Expecting to Die (Alvarez & Pescoli)

“I think the short calls were a signal. I’m not talking about the longer conversations she had with you, just those that coincided with the texts to Kywin. I figure the signal told you to pick up your brother’s phone, so that no one, not even Kywin, knew how close you and Lindsay were.”

“What?” he snarled. “That’s crazy.”

“I think you knew where Lindsay Cronin was heading that night and you knew exactly when she’d be on Horsebrier Ridge. That somehow, some way, you caused her death.”

His eyes, deep in his sockets, glowed with a dark, horrifying rage. “You know nothing,” he said through tight lips.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Kip. I—we—know a lot,” she assured him. “And one thing’s for sure. You’re up to your eyeballs in this. So you have a choice: Come clean, tell us everything you know, and I’ll talk to the DA, try to get you a deal. Or you can clam up and it might take a little longer, but we’ll get to the truth and when we do?” She paused for effect, arching her eyebrows, then said, “Your ass, my friend, is grass.”

“You’re no friend of mine!” he bit out.

“That’s right. I’m not.” She managed an icy smile. “And that is the first time you’ve ever told me the truth. So think about it.” She climbed off her chair and left him alone to stew.

Then, she headed for the next interview room.

* * *

At the location of the filming of Big Foot Territory: Montana! Bianca watched the action from the sidelines. Her part, after the discovery of the body, and the scene with her “mother,” Michelle, was minimal, so she waited around a lot, observing the other actors on the set, seeing how some of the previous scenes were reshot to highlight Lara.

It kinda made her sick.

Maddie grabbed a Diet Coke from the drink cart, and while Teej was in a scene with just boys, she sidled up to Bianca. “Can you believe it?” she said as Lara was positioned on one of the rocks, a guitar at her side, her blouse undone a few buttons, her remarkable cleavage visible. “They’re going to make her this orphaned girl with dreams of a singing career or something.” She opened her drink, took a swallow, and glanced at Bianca out of the corner of her eye. As she brought the bottle down, she said, “I think she faked it. The attack.”

Bianca knew it! Her dad was right. “Did she say so?”

“Nu-uh, she’s not that stupid. But Alex did. To Teej. Just kind of bragging about it. See—” Still holding the plastic bottle, she pointed at TJ’s brother. “He’s in the scenes, too.” Maddie’s lips curled in disgust. “It worked out for him.”

“I thought that might be because Kywin and Emmett are MIA,” Bianca said. “Where are they anyway?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care. They’re both just big bullies.” She was eyeing a makeup artist running into the scene to brush some kind of powder on Lara’s face. “But trust me, these scenes were changed on purpose because Lara asked them to be. She’s kind of in charge now, because of ‘the attack.’” Maddie let out a huff of disapproval. Or was it jealousy? “Have you seen how Barclay is around her? As bad as the rest of the boys, practically drooling. Men. All the same.”

Somewhere overhead, hidden in the darkness over the lights illuminating the set, an owl hooted softly.

“You heard about Marjory, right?”

“No.” Bianca was still watching as the makeup artist backed away from the campsite. “What about her?”

“She’s dead.”

“Dead?” Bianca said a little too loudly and was rewarded with a warning look from Mel. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “What do you mean ‘dead’?”

“What do you think I mean? They found her body in the forest and I think it was like Destiny’s, y’know. She was strangled, I guess. It’s all over Facebook and Twitter. My phone’s been blowing up. How could you not know?”

“I left my phone at home.”

Maddie shot her an are-you-out-of-your-mind look. “What?”

“It was crazy there—when I left. Mom was in labor, Dad was there freaking out about the show, and we all just took off because the baby was coming and fast.” Maddie was nodding; she’d heard all the details about Tucker’s birth before, when Bianca had first arrived a few hours earlier. Now, it was after midnight, the temperature dropping, the night closing in.

The production crew was wrapping up the final scenes and Bianca couldn’t help but wonder why she’d even come in the first place, as she’d been little more than window dressing in a couple of scenes, part of the crowd in the background, her luster, the girl who’d been chased by a Big Foot in real life, dimmed.

Her dad had been right. Her chance at stardom, if there ever had been one, was over. As she watched Lara, the glow from the fake campfire gilding her skin and catching in the blond strands of her hair, Bianca felt something akin to hatred for the girl. Lara had manipulated everything, just as Dad had said. Maddie had confirmed it and it pissed Bianca off.

What was fair about this? Bianca had been scared out of her mind the night the beast had chased her through the woods, scared to death. Of course, now, she wasn

’t certain a real Sasquatch had been running after her. But something had been careening down the hillside, crashing after her, breathing hard, smelling fetid, and clawing at her. Her fear had been real. Real. Something, she’d been certain, had been hell-bent on killing her.

And Lara fakes it?