He comes to a stop when he spots me, sneering before he pulls a flask from his inside coat pocket and uncaps it. He takes a long pull from the flask, which, if I’m not mistaken, is embossed with a family crest. I guess Pembroke pride persists even in the face of a criminal investigation. Freddie smacks hislips. It’s still early in the day and he’s already drinking? Great.
“What isshedoing here?” He waves his flask in my direction.
Connor steps closer to me. “We’re together now, Fred. When I told her we were meeting, she wanted to come.”
“Of course she did.” Freddie sways on his feet. He’s more drunk than I realized at first—further gone than I’ve ever seen him, even at the party. His clothes are a mess under his coat, his white uniform shirt buttoned incorrectly, with big stains on the front. His eyes are bloodshot, and his words slur together when he speaks. “Thought you’d have run off by now.”
Alarm bells start ringing in my head, reminding me of last night. The sound cuts through the wind screaming across the cliff edge. “Why would you think that?”
“Didn’t someone go through your stuff? First day you were here, right. Terrible, having your privacy violated. Mother says those NCA fucks tore through Dad’s office. Took the computers and statements and who-knows-what. Sucks that happened. Would be ’nuff of a reason for me to—what do you Americans say? Get out of Dodge?” He cackles like he just told the world’s funniest joke.
But what he just said isn’t funny. Connor sends me a curious look, and I nod once to confirm that yes, that’s exactly what happened.
“Freddie, I never told anyone about that.” I send him a pointed look, but he’s unfazed.
He takes another sip from his flask, his lips wet from the liquor. “Right. Well. Priya … No, not Priya.Me.I should have taken the fucking thing and been done with it. But I figured they’d pull Isla’s plug and you’d leave eventually, so what wasthe harm in letting you keep your sister’s little book with all of her notes inside? Not like you could decipher that bunch of nonsense anyway.”
Having confirmation that Freddie is the one who went through my stuff that first day feels good, like an open window in a drafty house has finally been closed, but it’s also shocking. And scary. “You knew? All this time? Why didn’t you say something?”
Freddie scoffs. “Please. What would that conversation have looked like, hmm?Belinda, so good to meet you. We’re cousins, actually. Ta!” He chuckles, shaking his head. Seemingly lost in thought. “No, that would have been boring. Booooring. I left the book on your bed to see what you would do. Whether you’d run back to Daddy Vale or stick around. You chose to stay, which, I cannot lie, impressed me. Not sure why you didn’t tell everyone you’re Isla’s sister from the start, though. You probably would’ve been more accepted, you know? Pitied at least.”
Freddie keeps sipping from the flask. How much liquid can that thing even hold? He can barely stay upright, but somehow he keeps inching closer to us.
I don’t like it. And from the way Connor steps forward like he’s trying to protect me, I’m thinking he doesn’t like it much, either.
“That’s pretty messed up, Fred.” Connor’s voice has taken on a menacing depth. “Could make someone feel pretty unsafe, going through their stuff like that.”
Feeling bold, I join in. “Yeah,Fred. Is making girls feel unsafe something you do a lot?”
Freddie’s mean laugh sends a streak of fear down myspine. “I’m not the one who went around threatening people, Belinda. No, that was your fuckingsister.”
I flinch at the fury in his tone.
“What are you talking about?” Connor sounds baffled.
“That little bitch showed me your picture.” Freddie points at me. “She called you Billie, not Belinda.Billie.What a stupid name. I guess it runs in the family. Stupidity.”
Now I’m as angry as Freddie seems. Maybe even more so. “You better watch what you say about—”
Freddie interrupts me. “Oh, save it, Billie. I’m just being … whatever I’m being.”
“A drunk asshole?” Connor interjects.
“Yeah, yeah. That. But you know … I come by it honestly. My dad is … well.” Freddie makes a tsking noise. “He’s going to screw us all over in the end, isn’t he?”
That much is obvious, considering he’s been arrested. But I don’t care about William Pembroke’s crime at the moment. I need Freddie to focus.
“Why did Isla show you my picture?” My words are soft. My voice trembles. We’re getting so close to the truth. I can feel it stalking through the scrubby grass around the tree, a snake slithering closer to its next meal.
“Because she hadeyes, Belinda. She met Mother at one of our house parties last year and mentioned to me that she looked familiar, but I blew it off. Isla was a silly twit. But she was also too fucking smart for her own good.”
I swallow hard. “What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean. She came to me and started pointing out … things.Don’t you see the resemblance?” Freddie’s voice pitches high, and I can only assume he’simitating Isla. “Look at her!She kept saying that. Over and over.Look at her.” He waves a hand at me. “Look at you. A Canterbury through and through.”
I can’t move. I’m too frozen with shock. He knows. But does he knoweverything? Last night, when I asked Dad if he’d ever told Isla the whole story of what happened the night of the reunion, he vehemently denied it.I thought I’d be taking this secret to my gravewere his exact words.
Freddie staggers backward, glancing behind himself like he’s looking for the something or someone who pulled him. But there’s nothing there—just the wind and the cliff. He faces us once more. “She was a dog with a bone, my God. She kept trying to show me timelines and yearbook photos and Uncle George’s obituary. And I kept telling her I’d never even met the man! He died before I was born. What do I know about any of this? It’s not my problem. Wasn’t my parents’ problem, either.”
