Page 43 of No Place Left to Hide

Jena brushes her braids over her shoulder and twists to put her back against the door, tucking one velvet knee under the other. “Let’s brainstorm this. Maybe if we can figure out what they think you did, we can figure out who it is. When did the calls and slashed tires start?”

I pretend to think about it for a second, but I don’t need to. I remember the first call down to the minute: January 7th, 3:20 p.m., just as school ended. I answered it on the way to my locker and regretted it instantly. I still remember the way the heavy breathing made every person who happened to look at me as I made my way down the hall feel threatening.

“Um, January sometime,” I offer, instead.

Jena anxiously picks at the edge of her shiny chrome manicure on her thumb. “The day the results of the special investigation were reported?”

“Yup.”

“It has to be about that party, then, right? You’ve been volunteering with your parents and living like a hermit ever since, and none of this was happening before senior year started, so what else could it be?”

I give her a sharp look. “What are you implying? That I had something to do with what happened at the lake?”

“What? No, I—”

I clench my teeth so hard my jaw hurts. I force my muscles to unlock and take a breath. “What happened to Claire was awful—but it was anaccident. And one that she caused. That’s it.”

For a moment, the hum of the engine and highway fill the space between us.

“Did anything else happen that night?” Jena asks, slightly quieter than before. “Anything the stalker robot might know about?”

“Like what? You were there. Anything I know, so do you. Why aren’t you the one getting these calls? If anything, you were more involved in what happened that night than I was.”

“I have no idea. Maybe they blame you for throwing the party in the first place. Or they think something else happened on the boat.”

The road straightens out and I take the opportunity to glare at her. “I wasn’t even on the boat.”

She looks away, grabbing a chunk of her braids and winding them together over her shoulder. “Don’t get snippy with me.Iknow that. I’m saying maybetheydon’t. I’m on your side here.”

“Are you? I thought you were, especially after everything that went down at the party, but now it seems like all it took was one threat from some loser in a shit SUV and suddenly—”

It’s like a light bulb goes on in my mind.

“Oh my god. I know who it is.” I squint into the rearview mirror, trying to see the Bronco better. “It’s Brandon. Claire’s brother.”

Jena looks back too. “Brandon Heck?”

“Yeah, think about it. He was already at the coast. He crashed the Ivy party screaming his head off, and suddenly someone’s trying to threaten me into some kind of confession? Of course it’s him. He’s the only one who hasn’t accepted what happened. This must be his way of creating a version of events that make sense to him. Because Claire drowning in an accidentshe causedisn’t something he can accept.”

“I don’t know, Brooke. This seems like a lot for someone like Brandon to pull off. If he was behind this, he’d just straight-up run you off a cliff.”

Headlights blind me through the rearview mirror again. TheBronco zooms up as a passing lane splits off ahead of me. I swerve to the left to avoid another bumper tap as something jumps over the guardrail from the other side of the road. I see a flash of antlers and spindly legs before I register what it is.

A deer jumps across the road, straight into oncoming traffic.

I hit the brakes, not thinking about how close the Bronco is to the back of my car, and they slam into us. All I hear is metal crunching, and I lose control of the car.

Jena screams, and we fishtail across the empty highway.

Fifteen

Before

September 2nd

Pain radiates through my face and blood gushes from my nose, but surprisingly, getting punched in the face hurts way less than I expected. Claire Heck doesn’t know how to punch, but she follows it up by hurling her whole body at me. We both crash to the deck.

It takes all of two seconds for Felix and Jena to pull Claire off me.

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