DI Neeson stayed just long enough to drink her coffee, warn me against getting into another argument with Sandy, and question me again about anyone else that would have a grudge against me. She seemed disappointed when I said I couldn’t think of anyone. As she left she promised to be in touch as soon as she had any leads, but for now I was to ensure I contacted her if anything strange or untoward happened.

After she left I snuck up to my room, knowing that Alex was about to call our parents and tell them about the things that had happened and Chester. I didn’t really want to be there while he explained everything so I left him to it and went to make a start on my homework assignments.

Stepping into my room alone for the first time since I had found the card was a little hard. The room felt cold and a little alien as I looked around it slowly, checking that nothing was out of place. I wrapped my arms around my torso, hugging myself to try and gain some sort of comfort, but it was no use. A feeling of loneliness settled over me and I suddenly longed for Luke to be here with me. To wrap his arms around me, to pull me onto his lap and rock me like a child. I missed him so much it was almost scary.

Huffing out a big breath, I forced myself to get a grip of this worry and fear before it ate me up. I dropped my schoolbag down onto the bed and flopped down next to it, pulling out the first book that I came across and started to make a start on my work in a bid to keep my mind off of everything.

Half an hour later there was a knock at my door. Alex let himself in, a phone clamped between his ear and his shoulder as he put down a sandwich and a glass of apple juice. “Yeah, she’s here right now,” he said into the phone.

My stomach dropped as I shook my head quickly, somehow knowing that it was one of my parents and they would want to talk about everything again. Would they blame me for Chester too?

“Yeah, see you then,” Alex stated before pulling the phone away from his ear and holding it out to me. “Dad for you.”

Groaning inwardly, I took the phone and waited for my brother to leave before I put the phone to my ear. “Hi.” I winced, waiting for the frantic scolding because we hadn’t called them earlier.

“Hi, sweetheart. How are you holding up?” Dad asked. The familiar sound of his voice made my eyes prickle with tears. I didn’t realise until now just how much I missed him and my mom being here.

“I’m fine,” I lied.

“Alex told me what’s been happening. I’m not going to get into the whole ‘you should have told me as soon as everything started happening’ thing, because I don’t think that’s going to help the situation at all.”

I smiled gratefully and looked up at my ceiling, willing my tears not to fall. I was already sick of crying over this. “Thanks, I appreciate that,” I muttered.

“I need you to promise to be careful. Don’t go to places on your own, take Alex or Luke with you, alright?”

Luke? So he’s forgiving Luke now? “I will,” I promised, nodding. Now that I knew it wasn’t Sandy the seriousness of the situation weighed down on me. It could have just as easily been me or Alex that had been poisoned, if the person had sprinkled that rat poison onto something in the fridge then maybe we would have unknowingly eaten it. It wasn’t as if they didn’t have access to the house and our food, they’d let themselves into my house for goodness sake. I knew I needed to be careful.

“How’s Grandad?” I asked, wanting to change the subject.

“He’s… he’s okay,” Dad answered, not seeming too sure about it.

A lump formed in my throat. “No he’s not.”

Dad sighed deeply, his breath crackling down the line. “He’s in a bad way, but he’ll be fine. He’s through the worst of it now,” he assured me. “So, I’d better go and tell Mom everything that’s been going on. I’ll be home tomorrow when you get home from school though so I’ll see you then.”

I closed my eyes; the nerves in my stomach seemed to settle as I thought about getting one of my dad’s hugs. They always made everything seem better. “You don’t have to come home. Stay with Grandad,” I protested, trying to make my voice sound like I wasn’t desperate for him to come home. “We’re fine here. You don’t need to come back.”

“Yeah I do, sweetheart. No arguing, I’m coming home. End of conversation.”

I smiled to myself at the finality of his tone. “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Love you.” His words made a warm fuzzy feeling settle over me. There was no denying I was a daddy’s girl.

“Love you too, Dad.”

After speaking to my dad and the knowledge that he was coming home tomorrow kind of made my mind settle a little and the worry recede marginally. Finally, after another hour of working on my assignments, I drifted to sleep listening to the rhythmic sounds of Alex hitting the punch bag down the garage below my bedroom.

When my alarm buzzed next to my bed in the morning I groaned loudly. I’d had a restless night sleep, my dreams plagued with a faceless person chasing me, every single time I’d ran into a room only to find it filled with lilies. Each time I’d woken, startled and sweating, only to go back to sleep and have the same dream over again. My whole body now ached from exhaustion. I really didn’t need another day at school today, especially if it was going to be a day like yesterday where everyone was whispering about me. And on top of that I had to face Sandy, now knowing that it wasn’t her that was sending me all of those nasty things. Did I have to apologise to her today for accusing her? Deep down I knew I should, but the thought of saying sorry to that boyfriend stealing hoe almost made me sick to my stomach.

After laying there for as long as I could without making myself and Alex late, I finally threw off the bed covers and headed for a quick shower. Alex was already dressed and ready by the time I made my way downstairs. He smiled sympathetically, silently pushing an empty bowl and a box of cereal towards me. I waved it off, turning my nose up at the thought of eating. My appetite was as non-existent as my will to apologise to Sandy.

“I’m not hungry. Shall we just go?” I mumbled tiredly.

“Yeah if you want. By the way, I called the animal hospital already and the guy said that Chester can definitely be collected today.” He slid his cell phone into his jeans pocket and picked up his keys.

I smiled at the news. At least one thing was going well today then. “Is he better today?”

Alex nodded, biting off another piece of the banana he was holding. “Apparently he’s good this morning. I could hear him barking in the background,” he answered.

“That’s great news.” I blew out a breath, letting out some of the stress that was pent up inside me. At least that was one less thing for me to worry about.

On the way to school Alex seemed like he was doing everything to try and keep my mind off of the police and the stalker I seemed to have gained. He sung badly to the music, told terrible jokes and was generally just his usual goofy self. It felt nice to just be normal after everything that had gone on recently.

By the time we pulled into the parking lot though, the normality seemed to evaporate immediately. I frowned as I looked around. People were crowding outside, huddled together in groups; some were hugging and seemed to be crying. Alex could barely get his car rough the gates of the parking lot because everyone was standing around.

“What the hell’s this?” Alex muttered, blasting his horn to get a couple of freshmen to move out of his way so he could pull in.

“No idea,” I muttered, shaking my head in confusion. People were normally inside by now, chatting in the hallways before classes, but instead it seemed that half of the school was standing or sitting in the parking lot. Across the sea of faces, some looked rather excitable, some were just standing there silently, their faces pale, but some were clutching Kleenex, hugging and shaking their heads in apparent horror.

As we both got out of the car some people turned to look at us. A hushed silence settled over the people closest to us as I swung my bag up onto my shoulder and weaved through the crowd with Alex at my side. Then, just like yesterday, the excited whispering started as I walked past. I rolled my eyes; silently wishing the ground would open up and swallow me. I fought the urge to turn and run back to the car just because people were turning to stare at me as I walked up to where I was hoping my friends would be waiting for me.

Charlotte and Beth were standing in the same place as yesterday. “Hey. What’s everyone standing around for?” I asked, stepping to their sides and waving my hand around at the crowd.

Charlotte’s mouth dropped open with an audible pop. “You haven’t heard?” she gasped. I raised one eyebrow in question, waiting for her to continue. “It’s been all over the news this morning,” she said, her hand reaching out and clutching at my forearm.

My confusion built. “What’s been on the news?” Alex interjected, looking at Charlotte quizzically, obviously as lost as I was. News wasn’t something that usually graced our TV in the morning; Alex usually opted for sports channel or SpongeBob SquarePants.

Charlotte’s grip tightened on my arm as her eyes widened even more. “It’s Sandy. She was murdered last night.”

Chapter 21

My breath seemed to catch in my throat, forming a lump that I had to swallow down before it choked me. Murdered. Sandy has been murdered? How, who, why, when? All of those questions sprang to my mind as I stood there, gaping at Charlotte like an idiot.

“What the actual fuck? Is that a joke?” Alex gasped, shaking his head in disbelief.

Charlotte’s grip tightened to the point of pain on my arm as she shook her head. “No, seriously. It’s been all over the news. The cops arrived a little while ago and are in speaking with Principal Bennett right now,” she said, nodding off to my right.

I gulped and looked in that direction, indeed seeing two squad cars parked there. They were partially obscured by the swarm of students converging around. A lot of people were leaning down, trying to get a look into the cars, probably to satisfy some sort of sick, morbid intrigue.