“It’s an idea,” I said, and scrunched my forehead. “Though it’s a bit of a stretch now that I think of it.”
I paused and shook my head.
“No. This is a red herring. It may have nothing to do with Brianna’s disappearance. We don’t want to go off on a wild goose chase while that poor girl may be in who knows what kind of trouble.”
Chapter Twenty-five
“It’s Jayden.”
Katy spotted him at the far end of the parking lot, next to the electric vehicle charging machine.
We had been preparing to drive to town to find out if Brianna had been seen outside of the school, and had just stepped up to my car when we saw him.
Jayden was packing his bags in the back of his white Prius. His shoulders were stooped and his face was creased with worry. He looked like he’d aged a decade overnight.
“She’s really kicking him out,” whispered Katy.
We hurried over.
“Hey,” called Katy. “We heard the news.”
He jerked up and squinted. Then, he turned away, like he was too ashamed to look us in the eye.
“I’m really sorry about this,” I said. “We tried to explain to Martha, but she wasn’t in the listening mood. What did she tell you?”
Jayden closed the hatch and turned to us, his face a mixture of shame and anger.
“Do you really want to know?”
“Of course,” said Katy. “We were there, remember?”
He let out a resigned sigh.
“I know you’re trying to help, and I appreciate it, but I had been planning to leave, anyway.”
“Not like this,” I said. “This isn’t right.”
“Not like I have a choice, do I?”
“What did Martha say?” I asked. “She can’t fire you without cause.”
Jayden looked down at his feet.
“Isabella went to see her early this morning and told her I took her and her friends into the sports center last night and tried to sell them drugs.”
“What?” said Katy.
“What a liar,” I said. “Didn’t you show them the stash you confiscated from them?”
“I did,” said Jayden, the resigned look coming over his face again. “She thinks it’s mine.”
“Are you kidding me?” said Katy.
“It gets worse,” he replied. “Supposedly, I fed them weed to soften them up, so I could, er…” He swallowed and looked away, shaking his head, “sexually assault them afterward.”
“Jeez,” I said. “These girls have quite the cruel streak.”
“Did they say you actually assaulted them?” asked Katy.
“According to Isabella, she saved herself and the girls and they all ran away before I could do anything.”
“How can they lie so blatantly when they knew there were witnesses?” I said.
“They’re going to call you liars too.”
“I’ll have another talk with Martha,” I said. “We’ll exonerate you. This is madness, for goodness’s sake.”
Tears had welled up in his eyes and he looked away, embarrassed.
“Don’t get involved.”
“Jayden,” said Katy. “You can’t expect us to say nothing.”
“You’ve got to watch your backs, ladies. If you don’t, there are people who’ll happily rip you apart. You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
“Who are you talking about?” I asked.
“Look at what’s happening to me,” he said, spreading his arms. “I’ve never been accused like this before. I kept my head down, worked two jobs to put myself through school. I don’t have a black mark on me, but they brought me down.”
“Who’s they?” I asked again. “Martha May?”
He shook his head.
“I always tried to do the right thing. If anyone ever did me wrong, I just walked away. I never escalated or looked for trouble. I just want to get out of here now.”
“What about your teaching record?” I said. “You’ve got a black mark on it now. That’s not fair.”
“Ms. May wanted nothing written.”
“Oh, really?”
“I told her to put it all in writing, so there’s a record of the girls’ complaints. I told her you were with me. I told her I was ready to get tested for drugs, voluntarily go to the police, even. I was ready to do anything to clear my name and prove my innocence, but she didn’t want that.”
“What did she want?”
“She wanted me out. She signed my release form right there and then, and told me to pack my bags.”
We stood silently in a circle, digesting this news.
“This is the same letter she’d been hanging on to for months, refusing to sign?” I asked.
“Exactly.”
“That sounds fishy,” said Katy.
Jayden pulled out his car keys from his pocket. “It’s partly because of Isabella. She’d do anything that girl asks.”
“What does that girl have over everyone?” I asked, wondering how one teenager could wield so much power over so many people.
“That’s a very good question,” said Jayden, walking over to the driver’s side of his Prius and opening the door. “I’m sorry, ladies, but I have to go. My girlfriend’s waiting for me and my parents are at home too. I promised them I’d be there before lunch.”
“Jayden,” said Katy as he got in. “We believe you.”
He gave us a wonky smile. “That’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me in the past twenty-four hours.”
He rolled out of the parking lot with a subdued wave. I watched him leave, wondering why the principal had been in such a rush to get rid of him.
Katy and I walked back to our vehicle, feeling like we’d just said goodbye to an old friend.
“I’ll feel a million times better when we leave this place,” said Katy, getting into the car and buckling in.
I rolled my cabriolet out of the parking lot and onto the driveway. An immense sense of relief washed over me as I maneuvered our way through the front gates and left the stifling academy behind us, even though I knew this was just a temporary departure.
We drove through the tree-lined country road in silence. The area was deserted, just like it had been when we arrived. Jayden must have driven out fast, because I couldn’t see his car anymore.
I turned over the facts of the case in my mind.
This mystery of the runaway girl had more open threads than I could imagine. Every time I turned, more threads unraveled, none of which made sense or showed any connection to the others.
But I couldn’t help feel they all belonged to the same piece of cloth that would ultimately lead us to Brianna.
“I just hope she’s safe, wherever she is,” said Katy, as if reading my mind.
I nodded, keeping my eyes on the road. I took a corner and spotted the back of the white Prius ahead of us.
“Jayden’s taking it better than I thought,” I said.
“He should sue the school and the principal,” replied Katy in a grim voice.
“Seems like his family and his peace of mind are more important to him.”
“Martha’s one mean, vindictive, dictatorial, unfair woman,” said Katy, through gritted teeth.
“The world’s not a fair place. We learned that when we were kids, didn’t we?”
Katy didn’t answer.
I revved up as we got on a straight section of the road. Jayden was now only five hundred yards ahead of us.
“I don’t plan on staying quiet,” I said. “But we have to wait for the right time. Brianna’s still missing. Sam was most probably murdered, and there’s this issue of the jewels. I’d love to get that pendant and earring valuated—”
“Hey,” said Katy, leaning forward. “Do you see that flash over there?”
“Where?”
“From the side of the road. Just now. Like someone’s flashing a mirror.”
I peered through the windshield. There was nothing to see.
&nb
sp; But the catch in Katy’s voice sent a red warning flag. I took my foot off the gas and slowed down.
Chapter Twenty-six
Jayden was driving normally.
He didn’t seem to have noticed anything unusual on the road.
“I swear I saw a flash ahead,” said Katy, squinting through the windshield. “It was like someone—”
She didn’t get to finish.
Jayden was just about to take a corner when a black pickup truck zoomed out of a hidden side street and rammed him.
The collision of the truck against the car sounded like a bomb went off.
I slammed on the brakes in shock, whiplashing Katy and me.
“Oh, my god!” cried Katy.
“What the heck is that?” I said.
I watched in horror as the truck reversed a few feet, revved its engine, and sprang forward, banging into the small car for a second time.
Jayden!
He didn’t have a chance.
His car skidded sideways toward the ditch and fell in halfway, the front of the vehicle teetering at an angle. Then, just when we thought it couldn’t get worse, the Prius fell on its side and plummeted down the ditch.
“No!” screamed Katy, clapping her hands on her face, like she couldn’t bear to watch.
I jumped on the gas pedal and sped up, my heart hammering.
My eyes narrowed on that pickup truck. My jaw tightened and my teeth clamped down. Let’s see how you like getting rammed, you ugly bastard, I thought as I pushed the accelerator to the floor.
My convertible was no match against that all-wheel-drive pickup truck, but I wasn’t going to let them get away with this.
I pushed the pedal to the bottom of the well, ignoring the protesting scream of the clutch as I hurtled along the asphalt at a dizzying speed, with only one thing on my mind.
But the truck noticed me.
In a few seconds, it turned its massive wheels around and thundered away, tires squealing on the asphalt, leaving billowing black smoke in its wake.
“Oh, my god!” cried Katy, as I screeched to a halt next to the ditch. I hadn’t fully stopped when she opened her door and jumped out.
I could smell the remnants of the diesel fuel from the truck.
I had two choices.
Chase after that sicko and grab him, or rescue Jayden, if he was still alive. With my heart in my mouth, I put the car in park, unbuckled myself and dashed out.
“Jayden?” shouted Katy as she approached the turned vehicle. “Are you okay?”
Nothing.
Please let him be alive.
“Jayden!” I hollered.
I heard a low moan.
He’s alive!
The car was on its side, but stable. It was nestled so deeply inside the high ditch that if we’d driven by much later, we might not have even noticed it.
The front passenger side door was badly dented, and the window had been shattered to a million pieces from the blows of the truck.
I clambered onto the door to look inside, my heart pounding like mad.
Jayden was lying against the driver’s door, trapped in his seat, a trickle of blood streaming down his face. He moaned as he spotted me and made a motion to reach out.
“Don’t move!” I yelled through the broken window. “Stay right where you are. We’re gonna get you out.”
Using all my strength, I pulled on the mangled side door.
“Oh, my god, he’s alive,” said Katy, as she joined to help me.
We banged and kicked at the door, but it was stuck.
If we could open that passenger door, we could pull him out to safety. But we’d have to be careful in case Jayden had broken something. If he wasn’t dying yet, we could kill him, trying to save him.
Jayden let out another moan. Blood trickled from his mouth now.
“Hang in there, buddy,” I said. “We’ll get you out.”
I turned to Katy.
“Call emergency.”
While she jumped down and ran back to our vehicle, I crawled inside the car holding on to the seat, so I wouldn’t fall on him. With one foot hooked around the passenger seat, I reached over to unbuckle him.
His face was contorted in anguished pain.
Oh, my god, Jayden.
“You’re doing fine,” I said, running my eyes over him to see if anything was at a strange angle, indicating a broken limb. “We’ll get you out. Whatever you do, don’t move—”
“There’s no signal!”
It was Katy.
I crawled back out and jumped down to face a red-faced Katy, waving her phone madly in the air.
“There’s no damn reception in this place!” she cried.
“Did you try my phone?”
“I tried both!”
I wiped my brow and turned back to the car.
Jayden needed medical attention.
Fast.
But I knew it would be dangerous for us, without the proper equipment, to get him out of that vehicle.
“We could turn the car sideways,” I said, trying to think. “Then, pull Jayden out—”
Without waiting for me to finish, Katy whirled around, ran back to our vehicle and flipped open the trunk. I walked over, trying not to hyperventilate.
Katy was rummaging furiously inside the back, muttering to herself.
“Rope, emergency kit,” she was saying.
“Wait,” I said, touching her arm. “By the time we turn the car right side up and get it out of the ditch, that’s if we can even do it, we’ll hurt him more.”
“What do we do then?” asked Katy, desperation in her voice. “He could die on us.”
I glanced around.
We were a five-minute drive from the school, but about an hour from town. I could leave Katy here with Jayden and rush to the school to get help, but I had no idea if that truck would return to finish their job.
“Let’s take him back to the school and call for help from there.”
Katy looked at the turned vehicle, then back at me.
“What if he’s broken something?”
“We have to chance it. We can’t leave him like this.”
I crawled back into the Prius, talking softly to Jayden to let him know what we were about to do.
It took us a gut-wrenching ten minutes to get Jayden out of his mangled car and into mine. Every time he moaned, we stopped to take a break, sure we were about to kill him, if not paralyze him for good.
When we finally pulled him out, we leaned him against the car’s undercarriage. A quick examination told us he had hit his head when the car rolled to the side, but his limbs were intact. I prayed this was all the injuries he’d suffered.
Katy dug out a water bottle from our car and was trying to make him drink. She brought the bottle to his lips. “Take a sip. It will give you some strength.”
“I’m fine,” he whispered, putting a hand on the ground, moving to sit up.
He’s conscious, I thought in relief to hear him speak.
“Sit right where you are, mister,” scolded Katy. “You just rolled over in your car, and you’re fine? You need a doctor pronto.”
“I’m good,” repeated Jayden, his eyes flickering. “I’m really good.”
He was more in shock than anything else. I hoped that hit to the head would only give him a temporary concussion.
“What happened?” he whispered, after swallowing a sip of water.
“Someone rammed you,” I said, wiping the blood on his face with my jacket.
“A big black pickup truck with tinted windows,” said Katy, her face grim. “If I ever see that ass clown again, I’ll—”
A tinted black pickup truck?
“Wait a minute,” I said. “Why does that sound familiar?”
Katy shook her head, her attention on Jayden, holding the bottle for him to drink.
The vehicle had been too far away for me to read its license plate, but I was sure I’d seen it before.
But where?
At the school’s parking lot? In the nearby town, as we were passing by? On the road as we drove over?
I slapped my forehead as I remembered.
“It’s the truck I saw behind the bakery, the day Sally came to New York.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
Katy kept trying to catch a cellular signal, while I drove slowly back to the school.
Behind us, Jayden lay in a fetal position on the backseat, covered in a blanket I’d dug out of the back. What he really needed was a flat bed and a neck brace which we’d find in the school’s clinic.
I wished I could drive faster, but we hadn’t been able to strap him in. A quick glance at my rearview mirror told me he was resting, eyes closed, and remarkably composed given what he’d gone through.
Katy had popped two painkillers into his mouth after we’d settled him in the backseat, but he needed more than simple headache pills.
The tinted black pickup truck flashed into my mind, making me grind my teeth.
I tried to recall all the vehicles that were parked in the school’s parking lot.
It wasn’t a large space, given everyone lived on the grounds. Most of the students weren’t qualified to hold a driver’s license and had most probably been dropped off by their parents or chauffeurs.
The sedans and hatchbacks belonged to the staff members and teachers. The academy had a mid-sized van for day trips. The shiny silver BMW parked closest to the main entrance was, I was sure, Martha May’s personal vehicle. But I hadn’t seen a black pickup truck in that lot.
“You doing all right?” asked Katy, turning around to check on Jayden.
“Fine,” came a feeble voice from the back, but I could see he was playing it down.
I grit my teeth. If I ever find who was behind that wheel, I’ll have their head.
I drove through the school gates and up the driveway toward the main building.
To my surprise, Martha May was standing at the front entrance chatting with the ancient security guard when I pulled up.
I’d only seen her at the dining hall during mealtimes or in her office.
What’s she doing out?
I’d barely stopped the car when Katy jumped out and ran up to her.
Merciless Crimes: A Thrilling Closed Circle Mystery Series (Merciless Murder Mystery Thriller) Page 11