WHO KILLED EMMALINE? (18 page)

The atmosphere is strained as Riley and I sit with Mitch in a restaurant in Manchester. The restaurant itself is pretty nice, and I like that Mitch took us somewhere other than a cheap diner. The food is wonderful, and instrumental music plays in the background, allowing people to converse without being overheard by those at the next table. However, the ambience of the restaurant is lost on both me and Riley. Poor Mitch has been dragging out one word answers from both of us. I swear I’m not trying to be difficult; I just don’t have much to say. Mid-way through dinner, Mitch quietly excuses himself to use the men’s room.

I wait all of three seconds before turning on Riley. “Did you mess with my car?” I ask calmly.

I don’t want to start this conversation by accusing him of it, but I really do need to find out if he was behind it or if I’ve somehow gained another enemy. I’d tried to brush off the vandalism when I was with Cord the other day, but the fact that it happened in the first place is still bothering me.

Riley smirks. “Now I’m really curious about what was done to it. Maybe if you tell me the details, I’ll recall something.”

“Cut the crap, Riley. Did you mess with my car or not?”

His eyes hold mine. “No, but I sure as hell wish I had if it’s got you and Bodine this riled up.”

I believe him. So if he didn’t do it, and it wasn’t his friends, then who did? Better yet,
why
would someone single me out like that?

Riley, seeing the confusion on my face, leans back in his chair, looking amused. “Looks like you’ve made another enemy here. Just what have you been up to lately?” he muses.

“Look, I get why you’re upset over our parents’ marriage. It’s not like I’m real thrilled about it, either. I’m the one who had to move and start all over,” I remind.

Riley’s eyes turn cold as ice. “And I’m the one who had to comfort my mom when she was blindsided by my dad’s affair with your mom. Now my dad has moved his new—and trashy by the way—family to town where we are constantly reminded of what we’d had and what we’ve lost. Try dealing with
that
.”

“Like I said, it sucks for both of us. Can’t we figure out some sort of truce or something? This vendetta you have against me isn’t doing anyone any good. It’s just making things worse, Riley.”

“It’s making things worse for you, not me,” he says with a mocking smile. “I feel better when I’m making your life miserable.”

I shoot him a look. “Breaking that window wasn’t funny. Accidents happen, and sooner or later, someone is going to get hurt. If you keep harassing me, I will make sure that I have a restraining order in place against you.” I stare him down to let him know that I am not kidding. “I am dead serious. The prank at the house is already on file, and there are plenty of witnesses that saw that mask on my car’s antenna. One more prank, and I will turn your ass in.”

Riley’s mouth tightens at my threat.

“Now about that truce?” I arch an eyebrow and wait to see if he’ll cave or not. The last thing I’d wanted to do was threaten him with a restraining order—which I
am
serious about—but these pranks have to stop. They’re not just affecting me, they could cause trouble for Cord and Dane as well.

“Fuck you,” Riley says lowly so that only I can hear him if anyone close by is listening in on our conversation. Hostility radiates off him in waves as he looks at me with disdain. “You don’t belong in this town or my life, and I’m not going to act like it’s okay. So no, we don’t have a truce.”

“Then watch your back, because if you do one more thing to me, I
will
find a way to retaliate.”

“I think
you
should be the one to watch
your
back. Maybe you’ve ticked off the wrong person, and it’s only a matter of time before someone finds your butchered body parts floating in Blood Creek. Guess that would take care of one of my problems, now wouldn’t it?”

A chill treks up my spine. “Are you threatening me?”

“Not at all. I’m just stating fact. If you’re not careful, you might end up dead, too. After all, you do sort of look like Emmaline. She had blonde hair like yours and was the same build. Maybe the killer will take one look at you, or already has, and decided he wants to relive what it felt like to kill a pretty girl.”

Now I look at him with disgust. “For someone who supposedly cared about Emmaline, you sure don’t mind talking about her death, do you?”

“You don’t know a damn thing, bitch,” he hisses.

I bite back my retort before this conversation can become any uglier than it already is. Though I’m not sure that’s even possible. So much for trying to work things out with Riley.

“Shit,” Riley curses under his breath as he sets his napkin down and abruptly rises to his feet. I watch with surprise as he strides away from our table and over to where three women have just been seated across the dining room. One of the women rises to her feet immediately upon his approach, and she hugs Riley affectionately. She looks to be in her late thirties, and even from here, I can tell she’s quite beautiful. Riley murmurs something in her ear, and the woman’s head turns, and her gaze connects with mine. Her face tightens, and I can practically feel her animosity. She deliberately turns her back to me and says something to Riley.

“Where’s Riley?”

I pull my gaze away from Riley to look at Mitch, who is just sitting back down in his seat. “He’s over there.” I nod my head in Riley’s direction.

“Ah hell,” Mitch says as his eyes land on who Riley is talking to.

“I take it she’s your ex-wife?”

“Yes, that’s Lydia.”

I frown. “Did she come here intentionally?”

Mitch shakes his head. “Riley didn’t even know where I was bringing you two.”

“Are you going to go over and say something?” I ask curiously.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

We watch as the three women begin walking towards the exit of the restaurant. Riley is leaving with them, and he glances back to wave coolly at us before walking out the door with his mother and her friends.

Both Mitch and I look at one another.

“Well, I guess it’s just you and me,” he says.

As soon as Mitch and I come home from the restaurant, I go up to my room and fling myself onto my bed. Then I prop myself up on my elbows and call Cord. I’m not sure if he’ll answer or not since he’s working at Cordane’s tonight.

He picks up on the third ring. “Perfect timing. I’m in the back grabbing more weapons and body parts for out front. I have about two minutes, then I’ll have to call you back later. How was dinner?” he asks as I hear him moving around in the background.

“It was as bad as I was expecting. Cord, I don’t think Riley messed with my car,” I say seriously.

“Who else would it be?”

“Exactly. If it wasn’t Riley, who would want to scare me like that?” I recall Riley’s comments about the killer still lurking in the area. “Maybe we should start trying to figure out who killed Emmaline,” I blurt out.

The other end of the line is completely silent.

“Are you still there?” I ask.

“Yeah,” Cord replies. “What makes you think we could unearth any clues that the police haven’t already found?”

I roll over onto my back to stare up at my ceiling. “You knew her. We could go from there. What if Emmaline was secretly sleeping with someone else besides you?”

There’s a heavy silence on the other end.

“Think about it,” I say with growing excitement. “If we could figure out who killed Emmaline, you’d finally be able to prove your innocence.”

“Krista, we are
not
getting involved in the investigation,” Cord say flatly. “We don’t even have the tools or the connections that the police have for investigating. I have absolutely no idea who killed her, and if you look further into my involvement with Emmaline, you’re just going to learn more about the sex her and I had. Do you really want to deal with that?”

“No, not really,” I admit.

“Then let it go, and let the police do their job.”

I sit up. “But if it wasn’t Riley messing with my car, what if it could be the killer?”

“It’s probably Riley, but just be careful. If anything more happens, then you go to the police and let
them
investigate it,” he says grimly.

“What you’re not saying is that if I go to the police, and if they can’t pin it on Riley, you and Dane will be next on their list of suspects,” I realize with a resigned sigh.

“We’re the only ones you’ve been around, so it’s inevitable that we’d be suspected of harassing you.”

I’m quiet as I think over my options. Cord wants us to stay out of the investigation, and if I go to the police about any more pranks that happen to me, Cord and Dane could end up being blamed for them. I don’t know what to do.

“Emmaline’s killer treated her brutally. I’m sure you’ve heard the details about what was done to her body. Krista, I don’t think the killer would play around with fake blood. It could have been one of Riley’s friends, and he wasn’t aware of their plans,” Cord suggests.

“I suppose that’s a possibility, but why wouldn’t they include Riley in on the prank? And how would they know there aren’t any surveillance cameras behind the store?”

Cord is quiet on the other end.

“Cord? Should I be worried?” I ask seriously.

“It was probably Riley’s friends, but you should still be careful. Look, I’ve been back here longer than I should be, and I have to go back up front. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Okay. See you at school.”

We hang up, and I call Sidney. She answers almost immediately and demands that I fill her in on anything she’s missed lately. I tell her everything. She’s not happy that I’m dating Cord, but when I tell her about my car, her attention shifts to that.

“That’s so gross, Kris. Who would do such a thing?”

“Riley insists it wasn’t him. I suppose it could have been one of his friends,” I say.

Sidney’s quiet a moment. “Are you sure Riley’s the one who pranked you at the house?”

“Yes. He left one of the masks on my car’s antenna that Monday, and he’s never denied it.”

“What about Dane? Or this Owen guy you’ve mentioned? They were working with you that night. It wouldn’t have taken much time to slip out the back and dump all that blood all over your car,” she claims.

“Dane and Owen would never do such a thing. Dane was upset when he saw my car, and Owen offered to take my car through the carwash before I went home. Neither one of them would have any reason to trash my car like that.”

“Where was Cord?” Sidney asks.

“Sidney, it wasn’t Cord!”

“How do you know that?” she demands. “You’ve told me he’s got a dark side to him, and you already told me how he wore masks during sex with that girl that was murdered. He’s got a very twisted side. He could be playing with you and getting high on being your knight in shining armor.”

“I know him well enough to know that he wouldn’t prank me like that.”

“Kris, you don’t know him all that well. You’ve only been in that town for a month, give or take. That’s not enough time to get to know someone. Are you having sex with him? I mean besides the fitting room incident.”

“Yes,” I say warily.

“Does he get his freak on with you?”

“He hasn’t wanted anything weird if that’s what you’re asking.”

“No restraint, no masks, no pinning you down or weird shit?” she presses.

“
No
, Sidney.”

“He did that stuff with that girl. Kris, if he did that with her, then there’s a part of him that likes it. I’m worried that he’s pretending to be something that he’s not when he’s with you.”

“What exactly are we talking about here? Are you still implying he messed with my car, or are we now onto something else?” I ask sourly.

“Honestly, my money is on Cord where your car is concerned—”

“He wasn’t even around to play the hero, Sidney,” I cut in. “I didn’t even tell him about it. He heard it from Dane.”

Sidney falls silent.

“Riley thinks I might have caught the attention of Emmaline’s killer,” I mutter.

“Do you think that’s a real possibility?” Sidney asks quietly.

“Cord doesn’t seem to think so. He said that the killer brutally butchered Emmaline, that whoever it is wouldn’t do something as harmless as pour fake blood all over my car.”

“He has a point,” Sidney agrees.

I close my eyes and sigh. “It has to be Riley’s friends who messed with me. There is no one else.”

“You’re not going to want to hear this, but you need to be careful around Cord. I think he’s bad news, Kris.”

“You and everyone else,” I grumble.

“Exactly. If everyone else thinks he’s bad, what does that tell you?”

“They’re all wrong, Sidney.”

She sighs. “Just be careful.”

It’s Monday, and since I’m not working at the store this evening, I am sitting at the table eating dinner with my mom.

“Mitch tells me dinner yesterday didn’t quite turn out as he’d planned,” she comments lightly. She sips her wine and looks at me over the rim of her glass.

“Lydia showed up there.” I dig into my spaghetti and take a bite.

“Mitch mentioned that.” Her lips turn downward as she sets aside her glass and picks up her fork.

“Have you met her yet?” I ask curiously.

“No, thank heavens. Mitch has warned me that she’s very angry right now, so I think it’s best if I stay away from her.”

“I agree. How are things going in Manchester?”

She smiles, her expression brightening. “I like the salon I’m working at. Most of the people are friendly.” Her eyes dim. “Lydia has plenty of friends, so there have been some that will come in and say some unpleasant things while one of the other ladies does their hair or manicures. There’s not much I can do about it but smile and pretend I can’t hear them.”

“That’s tough,” I agree.

Her eyes search mine. “I didn’t realize starting a new school would be so tough on you. It’s been easy for me to brush it off, but after dealing with some of Lydia’s friends, I think I can understand how difficult Riley is making things for you. I’m sorry this move hasn’t gone as smoothly as I was hoping.”

“Honestly, I’m over it,” I say truthfully. “I was pretty upset in the beginning, but now I don’t care so much. It helps that Cord has my back at school. Mom, you should really give him a chance, he’s good guy.”

She sets down her wine glass and gazes at me searchingly. “Why do you like him so much?”

I lean back in my chair, completely focused on our conversation instead of our meal. “He’s really upfront, Mom. He doesn’t pretend to be something he’s not. He’s a genuinely nice guy, and he’s done nothing but stand up for me since I showed up here.”

“He has a temper.”

“Don’t we all?”

“We don’t act on it, and we certainly don’t put another person in the hospital over an argument,” she says.

“Okay, so that was bad, but he’s learned from his mistakes. He can control himself,” I insist.

“I don’t understand why you aren’t frightened of him.”

“I don’t know why I’m not. I just don’t get that vibe from him.”

“Are you sleeping with him?” she asks bluntly.

I’m tempted to lie, but I have a feeling she won’t believe me if I do. “Yes, I am.”

She looks slightly pained as she gazes at me. “Oh, Krista. You shouldn’t be involved with the likes of him. He’s going to hurt you.”

“No, he’s not. Mom, he’s not the freak that everyone thinks he is.”

“Does he ask you to do things you don’t want to do?”

I know she’s thinking of those damned masks he wore with Emmaline. “Mom, the sex is normal. No masks, no kink. He’s never asked me to do anything out of the ordinary. You need to put those rumors out of your head and get to know him for yourself.”

She shakes her head. “No, I don’t. All that will do is give you the impression that he’s acceptable as your boyfriend, and he’s not. If the entire town thinks something is wrong with that boy, why would you ignore the warning signs?”

“Because I don’t see any warning signs.”

“Honey, they are all around you. Open your eyes and start paying attention to what the rest of the town is seeing. He’s been suspected of murder, he has disturbing interests, and he’s put a boy in the hospital. If you make a list of pros and cons where he’s concerned, I guarantee you that con list will be quite longer than the other list. There is more bad than good in that boy.”