Chapter 16

Wednesday, May31

By morning, the rainstorm has passed, and it’s time for school. I spent far too long in the shower last night, trying to wash away the events of that evening. I was frozen to the bone, my clothes soaked through and stuck to my skin.

We all have our clothes and gloves to dispose of again.

Luce was sitting in the middle of the circle, crying, when we got back to her. She’d made an authentic campfire, using a couple of logs around the outside to make it look like someone had been sitting there.

I don’t know if it’ll stand up if this stalker decides to tell the cops where the grave was, but if there’s no evidence Arthur was there and no body, I don’t see how the cops could take it seriously.

I walk today, needing the fresh air and outdoors. It’s something I’m having to force myself to do, because I will pass Arthur’s. But I can’t give my friends another excuse to push me away or write meoff.

As I approach Arthur’s, I spot George in the yard, holding a toolbox. He looks up and waves.

“Hi,” I say, my voice almost cracking. “Any news?”

He jogs over to the sidewalk and shakes his head. “It’s been six days and nothing.”

“What have the cops said?”

“He goes off a lot.” He shrugs. “They said this isn’t the first time someone’s come forward about him. It’s just…” He lets out a resigned sigh. “That’s basically it for now. They’ve done a quick sweep, but they’re not putting many hours into it yet.”

“I’m sorry. I think the forest is good for him, you know. He’s not exactly made to feel welcome here by everyone, and the mountain is his place to forget it all. I get that, do it myself.”

“You hike alone a lot?”

“No, I go with my dad or friends. I’m just saying, I understand why he needs to go off for a while.”

“Cops said sometimes he’s gone a week or more too.”

“He’s definitely had mail left for longer than a week. Mailman was telling my dad last year that he had to stack it all in an empty food cooler on his porch in case it rained.”

That’s kind of the truth. It happened, but it was only, like, five days.

I hate lying to him. His life has been nothing but loss. He doesn’t deserve what we’re doing to him. I wish there was something I could do to make this better, but it feels like the more I try, the worse things get.

“So I have around four days left before I should really worry?”

I shrug. “I’d say so. We’ve worried before and he’s just turned up back in town, mucky as hell, grabbing beers and beef jerky before heading back home.”

George chuckles. “He has a thing about beef jerky. There are packets of the stuff in the cupboard.”

We’re quiet for a moment. “You ready for graduation and summer…then college?” George asks, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, I can’t wait,” I say. I can’t wait to leave, that is. This nightmare needs to be over. Or at least continue in another place.

I wish I could go to California now. Atlas and I could just go, put all of this behind us with each mile we travel.

“So senior pranks are in full swing?”

He asks the question so casually, but a bolt of dread ripples through my body. Where did that suddenly come from?

“Um. Yeah.”

“Get up to anything stupid? I heard the Wilder assholes do dumb stuff.”

“No,” I say, clearing my throat. “Just the usual.”

He smiles, nodding once, but his inquisitive eyes hold mine for a long time. What’s he thinking? I wish I could read his mind because I’m freaking out.

Does he know?

No.

He can’t. Arthur’s his grandad. He wouldn’t be sending messages, he’d be running to the cops.

You’re paranoid.

“Right,” he finally says. “What’ve you been doing, then?”

“Oh. Ducks in the pool, chickens in the quad, glitter bombs in Fuller’s office. That kind of thing.”

He nods, stuffing his free hand in his pocket.

“What’re you doing with the tools?” I ask.

“Attempting some DIY. Figured I’d keep busy until he gets home and repair a few things for him.”

I nod. “I’m sure he’ll appreciate that. Anyway, I should go.”

“Yeah, go,” he says, stepping backward. It takes him another second, but then he breaks eye contact and retreats.

What the hell was that?

My panic free-falls, a bolt of anxiety telling me something is very off here. It could just be my paranoia, though.

I press on, power walking because I need to talk to my friends right freaking now.

But what if I’m not only paranoid? I mean, it did kind of sound like George was suspicious. He randomly asked about pranks. I move faster, needing to tell my friends because this is going to play on my mind all day.

I find Atlas, Jesse, and Luce chatting by Jesse’s locker and head over. Jesse mutters something and they all look up at the same time.

My cheeks heat at their lack of subtlety. They were talking about me.

“Hey,” I say, frowning. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Atlas says, kissing me. “You good?”

The tension is palpable, like a physical being standing betweenus.

“Um, I just saw George,” I tell them, looking at each one. None of them quite meet my eye. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing, we were just talking,” Jess says.

“About me?”

Atlas laughs. “No.”

“You made us realize anyone could walk up,” Jesse says, and I don’t believe either of them. “What happened with George?”

“Okay, I…I think he could be the one who messaged me.”

“Shut up! What…are you sure?” Jesse asks, stepping closer, getting into my personal space as if he’s ready to fight me.

“No. I’m not sure!”

“Why would George have sent the message?”

“I don’t know.”

He throws his hands up. “Then why suggest it?”

“Back up and tell us why you think that,” Atlas orders.

“I just walked past his place and he came over. He was just asking questions about the pranks, if we’ve done anything stupid that Rhett ordered. I mean, it can’t be him. His grandad was killed. If he knew, he’d hardly be sending us messages.”

Atlas nods. “That’s true. Who wouldn’t go to the cops if they knew the person responsible for the death of their relative?”

“We thought it might be Rhett,” Jesse says, and he makes it sound like there’s been a second discussion that I wasn’t part of.

I frown and say, “Yeah. It still might.”

“But why would George suddenly ask about the pranks?” Atlas wraps an arm around me. “He didn’t mention those to you before, did he?”

“Nope. He’s asked about school and stuff before Arthur was…you know, but not the pranks. It just seemed a weird time to bring it up. I mean, why not ask that on the other occasions I saw him, particularly the one where we were on school grounds?”

“So why now?” Luce says, almost to herself.

Jesse grits his teeth. “It must be him. We’d expect Rhett to be more…smug if he knew?”

“Yeah,” I reply. I definitely think he’d throw it in our faces more, making comments like in the text. But he could be playing the long game.

Atlas groans. “I think it’s George. I mean, he stopped looking for Arthur real quick, didn’t he? Anyone else seen him around town?”

“Not recently, and he said today the cops told him about Arthur’s hiking trips. I backed it up, said he’s sometimes gone for a week or more.”

“Don’t get too involved, Marley,” Jesse says.

“I’m not, it was a passing comment because George brought it up. It’d look weirder if I ignored it.”

“Of course it would,” Atlas says.

My pulse quickens as I stand with my friends but feel like an outsider. I try to get Luce to look at me, but she focuses on Jesse.

“Why wouldn’t he go to the cops?” Luce asks.

Jesse runs his hand over his hair. “Who do you think inherits the property, Luce?”

I stand straighter. The four of us are silent for a moment as we digest that little nugget of information. He’s right. With Arthur’s son dead and no other family, George will get everything.

“Okay, but if he does inherit everything, why message us? Why not just keep quiet?” Luce asks.

“Because without a body, he won’t inherit for a long time,” I say. “He needs Arthur to be found.”

“Yeah, well, we need him to not be,” Jesse says, stating the absolute obvious.

“I think I should meet whoever this is,” I say. “They’re watching me, right, so maybe I can get a message to them.”

Atlas wastes no time in objecting. “No way! Terrible idea, what the hell?”

“We need to know, Atlas. Whoever it is, they only contacted me. That has to mean something.”

I’m the one Rhett has the biggest issue with.

I’m the one George speaks to in our group.

“She’s right,” Jesse says.

“Shut up, dude. We’re not letting her go meet the person blackmailing us.”

“They’re not blackmailing us,” I say, kind of pathetically. I haven’t been asked to do anything in return for his silence, but there must be a reason for the message. It’s only a matter of time until it’s revealed.

“We can’t just ignore them,” Luce says.

Jesse nods. “Right, and it’s not like Marley will be alone. She gets a message to them, arranges to meet, and we’ll be hiding out there.”

“Okay,” I say, not waiting for Atlas to agree. “I’ll try to spend more time with George and Rhett, see whether they say anything else suspicious.”

Three pairs of eyes watch me, all with identical fear-filled stares.

“I can’t believe this is our life,” Luce mutters.

“It won’t be for much longer,” Jesse says. “We’ve come this far. I’m not going to let anyone screw this up. Marley, don’t get this wrong.”

“I won’t!”

The bell rings, and we all have different activities this morning. My first one being graduation practice, you know, just in case some of us can’t figure out how to walk across the stage.

After school we all go back to my house and discuss the whole thing until we’ve convinced ourselves that it’s George. So much so that Jesse is pacing and trying to figure out what we’re going to do.

“Hey,” Jesse says, jumping back from the window in my living room. He grabs Atlas, who’s closest to him, and shoves him back out of view.

“What the hell was that?” Atlas asks.

“George is walking past…the day he questioned you about senior pranks. It’s him!”

“What?” I say, peering around the side of the window in time to see George just move past the neighbor’s house, heading back toward his place.

“What was he doing out here?” Luce asks.

I’m on the outskirts with three other houses. As far as I know, he’s not friends with any of my three neighbors. I’ve never seen him come out this way before.

“Checking in on you,” Jesse says. “My truck is in the driveway, that’s probably why he left.”

“You think he was going to knock?” I ask, my eyes wide. “I don’t want him in my house.”

“Keep the door locked and the alarm on,” Atlas says.

I don’t think George is dangerous, but I have no clue what he wants from me, what the message meant, or why he’s not dropping an anonymous tip to the cops if he wants Arthur found.

Is he messing with me first? Getting a bit of revenge in before he drops us all in it.

“Do you want me to stay?” Atlas asks. “I can make something up for my parents.”

“No, I’m fine. You guys go. I’ll lock up.”

I kind of hope he comes back when they leave. The stress and anxiety are eating me from the inside out. It’s all I can think about. I just want to have a conversation with George. I want to apologize and ask what he wants, why he hasn’t gone to the cops.

Atlas kisses me and follows the others out of my house.

I lock the door and lean back against it.

What the hell am I going to do?