Hush (37 page)

Coby sensed Danner‘s attention sharpening and made certain she did not exchange a look with him. ―I remember that,‖ she said.

―Well, sure. Every time Theo‘s name is mentioned one of you guys brings it up,‖ Juliet complained. ―Every time.‖

Paul shrugged, uncaring. ―So?‖

―It‘s annoying,‖ Juliet snapped. Coby surreptitiously eyed the petite, dark-haired Juliet and wondered if what Gen had said to Danner about Juliet sleeping with all the guys was really true.

Knowing Genevieve, it could just be hyperbole. And Juliet was now with Kirk, whose macho attitude wouldn‘t really be able to tolerate a relationship with someone who‘d been with his friends.

Suzette observed, ―None of you guys hang out with Theo much anymore.‖

―He‘s not around,‖ Galen said.

―Yeah, it‘s not our fault,‖ Vic added. ―He‘s always too busy. One girl or another . . . and about that Gresham girl who died at the gym, where was her spotter? I always wanted to know.‖

―Somewhere else, obviously,‖ Gen said, eyeing Juliet‘s glass of white wine.

―People don‘t always have spotters,‖ Galen said, to which Paul grunted an agreement.

―It just seems strange, though,‖ Vic muttered.

―What did Theo and Ellen have to say about Annette‘s death?‖ Galen asked Coby.

She gazed into his serious eyes. Suzette was clinging to his arm, all ears. ―Like everyone else, they thought it was kind of strange that another death happened with our same group, or most of them, and at the same location.‖

―We‘re not all really a group,‖ Vic said. ―We just went to the same high school.‖

―That‘s the very definition of a group,‖ Genevieve snapped. ―Jesus.‖ She seemed particularly testy tonight.

The note left on her windshield flashed on the screen of Coby‘s mind: You don‘t belong, bitch. Someone didn‘t think she was part of their group, and she had to figure it was one of her high school friends. Picking up her beer, she took a careful sip, wondering who had left the note. Maybe even someone in this room?

―The guys are a group,‖ Juliet pointed out. ―They were the cool group from high school.‖

―We‘re still cool,‖ Vic said with a grin.

Suzette said admiringly to Gen, ―You know everybody wanted to be you, don‘t you? You were like royalty. Princess or queen of everything.‖

Genevieve made a disparaging sound. ―You just think that ‘cause you‘re younger. I was a homecoming queen one year. Lot of goddamned good that‘s done me.‖

―I am seriously gonna puke,‖ Vic said, and made huge, ugly retching sounds while Paul grinned and slapped him on the back.

Coby realized Danner, though he was pretending to be somewhere else, was still actively listening. She thought about Jarrod a moment, wondering if she should say what she was about to in front of his brother, then mentally shrugged. Protecting people‘s feelings went against trying to flush out a murderer. Turning to Genevieve, she said, ―McKenna said your note wasn‘t about stealing your stepsister‘s guy. It was about you and Lucas Moore together the night of the campout.‖

Gen straightened. ―McKenna said that? How does she know? She never saw my note.‖

―Was that what it was about? You and Lucas?‖ Vic asked. ―You don‘t even have a stepsister. We all knew you were lying when you were playing that stupid game.‖

―Pass the Candle,‖ Gen said through tight lips. ―Okay, so I don‘t have a stepsister. I made it up. So sue me.‖

Vic came back with, ―You just wanted everybody else to spill their guts. You weren‘t going to give anything away about yourself.‖

―You did write those notes, didn‘t you?‖ Gen said to him. ―You did!‖

―No, I didn‘t!‖ He turned to Juliet, then, and snapped, ―You never saw me put a note in anybody‘s locker. You made that up. Tell them!‖

―I saw you put something in a locker!‖ she protested. ―I did!‖

―Well, get your fucking eyes checked, because I never did it. And I‘m tired of having to keep saying it!‖

Juliet lifted up her hands. ―Okay, maybe you were just hanging there.‖ But she didn‘t sound like she believed it.

―Whose locker was it?‖ Coby asked.

―I don‘t know. I didn‘t do it.‖ Vic‘s jaw was taut.

―Yvette‘s,‖ Juliet said cautiously, watching him.

―Okay, whatever. McKenna never saw my note,‖ Gen insisted. ―I never showed it to anyone and I never told anyone.‖

―Was your note about Lucas Moore?‖ Danner suddenly put in.

It was like they‘d all forgotten he was there, and now they all snapped to attention as if being called to order. Gen didn‘t know how to answer him and, after blinking a few times, decided silence was the best defense.

Juliet said to her, ―You and Lucas were the most popular.‖

―Yeah. Well. Things change,‖ Gen said, then snapped her fingers at the barmaid and ordered a glass of white wine.

In a flash of insight Coby realized Gen‘s claim about stealing her stepsister‘s boyfriend had actually been a projection of what she was doing to Rhiannon with Lucas. She‘d been harboring a thing for the deceased surfer-dude for all these years. And what did that mean for her marriage to Jarrod?

Suddenly the lights went down.

―Hey, everybody,‖ a loud, disembodied voice announced over speakers mounted on the walls. ―Split Decision!‖

On cue the first notes to an original song by the band blasted through the room and then red spotlights came up to show Jarrod and Kirk in front, blasting away on guitars with the other two members of the band, on keyboards and drums, a few steps back. Jarrod moved to the mic and started singing and Genevieve turned her attention to him. Coby was surprised to see a tear slide down her cheek, glimmering in a red streak from the lights.

Hoots and whistles sounded from the audience, which had, while waiting for Split Decision to appear, definitely gotten its buzz going. The decibel level had risen and conversation had become difficult. With the first few loud notes from the electric guitars, it was pretty much a given that all talking must either cease until the band‘s set ended or be conducted at a full-volume yell, which still probably wouldn‘t be heard.

Her eyes on Jarrod, Coby paid attention to the band and settled in to wait till they were done before she even tried to say anything to Danner or anyone else.

She didn‘t know why she was crying and she absolutely hated it that Coby had seen! Damn.

She shouldn‘t have come. She should have stayed home. Alone. As ever.

Seething, Genevieve sipped her glass of white wine, completely aware that Danner Lockwood was watching her though he pretended to be only interested in the band. Well, maybe he was interested in the band, but he had given her
that look
. The one that silently disparages.

She hated
that look
.

Jarrod had
that look
down pat and wasn‘t afraid to use it.

Sitting back in her chair in a black funk, she was still rattled over the revelation that McKenna knew her note had been about Lucas, not the stupid lie she‘d told at Pass the Candle.

What had she been thinking? Jesus Christ. Although she‘d barely passed her seventeenth birthday at the time, that was no excuse for just how plain dumb she‘d been. A
total
dumbass. And yeah, she‘d been homecoming queen. And yeah, she‘d known she‘d had admirers. And yeah, she and Lucas were the most popular kids in their grade, possibly the whole school at that time.

So fucking what.

She half turned away from Danner Lockwood and took in a large swallow, letting it roll around in her mouth. Terrible stuff, but, oh well.

She thought back to high school, feeling the tightness in her chest. Lucas hadn‘t even had to try. He was just cool. She, on the other hand, had carefully orchestrated her popularity, and though she‘d been accused, once or twice, of being entitled and kind of grating, well, that was just envy on the part of the losers who tried to bring her down.

High school was great. Best time of her life. Things hadn‘t gone so well since, though.

Everything had turned to crap.

She‘d wanted Lucas so much, and that night she‘d had him. He was hers! And then he was gone.
Gone
. She‘d befriended Rhiannon just to be close to him, then after he was dead she morbidly kept that friendship alive, like it even mattered anymore. Like it would keep her close to him. Wow.

She had really been a dumbass.

All Rhiannon did was cry, which was okay at first, but then, as word drifted to Rhiannon that Lucas had been something of a man-slut—thank God Rhee had never put that together with her!—she started whining about him. How untrue he‘d been. How everyone had known but her.

How unfaithful all her friends were. Some of them were even accused of making out with him!

Rhiannon‘s affront both scared and annoyed Genevieve. How Gen had wanted to slap the silly bitch‘s face a time or two! And that hiking . . . Gen had gone with her a time or two, but guess what? It was
dangerous
along those trails. Lethally dangerous, in Rhiannon‘s case.

But she didn‘t want to think about that now. Didn‘t want to ever again. She still felt guilty about it.

Gen sank deeper in her chair, growing morose. Then there was Coby. And Danner, Gen‘s handsome brother-in-law—who was nevertheless just as lame as Coby simply by virtue of the fact that he was all in love with her! They were both all hyped about finding who ‘d killed Annette—not that Gen didn‘t want to know, too; she did—but Gen couldn‘t stand the way they were running around and playing detective together like it was a game. They kept asking about Lucas and Rhiannon and Annette and that other girl who died in the gym and none of it was going to amount to jack shit because they didn‘t know anything about anything. Yvette had killed Annette. Gen believed it.

What about Lucas’s hair
? an inner voice taunted her.
Where did that come from? Who had
it, and where is it now?

Genevieve sucked down some more wine. Someone had cut a piece from his head after he fell, she‘d determined. Had to be. His hair had been perfectly fine while they were making love. . . .

While we were making love
. . . .

Her hands clenched at the memory and she fought back a wave of misery.

―You okay?‖ Coby asked, having to half shout to be heard about the noise of Split Decision.

―Yeah, why?‖ Gen glared at her, hating her solicitousness. Coby was just too damn smart.

Never spent enough time glamorizing herself. Was one of those natural beauties who were uninterested in enhancing what Mother Nature gave them. Focused on her brains ad nauseam.

It was so goddamned unfair.

―You made a sound,‖ Coby yelled, dismissing it as she turned away.

A cry, Gen realized unhappily. A plaintive cry for the loss of the one man who was her equal, loud enough to be heard above this cacophony. God. Her life was in ruins.

I can’t have Lucas, and I can’t have a baby.

Jarrod was at the mic, singing in that kind of rough-edged way she liked, but Spence and Ryan, the two morons on drums and keyboards, were now drowning him out. Gen hated them all.

And why wouldn‘t Jarrod grow his hair out? Why? Was it so much to ask? He knew she wanted him to. Why did he object so much?

Because he knows you’re thinking of Lucas.

Another song began, this one with both Jarrod and Kirk on vocals.

When it ended, Kirk stepped up to the mic. Gen glared at him, then frowned, wondering if she could order another drink without too many raised eyebrows. She focused on Kirk.
Well, this
ought to be interesting
, she thought, her eyes roaming the room, looking for the barmaid. Kirk always let Jarrod do the talking because Jarrod was good and people liked him and Kirk was such an asshole and pissed people off without even trying. Now even Jarrod was looking at him askance.

Kirk raised an arm and said, ―Hey, people. Glad you came out tonight to witness the last time Split Decision is going to be together. We‘re . . . splitting.‖

Gen‘s gaze jerked to Jarrod, who wasn‘t hiding his shock. He hadn‘t known, either!

―I‘m heading to Southern California,‖ Kirk said with a wide grin. ―Got a friend who needs a bass player, so I‘m going. Bye bye, rain. Hello, Mr. Sun.‖ He lifted his guitar off his shoulder and held it over his head. ―But right now we got a couple more songs, so here we go. . . .‖ He looked to Jarrod, who stared back at him, his jaw hard.

Gen recognized
that look
. Jarrod was pissed.

But then Jarrod went back to the mic, started in on some vocals, and the show went on.

Gen felt almost gleeful. Maybe, just maybe, this time the band was over for good!

Danner‘s eyes followed his brother through the last several songs. He felt tense as a poised bear trap. He‘d heard Split Decision a number of times and had always thought they were good for a garage band, not for the big time, maybe, but good enough to keep a crowd happy around the greater Portland area. He‘d always suspected that Jarrod knew it, too, even though Jarrod loved the band.

But Kirk‘s shocking announcement had definitely come as a surprise to all of them, Jarrod included.

The set ended and Split Decision went backstage without much more than a couple of mumbled good-byes. Kirk‘s bald head shone red as he walked with a swagger across the stage and out of sight. Danner wondered if they were just on break; their time wasn‘t up yet, was it? Then he heard Genevieve say, ―Who knew?‖ and the rest of her friends chimed in with surprised noises. A few minutes later another band came on and broke into their first set, clearly taking over.

Danner was on his feet. He needed to talk to Jarrod—about a lot of things, it seemed.

―Ready?‖ Coby asked, looking at him.

―I‘m sorry. I want to find Jarrod. Mind waiting just a bit?‖

―No problem.‖

Danner skirted the tables and around the apron of the stage to a side door marked ―No Entrance,‖ which he ignored. That‘s what he loved about Coby, he realized. Her ability to just get what was happening and know when to go with the flow and not get in the way. She was amazing that way. Surprisingly self-confident. Never needing the kind of soul-sucking, constant reassurance so often demanded by other women.