Page 91 of Wicked Games

“She really does love that subject. A little too much, in fact. She’s the one who cooks everything up for Tate to sell.”

Shock rippled through me. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. Apparently, his old supplier ended up in prison. He needed someone new, so he approached Brooke and offered her a fifty-fifty split if she became his cook. Her parents are super stingy, even though they’re rich as hell, so she was glad to have the extra cash,” she said. “Tate gets the necessary ingredients, and Brooke borrows equipment from the labs at school to do it. The teachers don’t even notice. After all, no one would ever suspect sweet, innocent little Brooke of doing something like that.”

I nodded slowly. “So if she didn’t agree to it, Tate wouldn’t have had anything to sell anymore, and Abby would still be alive. That’s how you see it?”

“Exactly.” April waved her free hand around the room. “Everyone here either directly contributed to the development of her drug habit or allowed it to continue in some way. That’s what eventually led to her death. So as far as I’m concerned, it’s their fault. My parents agree.”

“What about Kiara?”

April’s nose wrinkled. “I almost forgot about that bitch. She was blackmailing Abby, which was actively making her life even worse. She saw her buying from Evan one day and told her that she had to write all her essays from that moment on, or else she’d tell someone. She also made her steal English tests from Dad’s office. I guess that gave her more time to focus on her stupid influencer shit instead of studying,” she said. “She’s also besties with Jasmine, so she helped spread those horrible rumors about Abby.”

“And Maverick?”

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I could see how depressed Abby was, even after she finished the treatment at Elmwood. She was too ashamed to tell our parents how she felt, because she thought they were judging her after the bulimia thing, even though they totally weren’t. So I convinced her totalk to the school psychologist. Then, on the day of her first appointment, she was sitting in the waiting room, and Maverick came storming out of the psych’s office and told her to get the fuck out.”

“But that was—”

April cut me off. “I know what you’re going to say. He was just trying to help everyone in that room by getting them away from Dr. Barry, because he was a fucking creep,” she said. “But he scared the shit out of Abby, and it put her off seeing someone ever again. She literally refused point blank every time I recommended a new psych for her to visit.”

“So you would’ve preferred it if Maverick said nothing and let her see Dr. Barry?” I asked, face twisting in an incredulous expression. “So she could potentially become his next victim?”

She scoffed. “Oh, please. Abby was too old for Dr. Barry. He liked them a few years younger.”

“That’s really sick, April,” I replied in a low voice, stomach roiling.

“Maybe so. But I was thinking pragmatically,” she said. “Dr. Barry might’ve been a fucking creep, but he was good at his job. He could’ve helped Abby. Maverick stole that chance from her.”

I slowly shook my head, wondering if she realized how truly insane she sounded right now. Then again, I wasn’t sure what I expected. A person who’d pull off this sort of scheme obviously wasn’t mentally stable.

“What about me?” I said, tipping my head. “What did I do to your sister? I didn’t even know her.”

“You didn’t do anything, Carey.” April smiled sweetly. “When my parents and I decided to punish everyone who contributed to Abby’s death, we realized we’d need someone like you. Someone who had nothing to do with Abby at all. That way, when the investigators combed through possible motives for the killings, they’d rule out revenge. Revenge over Abby, that is.”

I swallowed thickly, eyeing the gun. “So you’re going to kill me now?”

“Of course not. You’ve totally derailed everything with your snooping, so we’ll have to come up with something to explain why you’ve disappeared to the rest of the group. But we were never going to kill you. The plan was always for you to survive.”

“Why?” I asked, frowning. “Andhow?”

“We had measures in place to protect you in every game. If there was ever a situation where it seemed like you might be about to die, we would’ve flipped a switch to shut off the power. Then the game would be canceled due to the blackout, and you’d be fine,” she explained. “In some games, it was even easier than that. For example, your assigned table during the Beer Pong game didn’t have a single poisoned cup. You were always safe. Same as me.”

“Okay,” I said in a skeptical tone, eyes narrowing. “But why keep me alive at all?”

“Because we realized that we needed someone to be the sole survivor. You’d tell the police exactly what happened, thinking that all of us were dead, including me, because obviously you weren’t supposed to realize that I faked my death. That way, with everyone thinking I’m stone-cold dead, I would never be a suspect, and neither would my parents,” she said. “They’d suspect you of something at first, given your shady background and the fact that you were the only survivor, but then you’d go free due to lack of evidence. They’d probably wind up thinking that some random psycho set the whole thing up for a sick thrill.”

“And then?”

“I’d remain in hiding for a while, and April Garrick would officially be dead. Eventually, my parents would tell everyone they were moving away because they couldn’t stand to remain at Babylon after losing both of their daughters there. Too manyreminders. So they’d move down to South America, where we have our own private island. I’d move with them and assume a new identity. Those are easy enough to buy. Then I could either stay there forever, or I could return to the States once I’d aged a bit and changed my appearance enough to get away with it.”

I rubbed my forehead and sighed. “So this is why you befriended me on my first day at school,” I muttered. “Here I was thinking you were just a nice person.”

“We actually chose you a long time before that day.” April arched a brow. “Who do you think came up with the idea for the Babylon Foundation Justice Project?”

“That wasyou?”

“My parents, actually. We knew we’d need a random new student for this scheme, for all the reasons I just outlined, and we also knew the person would need to have… well, acolorfulbackground, if you catch my drift.”

---