This Is W.A.R. Part 15

All Madge could remember about the previous day were eyes.

The Captain's were sharp and predatory, flicking around the room in search of a target, his aim impeccable. When they landed, it burned. Detective McCaan's were tinged pink and puffy as though he'd been crying or hadn't slept for weeks. He rubbed them repeatedly, which only seemed to make things worse, the corners pulled down in perpetual worry. Trip's were a watery blue, the most attractive thing about him if you could ignore the way they sized you up, falling in all the wrong places. And from what she could see of her father's and Carol's, they were vacant, cloudy, unseeing. Of course much of that was speculation. They could barely look at her.

And now she was locked in the house. Whispers trailed down the hall from her parents' bedroom and slipped beneath the crack of her door like ghosts.

"You saw the phone. The messages she sent to Willa. They found her out on that sandbar. Maybe that's why they wanted us to stop the investigation. They must have known ..."

So strange how Madge hadn't regretted typing that text to Willa at the time. She'd wanted to say something even worse as her sister sped away with James. The anger had tasted bitter on her tongue. i'm gonna kill u. i mean it. Those words were the last she'd communicated to Willa. That is, if you didn't count the way she screamed her name over and over again from the sandbar, eyes wild and burning as they searched the endless black.

Trip claimed to have turned it in after supposedly finding it on the yacht earlier that week. His face was apologetic, but Madge saw the thin sheen of satisfaction in his eyes. The phone was his trump card. He must have been sitting on it the whole time, waiting for the perfect moment to play it. And now, he'd finally slapped it down on the table and won.

"She's not well, Carol. She's found a way to deflect the blame. That website is in direct violation of our agreement. We have to talk to him ..."

Smoke seemed to drift through the vents and from beneath the sill of the window, through cracks in the floor, billowing around her like a cloud. She thought of the revolution she'd hoped to start, of that first meeting, lighting candles, planning, then blowing them out, trails of smoke urging the girls onward. Her dad was right. She wasn't well. Maybe she deserved to be punished. Maybe they all did.

"You heard the detective. They'll reopen the case. She'd be a suspect, David."

Surely now was the time to give up. It would be easier to hold her hands in the air, palms up, and surrender. She thought of Willa all alone in the water, struggling to stay afloat even though she'd been drugged. Or maybe there wasn't a struggle. Maybe her sister had fallen into the water and sunk to the bottom like a stone. Maybe she'd let the water wrap slippery fingers around her neck and tug the life right out of her. Maybe it was time for Madge to follow in her footsteps.

But then the door to her room cracked open, and Madge sat up in her bed a bit straighter. Lina poked her blonde head in, a finger poised at her lips. Shhh.

For that brief second before anyone slipped in, Madge swore she saw Willa in the empty s.p.a.ce. A ghost or maybe just a trick of the light. Either way, she tasted mint and smelled ashes. Sloane and Rose slipped through the gap where Willa should have been, and Lina gently shut the door. All of her friends approached her on the bed, taking her hands in theirs, no one uttering a word. The silence was striking, their tear-filled eyes catching on one another. Madge thought they were lost to her, these friends. They'd surrendered her so easily yesterday, and she didn't blame them. Not really. But she'd been wrong. The relief was almost sweet enough to overcome the sickly taste in her mouth. Almost.

"There's not a lot of time," Rose whispered, breaking the spell. "When the Captain took you, we went to James." She lowered her head, trying to hide how she felt about the boy. Madge couldn't imagine how hard it must have been for her to go to him. "He wants to make this right."

Sloane wiped beneath her eyes. Everyone had always known James killed Willa, but no one was prepared for how the truth would feel when proven. And no matter what, they each felt their own sense of responsibility, their own hand in Willa's death. They always would.

"He promised to go to the Captain. To turn himself in," Lina broke in. "He promised to end this."

Sloane reached into her bag and pulled out a phone, laying it gently in the center of Madge's bed. Madge wrinkled her forehead in confusion. She'd never seen it before. "We gave this to Nadia so we could record James's confession. It should all be on here." Sloane's dark eyes pierced Madge's and hope swirled within her. She felt dizzy with the power of it. Even though she knew it was dangerous, she couldn't help herself. Could it be? Was the War really not lost? They had the truth. On tape ...

Rose nudged the phone toward Madge. "We waited for you. It didn't seem fair to listen without you."

Lina threw Madge a jagged smile. Madge brought the phone to life, her fingers shaking as she slid them across the screen to access the recording.

The girls leaned closer into the circle, into position. Madge pressed play.

They heard movement first, s.h.i.+fting bodies, shuffling papers. And then James's voice, strong and clear.

"You have to stop this. Madge didn't kill Willa and you know it. I killed her, Grandpa. Everyone knows."

Static crackled through the speaker and the next sound caused goose b.u.mps to erupt, trailing along Madge's arms and legs. The Captain laughed. Madge dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands, willing them to break skin. How could he laugh?

"You really believe that, don't you?"

Silence from James.

"You didn't kill that girl, James. Trip did. And the boy couldn't even manage not to screw that up, worthless son of a b.i.t.c.h. He set it up to look like it was you. You know what happened with your parents. You know he never recovered from me cutting him out of the will. He's sick, James. Your brother is sick and now we're paying for it."

The girls jumped when his fist slammed on top of the desk.

"Do you know how much money I had to pay that girl's parents to keep this whole thing quiet to preserve our family's name? To keep the Club out of the national news?"

Madge felt her stomach heave. The money. The sudden improvement in their finances. The conversation she'd overheard in her dad's office. How could she have missed this? She looked around her room, at the clothes in her closet, the shoes strewn on the floor. How much of it had been purchased after Willa died? How much of her sister's blood did she have on her own hands?

"I've got an entire team of people working to get that site down, but it's protected by more firewalls than the CIA. The d.a.m.n thing refuses to die. Thank G.o.d your idiot brother at least had the foresight to set up that Madge Ames-Rowan. Serves her right."

Madge's eyes grew wide, and she pushed her shaking fingers against her lips not knowing what else to do with them. The recording crackled as the girls leaned closer, afraid they might miss something. But the silence continued.

"No."

From James.

It was a wonder she'd even caught it, a wonder anyone did. The word barely registered on the recorder. Madge tried to imagine what the Captain might look like if he'd heard the word slip out of James's mouth. She didn't have time to find out. They had heard enough. Madge fumbled with the phone, her body shaking violently. Everyone's eyes were wide, jaws slack, frozen.

"We have to go. We have to go NOW." Madge jumped up and shot for the door.

Little waves of heat radiated off the sidewalk leading into the squat brown building that housed Hawthorne Lake's tiny police station. This was Rose's turf, so Madge dutifully fell in line behind her. One by one, the girls marched through the front door, straight past the front desk and toward Detective McCaan's office.

"Wait! Rose! You can't go in there. He's with ..." The plump woman in uniform at reception was flushed and panicked, but none of the girls even turned to look at her. They were on a mission and nothing was going to stop them. Least of all Madge, who finally held the truth, quite literally, in the palm of her hands.

"Look, there's just no evidence. It's your word against his and the autopsy results came back-" Detective McCaan stopped mid-sentence as the girls filed into his office. James Gregory sat across from him, gaping at the small but determined army before him.

"We have evidence." Rose looked at her father with a mixture of pity and hope.

Just as Madge's finger hovered over the play b.u.t.ton on the screen, the Captain barreled in.

"Stop!" he bellowed.

Madge froze not because she wanted to, but because her body was somehow still unable to disobey the authority in the Captain's tone.

"I need five minutes with Ms. Ames-Rowan," he said easing himself into the chair at the head of the table.

"I really can't have you in here right now, sir." Detective McCaan's voice was soft, pleading.

"I'm not asking, I'm telling. I need her alone. Five minutes. Go!"

"I'll be fine," Madge nodded at the girls, Detective McCaan, and finally James, who shook his head, eyes wide. Madge waited and took his chair. James hesitated but finally walked out of the office. The others followed.

Detective McCaan was last. "I'll be right outside if you need me," he said, with a sharp eye at the Captain.

The finality of the door's click was fitting.

"This stops here," he said evenly. His blue eyes pierced her own. "I need you to give me that recording and take down that d.a.m.n website."

Madge did her best to choke back a snort. "Yeah, sure. I'll get right on that."

"Two million dollars." The Captain leaned forward in his seat. "The first payment to your parents was five million. The money will transfer semi-anually for the next five years. But you must agree to my terms."

"What would possibly lead you to believe that I'd choose money over justice?" Madge's hand flew to the key around her neck. A reminder of what was at stake.

"You'll have justice, too. Trip will be tried as an adult, for one. He deserves to be. I have evidence that demonstrates this was premeditated. If he's tried as an adult, he'll get life in jail. Maybe even the death sentence." The Captain leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. His jaw twitched. "The attorney general won't touch him without my blessing, so I'll ensure he gets prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It's justice. Besides, justice is what Willa would have wanted."

Madge was already up and out of her seat. "You don't get to say her name. Not ever." Her palms slapped the wood desk.

"Punis.h.i.+ng me, destroying the Club, that won't bring her back, Madge. But making sure her mother is well taken care of, providing financial stability for your family, those are things that were very important to your sister."

The Captain stood and reached past Madge to open the door for her. "Of course I know you want to do the right thing, in which case I will update the terms of my agreement with your father and begin the repayment process. Just say the word." He raised an eyebrow, challenging her.

He might as well have pushed her head under water. She had no choice. She never had any choice.

Madge hesitated, overcome by memories. Willa's smile over cereal in the morning, screaming for Madge to hurry up in the shower, tearing out of the house when their homework was finally done, text messages, shopping trips, whispers in their beds, late-night swimming, trick-or-treating, Christmas. Everything rushed in at once, pressing down on her, shoving her back under.

"He's sick, Madge. My grandson is sick, and your sister is dead. Nothing can bring her back, but you have my word that Trip will pay."

Madge straightened her body to stand at full height in front of the Captain. "I'll take the website down." And she turned before she could see his satisfied smile. She raced through the police station, avoiding her friends' and the Detective's eyes. She pushed through the door and collapsed onto the sidewalk in front. Fire burned in her throat. No matter how hard she tried to swallow them back, tears followed. They streamed down her cheeks, hung on her jaw for a second and exploded onto the cement below. Had she done the right thing? What would Willa have done? As much as she hated to admit it, the Captain was right. Willa would have wanted Trip to pay for killing her. Not James. Not her friends. Not anyone else.

And the Captain? Well, someone else would have to solve that problem.

Madge was done.

"She deserved someone better than me." James spoke behind her but Madge didn't dare turn for fear of displaying her tear-stained cheeks. "I never could have been good enough."

Madge knew exactly what he meant, had spoken the same words to Willa in the dead of the night, curled in on herself between her sister's empty sheets. Willa deserved a better sister, one who wouldn't have left her behind.

"She was so lucky though. She was lucky to have you."

She shook her head. Even though she didn't believe him, wasn't sure she ever would, she lifted her face to the sun and turned to meet his broken eyes. "You did the right thing," she whispered.

This time James had to turn away, his back to her, head bowed. After a minute, he walked to a car where a friend was waiting and ducked into the pa.s.senger seat. She wasn't the only one with a long road ahead.

And then one by one, shadows appeared over her. Three angelic forms, silhouetted in the sun. Her friends. At least she wasn't going to have to go through any of it alone.

Chapter 31.

Madge stood in front of the dusty attic window tracing her fingers along what had to be Sloane's handprints, watching for her friends. It'd been over a month since one of the valets had driven Trip's expensive car off the property and over to the used car lot in the center of town. Like so many others, Trip had simply disappeared from Hawthorne Lake, never to be heard from again. Unlike the others, however, his picture was everywhere. The Captain had spent long hours talking in soothing tones about the moment he'd discovered his grandson was guilty of murder-the importance of equality and justice in a world where the rich were rarely held accountable for their crimes. The Captain was a local hero and Willa was Hawthorne Lake's sweetheart. In that way, things were very much the same.

Madge was trying to force herself to forget because she knew she'd never, ever be able to forgive. But the anger was still there. Black and terrible. She did her best to keep it at bay because Willa wouldn't have wanted her to be angry or sad. Willa would have wanted her to move on, to live her life, to find pockets of happiness and hope.

So Madge spent her days trying to avoid the news, where Willa's beautiful blonde picture and the Captain's soundbytes were in heavy rotation. She holed up at the Club with her friends. The Captain had pumped up security to protect her family from the media. At least that's what he'd said in interviews.

Of course, every time she returned home, she was reminded that everything had been paid for in her sister's blood. She'd have to learn to live with that, too ...

Jude Yang's car pulled up the drive, and Sloane climbed out. She leaned into the window and said goodbye. Even from the distance, Madge saw his face light up. The two had been spending more time together. Even though he was headed back to school in a couple weeks, Madge knew something had sparked. Lina called out to Sloane, and Madge watched her jog over. The girls laughed together and turned toward the entrance, where they b.u.mped into Rose and James. He squeezed her hand for a beat before hurrying off.

It was hard for Madge to watch Rose and James together. Hard to watch him falling in love after all the years he spent ignoring her sister. But he was ent.i.tled to some happiness. He was back in rehab, seeing a therapist, doing community service-not because he had to, but because he'd volunteered. He spent far less time at the Club than in the past. Another sign that Willa Ames-Rowan and James Gregory were never meant to be together. James had pined for Rose long before Willa had died. Probably long before Willa had even developed a crush on him. She wondered how long it would have taken Willa to realize that she didn't have to be with someone like James just because it was expected or convenient or profitable. She should have had the chance to figure it out.

Madge listened for her friends' footsteps on the wood stairs.

"Creeper! Were you spying on us?" Lina pushed open the door to the attic and laughed at Madge, still perched at the window.

"Bird's eye view." Madge raised her eyebrows.

Sloane threw herself into the old couch. "I can't believe you're leaving for school tomorrow, Lina. Why can't you stay around here like the rest of us?"

Lina snorted. "Yeah right. You think my parents could wait until college to get rid of me?"

Madge knew the housekeeper had probably spent the last week packing her up for boarding school just like all the other years.

"We'll be okay, though, right?" Rose asked.

Madge considered her question and wondered what it really meant to be okay. Had she ever been okay? Would she ever be okay? She'd finally removed Willa's flip-flops from under her bed. Did that mean anything?

"Better than okay, we'll be fabulous," she said at last. Even if she wasn't sure it was true, it was exactly what Willa would have said. It felt good to borrow one of her lines.

Just then her phone buzzed. In a fleeting instant of forgetfulness and habit, she wondered if it was her sister calling to yell at the girls for not waiting for her or to ask Madge if she could borrow her turquoise necklace or warn her that Carol was p.i.s.sed again. But then she remembered.

That habit would be hard to break.

When she looked down, she had a new text from an unknown number. Her heart raced. It was the kind of text that you knew not to open, Spam or a virus or something that would otherwise destroy your phone: a single link, like the one Trip had sent. But it didn't take long for Madge to recognize the address.

www.thisiswar.com And one by one, the other girls' phones sounded and buzzed. Their foreheads wrinkled in confusion.

"I thought Jude took this down, right Sloane?" Lina asked.

Before she could stop herself, Madge clicked the link, her heart pounding now. When the website came into view, it looked different. Madge released the air she'd trapped in her lungs. Thank G.o.d.

"Someone else stole our site," Rose said.

"But ..." Sloane turned her phone toward the girls. There were 10,541 comments. Madge narrowed her eyes and took the phone, clicking the newest comment. It featured another link, and before clicking, she looked up. All the girls nodded. When she clicked, the browser took them to some town's local paper and a short article appeared on the screen with an accompanying picture.

Boy Accused of Date Rape Faces Vigilante Justice The picture was blurry, obviously taken with a phone. A boy around their age was bound to a telephone pole at a busy intersection in New Haven, Connecticut. It wasn't the fact that he was completely naked aside from a lacy bra and boxer shorts that made Madge drop her phone. It was the acronym that had been scrawled across his chest in thick black marker.

W.A.R.

July 4th, 11:21 P.M.