What Lies in the Dark Read online

  Titles: Again, none that I know of.

  Parents’ Occupations: Owners of several housing developments in Shadow Cove.

  Means of Transportation: 1969 GTO that he’s currently restoring himself.

  Times We’ve Spoken: Once when we were assigned to work on a group project.

  Trysten isn’t your typical rich douchebag like most of Dixon’s friends. He sort of reminds me of Rylen in a way—more quiet and reserved—only Rylen participates in a lot more extracurricular activities and rarely sticks around after school lets out. Plus, Trysten hardly ever notes my presence.

  “Makayla,” he says as I make my way past him.

  My nervousness doubles. What if he’s a spy for Lispy Larry or something?

  “Yeah?”

  He pushes himself off the lockers and strolls beside me. “You weren’t in school today.”

  “Yeah, I had to go home for a bit. Family emergency. Just came back to grab some stuff.” I’m the epitome of chill, but inside, I’m a confused mess.

  Trysten and I don’t know each other very well, so why is he suddenly noticing my absence?

  He bobs his head up and down with a contemplative look on his face. “That makes sense.”

  As the necklace glows warmer against my skin, my pulse quickens.

  “Be careful, Mak,” Trysten whispers softly under his breath. “They’re watching you.” With that, he swings around in front of me and wraps his arms around me.

  What the actual hell?

  My knee instinctively lifts upward toward his manly goodies as I move to shove him away. But as quickly as he … hugged me, I guess, he steps back.

  “I’ll see you around.” The corner of his lips kicks up into a small smile, and then he walks off, leaving me standing alone in the hallway with my jaw hanging to my knees.

  I’m not sure how long I remain frozen in a state of stupor, but Ev eventually exits the office and tears me out of my trance.

  “Got your bag,” she announces as she hurries toward me. “Ms. Finkleson did ask where you were. Said she called you to the office this morning, but you didn’t show up.”

  I blink at her. “What’d you say?”

  “That you went home sick.” Her forehead creases. “What’s wrong? You look sick.”

  “I think I’m going to be,” I mumble as vomit burns up the back of my throat. “I’ll be right back.”

  I sprint to the bathroom, rush into an empty stall, collapse to my knees, and spend the next five minutes puking my guts out. I question if I’m sick, or just stressed out. Or maybe this is a side effect from the morphine.

  I’m not sure.

  I’m not sure about anything anymore.

  A first for me.

  I have to say, I’m not a fan.

  Time to bring up your game and get to the bottom of this mystery, Mak, before things get even stranger.

  Chapter 4

  LOCATION: MAK’S CAR

  TIME: 3:39 PM

  DATE: TUESDAY, MARCH 23RD

  After I finish barfing, Ev and I hurry out to the parking lot.

  After a quick glance around to make sure no one is watching, I grab Dixon’s computer from out of the trunk of my car before I climb in.

  “All right, spill your guts,” Kennedy demands as I shut the door.

  Ev scoots into the back seat with Embry. “Go easy on her, Kennedy. She just threw up.”

  Kennedy relaxes a smidgeon. “Is that why you took off from school? Because you’re sick?”

  I shake my head, strands of hair falling into my face as I stare out the window. While I rarely keep anything from my friends, other than the fact that I can hear Sawyer sometimes and that he occasionally visits me in my dreams, I hesitate to utter today’s events aloud. Once I do, everything will become real. Too real. And then I’ll have to deal with it, something I’m pretty sure I haven’t done yet.

  Then again, shying away from fear has never been my thing, so I open my mouth and let the words spill out. I tell them about how I was called to the office this morning. How, when I was heading there, Lispy Larry attacked me. How I woke up by the lake with a note in my pocket and Dixon’s computer in the back seat of my car. I recap my brief journey to the police station and what I overheard between Don and the mayor. I even tell them about how Trysten hugged me in the hallway. The only details I really omit are the ones about Sawyer and the necklace.

  By the time I’m finished, their eyes are wide and glazed over with fear.

  “Holy shit, you have to go to the police.” Kennedy shakes her head, anger flaring in her eyes. “You have to report what Larry did to you.”

  “You should’ve already.” Ev hugs her backpack to her chest. “I know the police here aren’t always great, but what Larry did was a crime. A huge crime that you have proof of, so you should be able to press charges.”

  “Yeah, but do I even have proof? Unless the security cameras in the school were working at the time—which according to Larry, they weren’t—it’s pretty much his word against mine.” I lower my head to the steering wheel and take a deep breath as my head begins to pulsate. “I’ve seen Larry’s criminal record; he always gets acquitted no matter what he’s charged for, probably because of his father. How he does it, I have no idea, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was paying off the officers and judges around here. And that’s just the crimes that make it to court. Most of them get dropped before things get that far.”

  “You should at least try,” Kennedy insists. “He can’t just get away with this. It’s not right.”

  “And you need to go to the hospital and get checked out,” Ev adds. “Morphine can have some unpleasant side effects, if that was even what he injected you with. For all we know, he could’ve been lying.”

  “Whatever it was, it made me black out for six hours.” I shudder at the thought of being unconscious for that long. Other than the brief nausea, my body doesn’t feel strange, so I’m fairly sure nothing bad was physically done to me. Still, being unconscious like that and vulnerable …

  I shiver again, rubbing my hands up and down my arms, as reality catches up with me. I question if perhaps I was in shock earlier, because everything suddenly feels twice as severe as it did moments ago.

  “Maybe you’re right,” I admit. “I should get checked out by a doctor just to make sure I’m okay.”

  “You should go to your mom,” Ev says. “That way, you can also tell her what happened.”

  Don’t do it, Mak. Don’t utter a word to Mom.

  “I can’t tell my mom yet.” I lean back in the seat.

  Kennedy tilts her head to the side. “Why not?”

  “I’m not sure,” I mutter. “But I have a feeling I shouldn’t tell her about any of this just yet.”

  “Mak, someone doped you up with the same drug that killed your brother.” Embry slants forward and rests her arms on the console with a stern look on her face. “You have to take this seriously.”

  “I am taking this seriously.” Sighing, I reach for my backpack to get my phone. “I’ll call her.”

  Don’t do it, Mak. It’s too dangerous.

  I have to, Sawyer. This shit is becoming too dangerous.

  I’m begging you, don’t.

  I won’t if you’ll tell me why. Why can’t I trust Mom?

  When he stays silent, I make the decision and push her contact number. After four rings, it goes to her voicemail. I then send her a text, but after a couple minutes, she still doesn’t respond.

  “She’s not answering,” I tell them as I open the app to track her phone.

  “Maybe she’s at work,” Ev suggests. “We can stop by the hospital and see.”

  “I already drove by there earlier. Her car wasn’t there.” I type in the login information. “I’m going to track her phone and see where she’s at.”

  “You can do that to your mom’s phone?” Embry asks, impressed.

  “I added it to my phone when I first got it and put her on it, as well, just in case anything
happened.” Like her disappearing like my dad did. I wish I’d thought to do it with my father, too, but I guess it wouldn’t have really mattered anyway since, when he vanished, he left his phone behind. “She doesn’t know I did it. In fact, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know I know her login info to her phone’s account.”

  “You’re such a little snoop.” Embry raises her hand for a high-five. “But I like it.”

  I tap my palm to hers then redirect my attention back to my phone to see if the app has tracked her location yet.

  “Crap. It says it’s untraceable.”

  “Maybe her battery’s dead,” Kennedy suggests as she digs out a pack of gum from her purse.

  I shake my head. “If it was, it would’ve gone straight to voicemail when I called.”

  “Then why can’t the app track her phone?” Embry wonders, fiddling with one of the many piercings in her ears.

  “Probably because either her phone is broken, the data is shut off, or she’s in some sort of dead zone where she can’t get a signal.” I thrum my fingers on top of the steering wheel. “As far as I know, the only dead zones in Shadow Cove are up in the mountains.”

  “You think your mom went on a hike?” Kennedy asks, popping a piece of gum into her mouth.

  “Maybe, except she’s not much of a hiker.” I chew on my bottom lip. “She could also be out of Shadow Cove and her phone is just out of signal. I don’t think she planned on leaving town.” That doesn’t mean she didn’t.

  From snooping around through her bank records, I’ve seen that she’s gone on vacations she’s never told me about. Still, I can’t help worrying she’ll end up like my dad. That she’ll vanish and never return.

  The idea makes my stomach ache even more.

  “Everything will be okay,” Ev tries to reassure me. “I’m sure she’s just out of signal.”

  “Yeah, probably.” I don’t believe it. Not even a bit. But the only way to find out is to look into it, not freak out. So, sucking in a breath, I open my contacts. “I’m going to call a friend of my mom’s. She’s a doctor who might know where she is. Plus, I can see if she will give me a checkup. I’m not going to tell her what’s wrong with me.”

  “We already discussed this. You have to report what Larry did to you,” Ev scolds, wagging her finger. “You can’t just let this go.”

  “I’m not going to just let this go. I’m going to call Scarlett, my mom’s friend; talk to her and see if she can see me now. Then I’m going to sneak into the school’s office after they close and look through the security footage to see if there’s any evidence of the attack. And while I’m at it, I’m going to look up my record and find out why the heck they called me down to the office today. Then, after all that’s taken care of, I want to go down to the coroner’s office and look at Bria’s autopsy report. I’m not going to just let this go. It’s not in my DNA to let things go just because it’s starting to look a bit scary.” I release a deafening breath. “But I totally get if you guys want to bail on this. In fact, I think you should.”

  Embry rolls her heavily lined eyes. “Hello, I’m the definition of scary.” She holds out her fist. “You know I always have your back.”

  “Thanks.” When I tap my fist against hers, Kennedy holds out her fist.

  “You know how much I love trouble.” She bumps her knuckles against mine. “Count me in, too.”

  “You guys are crazy,” Ev murmurs from the back seat. “This is crossing a line. I mean, you’re not just hacking into the school’s security footage. You’re breaking and entering. Plus, you’re going to get caught—there are cameras everywhere.”

  “Not everywhere.” I twist around in my seat to look at her. “I noticed this morning when Lispy Larry grabbed me that he dragged me into a corner, out of the camera’s view. There are places like that all over the school. I just have to make sure to stay in those places.”

  “But, if Larry dragged you out of the camera’s view, then what’s the point of getting the footage?” Kennedy asks, applying a layer of lip gloss.

  “If the cameras were working, him grabbing me was definitely caught,” I explain. “Plus, he had to get me out of the school, and unless he was super careful, he probably got spotted by the cameras at least once or twice.”

  “If that’s the case, then isn’t there a chance you’ll get caught?” Worry crosses Ev’s face. “The school has an alarm system.”

  “Yeah, I know.” I drum my finger against my bottom lip. “There are a couple of ways around the passcode problem. I can call a guy who was a friend of my dad’s. He works at the alarm company. See if maybe he can do me a favor. Or I can black light the passcode buttons.”

  “Black light the passcode buttons?” Embry’s face contorts in confusion. “What the hell is that?”

  “Using a black light to see which buttons have the most grime on.” Ev adjusts her glasses. “The buttons that do are the ones that probably are used the most frequently.” Her frown deepens. “But, more than likely, it’ll be a six-digit code and the grime residue level isn’t going to show you which order to push them.” She shakes her head “I don’t know, Mak. There are a lot of unreliable steps in your plan.”

  “I know. I’m still working those out.” I heave a sigh. “Look, you guys don’t have to be part of this. In fact, you probably shouldn’t. It’s risky and dangerous and who knows what else. I’m not even positive what we’re dealing with yet. And if this was a normal town, I’d just go to the police. But we’re not in a normal town. And the police … they could be part of … well, whatever this is.” I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear and square my shoulders. “But I can’t just let this go. Not when these people could’ve killed my brother and countless others.” I swallow a lump in my throat. “From some of the stuff Lispy Larry said, whoever he works for, may have even killed my dad.” As tears pool in my eyes, I rotate back around in the seat and start up the engine. This is wrong. I shouldn’t bring them into this mess. I need to handle this on my own. “Ev, I’m going to take you home. You shouldn’t be part of this. And Kennedy and Embry … you guys should do the same.” I set my phone on my lap and reach for the shifter.

  Kennedy places a hand over mine to stop me. “Well, tough shit. We’re in this with you, whether you like it or not.”

  “My dad may have died trying to figure this out,” I stress. “You guys do realize that, right?”

  “You don’t know that for sure. And it’s our choice, not yours.” She cracks her knuckles. “Besides, you’re going to need muscle in case something bad does happen again.”

  A drop of relief ripples through the sea of guilt stirring around inside me. “Are you sure you’re sure? Because, I wouldn’t think any less of you if you bailed.”

  “We’re positive,” Embry assures me, and Kennedy nods in agreement. “We’ll always have your back, Mak. And besides, if what you’re saying about this town is true—if there are spies or bugs and murder cover-ups—then this affects us, too.” She motions at my phone on my lap. “Now, call this doctor friend and let’s get this plan in motion.”

  I start to open my mouth to say I will as soon as I drive Ev home, but Ev speaks first.

  “I’m in,” she informs us quietly.

  I trade a glance with Kennedy, who gives a quick shake of her head and mouths, “I think she feels forced.”

  Agreeing, I tell Ev, “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Things could get really dangerous, and we could get into a ton of trouble.”

  “Well, I don’t care what you think.” Her voice quivers with her nerves, but she straightens with confidence. “Embry’s right; if what you’re saying is true, then it affects all of us and our families.” She crosses her arms and stares out the window. “My family may have fallen to pieces when my mom died, but I can’t handle losing any of those pieces … or you guys.”

  I want to argue, but after what she said, I’m not sure it would be right. Still …

  “Okay. But if you change your mind at any tim
e, let me know, and we’ll get you out, okay?” I wait until she nods before removing my hand from the shifter. Then I pick up the phone and dial Scarlett’s number. She must be off duty because she answers after two rings.

  “Hey, Makayla, I haven’t heard from you in a while,” she greets me cheerfully. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, everything’s fine.” I give a short pause. “Actually, I need a favor. I’m going to be participating in this skate competition that requires me to get a physical. I’d just go to the doctor, but my mom doesn’t want me entering the competition because she thinks I spend too much of my free time skating. But the competition is a really big deal, and if I win, I could even get a sponsor, so I was wondering if you’d mind doing the physical on me, then signing the slip? I can even pay you.” I cross my fingers that I won’t have to pay since my cash funds are currently under ten dollars.

  “I don’t know, Makayla.” She hesitates. “If your mom doesn’t want you to enter, maybe you shouldn’t.”

  “Please,” I beg. “Haven’t you ever wanted to do something that not everyone thought you could? That’s what this competition is to me. There’s even this guy who’s been talking shit to me for the past week, saying all this stuff about how girls don’t belong on the ramps.”

  Scarlett is a huge feminist, so if that doesn’t persuade her, I don’t know what will.

  Silence ticks by. I start to sweat, but that might be another side effect of the morphine kicking in.

  “Oh, all right,” she gives in. “But instead of paying me, I want you to make sure you kick this boy’s butt in the competition.”

  “Oh, I fully plan on doing so.” My gaze skates to Dixon’s computer sitting on the back seat. “Trust me.”

  “Good,” she says. “Meet me at my office at seven o’clock, and we’ll get this taken care of.”

  “Sounds good.” I scratch at the spot where Lispy Larry stabbed me with a needle, hoping nothing is wrong with me. “One more question really quickly. You haven’t heard from my mom today, have you? I’ve been trying to get ahold of her, but I think her phone is out of signal.”