Runaways (5 page)

Jared thought of the image he saw on his laptop, of Lily Mars and his mentor, William Abernathy, going at it in the bathroom. He felt sick to his stomach, not only because the man had shown himself to be so immoral, but because Jared realized there was a much greater implication, one that could provide an entirely new light on the murder.

But first he told the detectives about Lily.

“I believe Mr. Abernathy was involved with one of the students here. Lily Mars.”

It was the first time the detectives visibly reacted to anything he’d said.

“You have proof?”

“No, but I know I’m right.” Of course he couldn’t tell them he was secretly recording people throughout the school. He thought it might be illegal, and at the very least, he worried about jeopardizing the elaborate system he had in place. The detectives prodded him, trying to get him to reveal his source. But Jared held fast. He needed to explain to them that Mr. Abernathy sleeping with Lily wasn’t even the biggest shock.

Lily stared at the detectives, unflinching and unapologetic.

“He loved me.”

Lily was grieving. She had something special with Will. They both knew people wouldn’t understand. They would frown on the age difference. Ordinary people couldn’t see what Will did, that Lily was unusually mature for her age. She was an old soul in a young body. They could talk for hours about everything. When she was with him, Lily felt unbelievably light.

She fought back tears as she thought of when they first discovered their feelings for each other. It was over a year ago. Lily was stretched out by the Abernathy pool one day after school. She
soaking up the sun in a retro, ’70s-style bikini with a giant O ring at the cleavage. Kaylee had gone inside to use the bathroom or who knows what. William Abernathy came outside from his bedroom. The house was U-shaped and several rooms opened out onto the pool. He nodded hello at Lily and continued past her to the kitchen. When he came back, he was holding some sort of green juice. Again, he walked by her, but something made him stop. “I don’t want to be rude, but do I know you?” Lily smiled.

“I’ve only been here like a million times.” He still looked perplexed. Lily took off her sunglasses. “It’s Lily. Lily Mars.”

“Lily Mars is a little girl who wants to be a princess when she grows up.”

“I can’t believe you remembered that. That was like, ten years ago.”

“You don’t want to be a princess anymore?”

“Maybe I already am a princess.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. You clearly have way too many smarts to settle for that.”

“So what will I be then?”

“I have a pretty strong feeling you can be whatever you want.”

He’d continued to his room then. Lily watched him go, a bit surprised. Boys of any age rarely would leave her alone, particularly when she was in a bikini. But he seemed unimpressed by her body.
At least at first. That afternoon was the start of something. Lily made it a point to hang out with Kaylee more often so she could “accidentally” bump into her father. It didn’t take long for her to “accidentally” show up at the house when Kaylee wasn’t there.

She knew the detectives were judging him harshly because of their relationship. People would. It was why they were waiting until Lily turned eighteen to go public. At that point, Will would leave Olivia and marry her. Kaylee and Anne would have a hard time accepting it, but they didn’t care. Love knew no bounds.

And now he was dead. She had no future and never felt so alone in her life.

“Where were you last night between nine and midnight?” The older detective didn’t care about her pain.

“I was at the party at Keesha’s house. Everybody saw me.”

27. THE PARTY

Every window in Keesha Washington’s modern house glowed brightly as the party gained momentum. People spilled from room to room. The wide second-floor balcony was filled with Danbury students sipping from red cups. Keesha had decided to go old school for the evening and was pushing gin and tonics with a twist of lime. Her favorite band, Trick Knee, was playing over the home’s audio system. It was loud enough to hear, but not so loud that it was impossible to have a conversation. Keesha was very aware it was her duty as hostess to make sure all guests were having a good time, and all the guests were being respectful of her home.

Her parents were in Turks and Caicos celebrating their twentieth wedding anniversary. They’d trusted Keesha to stay by herself and even told her she could have a get-together if she wanted. They knew they could trust their daughter. What they didn’t realize was that their daughter was, at that moment, standing outside near the curb of the house waiting for her dealer to show up. Still, pills or not, she would make sure no one damaged anything during the party.

Keesha was standing there when Kaylee arrived. “Have you seen Mason?” No “Hello” or anything resembling a friendly greeting.
Keesha tried not to be hurt. “Didn’t he bring you?” Mason always brought Kaylee. They were inseparable.

“He was supposed to, but he never showed. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m worried about him.”

Keesha nodded sympathetically. “Why don’t you go look inside?”

Kaylee nodded and left without another word.
Nice,
Keesha thought. But honestly, she wanted her gone. She needed to be alone.

Kaylee headed through the throngs of people, scanning the crowd. People were dancing, groping, and generally having a good time. She felt so apart from it all. She spotted Trevor hitting on an older guy, probably a college kid. When she approached, he hugged her hello. “Have you seen Lily? She’s already half past gone.” Trevor gestured to the dance floor, where Lily was working her best moves but looking like an awkward marionette. “Some people get drunk and make unfortunate moves on other people. Lily gets drunk and makes unfortunate moves on the dance floor.” Trevor waited for Kaylee to laugh, but she wasn’t even listening.

“Have you seen Mason?” Trevor shook his head. “Didn’t you come with him?”

But she left without answering. Trevor turned his attention back to the delicious-looking frat boy he’d been hitting on, but he was gone now too. Just his luck.

Kaylee made her way through the throngs. She nearly ran straight into Jared. He smiled warmly when he saw her. “Kaylee. I was hoping to see you here.” He took a step forward, but she held up a hand to keep him at bay. “I’m sorry, Jared, but not now.”

She spotted Mason across the room, around the Ping-Pong table doing shots with a few other people. He looked right at her but didn’t smile or acknowledge her in any way. She turned and headed outside, not sure what to do next. She couldn’t stay here with him ignoring her. She headed down the back way toward the street when Mason grabbed her arm. She smiled at him instinctively, but the angry look in his eyes made her pull back. “Where were you? Why didn’t you pick me up?”

Mason seemed almost too angry to speak. He took her by the arm and guided her away from the partiers. He somehow managed to make a whisper sound menacing. “I know you cheated on me.”

“What? That’s crazy.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Who was it?”

“I didn’t cheat with anybody.”

“Just tell me, okay? Tell me who it was. Was it that prick Jared?”

“No! Of course not. What is this about? I never cheated on you.”

“My dick says otherwise.”

Kaylee paused for the slightest second, but Mason saw. “I knew it,” he said.

“No. Stop. It’s not what you think.” Kaylee was getting louder and louder, unable to keep her emotions in check. “I did not cheat on you.”

“You had to. I’ve never cheated on you. Not once. I don’t even look at anybody else. What’s that phrase? I only had eyes for you. And look what it got me.”

“You don’t understand what’s been happening.”

“I know exactly what’s been happening, and what’s going to happen. We’re through.”

“No! You have to believe me.”

“I’ll believe you when you tell me who you slept with.”

“I didn’t.”

“I don’t ever want to see you again.”

Mason started walking back toward the house. Kaylee followed. She caught him by the arm, and he shook her off so roughly she flinched.

“We’re done here. Do not follow me.” He kept walking and Kaylee took another step toward him as he turned. “If you follow me, I swear to God I’ll kill you.” With that, Mason headed inside. As he was walking, he almost ran into Glinda.

Once again Kaylee started to go after him, but Trevor had been watching and stepped in to block her. “No, sweetie. It’s not a good idea.”

“I can’t believe this is happening.” Kaylee was sobbing. “What am I going to do?”

“Wait. He’ll calm down.”

“And then what? Tell him the truth? What will happen then?”

“What exactly is the truth?”

“You know.”

“I think. But I don’t know. If I knew I’d have to do something about it.”

“You can’t.”

“I want to help you.”

“Nobody can help me. Nobody would believe me.”

“That’s not true.”

“It would follow me forever. I’d be that girl. You know, ‘the one who.’” Kaylee was worried that she would get a reputation if people knew where she really got it. It wasn’t her fault, but that didn’t matter. She didn’t want any story about her sex life following her.

“Come with me. We can figure something out.” He led her toward the street.

“I know what I want to do.”

“I know what I want to do too.”

28. I’M THE COWARD?

Mason went inside the house and grabbed another shot of vodka. He downed it without even feeling the sting in his throat. He looked at all the faces around him. Some were staring and others were pretending not to look. Screw them. He felt his neck get hot as he thought about what just happened. He couldn’t believe it. He loved Kaylee and she cheated on him.

He hit the head. As he was standing there, Lily walked in. Stumbled, really. She didn’t seem embarrassed he had his dick in his hands, positioned over the toilet. She walked toward him and reached for it. Mason blocked her, the crazy bitch.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m just saying hello,” Lily slurred her words. “I saw you fight with Kaylee. So now you’re free, right?”

“Right.”

“So? What are we waiting for?”

“Lily. You’re drunk.”

“Absolutely.”

“I thought you had a boyfriend.”

“Do you see a boyfriend anywhere?”

“I know who your boyfriend is.”

Lily froze. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. I know who your boyfriend is. The ‘mature’ guy. Otherwise known as the creep who could go to jail for diddling his daughter’s friend.”

“He’s not diddling me.”

Mason zipped up his pants. “You realize he’s using you, right?”

“Of course you’d think that.”

“Jesus, Lily. Do you hear yourself?”

“Did you tell anyone? Any adults?”

“Adults besides your boyfriend? No. But I will if you don’t turn around and leave me in peace.”

“You little roach.”

“Leave me in peace. You don’t want to do this.”

Mason took his time washing his hands, making it a point to ignore Lily. He walked past her and out the door. Lily fumed. She couldn’t believe she’d offered herself to him. She wasn’t even sure why she did. Something about Kaylee having the attention of Mason and her own boyfriend really bugged her.

Mason was so angry and upset about Kaylee that he barely registered what had just happened in the bathroom. If he’d thought about it, he’d have known Lily wouldn’t handle rejection all that well. But he didn’t think. He wanted to get the hell away
from this party so he pushed his way through the crowd and to the door.

He was already in his car, about to pull the door shut, when
BAM!
Jared yanked the door open.

“What the hell?”

“You crossed the line this time.” Jared pulled Mason out of the car and tossed him to the street. Mason scrambled to his feet as Jared kept at him. “You’re messing with her. You coward.”