The Dead And Buried Part 13

"Hey, he's always watching out that window. If anyone else walked in the house, he would have seen it. Even if they used the side door, that's facing his property."

And maybe that's why reclusive Mr. Tucker crossed the yard boundary today to talk to me. Because he'd seen Donovan at my house last night. I dropped my hands from the swing's chains to my lap.

"I'm not going to turn against him like the rest of the school," I said, jutting my chin out. "Innocent until proven guilty."

"But?" Kane said hopefully.

"But I'll be careful and keep my mind open."

He nodded solemnly. "That's all I ask. I never want something like that to happen again."

There was grief in his eyes. Not fresh, but deep. "You and Kayla were close, weren't you?"

"Yeah, we'd been friends since we were five."

"Did you ever date?"

He averted his eyes. "No." Then looked back up at me. "But not for my lack of trying."

So he'd liked Kayla, maybe even loved her, and she'd only thought of him as a friend. No wonder he and Donovan shot fireb.a.l.l.s from their eyes whenever they saw each other.

A crunch of gravel caught my attention, and I looked over Kane's shoulder.

A shadow approached from the parking lot.

Hung out at 7's today, like old times. He got all mad at 8 for following us around (seriously - just like the old days), but I didn't mind. In some ways, 8 reminds me of a younger me. When I leave WHS, maybe I'll pa.s.s my crown to her. I already gave her some tips on handling boys and friends. Told her to trust no one. Keep her secrets to herself and her diary.

But then 8 took off to hang with her friends and 7 and I were alone and it was ... different. That 7 wants me is a constant fact ... like the sun rising, like 11 being a robotic nerd, like 1 spending 2's money, like 9 being creepy. You get the point.

But 7 was in a sad mood. Kind of mopey. I know it's about 28. I've dated guys before, so I don't know why 7 is so bitter about this latest one.

I said, "You're no fun today," and left. But then there was something else in his eyes, something new.

Something like anger.

The shadow grew in size as it approached, and then separated in two.

"What are you lovebirds doing?" a voice called out.

Kane stood up, laughing, then greeted the guy with some overcomplicated handshake. He was one of the jocks Kane hung with. The second shadow, probably the guy's date, turned out to be one of Faye's friends. I didn't know either of their names, just recognized their faces. The girl hung back a bit. Her eyes went from Kane to me and back again, then she whipped out her phone and started texting.

Great. Within sixty seconds, the entire school would know we were here together in the dark. This might incite jealously in a few girls, Faye included, and it wasn't the best time for me to be making enemies. I wanted to ingratiate myself into Kayla's crew, not make them mad.

"We're heading in now, man." Kane pointed at the woods. "You comin' with?"

"Nah, we'll keep those swings warm for a few more minutes," he replied, with a glint in his eye. That probably meant they were going to s...o...b..r all over each other for a little while before joining the group.

"Later, then." Kane put a hand on my lower back, leading me toward the edge of the woods. He lowered his voice. "I'll go first. You can hold on to the back of my jacket if you want. It gets pretty dark in there for a while."

"That's fine," I said with forced bravado.

The path was narrow. We'd have to walk single file unless I wanted to be swept by brush and branches. I followed him onto the trail and after a few steps it was like the woods swallowed us whole. It was darker in there. The thick tree cover blocked the moon and stars.

I stayed close to Kane, my eyes glued to his blond hair, the only thing I could clearly make out. With his black windbreaker and dark jeans, he looked almost like a head with no body floating down the path. I reached out and grabbed the back of his jacket.

"Changed your mind, huh?" I could practically hear the smile on his face.

"Shut up."

The trail seemed to be getting narrower, and a claustrophobic panic started to flutter in my chest. But then voices drifted out of the darkness. And, a moment later, music. Deep ba.s.s as rhythmic as a heartbeat. The path opened, and suddenly, we were out in the open. The woods released us and moonlight returned.

The clearing was a perfect square, but the ground was covered in moss. Flames glowed from a small fire pit in the center, ringed by rocks. Over a dozen kids from school, mostly seniors, stood around. A couple girls danced and giggled.

"So this is it." Kane opened his arms wide. "Our hidden spot."

"Very cool," I said, my eyes sweeping the crowd. First I looked for Donovan, but he wasn't there. Of course. Then I scanned the faces, wondering who I should talk to and how I would even go about this. I was no detective. But then I remembered how people had talked about Kayla at my party with little to no prompting. It was like they'd wanted to talk about her to me. Maybe because I lived in her house. Took her place.

"Want a drink?" Kane asked.

"No, I'm good. Thanks."

He nodded. "You can go sit down or come with me ..."

A few of his friends were standing in a circle, talking, and I knew he probably wanted to join them for a while. "Don't worry about me. I'll finagle my way into a conversation somewhere. I don't need a babysitter."

He smiled. "I know you don't."

Kane darted off to his friends and I inched toward a small group of girls who were sitting on a couple boulders. They might have all been at my party, though I couldn't be sure. One in particular was the girl who'd basically admitted she'd been crazy about Donovan. What was her name? Laura? Lauren? Ugh. I was terrible at this.

"Hey, Jade!" She waved me over.

I put on a perky smile. "What's up?"

"Jade, this is Madison and Jessica," she said.

We exchanged a round of "heys," though I still didn't remember the third girl's name. Madison and Jessica seemed nice enough. After a few minutes of small talk, I found that they were all on the soccer team. Which meant they'd probably played with Kayla.

Score.

"This place is so cool," I said.

"Isn't it?" Laura/Lauren said. "It can get kind of insane here some nights. Though not as crazy as your party." She waggled her eyebrows, which were already pretty high on her forehead due to her tight ponytail.

"Yeah, that was nuts," I agreed.

"I still don't know what really happened and what my terrified imagination exaggerated."

Madison piped up. "Fill us in, Jade. Laurie won't tell us anything."

Laurie! That was her name. I stopped myself from snapping my fingers.

"Yeah," Jessica said, a greedy look in her eyes. "We know something freaky went on, but only like ten people were still at the party and they're not talking. It's like they're traumatized. Faye wouldn't even come out tonight."

"Well," I leaned in and lowered my voice to a whisper. If they felt like I was letting them in on a big secret, maybe they'd unload some secrets on me in return. "Don't spread this around, but we sort of ... contacted Kayla using a Ouija board."

They were bending so far forward, I thought they'd fall off the rock.

"What did she say?" Madison whispered.

"She was murdered," Laurie snapped. "I told you guys."

"But," I said, remembering Laurie's bias, "Kayla said Donovan didn't do it. It was someone else."

"Who?" Jessica yelled.

"Kayla doesn't know. Whoever it was came up behind her right after Donovan left."

"What else did she say?" Madison dug her fingers into the boulder.

"Nothing." I shrugged. "That was it."

Jessica crossed her arms and shook her head. "I always knew she was pushed."

Laurie started mumbling about how Donovan did it. Again. Clearly she didn't like getting rejected. Jessica disagreed with her and they bickered back and forth, using almost the exact same points Kane and I had in our argument.

Madison's voice carried over both of them. "I have a theory ..."

We all stopped talking and gave her our full attention.

She smiled slowly. "And it's a good one."

I shot a glance at Kane, who was still chatting with his teammates on the other side of the fire. He caught me looking and I turned away quickly. He might think I was miserable and needed saving from a bad conversation. But I didn't want him to come over now, not while things were getting good.

"I've thought a lot about it over the past few months," Madison began. "And I think I know who killed Kayla."

Kane was patting a buddy on the shoulder and taking a step back, like you'd do when you were leaving a conversation.

"Well, out with it!" Jessica snapped, pretty much taking the words out of my mouth.

"Alexa Palmer."

But I wasn't expecting those words. I stiffened as a heavy feeling settled into my stomach.

"Robot Girl?" Laurie said. "Why would you think that?"

Madison held up two fingers and counted off. "First - motive. Second - ability."

"We're gonna need more details," Jessica said.

Madison adjusted her position on the rock. "Alexa and Kayla were in a heated compet.i.tion for the valedictorian spot. A spot that is now clearly Alexa's."

"Robot Girl wouldn't kill someone just for the number one spot," Laurie said.

"Have you met her?" Madison countered. "h.e.l.lo! That's all she cares about. She has no friends, no life. All she cares about is her test scores."

Suddenly feeling defensive, I b.u.t.ted in, "I'm friends with her, actually. She's more than grades."

They ignored me as Jessica added information of her own. "Plus, Kayla was so mean to her. Kayla's the one who started calling her Robot Girl."

"Then everyone else joined in," Laurie said, clearly remembering.

"Plus," Madison added, "Alexa's ... off. She's like ... emotionless. She could totally push a girl down a flight of stairs and not feel a thing."

My insides twisted into knots. Everything they said made sense, but I didn't want it to. Could Alexa be a sociopath? She was awkward, but in a way I found endearing. She was the girl I liked most in the school, because she was different and quirky and honest. But my priorities had changed. It was all about finding the truth now. And if I was going to investigate, I had to consider every possibility.

"How's it going over here, ladies?"

I hadn't even noticed Kane make his way over. The girls all sat up straighter, tossing their hair. Kane gave me a confused look and I realized I'd been frowning, stuck on the image of Alexa thrusting her arms out and pushing Kayla from behind.

Kane reached out and grabbed my hand. "I'm going to steal Jade from you. Hope that's okay."

All the girls giggled in response.

More people had shown up, clumping up in circles and groups, laughing and yelling. Kane led me over toward the fire, to an empty spot where we could be alone. We settled next to each other on the ground. I sat cross-legged. He pulled his knees up and rested his arms on top of them.

He edged in a little closer and knocked my knee with his. "You're not having a good time, are you?"

"No, I am. I mean, yes!" I b.u.mbled.

"Yes you are, or yes you aren't?" He grinned.

I gave him a light shove with my elbow. "You know what I mean. Yes, I am having a good time."

His face turned serious. "You didn't look like it over there."

"I was deep in thought for a moment. I'm back on planet Earth now."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing important." How easily the lie slipped from my mouth.

Whether he believed me or not, he didn't press. He picked up a stick and stuck the end of it into the fire.

"We should have brought marshmallows," I said.

"That'll be our second date." He tilted his head toward me with a sly smile and I laughed.

If this had been a real date, this would have been the moment when we'd kiss. Snuggled up close, a fire burning in front of us, the chatter of friends around us but still feeling like we were alone. All he'd have to do was lean in a bit more.