Page 37 of Little Buried Secrets

“I don’t know.”

“Guy or girl?”

“A guy. Since she’s new here, she didn’t know his name. She tried to describe him to me, and he sounds like every other guy I’m friends with, so … Anyway, she swears the guy told her he wanted to play a joke on me, and he asked her to go along with it.”

“What kind of joke?”

“He said she should tell me she was Margot just for fun. But I mean, even if she’s right, why would someone do that? It’s messed up. The guys who were at the party are all my friends.”

Friends.

It reminded me of a quote from Shakespeare’s As You Like It.

Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly.

I could think of one deceptive reason a friend would pull such a prank—perhaps someone wanted the relationship between Sebastian and Margot to end.

But whom?

And why?

CHAPTER 16

The next morning, I called Hunter and asked her to gather whatever information she could on Grant Nichols. Then Simone and I grabbed coffees at 2 Little Figs. We talked about Kaia and what Sebastian had said about the night of the party. Since school was out for Christmas break, Simone offered to stop by Kaia’s house to see if she could speak with her. We parted ways, and I headed over to the coroner’s office to check in with Silas.

It was quiet when I walked in, which was unusual. Most days, eighties hair-band music could be heard before I even entered the building. Looking around, I didn’t see anyone at first. It wasn’t until I walked into Silas’ office that I found him sitting on the floor atop a plush cushion. His eyes were closed, and through the speaker on the phone at his side, a woman on a YouTube channel was leading him through guided meditation. Not wanting to disturb his session, I took a step back, the heel of my shoe scraping against the polished lab floor.

Silas opened one eye and jerked his head up, looking at me.

I raised a hand and said, “Hey, I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“Are you kidding? It’s because of you that I gave guided meditation a try. It’s cool. I like it, though I think I may have fallen asleep toward the end.”

“How long have you been meditating?” I asked.

“A few weeks. You were right. It helps me focus. Well, most days. This week, it’s been a struggle. This case is taking up a lot of space in my mind—too much, I think.”

It wasn’t often Silas was rattled the way he seemed to be now.

It had me worried about what details had come to light during Margot’s examination.

“I’m a bit off today myself,” I said. “Seems like you are too.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Your eyes are bloodshot, and you look like you haven’t slept in days.”

“Except for the quick catnap I just had, I haven’t.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked.

“Let’s start with the good news. We finished processing Bronte’s car. The paint is not a match to the flecks we found scattered on the ground where Margot’s bicycle was located.”

It was a relief, and it didn’t surprise me.

“And the bad news?” I asked.

He squeezed his eyes shut, his head shaking back and forth. “It’s bad, Gigi.”

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