30

Plum

All five of them forgot everything they were doing and dashed toward the door of Tudor House. They crowded inside and ran through the hall to the study.

Vaughn got there first. He opened the door to a terrible scene—Orchid was standing in the middle of the room, a bloody wrench gripped firmly in her fist. The man lay on the floor in a growing pool of blood.

“Orchid!” Scarlett screamed. “What did you do?”

Orchid held her free hand up to her throat. Her eyes were as big as dinner plates and flowing freely with tears. “He was going to kill me. He was going to—” She dropped the wrench, which clattered to the floor and into the blood.

Finn almost backed out of the room right then and there. But then he caught sight of Beth.

She was standing over the body, and her mouth was open in a silent scream.

“Beth?” he asked.

“Ash!” she gasped. She collapsed on top of him. “Oh my God, Ash!” Before he could stop her, she’d rolled the body over and put her ear over his chest. “His heart is still beating. He’s alive! Someone call 911!”

The man’s face did not look as if he could possibly still be alive. It was pale and still, his eyes were open, and there was blood everywhere.

Finn knelt as near as he could bear, given all the blood. “Beth . . .”

“This is my life coach!” she cried. “Help him! Do you know CPR? Get something to stop the bleeding!”

Finn grabbed a pillow off the couch. “Here. Press this against the wound.” He had no idea if that would do anything.

Mustard was already on the phone, reporting the emergency.

“Wait,” said Scarlett. “Your life coach? Tried to kill Orchid?”

“His name’s not Ash,” Orchid whispered. Her voice was gravelly, and her hands were still cradling her throat. Above her fingertips, he saw red marks, as if she had been choked. “It’s Keith. Keith Grayson.”

“What?” Scarlett gasped.

“He’s my old manager. He’s been stalking me for years.”

Finn gave her an incredulous look. Why would Orchid have a manager?

Orchid seemed to crumple before his eyes, and Vaughn stepped in and caught her in his arms.

“It’s okay,” he said softly, his lips against her hair. “It’s okay.”

It was most definitely not okay. This guy was bleeding out on the rug. Beth was screaming for help, and Mustard was shushing her so he could talk to the authorities on the phone.

Plum turned to Beth. “It’s okay,” he lied to her. After all, it looked like it was helping Orchid. He covered her hands with his and pressed the sopping pillow to the poor man’s head wound.

“He was going to kill me,” Orchid repeated, sounding stunned. “He was going to kill me and make it look like—”

“The police are on their way,” Mustard announced.

“That’s not good enough,” said Scarlett. “Remember how long they took to get here for Rosa? He’s going to bleed to death before they get past the ravine.”

For a minute, no one said anything.

“Rusty’s car,” Vaughn blurted. “It’s on the lawn. Let’s get him into that, and we can drive to the hospital. There’s only one road out to the point. We’ll have to see the ambulance when it comes.”

“That’s a great idea!” Peacock said. “I’ll go with you. I’ll keep pressure on the wound.”

“Okay.” Vaughn nodded. He looked at Finn. “Will you help me carry him to the car?”

Finn nodded wordlessly. A few minutes ago, this kid had been about to kick his ass. But you know what they said:

Murder Crew forever.

“No, Vaughn!” Orchid shook her head, her eyes wild. “Don’t leave me!” She clutched at his shoulders.

Vaughn captured her wrists in his hands and pulled her away from him. “I have to. Don’t you see? He’s going to die if we don’t get him out of here. I can’t let you become a murderer. I just can’t.”

“Vaughn—”

But the boy had already turned away.

It was difficult to load the man into the back seat of Rusty’s car, and Finn was pretty bloody by the time it was all done. Beth was in the back seat too, cradling her life coach’s head in her hands and applying more pressure with a towel Scarlett had conjured up from somewhere in Tudor House.

“Let’s go!” Beth begged. “Before it’s too late.”

Vaughn looked out his window at Orchid, his expression pained. He looked like he was about to say twenty different things before he landed on, “Wish us luck,” and they drove off.

The other four watched them go.

Scarlett had her arm around Orchid.

“He was going to kill me,” Orchid said again. “I swear.”

“Yeah,” said Scarlett. She hugged Orchid closer. “We believe you.”

“I’m sorry,” said Finn at last. “Who was that guy again?”

“No one,” said Scarlett.

“My manager,” said Orchid, her tone completely flat.

“What manager?”

“None of your business, Finn.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Orchid. “Everyone is going to find out now, anyway. I killed him.”

“He’s not dead yet,” said Mustard. “Maybe Green will make it to the hospital in time.”

Finn examined his blood-covered shirt. Not likely.

Seconds later, Dr. Brown and a few of the other teachers streamed over the hill, racing toward Tudor House.

“What is going on?” she shouted at them. “We just got a call from the police, and—” She stopped dead on the path. “You four! Of course!” she seethed. “What happened?”

Scarlett stepped in front of the others. She was the least drenched in blood. “Dr. Brown, there’s been an intruder on campus. You know the stalker Orchid hired Rosa to help protect her from?”

Wait—the what? Finn stared at Scarlett in disbelief.

“He broke into Tudor House this morning.”

“Last night,” Orchid said softly. “At least. Probably lots of other times, too, and he—”

“He took Orchid hostage,” Scarlett went on, undeterred. “That’s why she wasn’t at the exam this morning.”

Dr. Brown looked past Scarlett to Mustard and Finn. “Is that what you two were screaming about to the proctor when you ran out?”

Sure. That sounded pretty good. “We were very concerned about Orchid’s safety.” Finn stared daggers at Mustard.

“Yeah,” the other boy agreed. “We didn’t know if he had something to do with Rusty Nayler’s death.”

Figures. Mustard always had to be Captain America.

“Probably,” Orchid said, her voice cracking. “He said he’d been hiding out in the secret passages.”

They were now drawing a crowd. Blackbrook students from the lower classes were coming up over the hill to see what all the commotion was about. With a flick of her wrist, Dr. Brown deployed the other teachers to keep the kids away from the vicinity.

“But what happened?” she insisted. “The police said there was a report about a man bleeding to death.”

Orchid began to cry again, and Scarlett hugged her close.

Dr. Brown rolled her eyes and herded them all back into Tudor House. She took one look at the blood-drenched study, decided against it, then shut them all in the dining room.

“No secret passages in here,” she said.

She left, and Scarlett rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone. “First things first,” she said. “We call your lawyers.”

“I don’t know their number,” said Orchid. “They’re in my phone. He took my phone.”

“Well, you know their names,” she replied evenly. “And I know how to do an internet search.”

“They aren’t—” Orchid put her head down on the desk. “They aren’t criminal lawyers.”

“Wait,” said Mustard. “You have lawyers? Like, plural?”

“That is not the topic under discussion here,” Scarlett snapped. She entered the information Orchid gave her and started searching. “Don’t worry, Orchid. They’ll take care of this. You were stalked. You were threatened. You had to hire a bodyguard who was then poisoned, and—”

“Rosa was a bodyguard? I knew she was military,” he said triumphantly. He looked at Finn. “I knew it.”

Way to focus on the wrong thing, Mustard. “Rosa was poisoned?” Finn asked instead. “How?”

“Probably Peacock’s smoothies,” said Orchid, in that same toneless way, as if words were nothing more than air being pushed through her lungs, with no feeling or meaning behind them. “She was allergic to nuts, and somehow, Keith knew . . .” She bit her lip. “If Rosa dies, too, it’s all my fault.”

“Shh.” Scarlett patted Orchid on the hand. Her other hand held her phone up to her ear. “It’s going to be all right. Hello? Yes? I need to talk to the representation for Orchid McKee—er, Emily Pryce. It’s an emergency.”

Finn stared at Orchid, at the rat’s nest of brown hair, the blood, and the tear-streaked face. “Emily Pryce? The actress?”

“Get with the program, Plum,” Scarlett snapped, then returned her attention to the phone. “Hello, yes?”

Finn looked at Orchid, who covered her face with her hands. He turned to Mustard.

Emily Pryce? he mouthed.

Mustard lifted his hands. I don’t know who that is, he mouthed back. Then he crooked his thumb at Orchid. Her?

Finn supposed that had to be it. The age was certainly right. He hadn’t seen an Emily Pryce movie in years, though. Not since he’d been a little kid.

He thought about Orchid when she didn’t look the way she did right now. When she was just her regular level of grungy. Could she be Emily Pryce? The movie star? Hiding out at Blackbrook?

Mustard gestured for him to meet him in a corner of the room, which Finn thought wasn’t exactly private, but Scarlett was busy on the phone, and Orchid was lost in her own little world.

“Are you okay?” Mustard asked.

“Um, yeah,” said Finn. Ten minutes ago, he’d been kissing Mustard in an alcove by the administration building. Then he’d almost gotten his ass kicked by Vaughn. And now . . .

Now he was a witness to a possible murder?

“I’m just confused.”

“I’m not,” said Mustard. “Not anymore. Orchid said that guy—Keith or Ash or whoever—was hiding out in the tunnels. That’s the answer.”

“It is?”

“Rusty and I must have surprised him when we came in the other night. And that’s why Rusty was killed. Not townies. Keith.”

Finn nodded. “Yeah. That makes perfect sense.”

Mustard rubbed his hand through his hair. “He must have been a real maniac. I can’t believe I escaped. And he poisoned Rosa, too?”

And then he was brought down by a petite teenage girl with a hand tool. “Orchid’s lucky,” Finn said. “And you’re lucky.”

“I know.”

Finn reached for his hand, but he yanked it away and went back to the table.

Orchid was staring straight ahead. The blood on her hands was drying to a cracked brownish red, and the marks on her neck were darkening into bruises. Finn wondered if they should get her some ice.

“He was going to kill me,” she said again.

“Yeah,” Mustard said, nodding in understanding. “I know what that feels like.”

Finn sat down next to Mustard.

“He was going to kill me and blame it on Vaughn,” she added, then squeezed her eyes shut.

“What a creep,” said Mustard.

Finn nodded in agreement. He thought back to that morning, how he’d waited for Vaughn out by the bridge over the ravine. The townie had hurried off the night before, so he’d never been able to explain to him why he was bringing up Rusty’s death. And then this morning, when Vaughn hadn’t shown up for the test, he’d worried that he was going to the police with a half-understood tip.

And then, when he’d chased after Finn, he’d looked so angry. He’d looked like he was ready to run both of them down with his car.

He’d claimed Finn was accusing someone of murder.

Very weird.

Of course, none of it mattered now.

He reached across the table and patted Orchid’s blood-spattered hand, though he doubted he’d be as good at comforting her as Vaughn had been. “I’m sure they got to the hospital in time.”

“I should call Vaughn,” she said. She patted her pocket. “Oh, yeah. Keith stole my phone.”

The door banged open, and Dr. Brown stood there, glaring at all four of them. Behind her stood the school counselor, Mr. Winkle, his arms laden with first aid kits, water bottles, and blankets.

Scarlett stepped forward. “We’ve already called Orchid’s lawyers. And the police should be here soon. We’re just waiting to hear from the others about whether or not they’ve intercepted—”

“Sit down, Miss Mistry,” Dr. Brown stated in the kind of voice that might turn lesser people to stone.

Scarlett dropped to her seat as if her limbs had suddenly lost power.

“The police have just called,” she announced. “From Rocky Point.”

“Thank God!” Orchid cried. “Did they make it to the hospital in time?”

“Who was in that car? Rusty Nayler’s car?”

“What do you mean?” Scarlett furrowed her brow. “It was Vaughn Green and Beth Picach and the guy. The stalker guy.”

“Keith Grayson,” Orchid added flatly.

Dr. Brown closed her eyes for a long moment, and when she opened them, there were tears shining in them. “Rusty Nayler’s car went over the bridge. The police found it at the bottom of the Rocky Point ravine.”