Sweet Deceit (Privilege 4)

exa blushed slightly and cast an askance look at Ariana, as if she’d just said too much. Ariana’s heart skipped a breath. Was Headmaster Jansen in Stone and Grave?

“And now we’re screwed,” Lexa continued. “She’s already made it too far in the process. They’ll think we’ve gotten sloppy, and I can’t have that on my record.”

Ariana eyed Lexa. Clearly this was something she was very concerned about—her image with national Stone and Grave. Apparently Lexa wasn’t as effortlessly perfect as she’d been making herself out to be.

“Okay, then how about a private detective?” Maria asked, lifting her shoulders. “Maybe a professional would be able to figure out what we’re missing.”

Ariana’s shoulder muscles curled. A PI? They wanted to hire a PI to look into Kaitlynn’s past? A private investigator would follow her around. Take pictures. Maybe even run her image through some law-enforcement websites. A PI could easily find out that Kaitlynn wasn’t who she said she was. That she was, in fact, a convicted murderer and fugitive. The former roommate of one Ariana Osgood.

“It’s not a bad idea,” Soomie put in, tugging a scone out of a wax paper bag. “That’s what my dad does when he’s hiring new execs. It’s a routine part of the background check.”

“A private investigator,” Lexa mused, narrowing her eyes. “I like it. Why haven’t we done this before?”

“Because we never needed to,” Maria said. “Everyone else we’ve ever tapped has been from a prominent family. Like Ana,” she said with a smile.

Ariana tried to smile back, but her organs were twisting together in new and seriously uncomfortable configurations. This couldn’t happen. She simply could not let this happen.

“Maybe I’ll look up a few investigators and set some meetings at my parents’ house in town,” Lexa said, sipping her latte.

“Why not just have them come here?” Soomie asked.

“And risk Lily seeing and asking questions? No way,” Lexa said. “Besides, the administration might want to know what I was up to.” She looked around at her friends. “Where would I find a reputable PI, do you think?”

“Not in the yellow pages,” Maria said with a snort. She reached for her Coach bag and extracted her cell phone. “I’m sure my father has a guy in DC to recommend.”

“Wait. Both of your dads use private investigators on a regular basis?” Lexa asked.

Soomie lifted one shoulder as she chewed. “We’re talking about billion-dollar businesses, Lex,” she said. “They don’t mess around.”

“Hi, Daddy,” Maria said into her phone. “I just have a quick—

Yes. Yes, Daddy. I’m eating right now. No, Daddy. I’m not working out too hard. Well, how else do you expect me to get into a decent dance company unless I—” She listened for a few seconds, then groaned. “No, Daddy, I am not going to Harvard! We’ve been through this.” She rolled her eyes at the girls and shoved herself up from the blanket, placing her hand over the phone. “This could take a while.”

Maria gestured with her free hand as she paced away from the picnic blanket, sparring with her dad. Ariana’s heart pounded with fear as she tried to figure out some way to discourage Lexa from her new plan. If she hired a PI and he uncovered Kaitlynn’s true identity, it would all be over for both of them.

“I don’t know about this, you guys,” she said, her voice raspy thanks to her coughing fit and a seriously dry throat.

“Why not?” Lexa asked. “We need to know more about the girl before we can initiate her. We don’t just let anyone in, you know.”

“I know, but—”

“And in case it’s not clear, this is all on the DL,” Lexa told her. “Don’t breathe a word of this to Lillian. Technically we shouldn’t even be talking about this in front of a tap, but I thought you were going to help us out with some info on her.”

Ariana slowly reached up and clutched her forearm, squeezing as hard as she could. Leave it to Lexa to find a way to put her back in her place as quickly as possible.

“Okay,” Maria said, snapping her phone closed as she returned to the group. “My dad’s going to set the meeting for eight o’clock on Friday. The guy’s name is Nathan Dove. I just texted his number to your phone,” she told Lexa.

“Friday? But that’s Halloween,” Soomie pointed out. “What about the party?”

“My parents’ house is ten minutes from yours,” Lexa said. “I can pop out, meet this guy, and get back to the party before I’m even missed.”

“Did you tell him what it’s about?” Ariana asked Maria.

“Nah. My dad doesn’t have time for minor details like why my friend might need to hire a detective,” Maria joked, sitting again. “But he does have time for a rundown of my daily caloric intake and to badger me about my dream of being a dancer.”

“He’s just looking out for you,” Soomie said, touching Maria’s back.

Ariana’s constricted lungs loosened slightly. At least the PI wouldn’t know what Lexa wanted until they actually met. Which meant he wouldn’t start looking into Kaitlynn until after his meeting with Lexa on Friday night. Ariana had until Friday to figure out a way to keep that meeting from happening.