“Georgia—” I start to take off my seat belt to climb into the backseat, but Luke’s arm comes across, pinning me back to my seat.
“What the hell?”
“You wear your seat belt when the car is moving.” Oh my God, he’s rude. It’s sweet but annoying.
“You’re doing twenty-five!” We’re right on the edge of town.
“Two seconds, Buttercup.” I roll my eyes at him as he pulls over, parking on the side of the street. I see a church ahead of us. I’m guessing this is it. “There,” he says when he puts the vehicle into park. I roll my eyes at him, my attention going back to Georgia.
“We’re talking about Grant, aren’t we?” Her brows rise. Does she really think I don’t have eyes?
“Grant went back,” Luke says again, more to himself than us. It better not be Grant. I’ll kill him myself. Luke might not know it, but it’s bothering him because he likes Grant. He let him past that wall he always has up. He’ll never admit that, but again, I’ve got eyes. “Why would he go back?”
“I don’t know,” I say honestly.
“Maybe he forgot something,” Georgia suggests.
“At a murder scene? At four a.m.?” Luke slightly turns in his seat so he can see her. “No. He went there for a reason.”
“Come on, we will come back to this after we talk to Emily,” I tell them. I don’t want her to bounce out on me.
The building looms behind a chain-link fence, boards nailed over most of the doors. I see a paper nailed into the door about an upcoming auction for the property.
Emily cracks the door open before Luke can try to open it.
“This is creepy,” Georgia says, and I nod.
“You’re not alone,” Emily states.
“Yeah, she’s not going to an abandoned anything alone.” Luke pushes the door open more. Emily hurriedly takes a couple of steps back.
“Can she go anywhere alone?” Georgia mutters from behind me. I bite back a laugh.
“Did anyone see you?” Emily asks, quickly shutting the door.
“Just us,” I say.
“Georgia, right?” Emily asks her. They went to school together.
“Hey,” Georgia responds.
Inside smells of mildew and candle wax. Emily leads us to a back room where papers are spread across a collapsing altar—photos, printouts, and old emails. I can tell it’s all about their relationship. She brought proof.
“I came back because of this,” Emily says, her voice trembling. “I came back to confront Coach Murphy. To tell the truth.”
“Did you kill her instead by chance?” Luke asks, and I smack his chest with the back of my hand. I can’t believe he just asked that.
“We saw that you reported her and then retracted.” Emily nods. “I believe you,” I tell her. Her head drops forward. I reach out and grab her hand. “You didn’t do anything wrong. She was wrong.”
“Well, now she’s dead, and I hear she has a new ah…”
“Victim,” I fill in for her.
“Victim.” She nods again, repeating the word.
“But you never took this to anyone once you got here?” I ask, motioning to all the papers that are spread out.
“That was the plan.” She closes her eyes for a moment. “Then I get here and find out she’s missing, then dead.” Emily wrings her fingers together. “I got scared. I thought,what if they think it’s me?I come back to town, and suddenly she’s dead. I have amotive—she messed up my life, made me recant, and made me look like a liar.”
