Page 106 of No Capes
“Faster than you.” I return to the article. Kristen makes an “ooooh” noise, but I keep reading.
For another shot at an Olympic race, Patrick went back to high school. Winning high school swim meets would give him the recognition and prestige he needed to get back in the game.
Apparently, all the attention backfired, because then his actual identity was discovered.
That’s why he was with Zane, I realize. Aaron—Patrick—had never given up on steroids and was still buying them. I don’t dare glance at Damian. Damian must have known that. Is that what was happening at the comic store? Damian had tried to get Zane to stop selling drugs?
But then why were they together at Hallowfest?
I shake away my confusion and make a note to ask Damian later, privately.
“That’s hilarious,” I say, trying not to hurt my ribs from laughing. I sift through the papers again, looking back at the article about me, and D.S., and Golden Ace. Finally, I read the list of people being arrested for being accomplices to Phil’s crime. The list mainly comprises Phil’s office. Former Mayor Dr. Dottie Milligan, whose house Fox had blown up for a news broadcast, is found to be almost as guilty as Phil is.
“So many assholes,” says Fox.
“Um, language.” Arielle raises her perfect eyebrows.
I skim the names. “Did they figure out who warned Phil about us that night? Remember? He somehow knew you werecoming to the press building? He met you there instead of meeting me here, with Dad?”
Arielle shakes her head. “No. When I got there that night, I tried to convince the reporters of what he’d planned, but he and Milligan were in the back room the whole time. He’d already convinced them I’d come in hysterics with unhinged conspiracy theories. By the end, Milligan was screaming at me that she knew I’d arrived with a voicemail about Dad, and she demanded I give hermyphone so she could destroy it. It was weird, because it wasn’t on my phone, it was on Madeline’s, but Milligan was convinced she neededmine. She kept trying to call me so she could find it.
“Honestly though, it all worked out, since it bought us at leastsometime. Phil was distracted with the reporters, and he thought Milligan was dealing with me. Our entire plan hinged on surprising Phil and buying time, and if Milligan hadn’t been convinced the voicemail was on my phone, we wouldn’t have gotten any. Eventually Phil came over and saidhehadmy phone, from Hallowfest. No one could find the voicemail.”
“You said that at the dinner too,” I add. “When you were going over our plan, you said that it was on your phone. I thought it was funny that you made a mistake.”
I laugh to myself. The mix-up didn’t seem big enough to cause so much confusion, but somehow, it had.
I catch Arielle’s eye. She cups her hands around her delicate cheeks, which have gone white. A sickening ache rises in my chest.
We both knew where the voicemailreallywas.
But Brynn didn’t.
Thirty Four
Brynn Levine wanders the grocery store. She wishes she didn’t have to carry her loss alone. For a while, she wasn’t alone. She could always talk to Phil about her parents, and she did. She constantly invited him and Arielle to her dinner parties.
Now, Phil’s gone for good.
She fills her grocery cart with juice, cookies, and granola bars. Everything the perfect Arielle would never touch.
“Hey, Brynn,” someone says. Brynn plasters a smile on her face, happy and inviting, the face everyone sees and loves her for.
She’s startled to find Fox between her and the chocolate chip cookies.
“What are you doing here?” she asks. “Who’s with Jamie?”
“Arielle, Madeline and Damian.” Fox shrugs and Brynn squints back. She can’t believe he came to the store to look for her.
Fox rubs his neck. Brynn knows it’s from where his mask irritates his skin, making it constantly itchy. She tries to make him moisturize, but he never listens.
“I just wanted to talk to you about everything,” he says. “We haven’t caught up in the last couple days, and I had to get out of there.”
Fox is a talented liar—almost as good as she is. She can trust him now that he’s hurting, though. He needs her. Besides,he hadn’t known about their parents. She’d thought maybe he had, after he started working with Phil, but as soon as he led Madeline and Arielle to hide in their house, it became obvious that he didn’t. He was unknowingly fighting against everything their parents stood for.
He knows now. The entire world does.
“Let’s get coffee,” she says. Brynn and Fox wander to the cafe part of the store, which has a two-table sit down area and a bistro with hot drinks and yogurt parfaits. She purchases a hot chocolate for Fox and a bitter, scalding cappuccino for herself.
