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CADE WILLISTON HAD been struck over the head with an axe. That was the first thing that popped into my head.
At this thought, an unwanted memory flashed through my mind—my step-dad with a bloody axe, charging across the yard after me.
“Here, have another tea. It will make you feel better, I promise.” Destiny sat a ceramic mug down in front of me.
Lisa and I were back home. After finding Cade’s truck, we’d called the police, who, upon their arrival, got a statement from both of us and then abruptly sent us on our way so that they could investigate the scene.
I thought back to the idea that Charley17 had been orchestrating things to push me and him together. Obviously, he was a creep, but what if it was more than that? What if he was obsessed? What if he was the person wearing the rain jacket that had been following me around? When I deleted my Reading Buddy account, could it have caused him to finally snap? But why kill Cade? It just didn’t make sense.
This was the second tea that Destiny had made for me. I lifted the hot mug to my lips and briefly inhaled the steam before taking a slow, careful sip. Destiny was right; the tea was soothing.
“Linden flower,” Destiny said and poured herself a mug from the screaming kettle on the stovetop. “It helps to relieve stress.”
It had surprised me to come home and find Destiny there. Maybe she and Dad hadn’t broken up after all. The idea that Lisa and I might have interrupted something on the romantic side was kind of gross. That, in addition to the awkward run-in with Destiny the day before, made me feel weird being in the presence of the two of them together.
Lisa was sitting next to me at the kitchen table. Instead of tea, she had opted for hot chocolate. Dad stood across from us. He was leaning against the counter with his arms crossed. Destiny moved so that she was standing next to him.
“What were y’all doing out there?” Dad asked again.
“I already told you. We went to the drive-in.” I knew that he wouldn’t like that we’d gone to the river so I hadn’t told him the rest.
“Okay, I got that part, Blake, but the drive-in’s not on Sweet Water Road. There’s no reason...”
“After the movie...,” I relented, “we went to the river with Riley.”
“Blake,” Dad said. “You were at the river this late at night? You could have been robbed or even worse—you could have been killed.”
“Well, we weren’t,” I shot back and immediately realized how inappropriate my words were, considering the apparent fate of Cade.
A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts. It was a police deputy. He was silhouetted by the flashing blue lights coming from the top of the car behind him.
Destiny sat her mug on the counter and opened the door. It was the same deputy that had been at the house a few days earlier. He looked at me as he made his way to the center of the room. Destiny returned to Dad’s side. The kitchen door was left standing open, and the blue light that was coming through set me further on edge.
“We haven’t found Cade, but we did talk to his BFF, Tristan.”
I winced. Two dudes would not call each other BFF, but...whatever.
“He told us that it was possum blood in the truck,” the deputy continued.
Lisa and I looked at each other confused about what the man was saying. I heard an audible sigh of relief from Destiny. Meanwhile, I couldn’t shake the mental image of Cade killing a possum.
“Cade staged the scene to make it look like a murder. He was pulling a prank on you two.” The deputy was looking at me and Lisa. “He wanted us to think that you killed him. Now, why would he want that?”
Why would he want that? Did Cade know that we found the images on the hunting camera? Maybe he had an idea of what Lisa was planning. It was obvious to everybody that we hadn’t been getting along—maybe he’d seen this as the ultimate payback. But what about the fact that Tristan had also been at the Williston’s barn that day? Like the rest of us, he was up to something. I couldn’t let the deputy know all of that. Not now. Besides, it seemed like the sheriff, Deputy Roper’s boss, was in on things, too. From what Lisa and I had been able to piece together, Mayor Williston had likely paid the sheriff to remain quiet, and that in itself was a crime. They would both be in trouble. If I brought up all of that, the shit would really hit the fan. I decided that once Cade reappeared, Lisa and I could settle this on our own without involving the adults.
I shrugged my shoulders at the deputy’s question.
“The bad thing is,” the deputy continued, “even though there is no sign of Cade being hurt, we still don’t know where he is. We’re waiting on toxicology results to determine that it is in fact possum blood in that truck. Meanwhile, I’m going to go over to the Williston’s place and see if I’m able to locate this boy. Then, maybe, we’ll be able to get to the bottom of all of this.”