Free Falling (33 page)

“No idea,” I muttered, shaking my head in confusion. People
were normally inside by now, chatting in the hallways before classes, but
instead it seemed that half of the school was standing or sitting in the
parking lot. Across the sea of faces, some looked rather excitable, some were
just standing there silently, their faces pale, but some were clutching
Kleenex, hugging and shaking their heads in apparent horror.

As we both got out of the car some people turned to look at
us. A hushed silence settled over the people closest to us as I swung my bag up
onto my shoulder and weaved through the crowd with Alex at my side. Then, just
like yesterday, the excited whispering started as I walked past. I rolled my
eyes; silently wishing the ground would open up and swallow me. I fought the
urge to turn and run back to the car just because people were turning to stare
at me as I walked up to where I was hoping my friends would be waiting for me.

Charlotte and Beth were standing in the same place as
yesterday. “Hey. What’s everyone standing around for?” I asked, stepping to
their sides and waving my hand around at the crowd.

Charlotte’s mouth dropped open with an audible pop. “You
haven’t heard?” she gasped. I raised one eyebrow in question, waiting for her
to continue. “It’s been all over the news this morning,” she said, her hand
reaching out and clutching at my forearm.

My confusion built. “What’s been on the news?” Alex
interjected, looking at Charlotte quizzically, obviously as lost as I was. News
wasn’t something that usually graced our TV in the morning; Alex usually opted
for sports channel or SpongeBob SquarePants.

Charlotte’s grip tightened on my arm as her eyes widened
even more. “It’s Sandy. She was murdered last night.”

Chapter 21

My breath seemed to catch in my throat, forming a lump that I
had to swallow down before it choked me.
Murdered. Sandy has been murdered?
 
How, who, why, when?
All of those questions sprang to my mind as I stood
there, gaping at Charlotte like an idiot.

“What the actual fuck? Is that a joke?” Alex gasped, shaking
his head in disbelief.

Charlotte’s grip tightened to the point of pain on my arm as
she shook her head. “No, seriously. It’s been all over the news. The cops
arrived a little while ago and are in speaking with Principal Bennett right
now,” she said, nodding off to my right.

I gulped and looked in that direction, indeed seeing two
squad cars parked there. They were partially obscured by the swarm of students
converging around. A lot of people were leaning down, trying to get a look into
the cars, probably to satisfy some sort of sick, morbid intrigue.

“I can’t believe this,” I muttered, shaking my head in
disbelief.

“Have they arrested the person that did it?” Alex asked
Charlotte.

She shrugged. “Don’t think so. The news said that she’d been
stabbed and that she was found by a passer-by. She was stabbed and left in an
alleyway. They’re ruling out a mugging because she still had her purse and cell
phone,” Charlotte answered.

Even though I hated her, I still felt a pang of sorrow that
she’d died. No one deserved that, and now her parents were going to have to
deal with the loss of a child. “That’s so sad,” I croaked. “Her poor parents.”
I imagined my parents and what they would be like if I’d been killed, they’d be
in pieces. I couldn’t bear to think about what Sandy’s parents would be going
through at this moment. I looked around again, seeing the cheerleaders, Sandy’s
minions, all standing in a group off to the side. They were upset and most of
them had even cried off their make-up, leaving black trails down their cheeks.

“I heard that the police are going to be interviewing her
friends at school today so that they can try and ascertain who saw her last and
piece together her last moments,” Beth chimed in.

I looked at her curiously. “How do you know that?”

She smiled guiltily. “I was talking to the receptionist
earlier. You know how she likes to gossip. She was complaining that she had to
clear Principal Bennett’s schedule so she could sit in on the meetings today.”

Gossipy receptionist, she never had been able to keep her
opinions to herself. As we stood there talking about Sandy, a hand touched my
arm. “Baby, I need to talk to you.” I turned looked up into Luke’s face. “It’s
important, can we talk right now?”

I nodded, bemused as to what this would be about. He looked
a little concerned as he glanced around before nodding at the front doors of
the school, shifting awkwardly on his feet. His hand closed over mine, leading
me in that direction before I even had a chance to ask him what was so urgent.
Once we got into the hallway I noticed that the place was deserted. It seemed
that the entire student body was outside still, talking about the events of
last night. Luke pulled open the door to the old geology classroom that was now
out of use. Once we were in the classroom he closed the door tightly behind me
before taking my face in his hands. His eyes were blazing anguish as he looked
down at me.

“Where were you last night?” he asked.

I frowned, taken aback by his question. “At home, why?”

He gulped, bending so that our faces were on the same level.
“With Alex? Did he see you there?”

What the heck is this about?
“Of course he saw me.
What on earth are you asking that for?” I chuckled, pulling my face out of his
hands, studying his face to see if he had actually gone insane.

“Maisie, Sandy was murdered last night. You remember the
last thing you said to her yesterday morning?” he asked. I thought back but
couldn’t really remember. We were fighting and screaming at each other, I could
have said anything in the heat of the moment. “You said you’d kill her,” Luke
said when I didn’t speak.

My mouth popped open in shock. “What the… I didn’t mean it!
Jeez, are you asking me if it was me? Are you crazy?” I gasped, suddenly
getting angry because maybe he didn’t know me at all. I glowered at him and
shoved on his chest, trying to get him away from me, but he didn’t budge.

“No! Christ! I was just checking to make sure you had an
alibi for last night. If someone tells the police that you said that then
they’re going to have to look into it, they won’t be able to dismiss it as an
offhand comment, they’ll have to look into it,” he explained, wrapping his arm
around my waist and holding me in place as his words sank in.

A cold shiver worked over my body giving me goosebumps. I
chaffed my hand on my arm, trying to warm myself up as all of a sudden the
temperature in the room seemed to plummet. “I didn’t! I swear I didn’t. They
won’t think it’s me, surely,” I muttered, shaking my head in disbelief.

“Baby, I know you wouldn’t have, I don’t think that,” Luke
assured me, touching my cheek lightly. “You were at home with Alex, you spent
the night with him downstairs, right?” he checked.

I chewed on my lip. I hadn’t really seen Alex that much last
night. I’d stayed up in my room all night long, the only time I saw him was
when he brought me the sandwich and phone. He’d gone into the garage after
that, working out with the punch bag, I’d heard the familiar sounds of it
vibrating as he hit it. “I didn’t really see him much. I was in my room studying,
and he was working out in the garage,” I answered.

Luke closed his eyes, his arm tightening on my waist. “So
the police could argue that you could have left the house without Alex
knowing.”

“I hardly think they’re going to suggest that!” I scoffed,
waving my hand dismissively.

“But they could. And you would have no way of proving
otherwise, do you?” he inquired.

“Well… no,” I replied, looking away from his worry filled
eyes. “But they won’t ask that anyway. If they ask anything at all it’ll be
where I was, and I was at home, end of conversation.”

“I’ll give you an alibi just in case,” he muttered, pulling
me against his chest. “Tell people that I snuck into your house like we used to
sometimes. Say that Alex didn’t even know I was there. We could say that I came
over about eight and we snuck straight up to your room, and I left at about six
o’clock before Alex even woke up.”

I snorted in disbelief. “Luke, I’m not lying. Besides,
there’s no point because they won’t think it’s me anyway,” I muttered. But in
the back of my mind his words were making sense. DI Neeson knew that I had a
problem with Sandy; she knew that I’d accused her of poisoning Chester and that
we had a fight at school. A couple of quick questions to some of the students
would confirm that I’d uttered those words, and then she’d be duty bound to
treat me as a suspect. I shivered. Was Luke right, would they view my alibi as
weak and question if I could have gotten out of the house without my brother
noticing? Was that why people stopped talking as I walked past them earlier and
then whispered behind my back? Were people assuming that it was me because I’d
said the wrong thing in the heat of the moment?

I pulled back and looked up at Luke. He looked extremely
worried as he cupped my face in his hands and planted a soft kiss on my
forehead. “I don’t want to see you in trouble,” he whispered, begging me with
his eyes.

I shook my head quickly, pushing off his hands. “Thank you
for the offer, that’s really sweet of you, but honestly I’ll be fine. There’s
no need to worry. They won’t think it’s me.” I forced a smile.

He nodded despondently, letting his arms drop down to his
sides. “Yeah, you’re probably right. But if you change your mind then I’m happy
to say I was with you all night last night.”

Gratitude for him being so sweet, made me go up on tiptoes
and press my lips to the corner of his mouth, kissing gently. His body
stiffened as he moaned quietly in the back of his throat. His breath blew down
my neck and I didn’t want to move, I just wanted to stay in this empty
classroom with him forever.

“Thank you. But honestly, you’re being silly,” I assured
him, forcing myself to step back away from his body. When I was that close to
Luke my resolve faded and all I wanted was to turn back time and have him back
again, for him to be mine and no one else’s.

His gaze slid over my face as he reached out and touched the
spot just below my right eye. “You look tired, baby,” he whispered, frowning. I
nodded in confirmation and turned my face into his hand more, closing my eyes
at the softness and warmth of it pressed against my cheek. “Has anything else
happened? More calls, anything? Have the police said anything else?” he asked.

I reached up and took his hand, interlacing my fingers with
his. I needed to get out of this classroom and start moving around because I
literally felt like a zombie just going through the motions right now. “No, no
news and nothing new. Don’t stress,” I pleaded, seeing how concerned he was
about me.

He blew out a big breath and ran his free hand through his
hair, making it stick up everywhere. “Don’t stress? Someone wants to hurt my
girlfriend, and you think I’m not going to stress?”

“I’m not your girlfriend.” The words left my lips before I
could stop them.

His face fell; his pain filled expression was enough to make
my heart ache. “I know that. Fuck. Don’t you think I don’t know that? I think
about it every second of every day. You’re not the only one having trouble
sleeping you know,” he retorted. His grip loosened on mine, attempting to drop
my hand but I held fast not wanting to break the connection.

“Luke, we’re trying to be friends,” I muttered, shaking my
head, knowing that it was useless. No matter how many times I said the word
‘friends’ I knew it would never apply to us. We would always be more than
friends, I just had to find it in my heart to let his indiscretion go and try
to move on.

He sighed. “Friends, yeah, I remember.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I had no
clue what to say. Luckily for me the bell sounded above my head, signalling a
five minute warning for the start of first lesson. “We’d better get ready for
class,” I mumbled, hating the sad expression on his face. He nodded and reached
for the door, yanking it open and waving for me to go through first.

I stopped abruptly as we stepped into the hallway. It seemed
as though everyone that was outside had entered all at once, so the hallway was
rammed with people hurriedly trying to get their books from their lockers
before classes started. People turned to look at me as I took a tentative step
into the crowd. I frowned, looking down at the floor, my face flaming with both
embarrassment and anger as the gossiping started.

“Do you really think it was her?”

“She said she was going to.”

“I bet they class it as a crime of passion.”

“Don’t they say that nine out of ten victims know their
murderer?”

“Who would have thought that someone so quiet could do
something like that. It’s sick.”

I gritted my teeth, glaring the nearest person to me who was
watching me with a mixture of fascination and fear. The girl looked away
quickly, giggling with her friends that I’d just given her a death glare.

“Stabbed repeatedly apparently. Blood everywhere. A friend
of my mom’s was the one that found her, said she looked like she’d been
gutted,” a freshman muttered to his friend off to one side. Vomit rose in my
throat as images of Sandy strewn out in some dark alleyway with knife wounds
swam before my eyes.

“I spoke to Maisie once, she seemed nice, I didn’t every
think that she would go crazy like this.”

Tears of indignation stung my eyes as I looked over my
shoulder at Luke. I begged him silently with my eyes to say something, to stop
them talking about me like that. They’d listen to him, he was popular and
everyone hung on his every word because of that.