Get Dirty (29 page)

“Yes, sir!” Kitty pushed herself to her feet.

“Wei,” Coach said, narrowing her eyes. “You got your head in the game today? I need you to be the focused team captain I’ve known for two years, not the flaky space cadet from the past two days.”

“She’s focused, Coach,” Mika said. “Trust me.”

Kitty smiled at Mika, thankful for her support. She’d missed it.

“Good!” Coach barked. “Oh, and Wei? I saw the roster for Gunn. Barbara Ann Vreeland is starting today.”

A wave of relief swept over Kitty. Finally! She’d been able to do something to mitigate the damage she’d inflicted on Barbara Ann. At least the scouts would get to see her talent.

“Thanks, Coach.”

“No problem.” She shoved her whistle in her mouth and gave it a sharp toot. “Now, move it!”

Kitty and Mika jogged out of the locker room down the long hallway to the gym. “You had Coach get Barbara Ann on the team?” Mika asked.

“Yep.” Of course, that was before Kitty knew she might actually be putting Barbara Ann’s life in danger by having her play in the tournament, but whatever. Nothing she could do about that now.

They hit the highly polished court. Mika paused and smiled at Kitty. “That just might make this whole day worth it.”

According to the doctors, Olivia’s mom had been asleep for thirty-two hours. This, apparently, was normal in the case of barbiturate overdoses, one of the new and magical facts Olivia
had learned since her mom had been admitted to the hospital. Ironically, while thirty-two uninterrupted hours of sleep was abnormal for the majority of the population, Olivia had watched her mom knock off for a whole day before, and she expected that June could go into hibernation for an entire weekend if her bladder were big enough.

While her mom had been asleep for a day and a half, Olivia hadn’t slept a wink in at least as long. She’d tried, curled up in what passed as an easy chair in her mom’s room, a seventies pleather monstrosity, barely wide enough to span her hips. She managed to rig a kind of lounger, by dragging the chair in front of a table so she could at least prop up her legs, and she ended up catching fitful naps all night long, nodding off every few minutes, then snapping awake when her head would loll to the side.

She hadn’t been home to shower, hadn’t done her hair or makeup, hadn’t left her mom’s side except for the DGM meeting at Peanut’s, and only then because the nurses promised that her mom wouldn’t regain consciousness for at least another six hours. Olivia couldn’t bear the idea of her mom waking up alone and scared, unsure of where she was or what had happened.

And now she was going to have to leave again. The volleyball tournament started in less than an hour, and Olivia couldn’t abandon her friends. Not now. But as she gazed at the sleeping figure of her mom, she couldn’t help but wonder if this was the last time she’d ever see her.

“Knock knock.”

Olivia knew the lilting British voice even before she saw Fitzgerald in the doorway. He was meticulously groomed as
always, wearing his signature black turtleneck under a black sports jacket, his white pompadour hair expertly molded into place. He was all smiles as he stood there, but his light blue eyes—so like Olivia’s own, she now realized—lacked their usual sparkle, and there was tension in his features that Olivia had never seen before.

“Hi,” she said. It sounded so lame, but how were you supposed to start a conversation with the father you’d never known?

Fitzgerald appeared equally at a loss for words. Totally out of character. He opened his mouth to say something, then winced, as if whatever lines he’d rehearsed in his head suddenly seemed trite. Instead, he shifted his gaze to Olivia’s mother.

“How is she?”

“Sleeping.” Really, Liv? Like he couldn’t tell that already? “But she’s going to be okay.”

Fitzgerald nodded absently as he continued to stare at her mom. Was he searching for the young actress he’d had an affair with so long ago?

“The hospital called me last night,” he said after a long pause. “About the note your mother left.” He glanced at Olivia. “It’s true, then?”

“That my mom tried to kill herself?” Olivia said.

“Erm . . .” He wrinkled his mouth, grasping for words. “No. The other part.”

He really couldn’t bring himself to say it, could he?
That I’m your father.

In the bed, Olivia’s mom stirred. Olivia rushed to her side, hopeful that June was finally regaining consciousness, but her
eyes didn’t flutter open, and her breath continued slow and steady. Still sleeping.

“Perhaps I should come back later,” Fitzgerald said.

That was probably a good idea. The last thing Olivia wanted was for her mom to wake up with the estranged father of her child looming over her hospital bed. But she needed to talk to him.

“Let’s go into the hallway,” she suggested.

In the stark fluorescent light of the hall, Fitzgerald scanned Olivia’s face. “I can see it now,” he began. “Before, I only saw your mother, but you have my eyes, and when I was younger, my hair was that same shade of strawberry blond.”

It definitely explained why Olivia’s fairness was so different from her mom’s dark beauty.

“She never told you, did she?”

Olivia shook her head. “She never talked about my dad. I mean, you. I mean, who you were.”
Way to babble, Liv.

“I can’t pretend that I’d have been Father of the Year if I
had
known about you,” he said. “I don’t think I’m particularly parental. But I would have been able to help. I could have made your lives more comfortable.”

Olivia wondered what that would have been like. Maybe her mom wouldn’t have had to work as hard? Maybe she would have had more time for acting and been happier?

“I have something for you,” Fitzgerald continued. He reached into the breast pocket of his blazer and retrieved an envelope. “This doesn’t make up for all the years I’ve missed, but it’s a start. I realize I’ll see you this summer, but I thought, perhaps,
you could use it now. To help you through this crisis.” Fitzgerald placed the envelope in Olivia’s hand, kissed her swiftly on the forehead, and then hurried down the hall.

Olivia stood there lamely for several seconds before her brain kicked in, then she broke the seal on the envelope with her index finger and peeked at the contents.

Inside was a check for ten thousand dollars.

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

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KITTY AND MIKA JOGGED INTO THE GYM. THE REST OF THE
team was already on the court, running through warm-up drills. As Kitty dropped her towel on the bench, Coach Miles raced up to her.

“Have you heard from Theo?”

Kitty tensed. Theo should have been at the gym hours ago. “No.”

“I’ve called him a dozen times with no answer.” She pointed at Kitty, dead between the eyes. “When you see Baranski, tell him he’s fired.”

“Yes, Coach.” She could have pointed out that you can’t fire someone from a class they’re technically not getting graded in, but Coach Miles’s mood was the least of her problems at the moment. Where was Theo?

She walked to the edge of the court, volleyballs flying around her as both the Bishop DuMaine and St. Francis teams practiced their sets and kills, and scanned the bleachers. Maybe Theo was
with Donté? Her boyfriend should have been easy to spot in the crowd, since he was taller than the majority of the population. But as she searched row by row, the hairs began to stand up on the back of her neck. No Theo. No Donté.

Where could they be?

“Kitty!”

Kitty spun around and all the warmth drained out of her body. In the front row, waving like lunatics, were her little sisters, Sophia and Lydia.

“Shit!” Kitty sprinted across the court in a blind panic. “What are you guys doing here? You have piano lessons today.”

Sophia smiled. “Miss Radovansky had to cancel our lessons.”

“Some kind of family emergency,” Lydia added.

“So now we get to see you play!”

“Isn’t that awesome?”

Family emergency. Yeah, right. She remembered the photo the killer had sent, of her sisters walking home from school. Somehow, he’d managed to get the twins to the tournament.

“Where’s Mom?” Kitty said quickly. She had to get them out of there. “She needs to take you home. Now.”

Lydia’s face dropped. “But we want to see you play.”

“It’s not fair,” Sophia said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Mom said we could stay.”

“We’re not kids anymore.”

“And you’re not the boss of us.”

“Enough!” Kitty shouted. “Where is Mom?”

Lydia and Sophia stared at her blankly. She’d never yelled at
them before, never been anything but an upbeat and patient big sister, and the girls looked as if they were going to burst into tears right there on the gym floor.

“She’s . . . she’s not here,” Sophia sniffled.

“She’s having lunch with Aunt LuLu and Uncle Jer,” Lydia said.

“To talk about the fire.”

“And she’s not picking us up till two.”

“Dammit,” Kitty muttered under her breath. What was she going to do? It was too far for the twins to walk. She glanced around, looking for someone who could take them home. But how was she supposed to explain it?

“Wei!” Coach Miles barked. She tooted her whistle. “I need you. Now.”

Something in her voice made Kitty take notice. She turned and found her coach on the far side of the gym near the entrance to the locker rooms, gesturing to her frantically.

Now what?

“Okay.” She took each of her sisters by the hand and dragged them toward the main exit, where she plopped them down on a bench in the first row. Closer to the exit meant closer to safety. At least she hoped. “Sit here.”

“But I want to be higher up,” Sophia moaned.

“Yeah,” Lydia said. “These seats suck.”

“They’re the best seats in the house,” Kitty lied. She crouched down to eye level. “Because I can see you both through the whole game. Which will make me play better. Okay?”

That seemed to mollify the twins. They exchanged a look, then smiled. “Okay.”

Then Kitty threw her arms around her sisters and hugged them so tightly she could feel them gasping for breath. “I love you guys,” she said.

“Ew!” they groaned in unison.

With a tight smile, Kitty pulled herself away and jogged across the gym to Coach Miles. As soon as she got close enough to see the tense lines of her coach’s face, Kitty knew that something was wrong.

“Coach?”

“Come with me.” Coach grabbed Kitty roughly by the arm and hustled her down the corridor, past the entrance to the locker rooms, and outside into the courtyard. There she saw Donté, Theo, and Mika, surrounded by a half-dozen police officers. Kitty registered immediately that Sergeant Callahan was not one of them.

Donté and Theo had already been handcuffed, and a female officer was in the process of securing Mika while another Mirandized her.

“If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you?”

“Kitty!” Mika cried. Her voice trembled.

“Do you understand?” the officer repeated.

Mika’s voice caught in her throat. “Yes.”

“Can someone please tell me,” Coach Miles began, “what the hell is going on here?”

“This is a police matter, ma’am,” the lead officer said.

“We’re under arrest for Rex’s murder,” Donté said. “Peanut too. They said there’s DNA evidence linking us to the crime scene.”

Kitty’s heart thundered in her chest. DNA evidence? She flashed back to the day Rex was killed and the conversation she’d overheard between Sergeant Callahan and the medical examiner. What had the doctor said? Several hair samples had been found on the body?

Sergeant Callahan had planted that DNA evidence on Rex’s body. That’s how he framed them. If he wasn’t the killer, then he was definitely the accomplice.

“We’ll notify your parents once we reach the station,” the officer said. He nodded to his colleagues. “Let’s head out.”

Coach Miles dashed in front of them, blocking the exit. “You can’t just arrest my team manager and one of my star players.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “I can. Now will you please stand aside?”

“Where is Sergeant Callahan?” Kitty asked. “I thought he was in charge of the investigation.”

The lead officer sighed impatiently. “Day off.” He took Donté by the shoulder and led him toward the exit.

Kitty ran to his side, pacing him as they hurried across the lawn. “I’ll find out who did this,” she cried. “We’ll fix it.”

The officer guided Donté’s head into the backseat of the squad car. “Kitty, don’t. It’s too dangerous.”

“I’m not letting you take the fall for this.”

The officer slammed the door, and then they were gone.

Coach Miles threw her clipboard to the ground. “What is going on at this school?”

You have no idea.
But Kitty didn’t have time to explain anything to her coach. Without a word, she sprinted back to the locker room. She needed to call Bree.

Bree listened, speechless, as Kitty rapidly told her about the arrests of the other DGM members.

“What are we going to do?” Kitty asked. Even over the phone, Bree could sense her hopelessness.

“John’s leaving now,” Bree said calmly. “Ed should be there already and Olivia will be on her way. Just keep your eyes open, and don’t be afraid to scream bloody murder if you see anything suspicious, okay?” Ed had been right. This was a horrible plan.

“Okay.”

“We’ll figure this out,” Bree said, not entirely sure it was the truth. “We’ll clear their names. Somehow.”

“Thanks, Bree.”

Bree tossed her phone on the bed and stared at it as John rubbed her back. “You catch all that?”

“So much for our plan,” John said.

“It wasn’t really much of a plan to begin with.” Bree turned and slipped her hand into John’s, holding it tightly. “I don’t want you to go.”

“I know. But I have to.” He patted the phone in his pocket. “Ed already texted. Asked me to meet him in the courtyard behind the gym.”