Page 55 of Such A Bad Girl

“His plans? What did he say exactly?” Kaylee asked, writing a few notes on a notepad in front of her.

I looked over at West, hating that I had to say all of this in front of him. I’d tried to protect him from the horrible details of that night for a decade. I knew I couldn’t any longer, and it hurt like hell.

“He said horrible shit. Do I really need to repeat it? His intentions were not good. He talked about what she was wearing. He talked about how crazy she was, and that he didn’t care if she was crazy, he just wanted to…be with her.”

“He said that to you?” West asked.

“No, he said that to his friend, Harlan.” I shook my head. “Do you remember him? Little mousy guy.”

“Yeah, I remember that little bastard,” West said. “I remember both of them.”

He shook his head, no doubt trying to reconcile his memories of the time that he’d carried with him all these years with the truth that I was telling him now.

The anger I felt that night came rushing back. In my head, I saw Everleigh wrestling with him. I saw myself rushing towards them, intent on protecting her, at all cost.

“I was watching from the shadows. I saw him put his hands on her. She screamed. They wrestled. And I…snapped.”

West’s eyes widened. “What are you saying, Theo?”

“Avett wasn’t killed by the serial killer.” The words rushed out of me. “It was me.”

“What!” West’s voice was a roar that echoed into the air around us.

“I killed the bastard myself.” The words were a relief to admit. I’d kept this from my best friend for so long, wanting every day to tell him the truth, but knowing that I couldn’t. I’d hidden the truth to keep my promise to Ev, but I’d also done it to protect West. I hadn’t wanted him to have to live with the secret like we’d done. It was too heavy of a burden to bear.

“What do you mean? Everyone was so sure he was a victim of the serial killer,” West said. “I remember that clearly. It’s all anyone talked about for so long.”

“We got lucky,” I admitted. “We were scared to death for months that we’d be found out. But then, they caught him. And then, when he admitted to killing the others, but denied killing Avett, I was sure the cops would believe him and keep investigating. I don’t know why they didn’t. Maybe it was easier to pin it on him since he’d confessed to so many other killings. And then, he died in jail and the case just faded away.”

“I can’t imagine how that must have felt, for you, for Everleigh,” Kaylee said, offering me a gentle smile.

“It hasn’t been easy, no,” I agreed. “I’ve felt horrible having to keep it a secret all this time, West, but I didn’t know what else to do. Once all that time went by, I had no choice.”

“Okay, my guy is getting to work trying to trace the source of the messages. But do you think it could be someone that was there?” Kaylee said. West sat silently listening. “Were there any witnesses that you know of?”

“I think the only people who knew of Avett’s intentions were me and Harlan. And there was nobody around but the three of us when it happened. As far as I know, nobody else saw us. If they did, I imagine they would have reported us as soon as Avett’s body was found, if not sooner.”

“I agree. And where is Harlan now?” Kaylee asked.

I shrugged. “No clue. Never really heard from him after I left.”

“I heard he moved to San Francisco years ago to work for some law firm,” West said. “I don’t know which one, though.”

“Let’s try to track him down,” Kaylee said. “Maybe he knows something. It’s worth a try.”

She got back on her phone and seemed to put the entire city into motion. Some cops were mobilized to be on the lookout for Everleigh’s car. Others she sent to Everleigh’s house to search for clues.

But it was all taking such a long time. It had been over an hour since I got that first picture. “I can’t wait around,” I said. “I’m going to her house, too. Maybe she wrote something down.”

“We’ll go with you,” Kaylee said. “We can meet my investigators there.”

I looked over at West and saw the pain in his eyes. I knew he’d never forgive me for not telling him all of this sooner. The fact that I’d blown any chance of ever getting his approval was not lost on me. It was a deep betrayal of our friendship, and I wasn’t sure we’d ever recover.

But my feelings just didn’t matter anymore. All that mattered was finding Everleigh safe and then ripping whatever fucking asshole was responsible for all of this shit to shreds.

And once I did that, I intended to go right back to my original plan. Ask Everleigh exactly how she felt about me and act accordingly.

Because I knew now that I could never live in a world without her in it.

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