The Night Olivia Fell

by Christina McDonald

  “Abi!” Her eyes darted between Anthony and me, and she gave me a quick, one-armed hug. She smelled like baby-powder deodorant and something sharper, the stale stink of cigarette smoke.

  “Why don’t you come in out of the rain?” she said.

  She was trying to sound glad to see me, but I knew she wasn’t. I’d brought my tragedy to her door. An acerbic anger sliced through me, burning away my ability to be intimidated. In its place was a brazen sort of courage, the sense that for the first time in my life, I didn’t give a fuck what Jen Stokes thought of me.

  “Good evening, Mrs. Stokes,” Anthony said. “I’m Anthony Bryant. I work with the Seattle Police Department. We’d like to ask your children a few questions.”

  Jen paled. “The Seattle Police Department?” Her eyebrows scrunched.

  “Yes, we’re looking into Olivia’s case.”

  “Olivia’s case?” she asked faintly.

  “We’re following up on a few things,” Anthony replied.

  “Mom?” I heard Madison’s voice. “Who is it?”

  Jen exhaled loudly. “Derek isn’t here, but Madison’s watching TV.”

  She fixed me with a look that told me then and there our friendship would never be the same. “I know things are really difficult for you, Abi, but please don’t drag my children into this. They don’t need to suffer too.”

  I drew back, stung. I hadn’t spoken to Madison or Derek since—

  My mind tripped and froze.

  Derek.

  Could the mysterious D on Olivia’s phone be Derek?

  My stomach tightened. Before I could reply, Jen turned on her heel, heading through the living room to the den, where Madison was slumped on the couch watching a rerun of Game of Thrones. Madison’s eyes were bloodshot, as if she hadn’t stopped crying in weeks. Her dark hair was a bird’s nest of tangles. She bit a corner of her mouth that was already ragged and bloody and stared at me, her eyes fathomless pits of despair.

  Anthony moved past Jen to sit on the couch next to Madison, while I leaned against the wall by the TV and watched them.

  “Hello, Madison,” he said. “I’d like to talk to you about Olivia.”

  “Sure.” Madison looked at her mother, but picked up the remote and turned the TV off.

  “Did Olivia seem different at all, upset about anything, before she fell?”

  “No. She seemed fine.”

  “Okay. Did she tell you about the picture messages she was getting?”

  “Messages? I saw one psycho one, that’s it.”

  “When was that?”

  “Dunno. June?”

  “Did she say who she thought it was from?”

  Madison shook her head. “No. It was more like, you know, a joke. It wasn’t a big deal. Just somebody at school messing around. She never said anything about it again. . . .” Her voice trailed off.

  “What about Tyler? Where was he the night Olivia fell?”

  “At the barbecue.”

  “The whole night?”

  “Yeah. I mean, he didn’t get here till, like, ten. But, yeah, he was there.”

  “Why weren’t you and Olivia speaking?”

  Madison pressed her lips together and picked at a tiny piece of skin on her thumb. After a second the bit of skin broke loose from her thumb, and I watched as a drop of blood oozed from the nail. She brought her finger to her mouth, sucked the blood away.

  “This is important, Madison. Not telling us makes it look like you’re hiding something.”

  Something played across her face, a pull of regret, maybe sadness, but she didn’t answer. She just kept pulling at that hangnail, watching as more and more blood rolled along the crease of her fingers, pooling in the palm of her hand.

  Anthony narrowed his eyes at her and changed tactics. “What is your relationship with Olivia?”

  Her chin jerked up and her eyes widened. She looked startled by the question. “What do you mean? We’re friends. Best friends.”

  “More than friends?”

  “Jesus Christ!” Jen exclaimed. She pushed herself away from the door and crossed in two angry strides to stand like an enraged bull next to Anthony. “I’ve had just about enough.”

  Madison started to shake. “No,” she breathed. “No way! It wasn’t like that with us.”

  Anthony ignored Jen. “Okay.” He changed direction fast. “But your brother, now, he was maybe more than friends with her. How did you feel about that?”

  Madison stared at him defiantly, her jaw thrust out, her lip quivering slightly.

  Anthony leaned toward her so he was directly in Madison’s face.

  “Did you push Olivia off that bridge?” His eyes blazed, his voice harsh.

  “That’s enough!” Jen roared. “You need to go. Now!”

  Anthony ignored her. He kept his eyes fixed on Madison, whose face crumpled as she started to sob.

  “No!” Madison cried, ignoring her mother. “No, I would never hurt Olivia. She’s my best friend, okay? Fine, yes, we had a fight and we weren’t talking, but it wasn’t forever or anything. We would’ve made up!”

  “Stop this now!” Jen shouted. “Or I’ll call my lawyer.”

  “No, Mom, it’s okay,” Madison said. She sniffed and shook her head. “If somebody hurt Olivia, I want to help.”

  “Why did you and Olivia fight?” I took over, playing good cop.

  “Because.” Madison’s eyes were shiny with tears, little drops of agony pouring from her eyes. “Because she lied to me about Derek. She never told me she was with him. I mean, she lied to everybody about everything. Even you.”

  She pinned me with a look that somehow conveyed both her disgust and her pity. “You thought she was such a good little girl, going to school, going to swimming, then straight home to do her homework. But she fooled you. Every day, right under your nose, she was here fucking my brother.”

  “What are you talking about?” I whispered.

  Madison laughed harshly. “She hated your rules. She just didn’t have the guts to tell you. She was tired of being a good girl. Did you know she quit swimming? And she quit her job volunteering at the nursing home before she even started? It was easier to lie. And I thought it was fine until she lied to me too. That was the last straw.”

  “Did you know she was pregnant?” Anthony asked.

  “No.” Madison shook her head, her lank, unwashed hair swinging around her face. “I swear I didn’t. All I knew was she chose Derek over me, and I hated it. I felt . . . betrayed by her. But I didn’t hurt her. I swear. Last time I saw her, she was walking home.”

  Anthony’s phone rang just then and he stood quickly.

  “Excuse me. I have to take this.”

  He stepped into the hallway, and Madison eyed me warily.

  “Did she tell you about Gavin?” I asked.

  “Who?” Madison looked confused.

  “Her dad.”

  “No. What are you talking about?”

  I struggled to process that. Olivia hadn’t even told her best friend about finding her dad. Maybe it wasn’t just me she’d closed herself off to in her final months.

  “If there’s anything you can remember—”

  Jen interrupted again; her cold tone matched the look in her eyes. “She’s already told you everything she knows, Abi. I think it’s time you left.”

  “Abi?” Anthony said from the door. His eyes looked tense, strained. “Ready to go?”

  In the car Anthony buckled his seat belt, his mouth pinched angrily.

  “That was the Seattle chief of police,” he said. “He’s just asked me to meet him in his office tomorrow.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  Anthony pulled onto the street, the tires spinning against the loose gravel as he punched the gas a little too hard. I glanced in the wing mirror. The downstairs light was on at the Stokeses’ house, and a dark shadow moved across the curtains.

  Derek was home.

  Anthony’s voice, coiled tight as a wire, cut throug
h my disbelief. “He wants to discuss allegations that I’ve been impersonating a police officer.”

  I huffed out the name as if it were a cuss word: “Gavin.”

  “That was my first thought, too.”

  29

  * * *

  OLIVIA

  july

  “Hello?” I pushed open the Stokeses’ front door. I knew Madison was at the beach with Peter—I was meeting them there in a bit—but just in case, I thought I’d better be careful.

  “Down here,” Derek called from his room.

  I walked down the steps, and as I turned the corner, there was Derek holding a pink cake with blazing candles, a party hat tipped at an angle on his head. A goofy smile lit his handsome face.

  “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Olivia, happy birthday to you!” he sang.

  I clapped my hands in delight and ran to him. “You remembered!” I threw myself at him, and he deftly moved the cake out of the way, setting it on the edge of his dresser before I managed to dump it onto the ground.

  “Wait, blow out the candles!” he said, laughing.

  I made a wish—obviously for Derek to be in my life forever—then blew them out in two breaths, which was fine; everybody knew those wishes weren’t real ones.

  Derek leaned down and trapped my lips in a delicious kiss. “How could I forget your birthday?” he murmured against my mouth.

  His breath lifted the hairs of my neck as he trailed kisses from my ear to the hollow of my throat.

  “Here.” He handed me a small, wrapped present. “Open it.”

  I unwrapped the pink paper and lifted the lid on the box. Inside was a tiny silver heart charm with our initials etched on either side.

  “I know you always wear the bracelet your mom got you, so I thought you could add this charm to it.”

  “I love it!”

  I slipped the charm on the bracelet and threw myself at him so we went crashing backward onto the bed. He covered my face with tiny, gentle kisses, his breath warm against my skin. I looked in his eyes and felt like I was dreaming. But I was awake, and he was all I could see.

  He made me feel whole, like there was nothing else I needed.

  He pulled me close, tucked me tight against his chest. I knew I needed to meet Madison at the beach, but I didn’t want to leave yet.

  “I love you,” I whispered, tilting my head to look into his eyes.

  He leaned down and kissed me on the nose. “I love you more.”

  We lay like that for a moment, and something passed between us that I would never forget.

  My future.

  × × ×

  For all my lack of attention to it earlier, the cake was beautiful. It had layers of chocolate cake and a pale pink frosting decorated with pastel balloons. Derek grabbed a wad of toilet paper from the bathroom and we used it as napkins as we ate giant wedges of cake with our bare hands.

  “Toilet paper as a plate,” I joked. “Classy.”

  “Hey.” He laughed, bumping me with his shoulder. “If it means I don’t have to leave your sexy body to run upstairs and get plates and forks, I’m all for it.”

  He swallowed and licked the frosting from his lips. “So, what are your birthday plans today?”

  “Well, I’m meeting Madison and Peter at the beach pretty soon, and then later my mom’s taking me out to dinner at this fancy French restaurant in Seattle.”

  “That’s good. You said you wanted to go somewhere new, right?”

  “Yeah, I’m just surprised ’cause she’s always afraid to go into Seattle. Like it’s this vortex of evil.”

  “What made her change her mind?”

  I shrugged. “Dunno. But the really good news is she finally said I can get my license, so I’ve made an appointment to take my test next week. Yay!” I was so excited I accidentally squealed a little. “Can I practice in your car?”

  “Sure, as long as you don’t crash it!” He elbowed me playfully.

  I threw a pillow at him. “I’m not that bad!”

  Derek ducked and laughed just as my phone rang.

  “Olivia?”

  It was a strong, masculine voice. One I almost recognized but not quite.

  “Yes?”

  “This is Gavin Montgomery.”

  “Oh, hi, Mr. Montgomery.” I looked at Derek, stunned. He moved closer, and I held the phone away from my ear so he could listen too.

  “I wanted to invite you to have lunch with Kendall and me today. I’m sorry I was short with you last week, and I thought lunch would be a perfect opportunity for the three of us to get to know each other a little better.”

  My mind raced. Mom and I wouldn’t go out for my birthday dinner until after she was off work. I’d have to come up with a good lie for why I couldn’t go to the beach, but this was too perfect to miss.

  “Works for me,” I said.

  We arranged to meet at the Black Cat Diner in Laurelwood, and I hung up.

  “Did you hear that?” I squealed. “He wants to meet me! Maybe he’ll tell me the truth now.”

  Derek nodded and chewed a mouthful of cake, his eyes never leaving mine.

  “What?” I wiped at my mouth self-consciously.

  “Nothing.” He shook his head, his eyes gleaming hungrily.

  “Did you hear what I said?”

  “Yeah. We have another hour before we have to go.”

  He reached and pulled me to him, and I smiled.

  30

  * * *

  OLIVIA

  july

  Derek turned the Mustang into the Black Cat’s parking lot and parked at the very back.

  “Should I come in with you?” he asked.

  I hesitated. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to talk to him on my own.”

  Derek bit his cheek, and I could see the struggle playing out across his face. “All right,” he said. “But if you need anything, call me. I’ll wait right here.”

  I nodded, leaned across the console for a kiss, then got out and slammed the car door.

  Inside, the diner was decorated in 1950s décor with black-and-white-checked linoleum and shiny chrome fittings. Candy-red booths lined the perimeter, while high-seated chrome tables filled the center. Pictures of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, and a series of other famous ’50s actors dotted the walls. “I Get Around” by the Beach Boys sang dimly on the speakers. I wanted to laugh out loud.

  A handful of customers were eating burgers dripping with grease and thick, yellow fries. Gavin was already there, sitting in a back corner booth hunched over a steaming cup of coffee. He was wearing a black trench coat with the collar flipped up and a blue Mariners hat pulled low over his forehead. He looked ridiculous.

  Kendall was nowhere to be seen.

  I stopped in the entrance, a sinking feeling twisting in my gut. Suddenly I understood. Kendall wasn’t here, and I’d bet every one of my swim trophies she didn’t even know we were meeting.

  I tossed my bag onto the seat and scooted into the booth so I was facing Gavin. He looked at me, that creepy, wide smile stretched across his mouth. Before he could speak, the waitress came over. She had zits and braces, lanky black hair, and black, loose-fitting clothes under a dirty black work apron. A shadow of disgust passed over Gavin’s face, but he looked away quickly.

  “Just a Coke,” I said, catching her eye and smiling. I hoped she hadn’t seen Gavin’s look. She disappeared and returned with a frothy glass of Coke a minute later.

  “So—” Gavin began.

  “Kendall isn’t here, is she?” I interrupted.

  Gavin looked at me over the rim of his coffee cup as if every person he dealt with was so dumb, and he was so superior, he couldn’t help but be surprised when somebody actually had half a brain cell.

  “No.”

  “You lied to me.”

  He laughed, a dry, horsy sound. “Get used to it. Everybody lies. It’s just a question of degree.”

  “Lies are for cowards and thieves
. I’m neither, so let’s cut the bullshit. Are you my dad?”

  I was done being little miss nice girl. It hadn’t worked so far, and all I wanted was the truth so I could move on with my life. I needed to know why Mom had lied about him.

  Gavin choked on a gulp of coffee and dabbed daintily at his chin.

  “Okay.” He recovered smoothly. “No, of course not. And if we’re dispensing with formalities, I’ll just say I want you to stay away from my daughter. She’s in a very fragile state of recovery right now and I don’t want you upsetting her.”

  “Recovery?”

  Gavin tilted his head and studied me. “Kendall’s a very troubled girl. She had a complete meltdown last year and tried to swallow a bottle of oxycodone. We had to have her committed for her own safety. I’m guessing she never told you?”

  I struggled to keep my face blank. Was he telling the truth? I couldn’t imagine sassy, confident Kendall in a mental hospital, but there was something just slightly . . . unbalanced about her. She was the kind of girl you’d worry would stab you in the back if you took your eye off her for too long.

  “Well, it’s true,” he said. “And then it was rehab and then months of therapy. So all this drama isn’t good for her. I’m afraid it’ll set her off again and she’ll end up right back in the hospital.

  He pulled a checkbook and a pen out of his coat pocket and started writing.

  “Kendall’s on a mission to destroy me,” he continued. He shook his head. “Maybe she’s not getting enough attention, or maybe I spoil her, I don’t know. But right now her mother and I need to take care of her.”

  He pushed the check toward me, but I refused to look at it.

  “You want to pay me to stay away from Kendall?” I said, stunned.

  “If you want to look at it that way, then yes. It’s for Kendall’s own good. And yours.”

  I exhaled, then reached up and pulled my hair back into a messy knot, then crossed my arms over my chest and assessed Gavin.

  “So actually, you’re paying me to disappear so nobody finds out I might be your daughter.”