as she scrolled through more of Helena’s messages. In the next one, Helena had taken a photo of herself in her bathroom mirror. She was wearing a tank top and gym shorts that showed off her long legs. All I think about is you, read the caption – again, just to that one account. Others described how she dreamed about him at night, how she was so excited that they
were together, or how all she thought about was their last meeting.

  ‘These are from the summer and the fall,’ Madison reported, checking the time stamps. Then she clicked on a message halfway through the list. It was another selfie of Helena once again sitting on her bed, wearing a familiar purple sweater, a white overcoat, and that famous brown fedora. She had a determined look in her eye. I’m ready, the caption read.

  ‘This is from the day she disappeared,’ Madison murmured.

  But it wasn’t the last message Helena sent. Next was an image of a red rose with the words Miss you. The date was from a week later. Then came a picture of a kitten batting an alarm clock accompanied by Counting the minutes until you’re back. December 18. Aerin breathed in. So Seneca had been right. Helena had lived after that fateful day in December.

  Red-and-white candy cane stripes served as the background for Merry Xmas to us; the date the message had been sent was December 26. Aerin bit down hard on her lip. Christmas. There were a few messages, too, that weren’t sent to Ingram’s account – weren’t sent to anyone. Are you there? one said. And, Don’t think I’m not thinking about you. And then, I miss you, Aerie. But don’t worry. I’ll be back soon. February 2, to be exact – Groundhog Day!

  Aerin’s heart stopped. Helena sometimes called her Aerie. So she had been trying to speak to her through this? And had Skip been telling the truth – they really were going to come back to Dexby? He was really going to leave his wife?

  The only missive that featured Helena’s photo after she vanished was the very last one on the list. It was a close-up of Helena’s face, her eyes wide, her lips stuck out in a pout, her hair longer and shaggier. It was hard to tell where she was – the photo was heavily filtered, the background blurred-out – but she looked sad, not scared. It’ll be okay. It went to Mr. Ingram.

  Madison pointed to it. ‘What will be okay?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Aerin murmured.

  Madison exited out of the sent messages and clicked on Received Messages in the navigation bar. Tons of images loaded from the same HAR1972 account. None of them were selfies of Mr. Ingram – thank God; Aerin didn’t think she could bear seeing his face – instead, the messages were superimposed over plain backgrounds or stock images. The first message was from early summer that same year. I’m so happy, too, he’d written. The next one: You were so pretty this afternoon. The next: Thinking of you. Aerin squirmed. Helena fell for this?

  As it got closer to the date of Helena’s disappearance, Mr. Ingram wrote things like, I know this is hard for you. I will support anything you choose. And, I will love you always. And, So excited about our future.

  Madison made a sniffing sound. ‘This doesn’t sound like a man who plans to kill his girlfriend.’

  ‘Seriously,’ Aerin murmured. She scrolled on. In early January, four weeks after Helena disappeared, he wrote, I’m ready to leave her. She looked up. ‘Marissa?’ She tried to remember Marissa’s attitude around this time – could she have known?

  ‘Check this out,’ Madison said, scrolling up. The next message was dated January 24. There was no picture, only a blank screen. For a caption, Mr. Ingram had written, I’m worried about her. Afraid she’ll do something crazy.

  January 24 was the date Helena had written It’ll be okay. Aerin clicked back to Helena’s composed messages, but the one on the 24th was her last. ‘Do you think this is when she …?’

  Madison raised her eyebrows. ‘That’s about when Loren reached out to her, too. If he’s telling the truth, she wasn’t calling him back. Something could have happened to her.’

  Aerin clicked back to Helena’s received messages, expecting not to see any more from Mr. Ingram, either, but his next note to Helena was on January 30. Please come back. There was another on February 2. Today was supposed to be the day. Why are you doing this? February 6: I will always love you. Wherever you’ve gone, whatever you need to do, it’s okay. February 8: Just tell me where you are. I’m worried.

  Aerin gripped her kneecap. ‘What is he talking about? Why doesn’t he know where she is?’

  ‘Could she have run away from the Dakota?’ Madison asked. ‘Skipped town?’

  ‘Blood was found in the apartment, remember? The detectives are pretty sure it’s going to match her type.’ But Aerin understood her question. ‘Why would Ingram write to Helena if he knew she was dead? Maybe he was just covering his tracks in case the cops ran across this?’

  Madison wrinkled her nose. ‘On a super-secret app?’

  ‘So then what’s the other option? That he really didn’t know where she was?’

  Madison’s eyes widened. ‘Do you think she had a key to his place in the city?’

  ‘Who?’ Aerin asked. ‘Helena?’

  Madison shook her head. She pulled up the earlier message from Mr. Ingram again: I’m worried about her. Afraid she’ll do something crazy. When Aerin met Madison’s gaze, a cold, still silence settled inside her, a gnawing sense of uncertainty gone. ‘Marissa,’ she whispered.

  Madison nodded, then glanced toward the Morgenthau Estate. Color drained from her face. ‘Speak of the devil,’ she whispered, gesturing to a limo in the driveway. A door opened, and Aerin watched as an emaciated, black-haired woman wearing a long lace gown and dripping in diamonds stepped out and posed for pictures.

  Holy shit, Aerin thought. That bitch was here.

  CHAPTER 34

  Maddox sat in the dark on his front porch, feeling his phone vibrate in his palms. Catherine, read the screen. He squeezed his phone, tempted to chuck it into the trees.

  An hour ago, he’d shown up at the track and blurted out a speech about how he wasn’t going to let Catherine control him, blah, blah, blah. Catherine’s eyes had gotten very big and watery, and she’d turned around and fled to her office. And what was Maddox supposed to do, not follow her?

  Actually, in retrospect, maybe that would have been a good move.

  In her office, Catherine had sat on her desk, taking deep breaths. But when she’d looked up at him, her features had morphed. ‘Fine,’ she’d said in a composed voice. She’d whipped out her phone and dialed a number. ‘Can I speak to Coach Leventhal, please?’ she’d said after a pause.

  Maddox’s heart had flipped. Leventhal was the Oregon coach. She was really going to do it.

  Catherine glanced at him, an eyebrow raised as if to say, Still time to back out! But he’d shakily stood. ‘Go ahead,’ he’d said in an even voice, turning to go. ‘I don’t care.’

  He’d started to walk out of the office but felt a hand on his wrist. ‘Maddox!’ Catherine had cried, dropping the phone, spinning him around, and planting a kiss on his lips. Before he could fight her off, Seneca had appeared … and seen everything. Seen, and assumed, of course, that he was a big, fat asshole.

  And then that stuff about Catherine being Helena’s jealous rival? Maddox hadn’t remembered ever seeing Catherine at Helena’s house … but then, maybe she wouldn’t have been there. She obviously didn’t want him to know who she was, though: Maddox suddenly recalled, very distinctly, mentioning Helena during their second practice session, on the anniversary of her disappearance. ‘Did you know her?’ he’d asked Catherine, and she’d gotten a vague look in her eye and shaken her head no.

  His phone stopped, then rang again. Maddox contemplated slamming it on the front walk, but then noticed a different name on the screen. Madison. Jesus. Had she heard about the disaster with Seneca? He wasn’t ready for another lecture.

  He heard an engine growl and looked up. A yellow taxi had pulled up to the curb, and Seneca was climbing out, along with Brett. Maddox stared down at the ringing phone and hit the ANSWER button. ‘Madison, why is Seneca at our house?’

  ‘Because I called her,’ Madison answered in a hurried tone. ‘I told her to get you so you could all come here together.’

  ‘Come where?’

  ‘The Easter Bunny party.’

  Maddox blinked. He’d totally forgotten that was happening.

>   Madison started talking a mile a minute. ‘You know how we thought it was Skip Ingram? Well, it’s not – it’s Marissa – because we hacked into Helena’s Under Wraps account and found all these messages from Skip and Helena and at the end he says he’s worried about someone, and that was totally Marissa, and it all makes sense!’

  ‘Wait,’ Maddox said. By now, Seneca and Brett were coming up the walk. Brett was pale and worried-looking, his hands balled into fists. Seneca was studying something on her phone and shaking her head.

  He let the words Madison had just said wash over him. Marissa Ingram? It did sort of fit. If she’d found out about Helena, she’d certainly have motive. And maybe she’d been the person who was trying to get rid of them, too. He’d thought that mugger in New York was a woman …

  The images of Skip Ingram on the news flashed in his mind. ‘We put the wrong person in jail?’

  ‘Yes,’ Seneca snapped angrily, clomping up the walk and grabbing Maddox’s phone from him. ‘Is she still missing?’ she spoke into the receiver. There was a pause. ‘Okay, okay. Well, keep looking. We’ll be there soon.’

  She hung up and handed the phone back to him, pointedly not meeting Maddox’s eye. ‘I knew there was something wrong about Skip Ingram. I knew it.’

  Brett touched Maddox’s arm. ‘Once Madison and Aerin realized it was Marissa, they noticed her at the party,’ he explained. ‘And then, before Madison could stop her, Aerin took off after Marissa. Madison tried to catch Aerin, but she got lost in the crowd.’

  ‘Aerin’s a ticking time bomb,’ Seneca said shortly. ‘We need to stop her before she says something crazy to Marissa that lets her know we know.’ She blew her bangs off her face. ‘I can’t believe Marissa would show up there, after everything that happened today. She’s got balls of steel.’ She gestured to the taxi, which was still waiting at the curb.