by Kate Kessler
Audrey frowned. Kendra was paler than usual. Normally the girl took exceptionally good care of herself, but her makeup was smudged and her dark hair was stuck to her forehead by sweat.
“Hi, Kendra. Come in.” She didn’t detect body odor when the girl walked by, so that was at least something. But she sat on the love seat, hugging her hoodie around her like she was cold.
“I didn’t think you’d see me,” Kendra said, playing with the piping on the arm of the sofa. “I thought you’d tell me to fuck off because of Alisha.”
“That wouldn’t be very professional of me.”
“I guess not. It’s what I’d do if I were you, though.”
Audrey managed a smile. “Well, then I guess you’re lucky you’re not me. How are you today, Kendra?”
“I’m okay. Is the AC on in here? It’s cold.”
It actually was on the warm side of comfortable. “There’s a blanket behind you if you want to use it.”
“Thanks.” Slowly, she took it from the back of the sofa and clumsily draped it around herself. Her coordination was crap. The girl had to be stoned.
“Is there anything you want to talk about?”
The girl blinked. “They arrested Luke for Tala’s murder. You probably already know that.”
Audrey nodded. “Yes.”
“I’m not sure how I feel about it.” This was said in an almost singsong voice. “I’m not sure I feel much of anything.” She laughed.
“Kendra, what did you take?”
“Take?” Another slow blink. “Are you accusing me of stealing something?”
“No. What drugs did you take before coming here?”
Her expression turned to baffled indignation—a look Audrey had seen on her drunken father’s face many times during her life. “I didn’t take anything. I’m sober as a judge.” The giggle that followed totally ruined any chance that statement had of being believed.
“I wish the judge I was in front of had been in the same state you are right now.” She wouldn’t have been sent to Stillwater.
Kendra leaned her head against the back of the couch and looked up at the ceiling. Her eyes moved rapidly from side to side as a smile curved her lips. “These tiles are cool.”
Audrey reached for her phone. The girl was sweating profusely now but continued to huddle within the blanket. This wasn’t right, and it wasn’t just a little high. She needed to get some help before this turned nasty.
Kendra hiccuped, and then she was choking. Audrey jumped out of her chair and went to the girl, lifting her head.
Vomit splashed onto the carpet. It just missed Audrey’s shoes.
“Oh, shit,” Kendra whispered. She was like a rag doll beneath Audrey’s hands. A shaking rag doll.
Audrey called 911 and requested an ambulance for a possible drug overdose. Then, making sure Kendra was in a position so she wouldn’t choke if she puked again, she opened the door of her office and calmly asked for a little help. Micheline was the first to rush over. She took one look at Kendra and swore.
“My reaction exactly,” Audrey said. “Can you contact her parents?” She had a number for Elle, but not for Mr. Granger.
Micheline said she would.
Kendra’s eyes rolled upward to meet Audrey’s gaze. “I hurt Tala,” she said. “I hurt her really bad.”
Audrey’s heart kicked. “What did you do, Kendra?”
But she was staring at her own vomit now, her breathing slower than it had been. This, Audrey knew, was not a good sign. When she puked again, Audrey held her hair and wiped her mouth with a tissue. The girl’s eyes were closed.
“Come on, Kendra.” Audrey patted her cheek. “Stay awake.”
When the ambulance arrived, Kendra had passed out despite Audrey’s attempts to keep her lucid. The EMTs loaded her onto a gurney and wheeled her through the office. Audrey went with them. Someone needed to be with the girl. The bell had rung, so there were kids in the corridor as they hurried toward the closest exit.
“Kendra? Ken!” It was Lucy. She ran up to Audrey, her face pale. “What did you do to her?”
Audrey shot her an exasperated glance. “Seriously? Get out of the way, Lucy, and let these people do their job.”
“I want to go with her.”
“You can’t. You don’t have permission to leave school property. I’ll go.”
Lucy looked like she wanted to argue. Hell, she looked like she wanted to take a swing. Audrey stared her down. “I don’t have time for this, and neither does Kendra. Do you know what she took?”
The girl shook her head, staring after the gurney that carried her friend away. “I don’t. Will you take care of her?”
“I will. You should call your mother and get permission to go to the hospital if you want to be there for her.”
“Yeah. Right.”
Then Audrey chased after the EMTs. As she climbed into the ambulance with Kendra, all she could think about was what the girl had said in the office.
“I hurt Tala.” As far as confessions went, it wasn’t much, but happy, lighthearted people didn’t get stoned before a counseling appointment. That was a cry for help from someone burdened—someone who didn’t know what else to do.
As the ambulance tore down the street, Audrey dialed Neve’s number. “Meet me at the hospital,” she said when Neve answered. “Kendra Granger just OD’ed on me, and I think it had to do with Tala.”
“She’s seizing!” one of the EMTs exclaimed as Kendra began to thrash beneath her restraints. Audrey pressed herself into a corner to get out of their way and watched as they tried to quiet the girl. The other EMT said something about respiratory depression and having to get her breathing under control. Apparently her blood pressure was out of whack as well. Audrey wasn’t a medical doctor, but she knew the symptoms of an overdose, and she knew that Kendra’s chances of survival depended on the two people trying really hard to keep her alive.
Audrey hoped they succeeded, because the last thing her community needed was another dead teenager.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
When Neve arrived at the hospital after getting the call about Kendra Granger, the first person she ran into was Audrey.
“What are you doing here?”
Audrey shook her head. “She OD’ed with me.”
“Jesus, woman. It’s like this case wants you neck deep in it.”
“It’s a gift,” came the dry reply. “Of course, the doctors won’t tell me anything.”
“Elle here yet?”
“No.”
“Good.” Neve adjusted her jacket. “Let’s see what the doctors will tell me.”
It took just a few seconds to find a nurse, and then several minutes before she managed to snag a doctor. Downeast wasn’t a huge hospital, and the emergency room saw considerably less action than the ones Neve had seen in New York.
“Have you done a tox screen?” she asked the doctor.
“We’re waiting on the results now.”
Neve nodded. “Check her for GHB. And I need those results as soon as you have them.”
“What are you doing here?”
It was Elle, of course.
Neve turned as the doctor backed up. “I’m here because I’m police, and because I suspect your daughter overdosed.”
“Ridiculous. Kendra doesn’t do drugs.”
The woman was a twit. “Then she was drugged, and I should definitely be involved. I assume you want to talk to her doctor, so I’ll leave you to it.” Neve walked away in search of one of the people who knew everything that went on in the emergency ward—a nurse.
She had briefly dated Ed Delaney when she first moved back to Edgeport. It had been fun but hadn’t lasted long. Ed was looking to indulge his “brown sugar” fantasy and it turned out Neve wasn’t quite black enough for him. Whatever. She stayed friendly with him because it was always good to have a connection at the local hospital.
“GHB?” he asked after she filled him in. “That would explain why the girl’s still
out. Scary shit. I’ll give you a call as soon as I know anything.”
Then Neve went back to Audrey and took her statement. “Was this a professional appointment?”
Audrey nodded. “I didn’t think she’d show up. I knew as soon as I saw her that she was high.”
“Can you tell me what the two of you talked about?”
“It wasn’t much—she wasn’t very coherent.” Audrey frowned. “Neve, she told me she hurt Tala. That she hurt her ‘really bad.’”
Neve paused her writing. “I thought you weren’t going to repeat things you’re told in confidence.”
“That kind of goes out the window when the person’s a danger to themselves or others. I think Kendra might be both.”
“You know, the symptoms she showed have all the signs of a GHB overdose.”
“The date rape drug?”
“One of them. There are, unfortunately, several. We found traces of it in Tala’s remains.”
“If the same person drugged the two girls, it wasn’t Luke.”
“Yeah, I know. Was Lucy around when all this happened at the school?”
“She was, but there was no faking how scared she was.”
“Kendra might have OD’ed on her own.”
“She told me she didn’t know what she’d taken.”
“So maybe she got it from someone.” Neve shook her head. “What kind of stupid kid takes drugs they can’t identify?”
Audrey looked at her. “Seriously? We knew people who did it all the time. Kids are invincible, remember?”
“Kids are fucking idiots,” Neve muttered. “I haven’t heard of GHB being a trend around here, have you?”
“No. Has Lincoln found anything for you?”
“Not yet. I’ll check in with him later. Right now, I think I should go upstairs and talk to Luke.”
“You think he was set up?”
“I’m not sure he’s entirely innocent, but I don’t think he’s dumb enough to leave the knife for us to find like that. Plus, Alisha said he wouldn’t want to harm the rest of his collection.”
“And he was with her the night Tala disappeared.”
“I wish we had a more conclusive time of death.” Neve pursed her lips. “C’mon, Audrey. Put that juicy brain of yours to work. What am I missing?”
“This wasn’t a hate crime. I mean, hate might have been a motivation, but it was much more personal. It was someone Tala knew. It’s also someone with access to Luke’s house, who knew about his collection.”
“Someone who doesn’t care if he takes the fall.”
“Someone who wants to punish him.” Audrey turned to her. “Sounds like Kendra.”
“And then she OD’s for sympathy—or to throw suspicion off herself.”
“She’s shown a tendency toward violence.”
Neve made a face. “The girl’s a fucking mess—between you and me. Come with me to Luke’s room. You can make Linda chill while I talk to Luke.”
“You’re using me for my family connection.” It was said with more amusement than anything else.
“I also want you looking for any clues in the way Luke acts or what he says.” Neve’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She checked the text. “It’s from Vickie. Luke’s blood type doesn’t match the secondary sample we found on the glove at the scene.”
“But you confirmed the first was Tala’s?”
“Yes. And Mrs. Lewis confirmed the glove was hers as well.”
“It was a plain glove. Was it marked in some way?”
“Mrs. Lewis had a matching pair. She sewed little purple felt dots in the inside of Tala’s so they wouldn’t get mixed up.”
“God love super-organized mothers.”
“I know, right? Mine was like that with the boys, but no so much with me.”
“I guess she never had to worry about mistaking your stuff for theirs.” Audrey’s smile faded. “Here comes Elle. Let’s go before she says something that makes me want to punch her.”
The two of them headed toward the elevator and stepped in just as Elle reached the waiting area. She shot them both daggers with her red-rimmed eyes.
“She’s such a bitch I can’t even feel sorry for her,” Audrey remarked as the doors closed.
“She asked me if I was going after her kids because they were white.”
“Fuck off.”
“God’s truth. I thought I was going to stroke out.” A thought struck her as the elevator rose. “Audrey, could that poor girl have been killed over a damn boy?”
“Yes.”
“At least Bailey had a good reason.”
“Speaking of Bailey . . .”
Neve shook her head. “Gideon’s talking about moving if she gets out. She doesn’t want to come back here.”
She could feel Audrey’s gaze boring into her. “What does that mean for you?”
“I’ve been thinking about leaving myself.”
“Really?”
“I’m putting in an application with the FBI.”
Audrey’s silence was proof of her surprise. The woman never stayed quiet for long. “Good for you.”
They got off the elevator on Luke Pelletier’s floor and walked down the corridor shoulder to shoulder. Neve nodded at the cop by the door. Linda looked up from the chair where she was sitting when they walked in. Her expression brightened when she saw Audrey, then darkened when she saw Neve.
“What’s going on?” She asked.
“Good afternoon, Linda,” Neve said. “I need to talk to Luke. I thought you both might feel more comfortable with Audrey here.”
Linda looked suspicious. “Haven’t you done enough?”
Really, this being perceived as the perpetual bad guy was getting tiring. “Linda, I believe someone put that knife in Luke’s things. And I believe it was someone he knows. I also need to verify his whereabouts for the night Tala disappeared.”
Linda didn’t seem to know how to react to that—if she should be relieved or angry. “Fine, but I’m staying in the room.”
“Of course.” Neve approached the boy handcuffed to the hospital bed. “How are you feeling, Luke? You’re looking better.”
“I’m okay,” he replied. “Is it true Kendra OD’ed?”
She really shouldn’t be surprised he’d already heard. “Who told you that?”
“It’s all over Twitter.”
“I guess it’s true, then. Luke, who has had access to your bedroom since February?”
He frowned. “You mean, who’s been in it?”
“Yeah. Other than you and your family.”
“My friend Scott. Alisha. Lucy and Kendra. Those are the only people who have ever come over to the house.”
“Have you ever left any of them alone in your room?”
“Sure. Not for long, but yeah.”
Neve nodded. Three out of those four were girls who had also known Tala and had been sexually intimate with Luke. Didn’t narrow it down much, although why would Alisha give him an alibi only to set him up?
“Luke, I spoke to Alisha. She told me where you were the night Tala disappeared.”
The kid’s eyes widened. “She did?”
Suddenly, his mother was right there. “What does that mean? Luke?”
Neve turned to Linda. “Alisha says Luke was with her that night.” Her focus shifted to Luke. “Is that true?”
He nodded. “We were at her place. She said…we agreed to keep it a secret.”
“Apparently she figured it was worth telling if it helped keep you out of jail.”
“You should have been dating that sweet girl all along,” Linda told him. “She’s been a good and loyal friend to you, and never once has she tried playing head games like those other three.”
“Three?” Neve asked.
“Kendra, Lucy, and Tala. All three of them were so much drama. So demanding and jealous. One night at our house Tala pitched a fit because Kendra called while she was there. She told Luke he had to choose.”
Neve star
ed at her. For a woman known for her skills as a gossip, Linda sure had been withholding. “When did this happen?”
Linda frowned. “Late January?”
“It was February fourth,” Luke reminded her. “My birthday.”
“Tala was upset that Kendra called on your birthday?”
She thought the boy blushed, but it was hard to tell with the bruising on his face. “She had wanted that night to be the night we…you know.” He swallowed. “She said Kendra ruined the mood.”
His mother’s mouth dropped open. “Tell me you didn’t answer your phone while you and Tala were . . .”
“Mom! No. I’m not an asshole. I wouldn’t have answered at all. It was after dinner—when you and Dad went to the movie.”
Linda glanced at Neve. “I thought they deserved a little time alone.”
“Anyway, Kendra called. Tala got mad and I told her there wasn’t a choice—that I chose her.”
“Smart man,” Audrey commented from behind Neve.
“Not that smart,” Luke said, his tone dry as sand. “Tala told Kendra what I said the next day.”
“Girls,” the three women in the room chorused.
“Yeah,” Luke agreed. “It was at Big Al’s Pizza. There was a big fight and Lucy tried to break it up, but then she started yelling at Tala. That’s when Alisha arrived—we were all meeting for my birthday. She and I sat at another table. She was nice and calm. She thought it was stupid that they were fighting too.”
“And that’s when your feelings for her started to change,” Audrey interjected.
Luke nodded. “Yeah. She’s not like the other girls.”
“She certainly is not,” his mother agreed. “And that’s why you are going to apologize to her for using her like that.”
“It wasn’t like that!” he protested. “When we heard about Tala…well, we figured it would make us both look bad. And Alisha didn’t want to be a rebound girl. She told me to figure it out, and that she’d be around. I haven’t looked at another girl since. I haven’t wanted another girl. If Tala hadn’t disappeared, Lish and I would be dating.”
“None of this has been about Tala.” Audrey spoke up, coming to stand beside Neve. “It’s all been about Luke.”
Neve turned her head. “It had nothing to do with Tala.”