Free Falling (35 page)

A smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Spent the
night? I’m guessing that the parents don’t know that they boyfriend slash ex
stayed over?” he inquired.

I shook my head quickly. “My parents are out of town, but my
brother doesn’t know, he’d go crazy if he did.” I winced, thinking of how
annoyed Alex would be if he found out this news, and I wouldn’t be able to tell
him it was a lie either because then the police could find out.

A disapproving click of the tongue came from the corner of
the room, and I felt my face flame with embarrassment because Principal Bennett
now believed that Luke had slept in my room.

“And what is the boyfriend slash ex-boyfriend’s name?” the
inspector asked, his pen poised above the paper ready to write.

“Luke Hannigan,” I answered, watching as he scribbled it on
the pad.

“He’s at this school?” he asked. I nodded in answer, and he
looked up at the female officer that was holding the clipboard and standing by
the door. “Can we get Luke Hannigan in for the next round of students?” he
requested. She nodded, writing on the clipboard too. Inspector Bartrum looked
back to me. “Do you know of any reason why someone would want to hurt Miss
Watson?” he asked.

Despite the fact that she’s a spiteful, nasty witch?
was
my first thought, but,
“No,” was what I answered instead.

He sucked on his teeth, just watching me silently again for
a few seconds before he spoke, “Okay, I think that’s all for now. I’ll put in a
call to DI Neeson and speak to her about your case and let her know that Miss
Watson has been a victim of homicide,” he said, waving his hand at the door.
“You’re free to go. Please don’t talk to the other students sat outside, just go
straight back to class.”

I nodded quickly, relived that it was over. “Okay, thanks.”
I picked up my bag and practically ran from the room, ignoring how the
remaining students on the chairs watched me as I walked past. I tried not to
wonder what they thought about the fact that I’d been in there three times as
long as everyone else. Would they see that as something else to gossip about,
and another factor to add to my guilt? I hoped not.

In every single class I went to after that, the receptionist
popped her head in and pulled out at least one student, in my last class of the
morning she actually removed five students. As the time passed people seemed to
be looking at me less and less. News seemed to be spreading of the fact that
Luke snuck into my house last night, I was secretly dreading lunchtime when I
would see Alex, and he would ask about it. I was going to have to lie right to
my brother’s face and wasn’t looking forward to it in the slightest.

When the bell sounded I hung back in my class, deliberately
wasting time and procrastinating before deciding that I would forgo the
confrontation all together. Instead, I decided that I would spend my lunchtime
in the library. I sent a quick text to Charlotte informing her of my plans and
that I had an essay to finish and then snuck out of the class in the direction
of the library.

The volunteer librarian looked up as I walked in but because
I came in here a lot all she did was a casual wave as I strutted past and into
the back where they had the comfy reading chairs. I didn’t have any work to do,
so on the way past I nabbed a romance novel with a decidedly sickly cover of a
couple embracing on a beach. When I got to the chairs I settled down in the
seat to read it for an hour.

My plans were ruined when a bag dropped down next to me ten
minutes later though. I cringed and looked up expecting Alex to come and give
me the third degree. I was pleasantly surprised to see Luke standing there
instead. “Hey,” he greeted somewhat cheerfully.

Hmm, I guess Alex hasn’t caught up with him yet!
“Hey. How did you know I was here?” I asked. I hadn’t told Charlotte where I
was going, just that I had work to finish off and wasn’t going to lunch with
them.

“You weren’t at lunch, so I thought to myself, where would
Maisie be? Then it hit me, comfy chairs at the back of the library,” he mused,
plopping down in the chair opposite mine and ripping open his black backpack.
“Hungry?” he asked, pulling out a sandwich carton and bottle of Pepsi.

I nodded, taking it eagerly as my stomach gave an angry
growl. I hadn’t realised how hungry I was until then. “Thanks, Luke.”

He smiled, taking out another sandwich and sitting back in
his chair. “What you hiding in here for? Are people still saying things? Who is
it? I’ll talk to them,” he suggested, looking at me curiously.

I sighed and ripped open the packet, lifting out half of the
cheese sandwich. “No it’s fine. I’m just kind of trying to avoid Alex. He’s
gonna go mad when he hears that you stayed over last night,” I explained,
wincing.

Luke cringed and nodded. “Hadn’t thought of that. Hiding in
the library is a good plan. Think we could stay here forever so I don’t get my
ass beat?” he joked. His eyes twinkled with amusement, and I couldn’t help but
chuckle.

“You should probably move towns,” I teased, winking at him
playfully. “My dad’s back this afternoon too so you’ll have two Preston males
out for your blood.” I bit into the sandwich greedily, not even bothering to
savour it. I hadn’t eaten anything all day so now I was actually ravenous.

Luke waved his hand dismissively. “I can handle them. You’re
worth it,” he replied, smirking at me. “How’d your interview go? All as
planned, right? You said what we agreed?” he asked, lowering his voice and
leaning forward in the chair.

I nodded, looking around quickly, but there was no one near
us at all. It was only us and the volunteer librarian in the room, and she was
standing on the other side of the room at the counter. “Yeah, I said what you
told me to,” I confirmed.

He smiled, and his shoulders seemed to relax. “That’s good
then. I had mine too this morning so I said the same thing. You should be in
the clear now. They won’t question it. The policeman was one of my dad’s old
golfing buddies, he recognised me when I walked in. I could have told him
anything and he wouldn’t have questioned it,” he boasted, shrugging easily.

“Thanks for doing that, Luke. Even though you’re now gonna
be in trouble with Alex for it probably.” I smiled gratefully. My eyes drifted
down to his mouth as he ate, I watched his lips as he licked off a crumb from
the corner of his mouth. I’d never wanted to kiss him more than in that moment.
How I was restraining myself from getting out of my chair and closing the short
distance I didn’t know.

“You don’t need to keep thanking me.” He shoved in his last
mouthful of food and opened his drink. “Beth had her interview too already. She
went at the same time as me. I reckon they’ll be doing them interviews for a
couple of days. Depends on if they’re doing our whole year or just people who
knew her.” We sat there for the rest of lunch, speculating about who would get
called and when and what the police would learn from talking to students. I
didn’t get any of the book read, but if I was honest I would much rather spend
the time talking to Luke anyway.

The afternoon passed differently to the morning. Instead of
subjecting us to lessons, they made everyone do a kind of study hall, quiet
time. Luckily for me I’d had the forethought to borrow the book I’d started at
lunchtime, so I sat there in silence reading that while other students around
me put their heads on their desks and slept, started assignments for the
following day or just doodled in their notebooks.

Thankfully, with the whole silence is golden thing, I had
managed to avoid speaking to Alex all afternoon. During sixth period a balled
up piece of paper sailed across the room and hit me in the arm, bouncing onto
the floor and making me squeak with fright because I was so engrossed in my
book. I looked up, shocked, to see Zach chuckling behind his hand. I scowled at
him but just got a smirk in return before he pointed down at the paper
discreetly.

I sighed, closing my book and marking my page before
dropping my pencil and then bending down to scoop it back up along with the paper.
The teacher looked up, raising one eyebrow in question. I stuffed the note up
my sleeve before holding up my pencil in explanation, smiling apologetically.
With a bored expression she turned away, obviously satisfied that I wasn’t up
to anything sinister. When I was confident that she wasn’t going to look, I
pulled out the note and unscrewed it, flattening it out and seeing Zach’s messy
handwriting on there.

‘Still studying at
mine after school?’

I looked over at him to see him watching me curiously. I
nodded, screwing the note back up and shoving it into my pocket. He smiled,
settling back into his seat. “What you reading?” he mouthed, pointing at my
book. I held it up so he could see the cover, watching as he crinkled his nose
distastefully and rolled his eyes at me. I chuckled and opened my page, reading
again for the rest of the lesson.

When the final bell went I sent a quick text to Alex,
reminding him that I was going home with Zach tonight. He replied that he was
going training anyway but that I was in trouble when I got home. I winced,
shoving my phone into my back pocket, now not wanting to go home at all.
Hopefully he wouldn’t tell my dad otherwise I would probably be grounded
forever. Mind you, after someone sending me all that stuff and what happened to
Chester, I wouldn’t have been surprised if I wasn’t grounded forever anyway as
a safety precaution!

Zach slinked over to my desk, skilfully jumping a chair on
the way instead of walking around it. “Studying time then,” he groaned as we
walked out of the classroom.

I smiled at his dejected tone and opened my mouth to answer
when I saw Luke leaning against the wall outside the door. “Hey, what are you
doing here?” I asked, confused.

“Hey, baby,” he greeted. “Came to give you a ride home. Alex
told me earlier that he was training tonight,” he said, already reaching to
take my bag from my shoulder.

I twisted my shoulder away so his fingers grasped thin air.
“I’m tutoring tonight so I’ll be going home with Zach,” I answered, willing him
not to freak out and start ordering me around like he did last time he saw me
going home with Zach.

His posture tightened, his teeth snapped together with an
audible click as his eyes flicked behind me to Zach who I could feel
practically pressed against my back. “Oh,” he grunted.

My bag was slid off of my shoulder, and I looked around
quickly to see that it was Zach that had taken it. “I got it from here,
quarterback,” he said smugly.

Luke’s eyes narrowed as he stepped closer. Panic built up
instantly because the annoyance and anger was plain to see on Luke’s face as he
glowered just over my right shoulder. “Make sure you take care of her,” he
ordered. “Don’t let her out of your sight.”

Zach grinned and did a mock salute, clicking his heels
together to thoroughly complete the action. I rolled my eyes and gripped Zach’s
arm, giving him a little tug in the direction of the parking lot. “I’ll be
fine, Luke. Please stop worrying about me,” I begged. “I’ll see you tomorrow,”
I muttered, before turning to Zach. “Come on, let’s just go,” I suggested. I
couldn’t wait to be out of this place and away from prying eyes.

Zach let me lead him along and out of the front doors as he
dug in his pocket, pulling out his bike keys. “So, had a good day?” he asked
casually, as if just making conversation and didn’t know what a horrible day
I’d actually had.

I sighed and nodded as we marched across the parking lot.
“Brilliant. You?” I replied sarcastically.

He chuckled at my annoyance. “Tomorrow will be better,” he
said confidently. “The gossip will have moved on to something else tomorrow. I
don’t know why the idiots thought it was you anyway, I mean jeez, you couldn’t
stab anyone, you can barely even get the straw into a Capri-Sun,” he joked,
barging me with his shoulder making me stumble sideways a step.

I burst out laughing as I slapped his shoulder. “Shut up
you. How the heck do you come up with this stuff?”

He chuckled, his eyes glittering with amusement. “Saw it on
a Facebook status once, been dying to use it ever since,” he replied, winking
at me playfully. “Anyway, let’s change the subject, what shall we have for
dinner tonight?” he asked as we made our way over to the side of the parking
lot where he usually parked his motorcycle.

I shrugged easily. “Whatever, I eat anything I’m not fussy,”
I replied.

We reached his bike then so Zach swung his leg over the
seat, holding out the helmet that was fast becoming familiar to me.

“Zachary Anderson?” We both looked back to see DI Neeson
standing there, dressed in a brown pant suit and cream shirt. She was
accompanied by the same uniformed officer that had the clipboard when I’d given
my statement this morning. 

“Yeah?” Zach muttered, frowning.

“I’m Detective Inspector Neeson. I’d like a few minutes of
your time please,” she answered. Her voice wasn’t friendly like it always was
when she spoke to me.

I frowned, confused. Surely they could wait until tomorrow
to take his statement that they’d been obtaining from the students. “Can’t he
do his statement tomorrow?” I asked hopefully. I really wanted to leave this
place already, not sit around waiting for him to give his statement.

DI Neeson shook her head. “No. I’d like to speak to Zachary
now.”

Zach made a scoffing sound and shook his head, turning back
to face the front and shoving the key into the ignition. “I’ll do it tomorrow.
We have somewhere to be. It’s not convenient right now,” he snapped.

He twisted the key making the bike roar to life with a loud
growl. DI Neeson and the uniformed officer that she was standing with both took
a step forward. “Mr Anderson, if you’re not prepared to answer questions
willingly then I’m afraid you leave us with no choice.”