The Liar Society Part 17

Really well.

"I've just been...busy, that's all. And I'm not waiting for you. Like I said, the...um...temp paged you."

"Well, do you know why the temp called me down here?" He looked amused. Clearly he could smell my bulls.h.i.+t from a mile away.

"Lost and Found," I said, realizing too late that my lame excuse sounded much better in my head. "I think they found something of yours."

"Ahh," he said, approaching the box and peering in. He lifted up a ratty-looking sweats.h.i.+rt, one dirty sock, and a broken pair of sungla.s.ses. "Wow, thank G.o.d they found my sock. I've been looking everywhere for it."

"I think they have the valuable stuff locked up or something," I finished lamely.

He glanced at the clock and then back at me. "Well, tell the temp I'll come back tomorrow. I've gotta run."

I thought of Seth probably just having found Liam's car and only about halfway through unzipping it. I couldn't let Liam leave. I had to stall him.

"Oh, wait!" I said, getting to my feet. "Did you...um...see the new fish they added to the tank?" I rushed over and patted the gla.s.s. "Mrs. Newbury said this big one ate all the smaller ones." Officially the worst stall attempt in history.

Liam again flashed me his amused semi-smile. I was failing. Miserably. He reached for the door. Oh, G.o.d. Here goes nothing.

I rushed to the door and threw my arms around Liam's middle. He stiffened as I touched him, and I realized all at once that I'd never hugged him before. We'd knocked shoulders or touched arms, but full-body contact with my fingers spread across his stomach? No. I tried not to think about the grooves I felt beneath his uniform s.h.i.+rt or how the back of him grazed the front of me. This was about figuring out how he was connected to Grace's death. Nothing more.

"I'm sorry. This is so stupid," I mumbled into his back. "I just...I needed a hug, and...I don't know, you're here." I loosened my grip around him, each second of silence adding to my humiliation. I wondered which was worse, having to pretend to need a hug from the guy I used to like but now suspected was a convicted arsonist-or having Seth get caught breaking and entering.

"I really have to go," he mumbled, and headed for the exit. I swore under my breath and slipped out the doors behind him.

Lucky for me, Liam stopped to talk to a few kids who were hanging out near the entrance of the school. I sprinted as fast as I could and made a big loop around the parking lot so he wouldn't see me. When I found Liam's car, I saw Seth had slung his body over the seat and was digging around in back. Without thinking, I slammed my fist on the side of the car to get his attention, and Seth fell headfirst into the back, grabbing at his heart.

"Geez, Kate, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" he yelled.

"Get out of there now!" He stared at me blankly, so I tried speaking a language he'd understand. "Code Red! Code Red! Abort! Abort!"

Seth dove up into the backseat, clutching a sheet of paper to his skinny chest, and slid out the unzipped plastic window. He shoved the paper at me, which I pushed down my uniform s.h.i.+rt, and we both scrambled to re-zip the window. We were casually leaning against Liam's Jeep when he walked to his car looking more confused than ever.

"Um...hi?" He looked from me to Seth and back.

Seth nodded his head, and I said a quick prayer that he'd let me do the talking. No. Such. Luck.

"Oh, hey, there, Liam. Kate was just showing me your sweet set of wheels here." Seth banged on the side of the car. "What type of gas mileage does this beauty get?"

Oh, my G.o.d. He sounded like a geriatric car enthusiast.

Something dark flashed in Liam's eyes as he looked closely at Seth and me. Was it jealousy or something else? I wasn't going to wait around to find out.

"Actually, Liam, we were just going." I dragged Seth by the sleeve of his s.h.i.+rt and didn't look back. "I'll, uh, see you tomorrow. Bye!"

Once we were settled into our usual seats on the late bus, I reached down into my uniform s.h.i.+rt to retrieve the paper and smoothed it on my thigh.

Audi, Vide, Tace was sketched across the page. But this had taken time-he had included shadows and shading, a level of detail only a true artist could apply.

"I knew I didn't trust that guy," Seth said, staring at the words. "He just had that look about him."

I wasn't in the mood for Seth's I-told-you-so's.

But as I flipped the sheet over, I noticed another set of words drawn in the same way. Fortes Et Liber. "Strong and Free." For a second I was hopeful.

"Maybe it's just a coincidence?" I showed Seth the back of the paper. "This is the motto on Brown's old crest. Maybe he was using them for a band poster or something."

Deep down I knew the truth, but I shook my head, not wanting to believe it. Despite the evidence stacked up against him-the conspiring with Beefany, the Rolling Stones T-s.h.i.+rt, the email, and now the Latin words-I wanted a different ending. One that didn't involve me asking the tough questions.

We had plenty of proof to confront him, but my stomach twisted at the thought. I remembered all too clearly the feeling of Cameron's fingers gripping my upper arm in his car or the way Liam had grabbed me in the hallway. So it was looking like we were going to have to go black ops for this one.

And, yes, I just made that up. I have no idea what "black ops" means, but I can tell you it most definitely doesn't involve confronting another suspect in or near a car. Been there, done that.

Chapter 38.

When Seth and I finally made it home, the sun had just about set. We said a quick good-bye and headed back to our respective worlds. He ran home to have a nice, normal dinner with his family while I walked into a dark, empty house and found twenty dollars on the counter and a note to order takeout.

I called Geraci's and placed the order for my favorite pizza with pineapple. I briefly debated grabbing a pint of Chubby Hubby from the freezer to take the edge off but settled for catching up on some mindless reality television instead.

The soothing sounds of catfights must have lulled me to sleep, because when I jerked awake, the family room was almost pitch-black. Out of sorts, I glanced at the clock and wondered why the pizza guy hadn't come yet. The phone showed no missed calls, so I headed into the kitchen to grab a Diet c.o.ke. And that's when I saw it.

A shadowed figure ran in front of our huge bay window.

I froze. I could hear the blood pumping in my ears. And then I heard something else.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The glare of the TV made it impossible to see anything except the outline of a person.

The tapping turned to knocking, and the figure gestured at the front door. He wanted to be let in.

The TV flashed to a commercial break, and in the brief moment of darkness, I got a look at my visitor's face.

Liam.

I screamed. I couldn't help it. I knew he was somehow involved in whatever had happened to Grace, but I'd never expected him to show up at my house. I grabbed the phone to call the police, but when I started to dial he disappeared.

"Oh, thank G.o.d," I said to the empty room as I collapsed back onto the couch.

"Yeah, thank G.o.d," a voice said from behind me. It was Liam.

I jumped up from the couch and held the phone out like a weapon.

"How did you get in here? I'm calling the police!"

"I've been calling your cell for the past two hours, but you never picked up. And then I rang the bell a million times and no one answered." Liam walked toward me and reached out his hand. "When I heard you scream, I tried the door. It was open."

I jumped back to avoid his touch.

"Kate, what's going on? One second you're having coffee with me, and the next you're digging through my car with some seventh grader and screaming when you see me. Just tell me what's going on, and I'll leave you alone. I swear."

And in that moment he was the old Liam again. The charming guy who'd given me a ride home and blushed when he'd asked me out the first time. The one who'd held my hand and made me laugh. And out of nowhere, I heard myself telling him the truth.

"I know you started that fire. I know you're somehow connected to the Sisterhood. Seth found the symbol in your car. Just tell me. What really happened that night? I promise I'll never tell anyone." The words tumbled out of my mouth. So much for black ops.

Liam stared at me as I held my hand behind my back and crossed my fingers. I wish I could say he looked murderous or even angry. Instead he looked defeated.

The doorbell rang, breaking our spell. I whirled around, standing on my tiptoes and stretching my neck to see who stood behind the door, but by the time I turned back around, Liam was gone.

I ran to the front door and yanked it open, not sure what to expect. Maybe the police had some new technology that could sense when someone was about to call 911? Or maybe Seth had seen Liam's car.

"Pizza's here," said a bored-looking guy. He held up a large pizza box.

I grabbed the twenty dollars off the counter and shoved it into his hand.

"Keep the change." What can I say? Pizza guys who practically save my life deserve a hefty tip.

I checked the lock on the front door eight times to be sure any additional unwanted guests would remain where they belonged. Over the past few years, I hadn't spent a lot of time wis.h.i.+ng my parents would come home, but standing in our foyer with a huge box of pizza and a pounding head, I'd never been more lonely. Or less hungry.

I shoved the pizza into the fridge and flipped on every light in the house. Once I made it to my bedroom, I flopped onto my bed, hoping to clear the thoughts racing through my mind.

But I couldn't relax. My head throbbed in time with my heart, and I jumped down from my bed in search of either aspirin or a sleeping pill, whichever I could find first. The medicine cabinet was out of aspirin and didn't usually carry sleeping pills, so I headed down the stairs for Tylenol PM or even NyQuil.

As the steps creaked beneath my feet, I looked back over my shoulder a few times just to be sure no one was behind me. I could have sworn I heard footsteps following my own. Tree branches scratched across one of the living-room windows, but when I glanced across the street at my neighbor's trees, they were moving too. Wind.

Rhythmic creaking rang through the living room, forcing my eyes to the window. The porch swing was swaying. More than anything I wanted it to be from the wind, but then I saw her. Her face was tilted up at the dark sky, and she wore her school uniform, just like all the other times. She rocked the swing slowly, strands of her long hair lifted by the wind. I stopped on one of the middle stairs and rubbed my eyes in an effort to erase her image, to make her disappear.

It worked.

When I opened my eyes again, she was gone, and the swing rocked gently in her wake. I shot right back up the stairs and into my room, leaning against the closed door.

"Calm down. You're seeing things. You need to sleep." Honestly, I wasn't sure which was worse, the fact that I'd begun talking to myself or the fact that I was seeing ghosts. Neither bode well for my sanity.

As soon as I sat on the edge of my bed, I noticed that my computer screen was no longer black. Instead my inbox filled the screen. One new message had been delivered.

I ran to the desk hoping the message was from Grace. But the email in front of me wasn't from a ghost.

Chapter 39.

To: [email protected] Sent: Fri 8:31 PM From: Subject: (no subject) Kate, You're still not answering your phone, and I didn't know how to explain all of this to you earlier. I don't know anything about the Sisterhood or if they set the fire, but I do know someone who's involved.

Call me.

Liam I finished reading Liam's email, and instead of reading it again and again as I usually would have, I picked up the phone.

"Tell me," I said, my voice shaking.

"It's a long story," he said.

"Okay, I'm listening."

"First you need to hear about what happened before I-"

"I don't have time for this," I interrupted.

"Trust me."

The strangest thing happened in that moment. The bitterness I'd felt after seeing his T-s.h.i.+rt and snooping through his car released its grip on my heart. I hadn't even given him a chance. In spite of the email from Grace, and although I'd been seconds away from calling the police on his a.s.s an hour ago, I decided to trust him one last time.

So Liam began his story and I listened.

Once upon a time, there were two brothers. They stuck together and protected each other, but the younger one could only do so much for the older one. The big brother made mistake after dangerous mistake, and soon his dad and stepmom gave the final warning. One more screw-up and he'd be s.h.i.+pped off to some military school.

But one day he came home messed up as usual and slumped against the shed for a cigarette. The shed caught fire. Once the flames broke out, the big brother sobered up pretty quickly. His younger brother came running, and when the fire department arrived, the younger brother, Liam, took the blame. If it got out that his big brother had done this, the younger brother would lose him forever.

"So I lied." At this point in the story Liam paused. We sat in silence for a second, listening to each other breathe.

"I'm sorry," I finally said. As I listened to the words leave my mouth, I knew they were all wrong.

"That's why my dad and stepmom decided to move, to get a fresh start. Only my brother and I know the truth. But it did force him to get his s.h.i.+t together." I could hear Liam breathing on the other end of the phone. "So I had to do some community service and help rebuild the shed, but it was worth it. Having it on my record is the worst part, but in a couple years when I turn eighteen, I won't have to worry about it anymore."

So I guess his dad wasn't an arms dealer after all. It was the first thought that popped into my head as I took in all of this new information, and it was immediately followed by about a million questions I wanted to ask. I settled on the most important one.

"But what about the Sisterhood's motto you sketched?" I hated myself for the apology I heard in my voice. I had a right to know the truth.

"I saw the chapel burning the night of the bonfire. I was walking in the woods when I saw the fire and grabbed my phone to call 911. But then I ran into Taylor, Bethany, and your friend Maddie. They looked scared s.h.i.+tless."

"Wait, what? You were just walking in the woods?" I narrowed my eyes even though he couldn't see them.

"Okay, fine. I was having a cigarette. Taylor, Bethany, and Maddie ran right into me, but Bethany did all the talking. She said it'd be a shame if someone found out I was there when the chapel burned. Especially since I was smoking.

"I know I should have told someone, but I'm still on probation for everything that happened in New Albany, and my parents swore they'd send me away if I even got a freaking detention." I could hear the guilt in his voice, the agony over being forced to hide the truth. "Those words were drawn in chalk on the walkway leading up to the chapel."