"I didn't take your stupid pills!"
"Liar." The word came out wet, the consonants blurred. "You steal from me. You embarrass me. You ruin everything you touch."
I pressed against the needle-like foliage, the woody conifer scent strong in my nostrils, heart hammering. Pills. What pills? Brooke was clearly drinking heavily, but pills, too? Or was she accusing Alexis of something else entirely?
Guilt pricked at me. I shouldn't be hearing this. But I couldn't unhear it now. Apollo sniffed around the base of the nearest arborvitae. I pulled the leash, keeping him close to me, praying he wouldn't choose this moment to bark at a squirrel or a falling leaf.
"Let me go!" Alexis tried to pull away. Brooke yanked her back. Alexis inhaled sharply. "Mom, please. Stop it! You're hurting me." Alexis's voice cracked, stripped of its usual bravado. She sounded so young, so scared.
Brooke's hand flashed up, not quite a strike, but close. A practiced threat, as if she'd done it before. Alexis recoiled like she'd been hit.
Brooke swayed on her feet. "You think I'm stupid? We're in this mess because of you. You steal, you lie, you embarrass this family. If this gets out, what do you think will happen?"
"Mom," Alexis pleaded.
"I need you to tell me you understand, Alexis, or I swear, I'll ground you until you're 25, and worse. You think I'm a terrible mother now? Just you wait."
"Fine! Okay, okay!"
From inside the house, a young male voice yelled something. Brooke and Alexisstiffened.
"Now look what you did." Brooke swore under her breath as she shoved Alexis toward the door, then herded her daughter inside with a hand between her shoulder blades. The gesture looked affectionate from a distance.
Now I knew better.
I swallowed, my mouth dry, and backed away cautiously. Brooke had a drinking problem. We all knew that, though she was a master at hiding it from the rest of the world, especially her rabid Instagram followers.
This was far worse than I had imagined. Behind Brooke's carefully curated Instagram persona, the perfect house, the perfect family, and the perfect life, something much darker was lurking.
Apollo whined.
"Yeah," I said under my breath. "I know, buddy."
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw a text from Rowan:Thinking of you. Don't believe what you read. We know who Mia really is.
There were now so many posts and articles. The comments calling Mia a monster, threads dissecting her Instagram photos, think pieces analyzing her "dead eyes" in the school yearbook. I couldn't keep track anymore.
I sent a quick text thanking Rowan and pocketed the phone, my mind churning. I had painted Alexis as a violent bully in my mind, but here she was, a frightened, hurting kid, harmed by her own mother.
What didn't Brooke want Alexis to talk about? The abuse itself? The pills? What accident was she talking about?
Hurt people hurt people.
Was this the terrible secret Alexis didn't want exposed? That she'd threatened both Leah and Mia over? That her mom was a closet drunk. That the image of their perfect family had devastating cracks. Or something else entirely, something related to Leah's death?
I felt sick. I wanted to hug Alexis, not investigate her.
Just because she was a victim didn't mean she wasn't also a perpetrator.
There was the circular bruise on Alexis’s wrist, bruising Leah may have caused as she fell, grabbing wildly at the person who'd pushed her. Alexis at our mailbox right after our house was violated, and my notebook was stolen. Alexis, the bully, who threatened Mia and assaulted Leah months before she died.
The pieces of the puzzle were slowly falling into place.
I had to stay focused, to keep my head clear.
I needed answers. It was time to talk to Brooke.
Chapter Nineteen
