My thoughts wander to Hollie. Everything has spiraled so fast. What possible evidence could they have on her? Other than the text messages.
I remember the bruises on Colleen’s throat. The finger marks...
Somebody sits beside me on the bench, and I jump.
“I saw you come over here.” Adam’s voice is careful. “I thought you might want some company.”
I inhale slowly. “Oh. Thanks. Don’t you have to go back to Rookwood with the others?”
“I’ll catch up with them.” He hesitates. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah. It’s just that tonight was...”
“Intense?”
“Yeah,” I murmur.
I follow his gaze to the ocean. The sounds of the harbor bounce around the night, the clunking buoys and the tide sloshing beneath the jetties.
“I lied to you the other day.”
I turn to him, studying his profile as I wait for him to continue. His caramel-colored eyes are still locked on the water. A few strands of his brown hair are stirred by the night breeze.
“I did know Colleen.”
I dip my gaze. “I know you did.”
“That picture,” he says. “The one that was taken at the cabin, the last time Colleen was at Rookwood. I remember that night. I remember her.”
“That was the night she died.”
“I know.” He gives way to a long breath. “I just keep thinking, maybe I could have done something. If I’d followed her. When she left, I should have gone after her. I should have checked that she made it back to wherever she was going. If I’d have just gone after her, I could have done something to stop this.”
I get it now. When he said this before, on the beach, he didn’t mean CPR or some abstract If only I’d arrived sooner. He meant it literally. He thinks he could have intervened.
“Hey.” I draw his focus to me. “You can’t blame yourself for that. You can’t go following every person home, just in case.”
“I know. But I should have. I could have.”
“Adam...”
He stares down at his sneakers.
Just in case. But it’s not a hypothetical.
There’s something more. Something he’s still not saying.
I swallow. This is my chance. I know it is.
For Hollie.
“I know about Max,” I say. “Serena told me.” My gaze shifts from him. I can’t look at him, mostly because I’m afraid that if he sees my eyes he’ll somehow see the lie at the heart of my vague comment.
“What do you mean?” His voice has changed. His tone is rigid now, weighted with tension.
“Serena told me everything.”
His words come out fast. “She knew?”
I drag my gaze back to him. His lips are parted, and his eyes are darting between me and the water.
“Colleen told Serena?” he presses.
I catch my breath as a breeze slithers through the harbor and ripples the water. What could Colleen have told Serena about Max? What did Colleen know?
“I think so,” I manage.
“She must have,” Adam mutters. “Colleen threatened Max that night. I think he was trying to end it with her or something, but Colleen lost it and said she was going to tell Serena everything.”
My stomach does flips.
Suddenly, his eyes cloud. Clearly, my expression was enough to give away my shock. To give away my lies.
A wave of guilt floods over me.
He gropes for words. “No. I mean...”
It’s too late for either of us to regain our composure. It’s all unraveled. For both of us.
Adam jumps up from the bench and cusses under his breath.
I stare down at my hands.
“You didn’t know anything, did you?” His voice has turned cold.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur. It’s all I can think to say. Not that it means much now.
He rubs his hands over his face.
“Max was cheating on Serena with Colleen,” I say, piecing it together. “And Colleen threatened to tell Serena. But she didn’t get to Serena. Because someone stopped her.”
Adam’s chest is rising and falling fast.
“No prizes for guessing who stopped her.”
His breathing starts to sound ragged. “Max didn’t go after Colleen, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking.”
“You’re wrong.”
“So, what? Colleen threatens him, then winds up dead, and it’s just a coincidence?”
“I didn’t say it was a coincidence.” He holds my gaze in the moonlight. “All I said was, Max didn’t do it.”
“Then tell me who did?”
“I don’t know. How about the person whose boyfriend cheated on her?”
I stare back at him, numb.
“Maybe no one stopped Colleen,” he carries on. “Maybe she did do what she’d set out to do.”
It takes me a second to follow his train of thought. I shake my head as he says her name aloud.
“Serena.”
Interview with Serena Blake,
conducted by Detective Kate Dallas at 10:30 a.m.
on Tuesday, October 2nd.
K.D.: Hi, Serena. How are you?
S.B.: Not good, Kate. I’m so sad about everything. I feel sick just thinking about it. Poor Colleen.
K.D.: I’m sorry, Serena. I appreciate how tough this must be for you.
S.B.: Thanks. How’s Jenna?
K.D.: Serena, tell me about your friendship with Colleen O’Dell.
S.B.: We were good friends. She was on the squad.
K.D.: To clarify, the cheerleading squad?
S.B.: Yes. I’m captain. Colleen got asked to hand in her uniform a little while back, though.
K.D.: Colleen got kicked off the team? Why?
S.B.: To be honest with you, Kate—I mean, Detective Dallas—she was slacking. Also, she was flunking a couple of classes, and some people were saying she was smoking pot. Not me, just people were saying it. I heard.
K.D.: So, she was cut from the team?
S.B.: Miss Keeley cut her. Not me.
K.D.: Would you say you spent a lot of time with Colleen, outside of cheerleading?
S.B.: Not really.
K.D.: But, you were friends?
S.B.: Yes, but not close friends.
K.D.: Some of your classmates are saying Colleen spent quite a bit of time with the Rookwood students. Serena? Are you okay?
S.B.: Yes. I’m fine.
K.D.: You’re dating one of the boys from Rookwood, Max. Is that right?
S.B.: Yes. Max and I are in a relationship.
K.D.: Max and Colleen were friends, yes?
S.B.: No. She used to tell people they were friends—you know, for status—but they never hung out or anything.
K.D.: So, they weren’t friends?
S.B.: No. Definitely not.
K.D.: Right. Thanks for clearing that up for me, Serena.
S.B.: No problem, Kate. I’m glad I could help.
ADAM
I watch her from across the room.
Serena.
Her dark eyes are following Max. She reminds me of an oil painting, with that hollow stare tracking him wherever he goes.
He’s aware of her, too. It’s not as obvious, but I see it. He’s leaning against the cabin doorway, looking almost relaxed. There’s an unlit cigarette bobbing between his lips as he laughs, but he glances her way every now and then. That’s how I know he’s aware of her eyes on him.
He’s talking to a blonde girl in the doorway, and she’s laughing along with him. She offers him a light. He bows his head toward the flame. His eyes skate over Serena as the end of the cigarette glows red-hot.<
br />
The Preston girls haven’t been coming here that long. A couple of weeks, maybe. Ever since Max and Serena first hooked up, she and her crew have spilled over into our world. They’ve taken up residency at the cabin, showing up every Friday night and staying until the sun comes up.
But I don’t know them. And they don’t know me.
I take a seat beside Serena on the couch, and she flinches. She didn’t see me coming.
“Hi. Adam, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. You’re Serena, right?”
She nods.
“You okay?”
Her eyebrows pull together. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know. I just thought you looked...”
“What?”
I shrug.
“I’m fine.” She presses the rim of her beer bottle to her lips and knocks it back hard.
“Good.”
An awkward silence hangs between us. I stare at the wall. She stares at her bottle.
“She a friend of yours?” I ask, nodding toward the open doorway.
Her gaze flickers across the room and lands on Max and the blonde girl. They’re still laughing as they pass the cigarette back and forth between them. His lips to hers, then back again.
Serena drags her focus back to me. “Yeah. We go to school together.”
“She and Max look close.”
Her eyes harden. “What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing.” I hold up my hands. “I was just saying.”
Her teeth clench beneath her red lipstick. I think she’s trying to smile. “Max and I are dating,” she says. “We’re exclusive.”
I swallow a laugh.
She straightens her slender shoulders. “Max and I are good.”
“Good.”
“He’s allowed to have female friends, y’know?”
“I know.”
Her mouth presses into a tight line. “He’s not interested in anyone else.”
“Okay.”
She thinks she’s got him down. But she doesn’t know him. Not really. She doesn’t know how he self-destructs. He wants to self-destruct. I see it in him. He thrives off the rush of his own downfall.
Serena doesn’t know that.
Serena doesn’t know him.
And I wouldn’t want to be around when she figures that out.
* * *
The night breeze stirs her chestnut-brown hair.
Forget I said anything. That’s what I want to tell her.
But it’s too late. I know it’s too late. I messed up, I let my guard down, and now Jenna knows about Max and Colleen.
I move to walk away, but she stops me.
“I’m sorry,” she says again. I can see it in her eyes. She’s telling the truth. This wasn’t about me. It wasn’t about playing me. It was about her friend Hollie.
I can’t blame her. I’d have done the same thing if Tommy’s or Max’s necks were on the line. Rules don’t apply when you’re looking out for your own.
I run my hand over my mouth. “You should think about what I said.” My voice gets lost in the darkness. “My money’s on her. Serena. I think Serena killed Colleen.”
Jenna shakes her head. “You’re wrong.”
“It wasn’t Max. He said he didn’t do it, and I believe him. I think he knows something, though. He’s protecting Serena. That’s what I think.”
She breathes out a laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding. Max has motive. He’s the shady one, not Serena. She has no idea that he’s been cheating on her!”
“Or maybe she’s a good liar.”
Jenna squeezes her eyes shut for a second, probably wishing she didn’t know any of this. It’s a wish we share.
But I’m not done. “You think it too, don’t you? There’s a part of you that questions Serena.”
“No. Of course not. Serena is my friend.”
“And Max is my friend.”
We fall silent. The sounds from the group across the harbor leak out into the night. They’re leaving now, heading toward Rookwood. The world is still turning around us. I want it to stop, rewind.
“I have to tell Serena about Max and Colleen,” Jenna says. “She has a right to know what they were doing behind her back.”
“She already knows,” I mutter. “Because Colleen told her. Weeks ago.”
“I—”
“And now Colleen’s dead.”
She scowls back at me. “Yes. Colleen is dead because she threatened Max.”
“No. I was with Max that night,” I say, pressing my hand to my heart. “I was there when Colleen went off on him. Colleen left, and Max didn’t go after her. He went outside the cabin. He talked on his phone, then he came back inside. That was it.”
She shivers as my words sink in. “I don’t believe you.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Who was he talking to? When he went outside, who did he call?”
“I don’t know. Probably Colleen, asking her to stop. Or maybe Serena. Maybe he wanted to come clean before Colleen busted him.”
She’s breathing fast now. “What about after? You can’t have been with him all night. He must have left your sight at some point.”
I don’t respond. She’s right, though.
It could have been Max, just as easily as it could have been Serena. Hell, it could have been Tommy.
It could have been me.
Jenna’s voice brings me back to her. “Serena would have told me, if she knew.”
A rasp of breath escapes me. “Sure, she’d tell you if she offed Colleen, watching as she struggled—”
“She’d have told me if Max was cheating on her.” Abruptly, Jenna stands up from the bench.
An SUV pulls up alongside the curb. The driver’s window rolls down.
My chest tightens. It’s the cop. Detective Dallas.
“Kate,” Jenna says, and my heart starts beating faster. Of course. Jenna’s aunt is the cop. “This is my friend,” she fumbles. “Adam. I think you’ve met.”
The cop eyeballs me. “Yes. Adam Cole. Hello again.”
I mutter some dumbass response, before getting out of there. Fast.
I just screwed Max over, big-time.
JENNA
I stare out the car window as Kate drives us home.
My mind is a complete jumble of thoughts—and none of them are good.
“So, Adam?” Kate’s voice makes me jump. “A friend of yours, is he?”
Kate’s not dumb, she knows exactly who Adam is.
“Not really. He’s a friend of Serena’s boyfriend.”
“Right. The Rookwood boy.”
“Mmm.”
She taps her fingers on the steering wheel. “Were you guys drinking tonight?”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “No, Kate. They were. I left.”
“Oh. Well, I’m glad you called me. Thank you for that.”
“You see? Turns out I am responsible, after all. Go figure.”
She glances at me and smiles. “I always knew you were responsible, Jenna.”
A knot tightens in my stomach. If I was responsible, I’d blurt out everything Adam told me. But the cost would be implicating Serena in a homicide investigation. Yet, this could be exactly the kind of evidence Hollie needs to get out of this mess.
One thing’s for sure, I have to talk to Serena first. She needs to hear this from me, not from some investigator showing up on her doorsteps with an arrest warrant.
I slip my phone from my jacket pocket. The screen beams out at me, a glaring contrast to the dark car. I type a message to Serena, telling her everything, about Max cheating on her with Colleen and Colleen threatening Max on the night she died. Everything.
Then I delete it.
I tr
y again, going simpler this time. Just a, Hey. We need to talk. Call me when you get this.
I almost hit send. But I can’t do it.
Telling Serena about Max and Colleen will destroy her. As far as Serena is concerned, she and Max are solid. She loves him, and I’m about to totally blindside her. I can’t do that over a text message. I can’t even do that with a vague, mysterious “we need to talk” text.
If I’m about to ruin her life, I should at least do it in person.
This will blindside her. Adam is wrong. There’s no way Serena could have known about Max’s cheating and covered it up. She’s completely besotted by the guy. She defends his character with the conviction of someone who truly believes her own words. They’re not the words of someone who’s been cheated on.
In my opinion, Max is the only person who had something to gain from Colleen’s death. He had something to hide. He had something to lose. Namely, her dad’s empire and a swanky prepaid apartment to boot. Max was protecting himself.
And now I have to protect Serena.
ADAM
It’s a while before I can face going back to Rookwood. By the time I arrive, it’s pitch-black in the forest. The cabin is a beacon of light, alive with music and voices. Max and Tommy must have spread the word, because some of the other guys have joined from the dorms.
Inside, the room is humid, full of bodies, all moving slower than they had been before. It’s as though they’re underwater. Their eyes are bleary and unfocused as they drag their limbs through the motions, all drunk off stolen beers and spirits.
Max is standing at the bar. He’s sloppy. There’s a plastic cup in his hand, and beer is sloshing over the sides as he talks with some of the guys. I can’t see Serena anywhere, but one of her friends is still here. She’s dancing on the pool table, her long braid swaying from side to side as her bangs fall over her face.
Silently, I cross the room and pat Max on the shoulder. I gesture for him to follow me, and he does. We step outside and skirt around to the back of the cabin.
Once we’re out of sight, he stops walking.
It’s quieter here, with only the groan of wind and the thump of bass music leaking through the log walls.
Max’s jaw clenches as he tries to read my expression. “What?” A simple word.
This Is Why We Lie Page 13