Evilly Amused

by Marlowe Blue

  Table of Contents

  1. 1

  The Present. 1

  2. 1

  Two Months Ago. 1

  3. 1

  4. 1

  5. 1

  6. 1

  A Year Ago. 1

  7. 1

  8. 1

  Four Weeks Ago. 1

  9. 1

  Three Weeks Ago. 1

  10. 1

  11. 1

  12. 1

  Two Years Ago. 1

  13. 1

  14. 1

  15. 1

  16. 1

  17. 1

  18. 1

  19. 1

  20. 1

  21. 1

  22. 1

  23. 1

  24. 1

  25. 1

  Evilly Amused

  (A Twisted Rose Mystery Novel)

  Marlowe Blue

  Contact me. I’d love to hear from you!

  blue@marlowewrites.com

  Twitter: @marlowewrites

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used factiously.

  Copyright © 2016 by Marlowe Blue (pen name for Tiffany Nicole Smith). All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be copied or reproduced in any matter whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Printed in the United States of America.

  Cover design by: Fantasia Book Cover Designs

  Evilly Amused

  Marlowe Blue

  Table of Contents

  Contents

  1

  The Present

  2

  Two Months Ago

  3

  The Present

  4

  Two Months Ago

  5

  The Present

  6

  A Year Ago

  7

  The Present

  8

  Four Weeks Ago

  9

  Three Weeks Ago

  10

  Four Weeks Ago

  11

  The Present

  12

  Two Years Ago

  13

  The Present

  14

  The Present

  15

  The Present

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  1

  The Present

  My best friend’s house was only a block away. The streetlights cast distorted shadows on the streets, still slick from the passing rain. What had I been thinking taking a walk at half past eleven? Dad had given me lecture after lecture on the dangers of teenage girls wandering alone at night.

  My throat was so dry I could barely swallow and my thighs cramped with soreness as if I’d just finished an intense workout. My clothes weighed heavily on my body. Strangely, my tongue was numb and my head felt lighter than usual. I needed to sit down. Sirens blared from somewhere nearby while red and blue flashing lights clashed with the darkness.

  I could stop at Morgan’s for a drink of water and rest for a few minutes before continuing home. The Thorne house was my second home so they wouldn’t mind a short visit even though it was late.

  Despite the time, the porch was lit. Bright yellow illuminated the kitchen windows. Mrs. Thorne answered the door a few seconds after I rang the doorbell. Her brown curls were pulled back into the messy braid she always wore to bed. The long pink night gown Morgan had given her for Christmas fit her a little too snugly. I remembered picking it out because Morgan had been taking forever to make a decision. I’d underestimated Mrs. Thorne’s size, but she had refused to return the ill-fitting garment.

  She gazed at me with wide copper-colored eyes. “Oh, Lela.”

  I was seeing double. Two Mrs. Thornes stood before me. I blinked a few times and the two women merged into one. “Hi, Mrs. Thorne. I was out for a walk . . . I’m not feeling too good and thought I’d stop by for a drink of water since you guys are still up.”

  Her mouth hung open as she stood there. I waited for her to move out of the way and let me in, but she blocked the doorway.

  I moved forward and she hopped out of the way like a skittish bunny.

  Morgan stood at the microwave wearing an oversized t-shirt, her long chocolate tresses pulled into a messy bun. She removed a fresh bag of popcorn. “Oh, hey, Lee. It’s kind of late—” She froze, gaping at me. The popcorn hit the floor but she didn’t bother picking it up.

  From the living room Mr. Thorne watched me over the back of the couch, which was weird because that man never noticed anything. Once someone had driven their car into the Thorne’s garage while Morgan and I were upstairs in her bedroom. The entire house shook from the impact. When we ran downstairs to see what had happened, Mr. Thorne was still on the couch engulfed in a National Geographic special about sharks. Now he was fixated on me as if there were nothing else going on in the world.

  Mrs. Thorne talked a mile a minute, but I didn’t hear anything she said. There was a breaking story on the news. A bright yellow police-caution-tape graphic appeared on the screen. Four teenagers had been stabbed to death in someone’s house.

  A young reporter sat behind the news desk trying his best to look horrified. Only some of his words reached me. The rest went over my head. “Gruesomely murdered . . . names won’t be released until the victim’s families have been notified . . . no survivors . . . manhunt.”

  Terrible. It sounded like a blood bath. If Grandma were watching, she would say “What is this world coming to? We are definitely living in the end times.”

  I lowered myself into a chair at the kitchen table. Mrs. Thorne was still talking and Morgan hadn’t moved away from the microwave. Mr. Thorne kept staring at me and a female reporter who was on location, dramatically delivered the facts of the grisly murders on the TV. The house where the tragedy had taken place was only four streets over. My heart shuddered. I probably knew the victims. Mrs. Thorne was saying a lot of words, but the only ones that struck me were why, why, why? She wouldn’t shut up and her voice grew shriller by the second. My ears throbbed.

  “Why what?” I shouted.

  Mrs. Thorne stood in front of me, but about six feet away. “Lela, why are you covered in blood? Why are you holding a bloody knife?”

  I looked down at myself and noticed those things for the first time. My brand new True Religion jeans were a brownish-red from my thighs down to my knees. My white tank top was almost completely red. I grabbed a fistful of my shoulder-length locks. My normally golden hair was hard and caked with blood. It felt heavier than normal. In my right hand I gripped a blood-covered knife. I opened my fist and watched the knife clatter onto the kitchen tile.

  “I—I don’t know,” I replied, but Mrs. Thorne wasn’t waiting for my answer. She was already reaching for the phone.

  Morgan grabbed the edge of the kitchen counter, her eyes swelling with tears. “Oh my God! Lela, what have you done now?”

  “I don’t know,” I repeated. “I don’t know.”

  2

  Two Months Ago

  The six of us had crammed ourselves into a booth only designed for four people. Ray’s Burgers was always packed on a Friday night and we were too hungry to wait for a larger table to clear. Besides, we had big plans for the night that couldn’t wait.

  I glanced over the menu even though I always ordered the same thing. �
�So, who’s paying for the queen tonight?”

  Morgan pointed at Charlotte March. “It’s Char’s turn. I paid for you the last time.”

  Charlotte was busy picking at her short raven-black pixy cut in her compact mirror. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got you, Lee.”

  Brayden Donahue slapped Charlotte in the head with a menu. “Looking at it all the time isn’t going to make it grow back any faster.”

  Charlotte scrunched her face at him and put her mirror away. Until a week ago, Char had beautiful, thick hair that flowed down to her waist, but in a fit of impulsion, she’d taken a pair of scissors and chopped it all off. She instantly regretted it the following day although she would never admit it. Now she spent every spare second rearranging each lock of hair in her mirror.

  Aidan Donahue, Brayden’s twin brother, and Charlotte’s boyfriend wrapped his arm around her, giving her a peck on the cheek. “I think short hair is sexy.”

  Charlotte kissed him back. “Thanks, babe.”

  Aidan and Brayden were strikingly identical and their parents, giving them rhyming names, only made it worse. To cut down on the confusion, we called Aidan, AJ, since his middle name was Jefferson. The boys had the same flaming red curls and dazzling blue eyes, but Brayden had twice as many freckles as AJ. That was the only way I had of telling them apart. Of course, that didn’t help much when we did our nighttime challenges. Freckles were hard to see in the dark.

  Kyle Coachman, who everyone called Coach, was the king of the week. He nodded toward the twins. “You guys already know what I want. A double Ray burger with extra bacon, extra cheese, extra mayo, and extra pickles.”

  Morgan snorted. “You’re going to die from a heart attack by the time you’re twenty-one.”

  Coach rolled his eyes. “Do me a favor? Try not to judge every move I make tonight, huh. Can I get one night off, Mom?”

  Coach and Morgan fought like an old married couple. It was strange because they kind of looked alike—heart-shaped faces with dimples, and coffee-colored features. Morgan flicked her long hair over one shoulder. “Forgive me for caring.”

  Coach definitely had horrible eating habits, but you could never tell from his lean, toned body.

  We were the Hex because there were six of us, like the six sides of a hexagon. We’d been friends since elementary school, except for Morgan, who had only moved to Helena Falls a year before.

  The Hex wasn’t just a group of kids hanging out, it was a way of life. It was always the six of us. We had little use for other people except maybe the occasional boyfriend or girlfriend who only stuck around for a week or two. Eventually our loyalty to the Hex taking priority over anyone else, would run them away.

  What really connected us were our weekly challenges. We were a bunch of crazy-ass daredevils who spent most of our weekend nights doing risky things like car surfing and bungee jumping.

  With us, it wasn’t just about completing the challenges, it was about completing them in the shortest amount of time. The fastest girl was crowned queen of the week and the fastest guy was king. Being king and queen meant that you got to wear a beaded necklace with a shark tooth that Charlotte had purchased from Ebay and the others had to buy your food for the week. I loved Char and Morgan, but they were no challenge for me. I hadn’t bought my own food in months. Same with Coach, although many times he had only beat AJ by mere seconds. Showing off for Charlotte and wanting to impress her, gave AJ the extra edge over his brother.

  The waitress came over with six tall glasses of Dr. Pepper. She didn’t even ask anymore because we always ordered Dr. P with extra refills. We needed the caffeine. As usual. It was going to be a long night.

  The guys ordered their disgusting overloaded burgers while I requested chicken fingers. Morgan and Charlotte ordered a taco salad they planned to share.

  After the waitress left to place our orders, Morgan wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed my ear. “I love you, Lee, but tonight might actually be the night I kick your ass.”

  I laughed harder than I’d meant to. “Right, Morg. You’ve been in the Hex for a year now and you haven’t been crowned queen yet.”

  “Burn!” Coach shouted, always the instigator. “Don’t let her get away with that, Morgan.”

  She frowned and pulled away from me. I immediately regretted what I said, even though it was true. Sometimes I had considered throwing a challenge to her, but then at the last minute my competitive side would come out and I couldn’t give up my crown/shark-tooth necklace. Never being crowned queen made Morgan feel insecure and I felt partially responsible for that. She was only in the Hex because of me.

  Morgan had moved to Helena Falls a year ago at the beginning of our junior year. I remembered the first time I saw her. I was coming down the hallway when I saw this tiny adorable girl with long chocolate curls pulled up into a perky ponytail. Her large brown eyes darted back and forth waiting for someone to say hello or ask her name, but no one did. Maybe because she looked like she was twelve. I was ready to walk by her too, until I saw her trying to get into my locker.

  “Can I help you?” I snapped.

  Her face crinkled with confusion and I immediately regretted my tone.

  She gave me a nervous smile. “I’m . . . just trying to open my locker.”

  “That’s my locker,” I said with as much sweetness as I could muster, which wasn’t much.

  She pulled a crumpled slip of paper from her back pocket. “Oh, so sorry. I’m one-fourteen.” She moved one locker over and then fiddled with the combination.

  I opened my own locker and shoved my books inside. It was only third period but I was done for the day. The day before my history teacher, Mrs. Bynes, had warned me not to show up to her class without my project on The Great Depression. I didn’t have my project so I wasn’t showing up.

  When I slammed my locker shut, Morgan stuck her hand in my face.

  I cleared my throat. “Uh, what are you doing?”

  She beamed. “I’m introducing myself, silly. I’m Morgan Thorne. I just moved here. Maybe you can show me around or something.”

  Reluctantly I shook her small hand while looking her up and down. She wore a red and black plaid baby doll dress, white knee socks, and penny loafers looking every bit like she had just escaped from an all-girl’s catholic school. But then, some people did find the schoolgirl look hot. Her outfit was quite the contrast to the mini denim skirt my teachers were always warning me about and a baby tee with the words Fries Before Guys scribbled across it.

  “Listen, Morgan, you seem like a good kid so I’m going to give you a fair warning. I’m Lela Dupree and I’m the worst thing that could ever happen to you. Stay far, far away from me.”

  I may have looked harmless, but disasters had their way of finding me.

  Unfortunately, she didn’t listen. I think the warning made her want to hang out with me even more. She followed me around like a lost puppy and I didn’t have the heart to shoo her away. Besides, there was something about her that I liked. Having Morgan around was like having my own personal fan club. She thought everything I did was the coolest thing ever and she was open to learning new things. I taught her how to skip class, steal alcohol from her parent’s stash, and the best ways to sneak out of her house at night. When she found out about the Hex, she was determined to be a part of it. Lucky for her, just when she had arrived, we had an opening.

  I’d given her a fair warning. “We do really stupid and dangerous stuff—sometimes even illegal.”

  She shrugged. “As long as I get to hang out with you, I don’t care. YOLO, right?”

  I grimaced at the played-out phrase. “Don’t ever say that again.”

  When I told Coach about her wanting to join, he hadn’t been too impressed, but I insisted, and he finally gave in.

  I wasn’t sure how to describe our group as far as school went. We were popular as in everyone knew who we were, but we weren’t the kind of popular kids people wanted to be like. No one wanted to be a part of our group e
xcept for a few weirdos. They loved to watch the videos we uploaded to YouTube and they would high-five us for particularly risky stunts, but they didn’t want to be us. We were more like a freak show they liked to watch.

  We got invited to parties at the beach or at the edge of Raven’s Woods, but we didn’t get asked to the parties at people’s houses or fancy hotels. They liked to watch us, but only from a safe distance.

  The overwhelming smell of an apple pie being carried past our table made my mouth water.

  I twirled a straw wrapper between my fingers. “All right, Coach. What’s it going to be tonight?”

  Every week we took turns picking what the stunt would be. I especially loved when it was Coach’s turn because he came up with the craziest things for us to do.

  He glanced at the ceiling. “I don’t think I want to say yet, but I will tell you that it involves water. I hope you girls are wearing your swimsuits.”

  It was always advised that we wear swim suits under our clothes because we never knew when a challenge was going to involve water. That was one of the few rules we had. The others included, dressing in all black, wearing shoes with thick soles, and bringing a backpack with a flashlight, gloves, and a mask. Each of us had a different animal mask. I was a bunny, which didn’t look as innocent as it sounded. The mask was pretty freaky looking.

  Morgan was a penguin, and Charlotte had a duck mask. Coach’s mask was a monkey while AJ had a bull and Brayden, an alligator. The masks were mostly so we wouldn’t be identified on video, even though most kids at our school knew who we were. If something did go down, no one would be able to prove anything. Cell phones had to be on silent. Some tasks required absolute concentration and a phone chime or a dinging text message could ruin everything. The final rule was never to tell our parents where we were going.

  Water challenges were the hardest and I wasn’t the best swimmer but my stomach still churned with excitement as I tore through my chicken fingers so we could get moving. This was what we lived for and there was nothing better than those weekends spent with my best friends.