Page 4 of What Have You Done?

‘Her body was found a short while ago in a farmer’s field, not far from here.’

He can hear the blood pounding in his ears. He shakes his head. ‘That’s impossible. I just saw her—’ He stops suddenly.

‘When did you last see her?’ the officer asks.

He swallows. ‘Last night.’

‘What time last night?’ she asks.

‘I don’t know exactly. I need to think.’

She waits for him to say more, but he’s frightened. ‘What happened to her?’ he asks, his voice unsteady.

The officer ignores his question, and asks, ‘Where did you see her last night?’

Cameron’s eyes are filling with tears as he answers. ‘I picked her up in my dad’s truck. We drove around,’ he clears his throat, ‘made out.’ He looks at the two officers nervously. ‘Then I dropped her back at her house and came home – probably just after eleven.’

The female officer is nodding back at him. She says gently, ‘I’m so sorry for your loss.’ Then she adds, ‘We’d like you to come down to the station to talk to us, if that’s all right.’

‘Okay,’ he says. His body is beginning to tremble.

She says, ‘You need to call your parents.’

CHAPTER FOUR

PAULA ACOSTA CAN’T quite take it in. Diana Brewer is dead? She looks back at the familiar police officer in the corridor outside her classroom. ‘What?’ she says.

The officer, Chris Shepherd, replies, ‘Her body was found a short time ago in a field outside of town. Major Crimes is there now.’

Paula turns to Principal Kelly. He looks overwhelmed, like he doesn’t know how he’s going to cope.

‘You mean – she was murdered?’ Paula asks in disbelief.

‘It looks that way.’

‘Dear God,’ Paula breathes, her right hand moving involuntarily to her heart. ‘That lovely girl.’ She thinks of her own daughter, Taylor. Then she thinks of Diana’s mother, whom she’s met, numerous times, in parent–teacher conferences. Her life destroyed, just like that. Paula feels a sudden need to sit down, but there are no chairs in the corridor.

‘There are some officers from state police in the principal’s office. They want to talk to the students who knew her,’ Shepherd says. ‘There are detectives and more officers coming in from Major Crimes to handle the investigation.’ He glances at Kelly. ‘Principal Kelly tells us that two of her best friends are in your class – Riley Mead and Evan Carr. Are they here now?’

‘Yes.’

‘We’d like to cause as little distress and disruption as possible,’ Shepherd says, ‘but the news is going to get out very quickly, and it will make its way to the kids’ phones. We should get out in front of it and tell them now.’

‘She has a boyfriend, Cameron Farrell,’ Paula hears herself say.

Shepherd nods. ‘There are officers talking to him now. Shall we?’ he says, reaching for the classroom door.

Riley watches the door open with dread. Her heart is beating too fast, and she has a terrible premonition of what’s going to happen next. Mrs Acosta enters the room first, looking distressed and pale, very different from the cheerful way she’d come in just a few minutes earlier. Principal Kelly looks even worse, accompanied by the police officer she now recognizes, Chris Shepherd, usually so upbeat when seen about town, now wearing a solemn expression. Someone has died, Riley thinks. She feels like she might faint.

Principal Kelly clears his throat and says, ‘I’m afraid I have some terrible, tragic news.’ The class has gone completely quiet, all the teenage energy stilled. ‘Your classmate, Diana Brewer, has died.’

Riley gasps so audibly that faces turn toward her. She sees Kelly looking at her too.

He says, directly to her, ‘I’m so sorry.’

She can see him choking up as he says it. She’s breathing too fast, in short gasps, her eyes blurring with tears.

‘Class is dismissed for today,’ Kelly says, ‘but please don’t leave the school just yet. There will be counsellors here very soon for anyone who wants to talk to them. I encourage you all to do so. Also, there are state police here, in my office, and they would like to talk to anyone who knew Diana, to help in their investigation.’

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