Page 74 of Reading Between the Lines
“Tallus?”
“Yes?”
“Fuck off and get in the Jeep.”
I chuckled. “Yes, darlin’, but next time, try not to smile when you say it. Kills the effect.”
As Diem drove, he placed a call to Mrs. Mandel, hoping to catch her before she headed to the hospital to sit by her son’s bedside. With the call on speaker, I listened to my boyfriend fumble and mumble his way through a painful exchange as he updated her about our plans for the day.
When he’d spoken to Weston’s mother after our incident with the man in the woods, he’d withheld details. Other than mentioning the possibility of a second writing club, asecretwriting club, he’d been vague. That morning, he hazily suggested Weston and his friends might have been meeting at a secret location in the woods to explore darker writing exercises that hedged on concerning. He suggested Weston could have been sexually active with his girlfriend in the same location.
“It’s not possible,” Delaney said.
“It is.”
“Are you sure?”
“No. That’s why we’re investigating.”
“He’s a good boy, Mr. Krause.”
“Uh-huh. Good boys still have sex with their girlfriends. I’ll keep you posted.”
He hung up, mumbling, “They’re nevergood boys. There are always fucking secrets parents don’t know about.”
“I was a good boy.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I was.”
“Uh-huh.”
I huffed. “You don’t believe me.”
“Not for a second.”
I chuckled. “Wise man. I’m lying through my teeth. If my mother knew half the shit I got up to, she’d have hung me by my ears.”
“Uh-huh.”
***
We arrived on Hope Street by quarter after seven, in time to catch the white SUV backing from the driveway, Loyal behind the wheel. Diem cursed and let the vehicle pass us before turning around in their empty driveway and following the teens.
“We’re kind of close. Won’t they see our tail?”
“Don’t care. This isn’t a secret spy mission, Tallus. Our goal is to intercept and talk with them.”
“Yeah, but what happened to not doing it on school property? We could get in trouble.”
“We missed that opportunity, so we’ll take what we can get because I’m not waiting until school gets out this afternoon.”
The twins stopped at a drive-through for coffee, and Diem parked on the road, waiting patiently for them to finish. Ithought Londyn spotted us, but when I pointed it out to Diem, he shrugged.
We arrived at the school at half past seven. The moment the twins parked, Diem pulled into the spot beside them. Loyal exited his vehicle with the sly movements of a hotshot rich kid. He leaned against the SUV wearing sunglasses as an accessory on top of his head as he pointedly stared and waited for us to join him.
Londyn rounded the SUV and joined her brother, her stance less confident. The morning sun gleamed off their matching blond heads, highlighted their matching pale skin, and shimmered in their matching pale blue eyes. The similarities ended there.
