And Sage may have overheard the confession.
What if Henry was telling the truth? What if he left Kennedy behind in the woods, and Sage, overwhelmed and alone with her cousin’s killer, couldn’t control her rage?
Or maybe sayingHenrywhen she meantBramwas a simple slip of the tongue. Even so, I start to back away from her, pulling my phone out again to text Henry. “Did you see Henry in the woods, Sage?”
She shakes her head. “No. I told you, I meant Bram.”
“Sage, I know that Kennedy confessed to killing Mariana. I know she killed your cousin, so it wouldn’t be—”
“Stop it,” she cuts in, her voice high-pitched. It’s clear she isn’t hearing this information for the first time. She knows about how Mariana really died. When she glances over from the creek and our eyes meet, I know everything.
But before I can blink, she’s rushing at me with her hands outstretched.
Adam
Adam gripped the phone tightly as he made his way through the woods. His jaw clenched as he reread the text from Henry: I’m going to tell the cops I’m the guy in the video.
He never should’ve left the house to go for a walk.
No, you’re not, Adam had replied.I’m on my way home. Don’t move and don’t talk to anyone.
For all of Henry’s brains, the boy was an idiot. Did he think the cops would just send Bram home if someone else confessed to being the unidentifiable hooded figure from the video?
Even worse, Henry seemed more worried about what Hayden thought of him than of the consequences of his actions. Last night he was a mess because Hayden was ignoring his calls and texts. He’d started to worry that she might go to the cops, that she didn’t believe his story.
Adam wasn’t even surehebelieved Henry’s story, but he couldn’t let his brother go to the cops. He talked him down from his panicked ramblings. But Henry was still so on edge when Adam finally went to bed. Adam doubted the boy got a minute of sleep, which meant he wasn’t thinking clearly.
That was why Adam had to be the one to do the thinking. It wasn’t exactly his forte, but with Henry a stress case and Bram behind bars, Adam was the only option. He’d come to the woods toclear his head and think about what had to be done.
He kept walking, following the path that led to the creek. Hearing movement, Adam froze like a deer in a hunter’s sights.
Two girls ambled out of the trees and into the clearing. Right away, Adam recognized Hayden and Sage. He took a step back into the trees. Hearing Bram’s name, Adam’s attention perked up, but the girls continued traveling on ahead, and the sounds of the nearby creek began to muffle their conversation.
Concealed by the trees, Adam followed them.
“Nobody,” he heard Hayden say.
“Henry’s a sicko, Hayden.” Adam flinched at the vitriol behind Sage’s words, rustling a branch and nearly giving away his cover. He froze, watching Hayden start to turn in his direction, and silently pleaded with her to stop. “How demented do you have to be to take a girl to the woods and hit her over the head with a rock until she dies?”
It took Adam a moment to put together what Sage was saying. Then his heart plummeted. Hayden must have told her something. After all these years of friendship and being the only schoolmate not to turn on the triplets after Mariana’s death, she had finally jumped ship. She was siding with Sage Wheeler and all the others.
Of course Henry would have confided in Hayden. He loved and trusted her, and because he couldn’t keep his guilt-ridden conscience to himself—he’d made this monumental mistake of telling her about his plan to confront Kennedy.
Now, Hayden was telling everyone that it had been Henry inthe woods with Kennedy, not Bram.
It wouldn’t be long before the cops went from arresting one wrongly accused suspect to another. In fact, the girls could be talking about going to the cops that very moment.
Adam’s fears had been blaring in his head so loudly, he’d missed the point when the girls’ conversation had taken a turn, becoming more heated.
Hayden was pleading now. “Sage, I know that Kennedy confessed to killing Mariana. I know she killed your cousin, so it wouldn’t be—”
Adam’s blood began to boil. She had no right to tell Sage, Silver Creek’s biggest gossip and snitch, what they’d learned about Kennedy. That would be the final nail in Bram’s coffin. He wanted to go over there and tell Sage it was a lie.
But before he could decide what to do—before he even knew what was happening—Sage was barreling toward Hayden.
Then Hayden was toppling over the low railing of the bridge. Adam heard her scream; he watched her body fall. Heard thesmackas she hit the water.
Adam sprinted into the open, still struggling to comprehend what he’d seen. The quickest way to Hayden was a dive off the bridge, but the creek was laden with huge rocks beneath the surface. Everyone knew it was too dangerous to jump or dive. Adam’s mind brought up the horrible town tale of Ronny Ackles, the only person who’d ever tried to make this jump. He hadn’t survived.
