Chapter 34

My heart stalls. They’re not who I was expecting.

“You can’t be here,” I say.

How are they here?

“You think we’re going to let bail conditions get in the way of this?” Jesse spits. “You’ve set us up! We’re facing charges for two murders! Cops are crawling around, searching our houses! My goddam truck has been taken.”

Ha. Good.

“You killed them, Jesse! George almost died too. You did that. You’re a murderer.”

“Shut up!” he bellows.

“You shouldn’t be here. You need to go,” I say, backing up a step.

Jesse shakes his head slowly, his expression cold and dangerous. Would the others stand and watch while he killed me? Atlas isn’t here, but he tried to sneak into my room a couple of hours ago, so he was probably picked up by the cops.

“We don’t have long before the goddam cops come back for us, so we had to follow you and do this now.”

They followed me into this room. So I wasn’t betrayed.

Luce looks quickly between Jesse and me.

“Luce, you can’t let him hurt me. We were friends.”

Her eyes narrow in the most predictable way. Obviously I don’t expect her to play along, but I don’t trust anyone. They could be recording this.

“How are you guys out?”

“Bail,” Luce says. “Bail, Marley! You think we’re friends after this? You’re going down too.”

“I haven’t done anything. You’re both insane!”

“Cut the crap!” Jesse shouts again. Someone is going to hear him soon, surely. Why hasn’t anyone noticed that they aren’t home? There must be conditions to their bail.

“Hurting me is only going to make this worse,” I say, taking another step back. They’re blocking me in; the door is behind them. “The cops will know it’s you. Come on, think about it.”

“I don’t care. We’re not letting you get away with this,” Jesse says. “You figured it out, didn’t you?”

Yes.

“Figured what out? What are you talking about?”

“Stop pretending you don’t know. It’s embarrassing,” Luce snaps. “You were the weakest link, about to squeal any day, so we had to do something. You figured out what we were up to and formed your own little plan. How, Marley? How did you get them to believe your lies?”

I smirk and move my jacket aside, revealing the pin badge. “You’re all crazy. I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but for once, take responsibility for what you’ve done and stop blaming everyone else.”

“Bitch!” Luce screams.

Jesse growls. “Own up to it or I’ll slit your goddam throat right now.”

My heart drops as he pulls a knife from his pocket. “Put that away, Jesse. We can talk about this.”

I didn’t say what he has. Shit. But he said he’d slit my throat, so it’s obvious, right? Would that stand up?

“No. Tell the truth right now.”

Raising my palms, I reply, “Okay. Please just put the knife down, and I’ll do whatever you want.”

“That’s better…. But the knife isn’t going anywhere. I have nothing to lose now. You made sure of that.”

“You do. If you kill me, it’s more time. You’d never get out of prison. Think about it. Luce, come on. You don’t want to do this.”

“Admit to what you did!” he spits.

“All right. All right. Just stay back, please. I did it. I did it all and blamed you. We can go to the cops together.”

“She’s lying,” Luce says. “I can tell, Jesse. We need to get out of here. We won’t have long. She’s scared enough.”

Jesse laughs. “Luce, you really are the stupidest person I have ever met. This was never about scaring her. She’s sending us down, and you think I want to waste my final chance to get her alone to make her a bit scared?!”

“What the hell?” she spits, stepping toward him. “Jesse, what are you saying?”

I notice the change in Jesse’s eyes a fraction too late. He lunges and sticks the knife into Luce’s gut. It slides straight in like he’s cutting butter.

I scream, the sound bouncing off the walls and nearly deafening me. She looks up at him, eyes wide and full of hurt. Then she stumbles back, gripping her stomach.

Jesse has nothing to lose. This is his last chance.

To kill us all?

Was this his plan? He can’t get hold of Atlas because he’s likely at the station now. I can’t describe how relieved I am. I hate them all, but I don’t want any of them to die.

Luce drops hard to the floor, her knees cracking on the vinyl tiles as she goes down.

“What did you do?” I mutter, watching my best friend’s blood pump through her fingers.

Above her is Jesse. Watching. Waiting for his girlfriend to bleed out.

He’s sicker than I realized.

I scoot to the side while he’s occupied, lost in the imminent death like the Grim Reaper admiring his handiwork.

I sidestep again, breathing as quietly as I can so I don’t disturb Jesse. My heart thudding as I go, terrified that he will snap back and realize that I’m about to escape.

A part of me wants to help her. I wanted her in prison, not the morgue, but I have to make sure I can get out.

She sobs as she looks at him, her heart breaking in front of me. I have my phone in my pocket, but how much movement is too much? I’m already moving an inch at a time, keeping my arms by my sides and my head straight.

Jesse has nothing to lose.

I’ll call for help, I just need to get a little closer to the door. A few more steps.

Someone must have realized that I’m not in the hall by now. Rhett knows I’m out this way.

I shouldn’t be alone right now.

Where is he?

I reach the end of the locker row and have to start moving forward when Luce cries out.

Her raspy breath sends a chill down my spine. Every gasp is a battle she’s very quickly losing. She coughs and then her body goes limp, slumping like a rag doll.

My body turns cold.

Luce is dead.

Jesse looks up, his eyes connecting with mine.

He tilts his head, but he’s distracted by the sound of sirens wailing close by. Not only sirens, but shouting too.

It’s then I notice that Jesse has a tag on his ankle. Maybe they both do. That’s what they meant by not having long. He knew the cops would come as soon as they realized they’d left home.

“Jesse, the cops!” I shout, hoping he’ll prioritize running over killing me.

This is his endgame.

Run.

His head snaps up, and I gasp. I don’t look back to see if he’s behind me because that’ll only slow me down. Besides, I know he’ll follow.

My feet thunder down the hallway. I gulp for air when the oxygen feels like it’s burning up around me. Running too fast to slow down for a corner, I slam into a wall. It gives Jesse enough time.

I scream as his arm snakes around me and he pulls me against his chest. I shove myself backward, and the motion almost makes him lose his footing.

“Get off!”

He growls, his fingers digging painfully into my skin as he grabs me and shoves me into the wall. My head bounces off the painted block, dots dancing in front of my face.

Music from the auditorium and sirens outside float through the halls. I drop to the floor and turn over, dazed but still hyperaware that I can’t have my back to him. I need to protect myself, to fight until help arrives.

Jesse pins me to the floor the same way he did in the forest, only this time he’s more determined.

“You’re going to die!” he spits, grappling at my wrists with one hand to pin me down.

I wriggle, pushing his face and the arm with the knife.

“Hey!” someone shouts, the sound echoing, bouncing off the walls as hard as my head did.

Then I hear footsteps. “Get off her!”

Oh, thank god, he’s come for me.

I claw at Jesse’s face, my nails raking down his skin and leaving a trail of red behind that looks like rivers of blood.

“Bitch!” he shouts, now using both hands to hold the knife.

My eyes widen as I thrash beneath him, the pointed end, covered in Luce’s blood, now aiming for my heart.

“Marley!” another voice shouts.

I gasp as Jesse drives his hands down toward me. Twisting, I manage to move my body, using my legs to push him to the side. The metal scraping of the knife on the floor beside me sends a bolt of terror along my spine.

I push again before he manages to correct his balance, and he falls to the side.

“Get away from her!”

I look up, and he’s here.

George kicks Jesse’s hand hard, the knife scattering across the floor. He picks him up by the scruff of his neck and slams him into the wall.

“Back up! Everyone, back up!”

I scramble to my feet as two cops sprint toward us. Rhett reaches us first, grabbing me and pulling me farther away from where George has Jesse.

One of the cops picks up the knife while the other, Sam, I manage to see through my blurred vision, grabs Jesse’s hands.

“Move, George,” Sam says.

Once George is out of the way, Sam slaps a pair of handcuffs on Jesse and reads him his rights.

“Luce is dead,” I say, sobbing in relief that I am not. “She’s in the locker room. Jesse and Luce cornered me in there. He killed her and then he tried to kill me.”

“You’re safe, Marley.” Sam turns to George and Rhett. “Why are you here?”

“I saw her from the auditorium and wanted to check she was okay,” Rhett tells him.

“And I came for graduation,” George says, moving closer to me. “Heard her screaming and ran. Are you okay?”

I break out of Rhett’s embrace and stumble to George. “My head.”

“You’re bleeding but you’ll be okay,” he replies, pressing his palm to the wound.

“What are you doing here, Mr.Wilder?” Sam asks.

“I—I knew where Marley was,” Rhett replies, and I can feel his gaze on George and me. “Marley, what’s going on?”

I bite my lip, waiting.

You’re about to find out.

Sam nods, moving to Rhett with his hand on his cuffs. “Mr.Wilder, you’re under arrest for the attempted murder of George Nelson.”

Rhett’s eyes widen.

And this is where I win.

I’ve taken them all down.

Turning back to George, I smile at his expression.

Sam’s partner cuffs Rhett and escorts him along the corridor. “You’re okay now,” Sam says, and he trails after his partner and Rhett.

“Marley, what the hell is going on?” Rhett shouts over his shoulder. “Marley! Answer me!”

“What did you do?” George asks when they’re far enough away to not hear us.

We begin to follow slowly so that Sam doesn’t stop. I only have a minute before the gossip starts and my parents come running.

“As if I’m letting him get away with ditching me. No one picks me up and drops me when it suits them. His AirTags were used to track me and Jesse. I told the cops that we took the watch back. Turns out it was Rhett’s grandma’s, an heirloom, and she gave it to your grandad when they had an affair. Worth a fortune, apparently. If we returned it, how would Rhett have it now?”

George shakes his head, grinning. “He snuck in for it and burned my house down at the same time.”

“Bingo. He wanted us to do the dirty work and find out if Arthur still had it first. Of course, I didn’t tell Rhett this, and it was still in his house…along with a gas canister from your farm, and a couple of pills planted in his car from your bottle. Wiped clean, so don’t panic if you touched them. They’ve always wanted that land, and with Arthur missing, he could finish you off, buy the land, all while blaming the others.”

I wish I knew where Arthur’s car was, probably in the water somewhere, but I can’t bring that up without it looking suspicious. It’ll be found eventually, I’m sure. And it’s only a matter of time before Luce’s badge is found in the house now that the cops are swarming it.

George smiles. “You’re the cutest, scariest, and most devious girl I know.”

“Thank you.”

“So I’m thinking I’m ready for that college transfer. California with my grandad’s money?”

I link my arm through his. “I thought you’d never ask.”