"It's not over," Josh said flatly. "Thomas is still dead."
I tried to ignore the squeezing in my heart. Ariana stared at the back of Josh's head as if he'd just said something totally inappropriate. He did, however, have a point. This misery would never be over. Thomas was dead. Forever.
"I wish the police would tell us what the hell is going on," Noelle said, staring out the window. "I bet they don't know a thing."
"Wouldn't be the first time the cops effed things up," Josh put in.
17
Noelle turned to Josh suddenly, as if a thought had just occurred to her. "Do you think one of his drug buddies had some thing to do with this?"
No one moved. I saw Josh's grip on the steering wheel tighten. Noelle had just voiced a suspicion that had been lurking in the back of my mind ever since I'd heard that Thomas was dead. For days I had been forcing myself not to think about it. Because whenever I did, my imagination conjured horrible things. Things that made my stomach clench and caused serious sweat issues. Hundreds of gruesome grudge murders and torture scenes I had seen in the movies or on those endless stupid cop dramas--they all came flooding back. And I couldn't handle the idea that Thomas might have died in some twisted, excruciating way at the hands of some red-eyed druggie psycho.
But all Noelle was doing was pointing out the obvious. Thomas had been dealing drugs. And when a drug dealer turns up dead, there are logical conclusions that can be easily drawn.
"I'd say it's a definite possibility," Ariana said coolly.
Josh glanced in the side mirror, flipped his blinker on, and changed lanes. He cleared his throat.
"You know, no one has said that Thomas was mur--that his death was, you know ..."
I met Kiran's eye and knew she was thinking the same thing I was. There was just something so horrifying about the word murder that no one wanted to say it.
Noelle exhaled loudly. "Come on, Hollis. Like he what, died of
18
natural causes? A perfectly healthy seventeen-year-old guy? I mean, I know you of all people don't want to open that particular can of worms, but come on."
Josh turned his head fully to glare at her. She didn't deign to look back.
"Watch the road, Hollis. Unless you want to get us all killed," she said.
With a clenched jaw, Josh turned his attention back to his driving. No one said a word for a good two minutes, during which time I wondered what the hell that little exchange was about.
"Healthy, Noelle? Really?" Kiran said. "Thomas Pearson wasn't exactly the poster boy for holistic living. He had more chemicals in his system that night than Kate Moss on a New Year's Eve bender."
"How do you know what he had in his system? " Josh asked.
Kiran pulled her hair in front of her face and inspected it. "Just an informed assumption, Hollis. When did he ever not have crap in his system?"
Look who's talking, Kiran.
My heart clenched in anger. Hadn't anyone in this car ever heard of not speaking ill of the dead?
"And even if he was healthy, it happens all the time," Taylor piped up, sitting forward and resting her hands on the back of the front seat. A mangled tissue was crushed in her fist. "Kids our age have aneurysms . . . even strokes!"
19
Her hope was so incongruent I had to stifle a rueful laugh. Happily suggesting strokes. This was what we had come to.
"Well, if it wasn't some freak of nature, then I bet it was that shady townie character he was always hooking up with," Noelle said blithely.
What shady townie character? I knew of no shady townie character.
"These people are like walking time bombs," Noelle continued. "Living up in the sticks with nothing to do, no outlet for all their little psychotic tendencies. And you know they resent the shit out of us."
"Maybe one of them snapped," Ariana suggested, lifting a shoulder.