“Listen, Kayleigh,” I said. “I need to ask you some things about Hazel, and I need you to be honest with me, okay? Even if something comes up that she asked you not to tell anyone. We’ll keep it between us.”
Kayleigh’s face went still, a look of fear crossing her features. “Like what?”
I took a deep breath. “Did Hazel tell you she was reading my book?”
Kayleigh’s eyes widened. I’d take that as ayes. After a couple of seconds she nodded, looking hesitant. She must know our dad had forbidden it.
“It’s okay,” I told her. “I found her copy at the McCulloughs’. I know she was annotating it. And I think it was because she was looking into Alex’s murder. Did she tell you anything about that?”
The color started to drain out of Kayleigh’s face. To the point where I almost felt bad. But she kept her lips tightly closed, committing to the silence.
I gave her a look. “I really need you to be honest.”
Her light eyes flickered. “She made me swear not to tell anyone …” Kayleigh said. “I promised.”
I had to admire her loyalty. How connected she felt to her friend. I was glad that Hazel had someone like that in her corner, but I didn’t have time to coddle her. I needed answers.
“This is important,” I pressed, firmer. “Someone could have found out what she was doing and hurt her.” Kayleigh flinched.
“I don’t know everything, okay?” she said harshly, reigning in my expectations. “I didn’t think any of this was a good idea. I tried to talk her out of it. But yeah, you’re right, she was looking into Alex’s murder. There was all thissocial media stuff around you and your book. Everyone was talking about it, always pestering Hazel for information. She got sick of being in the dark, so she decided to finally give it a read.”
This is all my fault, the tiny voice in my head snapped. I tried to ignore my immediate sense of regret as Kayleigh kept talking. “After she started looking into everything, she was convinced Will didn’t do it. For weeks it was all she talked about.” I tried to keep my face neutral.
“She told me she was going to see if she could figure it out, amateur sleuth-style. She wanted to solve the case, free Will, and help you write a sequel. LikeSerialbut with sisters. She was actually obsessed.” Kayleigh rolled her eyes slightly at this.
My guilt increased tenfold. My hopeful, determined, optimistic little sister had started all this to help Will. And to relate to me in the only way she knew how: scheming to prove his innocence.
This is all my fault. This is all my fault.
“Like I said, I really didn’t want to be a part of it,” Kayleigh continued. “So then she stopped telling me things. But the last thing we talked about was how she was convinced that some guy named Nick might be involved? She told me she’d reached out to some of the Hopely sisters to ask them about it. I honestly didn’t see much of her the last two weeks, but I know she was still looking.”
Bingo. I needed to know which Hopelys she’d actually gotten a hold of. I certainly wasn’t going to start cold-calling them to find out.
“Do you know which Hopely sisters she reached out to?” I asked, my jaw set.
“Umm, ya. I think it was Victoria. And Cassandra too.”
I felt my body stiffen.Great. I’d made my peace with the fact that most ofHopelys hated me and always would, but with Cassandra it was different. She had been my closest friend for fourteen years, but then Alex was killed and this gigantic crack had suddenly formed between us. A breakup I was sure hurt more than anything I could ever experience with a partner. But still, it was hard for me to hate her. I had loved her like a sister for so long. Even hearing her name caused the wound to reopen with a fresh wave of agony.
How had Hazel reached her? She was the only one of the Hopelys who wasn’t still in Florida. In fact, she had moved to Manhattan last year. Suzannah had called me when she’d seen the update on Facebook. She had a job as an assistant buyer at Macy’s and lived on the Lower West Side. I panicked at first, terrified I was going to see her around every corner and unsure how I would deal with the renewed heartbreak if and when she ignored me. But in the year we had both lived in the same city, I hadn’t seen her once.
“That’s all I know,” Kayleigh said, snapping me out of my thoughts. She sat up straighter, looking like she wanted to leave. “Is there anything else?”
Not really. I had my leads. I’d have to get over how I felt about it and reach out to both sisters. I was about to thank Kayleigh and tell her that was it, but then I looked behind her at the school. I debated internally for a minute. Fuck it, I had to ask.
“One more thing,” I said quickly. “Do you have Mr. Myers for English with Hazel?”
Kayleigh looked surprised at my line of questioning. “Uh, yeah. Why?”
“Did Hazel ever say anything about him?”
Kayleigh looked at me suspiciously. “I mean, yeah, he’s our teacher? She talked about him sometimes … his classes, homework. We both did. Why?”
I paused. “Do you guys like him?”
She considered this, chewing her lip. “I mean, he’s a nice teacher, I guess. An easy grader, and he always shows us the movies of the books we read in school. People say the film club is fun, like he’s kind of …”
I braced myself, waiting for the familiar words:Creepy.Sleezy.Gross.A predator.
