Page 39 of Merciless Intents

There was a pause. “Okay. I’ll look into it. I’ll have to get a warrant for those text messages. We’ll look through your records and also on the phones in question. Unfortunately, it’s entirely possible your phone was spoofed—or copied. If that’s the case...” She huffed. “It’s possible we’ve been looking at this case from the wrong angle the entire time. I won’t speculate for now. I’ll look into it and keep you updated.”

My eyes widened. “Copied my phone? As in someone picked me out of everyone in there, copied my phone, sent that message to get my mom there, and somehow left only me alive? Doesn’t that all point back to me?”

“Not in the way you’re thinking. You’re eighteen from a small town. You make excellent grades, never missed a day of school, and regularly attended church. You’ve never even had a speeding ticket, you volunteered at your church, and you have no friends who are in trouble with the law, either. If anything, that would point more towards you being the target. The two $500,000 life insurance policies would be enough to motiva—”

“I’m sorry. Thewhat?Did you just say $500,000? Polic-ies? As inplural?”

“You didn’t know about the policies?”

My eyes widened again. “Hell no! When all that happened, I had no idea if Dad even had insuranceperiod. I didn’t even know if I had medical insurance anymore once dad was gone. I didn’t know how any of that worked. It wasn’t until I was in the hospital that I was notified therewasa policy—asinglepolicy, I assumed—but I had no idea how much. The estate lawyer said he wanted to discuss it with me in person, but I was whisked away to California before we got to meet officially. He’s supposed to be here any day with the check.Checks, I guess. How the hell could Dad even afford asingle$500,000 policy? Let alone two! Was the other one on Mom?”

“It was,” she said. “Okay, well, like I said, let’s not speculate. First, we have to verify the texts are even real and not a figment of your subconscious. Second, we need to figure out how they were sent. Once we have all that, we can begin to put our puzzle together. Try to relax in the meantime.”

I thought about what she’d said so far before I was blindsided with the fact that I was about to have a million dollars handed to me.

“Oh, my God…” I said, my hand rising to cover my mouth. “That’s why I was left alive. They’re waiting for me to get the money. Then they’re hoping to take me, get the money, then kill me. Right? I mean, that’s the only thing that makes sense. But I’m at Crestview now. I bet they expected me to stay there in southern Indiana. Oh, my God. This is fucking crazy!”

Because of the woman who showed up at the hospital pretending to be a nurse, the one who gave me the name Angela, we thought it was all tied to Rick. It had certainly seemed the church was attacked because of my relationship to Rick, but what if that was just a coincidence?

Then again, they’d showed me a photo of her, and it was her. They’d known exactly who it was, and she’d been a threat to Rick before. That kind of took the money motive off the table as soon as it was put on there. My anxiety was making my brain work at triple speed, and I was convincing myself of worst case scenarios that weren’t even possible—or at the very least, were unlikely.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. One thing at a time. You’re getting way ahead of yourself. Let me take care of this. It shouldn’t take too long, okay? Try to relax. Deal with school. That’s all you need to worry about right now. If you think of anything else, call me immediately, okay?”

“Yes.” It was all I could say.

“I gotta be honest, kid. It seems like you have some pretty shitty luck.”

I snorted. “You’re not wrong.” The more I thought, the more I felt defeated. “Thank you. You’ve always been so kind to me. I appreciate you looking out for me.”

“No problem. Call me if you think—or dream—of anything else, okay?”

I swallowed hard. “Yep.”

“Okay. I think it’s about time for you to get to school. Try not to worry about this. You did the right thing coming to me.”

We said our goodbyes and hung up. I couldn’t trust anyone, but I felt strongly about the detective. She seemed good and kind. Her partner was a douchebag, but I trustedher.

Ugh.What a mess.

Looking down at my phone, I realized it was almost 7:30. I’d managed to sit there for God knows how long just staring at the wall.

I jumped out of bed and quickly raced around my apartment to get ready. I was so grateful to Luna for not only altering my clothes but allowing me to borrow one of her uniforms. I didn’t have time to try mine on to make sure they were right, and I knew Luna’s fit pretty well, so I grabbed those. I wanted to feel invisible and comfortable. I had a feeling I’d need all the comfort I could get.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

TEMPERANCE

Iwas halfway down the hall from my locker, and I could already see all the bullshit taped to it.What in the fresh hell…

When I stood in front of it, I realized they were envelopes and random increments of money. Some of the envelopes had pretty handwriting, so it was obvious girls had put those on there. The rest of the fives, tens, and twenties taped to my locker had no indication of where they came from.

I pulled one of the envelopes off and looked inside. There was a folded piece of paper and more money.

Meet me on the roof at lunch,it said with a fifty inside. Another just had a note inside that saidWhore. The rest were a mix of notes from angry girls or propositions from guys.

Snickering sounded behind me, and I turned to see Harper and her two friends from the day before flocking behind her.

“Well, would you look at that? Seems you’re already getting offers and making good money. And here you were nervous about Crestview. Seems you have a lucrative career already!” Harper said, a shit-eating grin spreading across what would be a beautiful face if not for her horrible personality.

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