Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

BEFORE

TOM

When I get to school, there are two police cars parked right in front.

I almost do an about face and go home. The presence of multiple police cars can't possibly mean anything good. I rub my abdomen, which has healed up for the most part since my father nearly impaled me with the fire poker.

Slug is leaning against the school, hastily stubbing out a cigarette with his sneaker at the sight of the police chief. Although they look like they couldn't care less about a couple of teenagers with cigarettes.

"Hey, Slug." I jog over to my best friend, knowing he will for sure know exactly what's going on. He always does. "What's up with the cop cars?"

A grin spreads across Slug's face. He has an angry-looking pimple right at the corner of his lips. "You didn't hear? They found Brandi Healey."

"Oh? You mean she came back home?"

"No, they found her body ." He laughs at the look on my face. "Guess she didn't run away after all."

I feel like I'm going to choke. They found Brandi. That means…

"She was buried out in the woods only about half an hour from here," he says. "Because of all the snow during the winter, nobody found her. Apparently, some lady was walking her dog, and the dog dug up the body."

I lean against the wall of the school, wishing for once that I smoked like Slug, because a cigarette really seems like it would be great right now. "That's…terrible."

Slug nods. "And I overheard that they think whoever did this to her tortured her before they killed her. Like, they really made her suffer."

"Jesus."

"Some people are really sick," Slug says, although his voice is almost gleeful. "Hey, you knew her pretty well, didn't you, Tom?"

I take a big gulp of air. "Not really."

"Yeah, you did. You tutored her, didn't you?"

"Barely. She didn't even show up half the time."

"Man." Slug shakes his head. "If I had been tutoring that girl, I wouldn't have been able to keep my hands off her. She was hot , you know?" He laughs. "Not so much anymore though."

My hands ball into fists—I don't like the way he's talking about Brandi. "Don't talk about her that way."

He looks at me in surprise. "What's your problem, Tom?"

I shake my head. I don't want to talk about Brandi at all anymore, although I have a bad feeling that's all anybody is going to be talking about today. And if anybody finds out that I…

"Tom!"

It's Daisy's voice. She is running toward me, her face streaked with tears. Before I know what's happening, she hurls herself into my arms, clinging to me. I push all the dark thoughts from my head and focus on comforting Daisy.

"It's so awful," Daisy murmurs, "what they did to Brandi…"

Naturally, Alison is following close behind. While I've got Daisy in my arms and I'm stroking her golden hair, Alison is staring at me. It's hard to read her expression exactly, but her narrow lips are a straight line. The other day, at the health fair, she brought up the fact that I used to tutor Brandi. But that's no secret. And it's not a big deal.

"My father said he's going to find out who did this to her," Daisy sniffles into my T-shirt.

"Do they have any suspects?" Slug asks.

Alison won't quit staring at me, and it's making my skin crawl. "Daisy, didn't you say your father told you he's pretty sure the killer was a student at the school?"

"That's what he said," Daisy confirms. "That's why the police are going to be asking everyone if they know anything."

The thought of being interrogated by a police officer makes me want to throw up. And if he doesn't like what I have to say…

"Will you walk me home today, Tom?" Daisy asks softly. "I know you're tutoring, but—"

"I'll cancel it."

"Really?"

I nod. The kid I'm tutoring today would just as soon skip out on it anyway—his mom is the one who pays me. And who knows? By the time the last bell rings, I could very well be getting marched out of the school in handcuffs.