51

“He came into the club early last March. I was totally shocked,” said Tiffani, sitting at the wheel of her parked Lexus as the heater warmed the interior. “He said he had lost his job in New York and was visiting some buddies up here.”

Tiffani took a couple of long swigs from her flask and passed it to Emily. Emily politely declined.

“When was the last time you saw him?”

“Right before he left for college.”

Emily nodded. “How did you feel when he showed up now?”

“Furious. He acted like nothing happened. Like I should be happy to see him after ten years.” Tiffani went quiet for a moment. “I knew this was my chance to do something.”

“Do something?”

“He was drunk, and I got him to buy a private lap dance. And I danced for him. He liked it. He kept coming back for more. I saw my way in.”

“How could you stand to do that with someone who had …” Emily couldn’t bring herself to say the words.

“Raped me? Used my sister as a sex slave? Then threatened to kill me every day until he left Freeport?” Tiffani’s face was hard.

She explained to Emily how she’d turned the tables on him. She’d lured him in like she did all her top clients. But with James, she took it further. Made it personal. Special. He was the only one who got to have her. Really have her. But it came at a price. She charged. And he paid. Whatever she asked. She got him to buy her new clothes. And jewelry. And the Lexus they were sitting in. She used their pillow talk to get him to confess that he had killed her sister. Every gory detail.

Emily sat riveted to Tiffani’s story. “He just confessed? Like that?” she said.

“He was really high. I don’t even think he remembers all the things he told me. I recorded everything,” Tiffani added.

“It must have been so hard to hear all that.”

“It was all I could do not to vomit or shoot him in the face.”

“What happened? Why’d he do it? Why’d he go so far as to kill Sandi?”

“Sandi had found out about the sex video. I heard them fighting when she got home from school. She was screaming at him. She said she was going to go to the school. His coach. The police.”

Nick. He had told Sandi about the tapes just moments before and triggered the whole explosion that day. If James hadn’t been at home with Tiffani, would things have turned out differently? Would Sandi still be alive?

“They were in the living room. I was in my bedroom. Cowering. Hoping they would forget I was there. But after a while, things quieted down and I heard a knock on my door. She came in, took one look at me, and knew James had gotten to me. She went ballistic. I had never seen her so … possessed. She ran for the phone to call the cops, but he dragged her across the living room and hit her. And that’s when I ran from the house into the garage and got on my bike. But then … I was just paralyzed. I sat there on my bike, staring out at the driveway. At his car. I wanted to do something. But what? Pop a tire? No, then he’d be stuck there. Drain the gas tank so he would get stranded? No, what if Sandi got in the car and then ended up out in in the middle of nowhere with him? I don’t know how long I’d been out there when they came out of the house. Sandi was calmer and James was being really nice to her. He even opened the door for her. And then they drove away. And I just kept staring. They never saw me. And then I got on my bike and—”

“Went to Mina’s.”

Tiffani twisted to look at her. “How did you know?”

“Your mom said you went to a friend’s,” said Emily.

She was astounded by Tiffani’s account, and yet she knew she had to stay quiet, hoping more secrets would spill out.

After a moment, they did.

“I left her. I abandoned my sister,” Tiffani said with a lower lip quivering.

“You were scared.”

“But I never called for help. I never even told my mom.”

“He threatened to kill you,” Emily reminded her.

“I should have gone to the police right away.”

“You can say that now, but things look differently when you’re thirteen and an older guy is threatening your life.”

“I was never strong like Sandi. I was the bookish one. You know? The shy one. She always stood up for me. She never let my stepdad … get to me. You know?”

Emily gave a single nod. The gravity of it all was almost more than she could take, but she had to remain still.

“The next day, James came to the junior high. He was so angry.”

“Did he hurt you?”

“He got one hit in. He threatened me every single day, until one day … he was just gone.” Tiffani drank from her flask again.

Goose bumps ran up Emily’s arm. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry this all happened to you,” said Emily. How different might Tiffani’s life have been if James hadn’t shattered it into so many pieces? It had broken her. She was sick. She needed help.

“Here’s the thing. I let it happen. I let him treat me that way. I actually played along. Afterwards, when he’d calmed down, I showed him I was on his side. And, ten years later, it was all worth it.” A smile of secret revenge spread across Tiffani’s lips.

Emily felt a shudder of terror. Tiffani had been plotting this since junior high. Revenge had seeded itself and grown deep roots. She needed to get out of there. Now.

Tiffani shook her head and reached for Emily’s arm. “Have a drink, Doctor Dazzle.” She shoved the flask at Emily’s face and held it there.

“I should get going.” Emily put her hand up.

Tiffani wagged the flask at Emily, and whiskey splashed onto her face and into her eyes. She squinted and blinked. Tiffani laughed. She pressed the flask to Emily’s lips, and Emily wriggled away.

Tiffani laughed.

“Your secret’s safe with me,” said Emily, desperately wanting to escape. She glanced at the sunken locks. She was trapped.

“Pinetree Slopes. I knew the land was going to turn into a housing development because one of my clients was a contractor who had just been hired by the developer over there.”

Was that Melany’s husband? Was he having an affair with Tiffani?

She turned to Tiffani with a stoic expression as she put the last puzzle piece into place. “You got James to tell you where Sandi was buried. And you persuaded James’ family’s company to invest in Pinetree Slopes so James could buy select plots of land. One of those being where Sandi was.”

Tiffani rocked her head back and forth. The alcohol was taking effect. “James said he would dig up Sandi’s remains before excavation.”

James had been the person with Tiffani that night at the parcel. Emily had to admit she had never seen such expert skills of persuasion.

“After he got his father to invest, I could tell he was pulling away. He stopped coming to the club. He was getting bored. Maybe with me. Maybe with Freeport. He was getting job offers. LA. Tokyo. He has wanderlust.” Tiffani turned her head toward the window. “But I didn’t want him wandering away. I convinced the contractor to start excavation sooner than planned.”

“And the skeletons came out of the closet, so to speak,” said Emily, sweat running down her spine. “You must have known he’d run. Have you tried to reach him?”

Tiffani shrugged, “Who cares? I’m taken care of. House. Car.”

Tiffani’s cavalier attitude didn’t make sense. Why would Tiffani have done something to make James run? And why wouldn’t she want him to pay for the injustices he had caused?

“Where is he? If you know, we can have him arrested.”

“Let Nick find him. Or whoever else is in charge now.”

“Nick shouldn’t be in jail over this.”

“He damn well should be. And the rest of the pack. They could have stopped this long before Sandi ended up dead!”

Emily felt herself go red hot. Tiffani wasn’t wrong. “Mina made a statement.”

Tiffani’s jaw clenched, and she gripped the steering wheel with both hands. “She shouldn’t have done that.”

“You’re clearly in over your head,” Emily said.

Tiffani started the engine. Emily reached to unlock the automatic doors. Tiffani countered and the locks clicked down.

“Let me out, Tiffani.”

“You don’t really want to help me. You want to help Nick.”

Tiffani grabbed the gearshift, and Emily saw a glint of gold metal. The platinum ring with the black onyx stone was rubber-banded around the shifter stick. Emily quickly diverted her gaze, hoping Tiffani didn’t notice, and tried the locks again. Tiffani was quick.

“Let me go!”

Tiffani didn’t budge. With her hand prepped to unlatch the door handle, Emily hit the unlock button again, and before Tiffani could relock it, she released the handle and sprang from the car. No sooner had Emily shut the door than Tiffani threw the car in reverse and floored the gas pedal. Emily jumped back just as the side mirror nearly smashed into her.

Emily sprinted to her car before Tiffani could come back to run her over. She jumped in and started the engine. The wheels spun on the ice as she saw Tiffani’s taillights disappear down the street. Emily made her way carefully out of the parking lot. As she drove, she replayed Tiffani’s conversation in her head.

Tiffani knew where James was. Otherwise Hendrick would not be tracking her down and trying to kill her.

And then it hit her.

Tiffani’s ten-year plan was about to reach resolution.