"No, of course not. I'm only trying to protect you. That's all I've ever done."
Peyton gave a harsh laugh. "Not me. You had to cover it up for yourself and your precious reputation. God forbid anyone in this family was less than perfect."
Whitney looked stricken. Her hand fluttered at herthroat.
"It was Chloe's idea to bully Leah." Peyton turned to me with a smug, satisfied smirk. Her confession was to spite her mother. The more agitated Whitney became, the more Peyton revealed.
I could work with that. "Tell me about the bullying."
"Leah was so annoying, so clingy, so needy. She wanted to be around us all the freaking time. Chloe's mom had hired Leah to help tutor Chloe, but Chloe basically had Leah write her papers and do her math homework for her. Chloe needed her around, but she despised her. Chloe had to be nice to her face because of her mom being friends with Leah's mom, so she had this account she used to make fun of Leah anonymously."
I swallowed, fighting back the indignation, the anger, the sorrow. I had to focus. I dug my nails into my palms to keep my thoughts clear. "The LakeshoreTea handle. That was Chloe, too."
Peyton nodded. "She made the Instagram account to tear apart any girl she didn't like. Which was like, everyone but us, pretty much. It started with Taylor in sixth grade. Chloe likes manipulating people, to pick a girl and torture her. To see if she can get everyone in school to join in, too. They always do. It's a game she plays when she's bored. She's bored a lot."
"And the rest of you went along with it? Alexis and Zara, too?"
Peyton gave a dismissive shrug. "They didn't know Chloe started the Instagram account. She kept that tight because of what happened last year. Only I knew, because she knew I'd never tell after what happened to Taylor. But the rest, yeah. They knew. It wasn't, like, that bad."
"Wasn't that bad?" I said, incredulous. Fresh rage surged through me. I thought of Mia's crumpled form in her bed, her devastation when her friends turned on her, the sheer cruelty of LakeshoreTea. I could have strangled Peyton for what she'd done to hurt my child.
"It was just fun, okay? Some girls are too sensitive and get all offended." Peyton frowned, defensive again. "No one really got hurt."
I struggled to rein in my anger. "Until they did."
"That's not my fault, okay? It's all Chloe. It's always Chloe. It was Chloe's idea to do the break-ins, too. To rattle Mia. To scare her.To make sure she knew we could get to her anytime we wanted. She had me do her dirty work, though."
Things were becoming clearer. Despite Peyton's denials, she'd been eager to violate my home, to steal and mutilate our things. I could see it in her face, her whole defiant demeanor, but I had more important things to focus on now.
"What happened at the slumber party? Did Leah find out about Taylor and threaten to tell? Everyone would know. You would've been expelled from school, probably kicked off the swim team."
Peyton's expression darkened. "Leah did find out, okay? But it wasn't like that. Leah found Chloe's burner phone that she used to run the Instagram account and post stuff. That night, when the rest of us were getting ready for the photoshoot in the downstairs bathroom, Chloe went back up to her room, and Leah followed her, to find proof, I guess. She was always quiet and sneaky like that. Chloe told me later that Leah saw Chloe uploading a post on the burner phone. She had it out for us. She was going to tell people."
It was all making terrible sense. That explained why the police didn't find anything incriminating on any of the girls' phones. "I thought Leah reconciled with you guys at the slumber party."
Peyton shrugged. "Leah always wanted to be one of us. Chloe used that to get Leah to change her mind about outing us. Chloe came up with the idea to accept Leah into the group, like Leah always wanted. All she had to do was turn on Mia at the slumber party. Chloe thought it'd be hilarious to watch their friendship implode right in front of us."
My vision tunneled. For a moment, I couldn't breathe.
Mia's worst night, the night that had broken something fundamental in her soul, that had devastated her whole being, had been orchestrated. A game. A social experiment to see if Chloe could turn best friends against each other for sport.
And it had worked. Leah had chosen belonging over loyalty. She had willingly hurt Mia to earn a place at the table. And Mia had been gutted and bewildered, hurt and angry. Just like Chloe wanted.
Chloe had set the stage for what led to everything that followed.The fight. The fall. The murder. She'd wound them up like toys and watched them destroy each other.
And then she'd walked into my house with roses.
The planted rock.
It must have been Chloe.
I'd invited her into my home. She'd been in Mia's room. She must've placed the murder weapon with Leah's blood on it among the sea glass and beach stones.
My hands shook. I clenched them into fists, my nails biting into my palms. The pain helped. It grounded me. I forced myself to take steadying breaths, to keep from screaming.
Peyton recognized the indignation in my face because she backed up a step, raising her palms as if to ward me off. "Look. I didn't hurt Leah. I didn't plant any murder weapon."
"You stole the camera."
