Revelation (Private 8)

her advertising her sexcapades for a puff piece in the Chronicle. Still, if he'd spent time with her,

he would have observed some things. Like maybe even her receiving texts from

the mysterious S.O. But that still didn't explain why he had known that Cheyenne had drugged

Josh to get him to hook up with her back in September. I filed all this away to consider again later.

"Why are you so interested in Marc and Cheyenne?" Sabine asked, glancing over her shoulder as

she held up one of the prints to the wall.

"Oh, no reason," I replied. "He just said something earlier that made me think they knew each

other, but I couldn't imagine the two of them hanging out, you know? She'd never have given a

guy like him a second glance."

Sabine laughed. "True. She probably would have walked right over him without even noticing."

She moved the poster to the small area of wall next to the door and held it up with her arms

above her head. "What do we think of this?"

"Looks good to me," I said. I jumped up and grabbed some tape out of my desk drawer. Just as I

slammed it, my entire room filled with the sound of Ivy's high-pitched laughter. A cold chill

skittered down my spine.

"What was that?" Constance asked, wrinkling her nose.

Sabine's arms dropped along with the poster. "Does Pemberly have an evil ghost?" she joked.

"No, just an evil next-door neighbor," I told them, dropping my voice. "Ivy Slade," I said, tipping my

head toward the wall by my bed.

"Ew," Constance said, standing up. "I do not like that girl."

"Join the club," I said quietly.

"She's right next door? What bad luck," Sabine sympathized.

I glanced at the wall, the hairs on my neck and arms standing on end. Suddenly I couldn't help

wondering whether Ivy could hear what was going on in my room as well as I could hear what was

going on in hers.

Maybe it was time for me to start watching what I was saying around here. Just what I needed--to

feel even more paranoid in my own room. One more reason to get out of here and back to Billings

as quickly as possible. Back to where I belonged.