“At any rate, she cannot grow many degrees worse, without authorizing us to lock her up for the rest of her life.”
— Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Volume II, Chapter Eighteen
As I sucked in a breath, I saw my fragile hopes of keeping my Jeep privileges swirling down the drain. I headed toward Lauren and the broken window I’d have to explain to Dad.
The cop moved in front of me, blocking me.
I sidestepped him. He matched me.
Impatient to see how bad the damage was, I shook my head. “Someone broke the window on my Jeep. I mean, my family’s Jeep. I have to take a look at it.”
“This is your Jeep?”
“My family’s Jeep. My parents own it, and I’ve got to check out the broken window and call my dad, so he can call the police.” I tried again to move around the cop as I pulled my phone from the back pocket of my jeans. “Or do I just tell you? Is that why you’re here?”
Head down, I scrolled to Dad’s name on my “favorites” list, even though he hadn’t been one of my favorites in too long to remember. The cop reached out, trying to grab my phone, but I whipped it behind my back.
“Miss, step away from the Jeep. I need to ask you a few questions.”
I waved a hand. “My dad or mom—” Wait. Strike that. Even though my mom was the lawyer in the family, she tended to freak out about things like broken windows. “My dad can answer whatever you need to know. I just need to call him. He can be here in ten minutes.”
I looked for Lauren so I could apologize for the hassle, but she’d totally disappeared. I knew she was antsy to leave the party, but she didn’t have to freak about it.
Even I wasn’t freaking, and I had the broken window.
The veins in the cop’s neck bulged like a heart attack or aneurysm waiting to happen. “I need you to come with me.”
Talk about creepy. I shook my head. “No offense, but I’m not going anywhere with you. I’m calling my dad. Someone broke my window, and my dad’s going to freak.”
Another cop joined us, a slim, pretty woman who made me want to ask who cut her short hair. She looked nearly as lacking in humanity as the male cop, though, so this didn’t seem like the moment. “Are you Lydia Bennet?” She glanced at a small notebook she carried. “Were you with Lauren . . . Kjelstad?”
I blinked. She totally butchered Lauren’s last name, trying to pronounce the “j” in it, but that wasn’t what made my jaw drop. “Yeah, I’m Lydia, but how do you know my name? The Jeep should be registered in my mom or dad’s name.”
She glanced at the male cop, who nodded, then turned back to me. “You can call your parents. Please tell them to come here as quickly as possible.”
Both my parents? Mom? Thanks, but I didn’t have a death wish. And how did these cops know my name?
“My mom’s out of town, but I’m sure my dad can come.”
While the female cop gave me the evil eye, I pulled my phone from my back pocket. Holding it tightly in case one of the cops made a grab for it, I called Dad’s cell phone.
He picked up on the first ring. “Is everything okay?”
So much for cheerful parental greetings.
“Um, Dad?” Both cops were listening, but I resisted the strong urge to turn my back on them or, say, run like hell. “Someone broke a window on the Jeep, and the cops want you to come. Like, right now.”
Dead silence. Just as I pulled my phone away from my ear to see if we’d gotten disconnected, I heard Dad sigh.
“Where are you?”
I gave him the streets at the intersection near Kirk’s house. I almost told him not to bring Mom, but the cops were listening intently. Besides, Dad tended to do the opposite of whatever I asked. I closed my eyes and hoped for the best.
“I’ll be right there.” Click. Yeah, Dad still had a cell phone that snapped shut. Dinosaurs R Us.
Slipping my phone in my back pocket, I gave the female cop a tight smile. “He’s coming.”
I glanced at Kirk’s house, a few houses up the street from where the Jeep was parked. Unlike ten minutes ago, I didn’t hear loud music or any other noise, but a few dozen kids were on Kirk’s front lawn and sidewalk, and some even closer, checking out what Lydia Bennet had done this time.
Not a damn thing.
Had one of them broken my window? Or had the asshat who broke it already split? Just like Lauren?
I didn’t see Kirk or any of the guys in the band, who were probably still in the basement. Finally, I spied a girl half hidden behind a tree in the yard across the street from me, her arms wrapped around her waist.
Tess.
The moment I caught her eye, I expected her to run. She didn’t, but she took another step behind the tree as she kept staring at me. Bizarre.
She’d probably already posted a video of the whole thing online, along with a ton of other kids. Just like at that strip bar in Milwaukee last summer.
Remembering only too well, I felt my cheeks flame.
“Miss?” The female cop had a hard edge to her voice, and I could tell she didn’t fall for anyone’s bullshit, but with a soft touch on my arm she turned me away from the crowd. “Let’s wait on the sidewalk for your father.”
It registered, finally, that I was still in the middle of the street, where anyone could run me down. Based on the passenger window of the Jeep and Amber’s claw marks on my arm, I was surprised no one had. Yet.
Shaking more than I wanted to think about, I walked behind the Jeep and onto the sidewalk, where I caught my first glimpse of the broken window.
“Jesus.”
Whoever broke the window had used a baseball bat or worse. I also spied several dents that hadn’t been on the side and hood of the Jeep before, and that included all the dents Cat and I put there before we had our driver’s licenses.
Feeling tears welling in my eyes, I bit my lip.
The female cop watched me but didn’t say a word. The male cop was still in the middle of the street, talking to someone on his cell phone.
Finally, a green Honda Civic cruised slowly down the street toward us. Seeing someone in the passenger seat, I bit back a curse. When Dad parked a few cars behind the Jeep, though, Liz hopped out from the passenger side.
Thank God.
As she strode toward me, wearing a ragged pair of jeans and a Rolling Stones T-shirt, I wished for a moment that Jane had joined Dad for this rescue mission. Jane would be dressed impeccably and speak so soothingly that the cops would fall all over themselves to do what she asked.
Seeing Liz, the male cop ended his call and tried to intercept her. She waved him off. Dismissively. I glanced at the female cop, still tight at my side. Her lips were pursed.
I’d never been happier in my life to see Liz.
“Hey, I just want to see my sister.” Liz was still trying to get past the male cop. I could tell from her scowl that she was tempted to take him down, but so far she was restraining herself. “You called us here, right? We’re here.”
The male cop stayed next to her as she came up and hugged me. For the first time in my life.
Then she glanced at the Jeep. “Jesus!”
The female cop cracked a sliver of a grin. “That’s what your sister said.”
Dad joined us, finally, his mouth a grim slash, his eyes tired. Let’s just say he didn’t hug me.
His eyes swept the side of the Jeep. When he moved closer to it, the male cop rushed forward. “Sir, you can’t touch the Jeep. It’s evidence.”
Dad rolled his eyes. “I think the evidence is obvious. A bashed-in window and other damage to the body that none of my five daughters put there, despite their best attempts over the last few years.”
He grinned at Liz and me. Or maybe just at Liz.
“Sir, there’s nothing funny about this situation.” The male cop totally had a pole up his ass. “Are you Lydia Bennet’s father?”
Dad’s dark-blond eyebrows rose. “Yes, I’m her father. All day today.”
The cop looked pissed, but Liz was bouncing on her toes and grinning. To her, this was probably just another sporting event.
“Of course this isn’t even remotely funny.” Dad took a step closer to the cop. Then another step, until he was in the guy’s face. “Some jackass beat the hell out of my Jeep, but you’re so busy harassing my daughter and insisting that I come to the scene of the crime that you can’t do your job.”
The cop glared right back at Dad. “My job, sir, is to arrest your daughter for possession of the drugs we found in plain sight in the vehicle.”
What?
In the sudden and jaw-dropping silence, the cop puffed out his barrel chest. “Since she’s a minor, we wanted you here, but the drugs involved mean we can’t release her to your custody.”
“Drugs?” Dad glanced at me.
“I don’t do drugs.” I don’t know why I bothered saying it, since Dad obviously took the word of the cops over me. Did he think I smashed in the window, too? “I’ve never touched them. Ever.”
After a year at Shangri-La, I didn’t even shake as I said it.
Dad looked at me again, more intently, for what felt like forever. Finally, he looked from the male cop to the female cop, his gaze stopping with her. Good decision. “The drugs aren’t Lydia’s. Or anyone else’s in my family.”
The female cop just gazed back at him, but the male cop waved his arms, apoplexy style. “The drugs are on the front seat of the Jeep, confirming tips we received. Marijuana, cocaine, crack, and pills that appear to be hallucinogens.”
Dad rolled his eyes again. “Did the tips mention the broken window? Did you happen to see the broken window?”
“Sir, that’s not dispositive.”
The female cop moved forward, stepping between them. “Mr. Bennet, I’m Officer Lewis, and this is my partner, Officer Andreassen. The callers both mentioned the Jeep, the drugs, and the fact that Lydia Bennet and—” She whipped out her notebook again. “Lauren Kjelstad.” Butchered it again. “Both callers identified the occupants of the Jeep as Lydia and Lauren. If Lauren is the young woman who returned to the vehicle with Lydia, I will note that she ran from the scene.”
“Lauren?” Dad’s brow furrowed as he caught my eye. “Who’s Lauren?”
I shrugged. “Just a girl from school. I gave her a ride to Kirk’s party, and we were about to head home.”
Dad glanced at his watch. “So early?”
“The party was a bore, and a couple of girls were harassing me.” Frowning, I turned to the female cop. “Were the calls from girls? Like, teenage girls?”
Amber? Chelsea? Or Tess, who was no longer in sight?
“Did Tess do this?” Liz’s fists were clenched. “That little shit.”
“My first guess would be Amber and Chelsea.” I hadn’t turned into a snitch at Shangri-La, even though the place had been infested with them, but I was not going down without a fight. I turned to Liz, holding up my arm. “Amber actually clawed me at the party, and she and Chelsea are afraid I might steal their boyfriends. Their totally lame boyfriends.”
At this point, I definitely included Kirk in the “lame” category.
“All I can confirm is that the callers sounded female.” Officer Lewis exchanged a look with the male cop. “They identified Lauren—” She paused, then apparently decided not to attempt her last name again. “Well, as a drug dealer. They also said Lydia had spent time in reform school and that Lauren provided drugs to Lydia during class a few weeks ago.” She looked up at Dad, who looked stricken. “We have to take this information seriously.”
“Even if it’s completely untrue.” I shook my head, seeing a tall metal fence again in my near future. “And both girls said the same exact thing? Did they also mention the fact that they bashed in the freaking window?”
“The window is irrelevant.” Officer Andreassen’s neck was bulging again. I hoped he did have a heart attack or stroke and drop on the spot. I’d kick him where he lay. “The evidence—”
Officer Lewis held up a hand, cutting him off. She then walked over to the Jeep and peered through the now-permanently open window. Her jaw clenched.
“Mr. Bennet, would you and your daughter agree to have her submit to a drug test?”
Dad looked at me, frowning, probably because he figured I’d fail a drug test.
“Fine by me.” I nodded at the woman. “Drug, alcohol, anything you want.”
When Liz caught my eye, a question in hers, I shrugged. She didn’t believe me, Dad didn’t believe me, and both cops would string me up by my toes if given half the chance.
Been there. Not my fault that time, either.
This time, though, I’d fight. No one I knew was going to rescue me, and I was pretty sure Amber and Chelsea set me up. Let them and everyone else at that stupid party rot in hell.
Sorry, Zach.
Liz pointed at Kirk’s brick three-story house, surprising me. Liz was no snitch, either. “My guess is that the so-called tips came from girls at a party at that house. I would also guess that, unlike my sister, most of the kids at the party would not willingly agree to a drug or alcohol test.”
Officer Lewis frowned as she pulled out her walkie-talkie and barked orders into it. Hearing “PBT” and “party” and “minors,” I grinned. So shoot me. Two cops hustled out of the patrol car farthest from us and took off across the street. To Kirk’s house.
Officer Pole Up His Ass turned to me. “We’ll deal with that situation, but it doesn’t change the facts. There is a significant quantity of illegal drugs in this vehicle, and you’ve acknowledged that you were driving it.”
“When I drove it to the party, there weren’t any drugs in it.” I waved a hand at the wrecked Jeep. “While I was at the party, someone bashed in the window, then obviously set me up by sticking drugs inside. You won’t find my fingerprints on the drugs. Or Lauren’s.”
But Lauren had taken off, which wasn’t good. Despite her reputation, though, I was pretty sure her biggest crime tonight had been having the bad judgment to catch a ride to the party with me.
Officer Lewis turned to Dad. “Sir? With your permission, we’ll administer a drug test to your daughter. Unfortunately, all we can do here is a PBT, a preliminary breath test that detects alcohol but not drugs. We’ll need to do the drug test at the hospital.”
Dad looked like someone had gut-punched him. Like, say, me.
“Dad, it’s okay.” Liz left my side to walk over and slug him on the arm—her unique way of comforting someone—even though no one tried to reassure me. “But you screwed up in Milwaukee. Don’t let it happen twice.”
When Dad’s lips pressed together, I remembered exactly how he looked in Milwaukee after Justin and I were arrested . . . and wished I didn’t. Phil Donnelly, a criminal-defense lawyer in Mom’s law firm, had done most of the talking, but Dad had told the judge to send me away.
Like, say, to Montana.
Then and now, the so-called evidence was against me.
Then and now, Dad never bothered to ask me if I was guilty.
As Dad brushed past Liz and walked over to me, I stared at the ground. Glass had flown everywhere. Some little kid was going to run around barefoot and rip up his or her feet.
“Lydia.”
I didn’t look up.
“Lydia, I let you down in Milwaukee. I never will again.” Dad’s voice broke, but I’d seen the look in his eyes when the cops mentioned drugs. No matter what he said right now, he’d believed them. “I’ll call Phil.”
Finally meeting his gaze, I held up a hand. “I don’t need Phil. I’m innocent. Just let them give me the tests.”
Officer Pole Up His Ass shook his head. “The tests will show only whether you have drugs or alcohol in your system. They won’t change the fact that you were in possession.”
“Frank.” Officer Lewis cut him off, which seemed like a great idea. “Let’s get a fingerprint analysis on the drugs. And, actually, we didn’t find Lydia in possession of anything. The drugs are in the vehicle. She isn’t.”
“Trin, we have to follow procedure.”
“I am.” She turned to me. “If you and your father will accompany me to the hospital, your sister can follow in your other car. Wait.” She walked over to the nearest police car, rummaged in the trunk, and returned with a handheld breathalyzer and a small flashlight.
A minute later, I’d blown a zero on the breathalyzer, and she’d tested my eyes with the flashlight. Liz stood next to Dad, both of them watching it all.
I wished Dad liked me the way he liked Liz.
I wished he trusted me.
But wishing had never gotten me anywhere except a stint in Shangri-La.
“Lydia? You okay?”
My head whipped up at the sound of Zach’s voice. Kids were streaming out of Kirk’s house, some of them climbing out of windows to avoid getting busted. A lot of them were huddled across the street now, watching me just like Tess had earlier, but Zach was the only one who actually crossed the street for a close-up look at my latest humiliation.
I met his gaze, head high, fiercely. And wiped the back of my hand across my face, refusing to cry.
It was too late to refuse to be embarrassed.
“Lauren texted me.” Perfect. He was digging my hole deeper, but he wouldn’t know that. “She tried to come back to Kirk’s house, but Amber wouldn’t let her in.”
Officer Lewis, who’d been paying way too much attention to Zach, frowned. “Lauren? Amber?”
Zach stuffed his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “Yeah. Lauren’s my friend. Amber isn’t.”
As Officer Lewis jotted something in her notebook, I looked at Zach. “Where did Lauren go?”
He shrugged. “She called my mom for a ride. Boy, will I hear about that when I get home.”
I told myself that Zach and Lauren were tight, and they were neighbors, and they’d known each other forever. So of course she was tight with his mom, too.
I still wanted to hit something.
Zach slanted me an oddly embarrassed grin. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.” He glanced at the broken window on the Jeep. “Lauren mentioned the window. Man, that blows.”
I just nodded. Thank God Lauren hadn’t mentioned the drugs. Had she seen them? Was that why she took off?
“Lauren thought—” Zach broke off, maybe because both cops, my dad, and Liz were all hanging on his words. He nodded at Liz, then looked back at me. “She thought Amber and Chelsea might’ve done it.” He glanced at Officer Lewis. “I mean, I have no idea. I’m not accusing anyone.”
“Good to see you again, Zach.” Liz grinned at him. “Did you pass the breath test or climb out a window?”
Officer Pole Up His Ass frowned. “Miss, this is no time to joke. We’re looking at—”
“Frank? Talk to you a moment?”
Officer Lewis pulled her partner several yards down the sidewalk away from us.
Liz immediately came over to me. “If you ask me, this would be an excellent time to cut and run.”
“Liz.” Dad frowned at her. That had to be a first.
Zach just laughed, then took another look at the broken window before turning to me. “Seriously. Are you okay? You don’t look like yourself.”
What was I supposed to look like? A hardened felon?
I shrugged. “The cops found drugs in my Jeep, and someone told them they belonged to Lauren and me.”
“Lauren doesn’t use drugs.”
But I did?
Wait. Lauren didn’t use drugs?
“She parties, sure.” He glanced over at my dad, who looked numb, then back at me. “But, like, just the occasional beer. You know?”
I knew she’d had a beer tonight, which might explain why she took off when she saw the cops. But she’d tried to give me drugs in class that day. Or were they drugs? Had I jumped to conclusions just like everyone always did with me?
Seeing my frown, Zach shook his head. “She told me she tried to sneak some chocolate to you in class one time, even though you can’t bring food to class.” Seeing and totally misinterpreting the stunned look on my face, he laughed. “She hates to get in trouble with teachers. Even though she does all the time.”
Officer Lewis rejoined us. “Lydia, you can go home now. We have no probable cause to believe you’re under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but we’ll need to gather evidence from the Jeep before releasing it to you.” She glanced at my dad. “Is that okay, Mr. Bennet?”
He looked like a deer in the headlights, but he nodded.
She turned back to me. “I need to get the names of the friends you mentioned. Amber and Chelsea? Tess?”
“They’re not my friends.”
She smiled. Slightly, but still. “It doesn’t sound like it, but it would help if I could contact them. We’ll likely have more questions for you later, too.”
I wasn’t going to jail.
At least, not right this moment.
I didn’t know anything about Chelsea except her name, but I pulled Amber’s contact info from my phone and gave it to Officer Lewis along with my own contact info. After a moment’s hesitation, I gave her Tess’s info, too. But I told Officer Lewis I really had no idea about Tess, only that she was friends with Amber and Chelsea and that she’d been standing behind a tree across the street, watching me.
Officer Lewis frowned. “When? Just now?”
I shook my head. “Earlier. When I first came out and saw the Jeep.”
Nodding, she scribbled something in her notebook, then flipped it shut. “Thanks. I’ll be in touch.”
I watched both cops walk away, toward Kirk’s house, which still had kids streaming out of it. Kirk was on the lawn now, looking like he was arguing with Amber while Chelsea looked on. I didn’t see Drew or, for that matter, Tess.
“Officer?”
Both cops turned back to me.
I pointed out Amber and Chelsea to Officer Lewis, totally ignoring her partner. They both started across the street.
Zach tilted his head, studying me with a serious look on his face, but he didn’t know Amber and Chelsea the way I did. He also didn’t have Amber’s claw marks in his arm.
When he started to say something, Liz shook her head. “If they’re innocent, they’ll be fine. But I have a feeling those girls aren’t often compared to Mother Teresa.”
I punched her arm, partly because she’d expect it, but my knees were still shaking. Someone hated me enough to set me up with something this serious. To lock me up. What had I ever done to them?
What had Cat done to Tess last spring, though?
“Do you need a ride home?” Zach kept studying me, but I couldn’t read him. Was he disgusted? Like everyone at school on Monday, would he believe I did this? “Or do you need to go with your dad and sister?”
Dad waved his keys in the air. “We’ll take Lydia home.”
Where he’d probably lock me in the basement. Forever.
“Actually, the back seat of Dad’s car is totally full of crap. Right, Dad?” As he shook his head, Liz nodded. “So if you could give Lydia a ride home, Zach, that would be cool. She’s too big to sit on my lap.”
Catching sight of the bright-orange Beetle right in front of Kirk’s house, where all hell was still breaking loose, I started to think a ride with Dad—even in the trunk—might be a better idea.
Dad cleared his throat. “Lydia, we should go home.”
“Zach will give her a ride. He’s a good guy.”
Liz gave Zach a thumbs up, but he didn’t exactly look thrilled at the thought of going anywhere with me. Despite his offer.
Besides, Dad looked a little apoplectic. I turned to Zach. “Hey, I appreciate it, but my house is in the opposite direction from yours, and you probably want to get home.”
“I said I’d give you a ride.”
“But—” But you don’t want to.
He shook his head. “My gear is in the front and back seat, but it sounds like my car has more room than your dad’s. You don’t even have to sit on my lap.”
Zach. Making a joke. Wow.
That was a joke, right?
“Fine. Go with your friend.” Dad didn’t look pleased, but being jabbed in the side by Liz couldn’t be pleasant. “But be home by nine.”
It was already eight forty-five.
Liz’s eyebrows danced. “Eleven.”
This time, Dad jabbed her back. “Ten.”
“Thirty.”
I rolled my eyes. It would take ten minutes, max, for Zach to drive me home and then take off with a roar two seconds after I opened the passenger door and climbed out.
Before I could explain Liz’s pathetic sense of humor to him, though, he started walking toward his car without waiting to see if I followed.
Should I?
When he offered me a ride, he was just being polite. He obviously had something going on with Lauren, who was practically part of his family. He didn’t even try to pretend he thought I was a nice girl. Unlike, say, Lauren.
“Lydia?” Ten feet from me, Zach stopped and turned around, looking impatient. “Your dad already left. Unless you’d rather walk home, I’ll give you a ride.”
Great. He looked totally disgusted. Maybe even pissed. Just like everyone I knew.
“Do we have to listen to classical music?”
He stared at me a long moment before his lips twitched. A miracle. “You’ve had a shitty day. Maybe just this once I’ll break down and play Green Day.”
My eyebrows went up. “You will? Seriously?”
“Hey, you never know.”
With Zach, definitely true. I never knew.