If At First (Crimson Cove Mysteries Book 1)

by Tara Brown

  I started to feel hot.

  “Gerry left a message on Henning’s cell phone, saying he was going to kill him if he saw him again. And I might have sent some texts to that effect. We were both just so furious. Neither of us meant it. I mean, he cost us millions. We were livid.”

  I swallowed hard. “Oh no.”

  “Oh no is right.” He nodded. “Henning’s cell phone is missing now. Gerry messaged Vincent and asked him to check the body for a cell phone but Henning’s phone is gone.”

  I remembered that. I had seen Vincent give a quick look for his cell phone. He’d said it was to see who Mr. Henning had called last, in case the killer was a contact or an appointment. “The killer has it?”

  He nodded as he walked to me. “It would seem. It’s not at the house, his office, or on his body. We checked the car. We can’t find it. Clearly, he was killed to make us look guilty, maybe for cleaning up the whole Rachel thing. Maybe whoever killed her wanted you girls to hang for it.”

  I shivered. “Dad, I’m so sorry. I should have cleaned it up myself.”

  He shook his head. “No. Don't be sorry you called me—ever. You don't know what the world looks like, not the real one. You and your friends have no idea how hard it is to stay on top.” The comment was weird. He leaned in and kissed my forehead. “Your friends have left, except Lainey obviously. She went up to sleep with Mazy and that damned cat. Lainey doesn't seem like she’s doing very well. Which makes sense. They are all scared and shaken up. I suggested you girls spend the rest of the summer lying low or out of the country. Vincent said his mother has some spare rooms—”

  “I want to stay here. If I leave I might never be able to come back.” And fear would rule my life.

  He appeared defeated but he cocked an eyebrow. “If this gets even a fraction more out of hand, you are going to boarding school in Switzerland.”

  “Okay.” I cringed. I walked out of the games room and met with Vincent in the hallway. “I’m not leaving here. Stop giving my dad ideas.”

  He looked like he might argue. His green eyes were hard and determined, but I shook my head. He sighed and took my hand in his, lifting it and kissing my palm.

  “Want to go watch a movie in my room?” I asked. “That's lying low, and I don't think I can sleep anyway. I still feel weird. A movie is a good way to ignore everything.”

  He nodded. “All right. But I require things for movies—snacks and such.”

  I led him down the hallway to the kitchen to get a snack. My dad shouted after us. “Theatre room is much better for movies, Linds.”

  I smiled, liking where that was going. My dad was being a dad, and I was trying to sneak my boyfriend into my room. It was the most normal moment I’d had in a week, or all summer.

  We grabbed candy, chips, and sodas and headed for the movie room. I flicked on Netflix and started scanning, looking for a comedy. Selecting Austenland, I grinned at Vincent’s scowl. “This is an actual movie? Someone made this? Are you being serious?” He sighed.

  “It’s very funny. More comedy than chick flick. I swear.”

  “I feel like that’s a giant lie.” He groaned, defeated as I snuggled into him in the oversized armchair. He looked down on me, still appearing rather stern. “But I get to pick the next one.”

  “Deal.” I turned the movie on just as my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out, wincing when I saw the group chat was going again. I opened my texts and froze, seeing the new comment from Rachel.

  Any of you bitches try telling anyone including the police anything that’s going on from this point forward, you lose a parent. Mr. Henning was just the beginning. We dance for our dinners here, ladies, you just don't know that yet. So let’s play a game. You stop trying to guess who I am and start trying to guess who I am going to kill next. You have one week to prevent a death. I’ll give you a hint. There is a pattern. Night, night, bitches. Sleep tight. Don’t forget to cry yourselves to sleep tonight.

  I angled the phone so Vincent could read it as I had a small panic attack and tried not to hyperventilate again.

  “Oh shit,” he whispered. “They were listening outside the sunroom? Or maybe they bugged it?”

  I nodded and we both glanced around the room nervously.

  “This is just the beginning,” I whispered back.

  Epilogue

  A killing I will go

  I pressed send on the text and grinned, sitting back in my chair. Those five bitches were going to pay for every little thing. I lifted Henning’s phone and played the message one more time. Mr. Allen was so crazed for a friendly realtor. His true colors were vibrant and spicy. “Henning, you son of a bitch. I will kill you for this. Do you hear me? I will kill you. You are going to be nothing but a bum in a suit when I am done with you. This isn’t over, buddy. This is just starting.”

  I laughed and turned it off. People were so easy to predict.

  Getting up, I paced around the attic, listening as the Blacks’ movers packed their house below me. I had a week left in the house before the new people took ownership of it. There still wasn't any word of whether or not they were planning on living in it, or if they just wanted to own it and wait for the market to come up so they could sell and make some cash.

  It meant I had a week to find out if I was packing up everything.

  I turned in a circle, proud of the systematic spread of spider web-styled planning I had before me. I imagined it was the way a writer planned a book: a picture of a face with facts below them and lines connecting them to the other people.

  Only my lines were weaknesses.

  My lines were the strings holding up the puppets, the marionettes who danced for me.

  The six girls were the center of the spider web. The lines from them all would be my way of dangling each of them until they died, strangled in the lines.

  A slow smile spread across my lips as I glanced at the face of Rachel Swanson with the giant red X across her photo.

  She was my best work yet, but I knew I could do better.

  The End

  The mystery continues in Second Nature.

  Third Time’s a Charm to be released spring 2016.

  If you liked the comedy and romance in this book, check out White Girl Problems, here!

  If you liked the suspense and want something a little scarier, check out The Seventh Day, here!