Page 43 of Little Buried Secrets

“Bronte isn’t supposed to be talking to anyone about what we know so far,” I said. “We’re still trying to figure out what happened. The chief of police will be making a public statement later today.”

“Bronte asked Kacie not to tell anyone,” Elle said. “And then she told me and told me not to tell anyone, and I told Skye.”

It sounded like a typical teenage secret.

Telling one person still made it seem like a secret, but one plus one plus one had a way of equaling everyone.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

Skye looked at Elle, and Elle said, “There are a couple of suspects we think you should check out.”

“Yeah,” Skye said. “We know things.”

I caught a glimpse of Hunter, who was eyeing me like it was taking everything she had not to burst out laughing.

I assumed it wasn’t what the girls had said, but how they’d said it, in a high-pitched, know-it-all tone of voice, like they’d cracked the case before we could.

“Let’s hear it,” I said. “Who do you suspect, and why do you suspect them?”

Elle sat up straight and lifted a finger. “First, there’s Isaac Turner. He graduated earlier this year. He’s in college now. Anyway, the night of Sebastian’s party, we saw him creeping on Margot. He wouldn’t leave her alone, even after she told him she was with Sebastian. It’s like the guy couldn’t take no for an answer.”

“It’s because he’s used to girls falling all over him,” Skye said.

“Yeah,” Elle replied. “He’s used to getting any girl he wants. Well, any girl except Margot. Maybe that’s why he had his eye on her. She was a challenge.”

“In what way?” I asked.

“Duh, because she was taken. The night of the party, it was like the more she tried to get away from him, the more he kept talking to her, and following her around. I mean, I used to have such a big crush on him, but seeing him fall all over Margot the way he did, it was just—”

“Gross,” Skye said. “And pathetic. And stalkery.”

I recalled what Sebastian had said about someone letting Kaia into his room the night of the party, staging a scene where Margot would catch them together and make her think a lot more had happened between them than it had. Perhaps Isaac was responsible for the set up … if Sebastian’s story was true.

“You said you had a couple of ideas about who may have wanted to do Margot harm,” I said. “Who’s the second person?”

Skye looked at Elle. “You tell her.”

“No, you can.”

Skye sat a minute, gnawing at her lip and saying nothing.

“I need one of you to say something,” I said.

“Fine,” Skye said. “I think Margot was … what I mean to say is, it’s probably nothing.”

“Define nothing.”

The girls exchanged glances again and Elle said, “We were all on the volleyball team together. We weren’t even going to try out this year, but Margot said it would be fun, and she was determined for us to all do it together. We liked it, for a while. Then Margot freaked out about the way Coach Warren behaved at one of our away games.”

“We didn’t see it,” Skye said. “He’s never been anything but nice to us.”

I’d bet he was nice.

Nice didn’t mean he hadn’t been inappropriate.

“Did Margot say what happened between her and Coach Warren?” I asked.

“He hugged her after we lost the away game,” Elle said. “Didn’t seem like a big deal to me, but the way she described it, the hug went on a lot longer than it should have. It made her feel weird.”

---