You'll Be the Death of Me

She scrolls through the pileup of texts she’s gotten all day. “I have a few from him…okay, he doesn’t specifically mention calling Sorrento’s, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t. He might’ve just forgotten to mention it.”

I glower at her. “Stop arguing. I’m serious about this. If some drug kingpin out there knows our names, then you need to keep Ma away.” She inhales, like she’s gathering steam to argue, so I go in for the kill. “You owe me, Autumn. You owe me. I’ve been telling you for weeks not to pull this Oxy bullshit, and you wouldn’t listen. You got us into this mess. The least you can do is get Ma out of it.”

Autumn falls silent, cradling her red, raw punching hand, and I can tell by the furtive expression on her face that she’s looking for a way out. When she heaves a deep sigh, I know she hasn’t found one. “All right. I’ll go. But what about you? It’s your name on that list. You’re in more danger than anyone.” A pleading tone creeps into her voice. “Come with me.”

“I can’t. I have to stay with these guys,” I say, gesturing toward Ivy and Cal. “We need to…” And then I trail off, because I have no clue what we need to do next.

Ivy clears her throat. “I had a thought,” she says, shifting her position on the van floor. “Our only lead, pretty much, is Ms. Jamison, right? And possibly Dominick Payne. But we’re not sure how closely they’re connected.” She turns toward Cal. “What if we go to her classroom at school and check out that signed print? We can compare his signature to what’s on the D card.”

Cal frowns. “Why would we do that?”

“Because then we’d know whether they’re more than just colleagues,” Ivy says. “If they’re in a romantic relationship, there’s a lot more reason for her to protect him—or be working with him. Maybe we could call in an anonymous tip of our own.”

“I don’t know,” Cal says doubtfully.

“Do you have another idea?” Ivy asks, then seems to think better of letting him answer. Now that Charlie’s not here to blackmail him, he’d probably say, Go home. “Look, I think we just need to keep moving forward. Asking questions and getting information. I mean, what if we hadn’t gone to Charlie’s? We wouldn’t know anything about Boney and the drugs.”

“We would if Mateo had told us,” Cal mutters.

“Again, so we’re clear—wasn’t in the loop on Boney,” I say testily, shooting Autumn a hard look. “Since somebody decided to keep that to herself.”

My cousin avoids my gaze. “How are you going to get into school? By the time you get back to Carlton, it’ll be close to five o’clock. Everything will be locked.”

“Yeah,” Ivy says, and her determined expression dims. “I’ve been worrying about the time. I was hoping to be doing something else by five o’clock, but…you know what? It’s fine. Adjustments can be made. I’ll just wear a less complicated dress. One with fewer buttons.”

She’s lost me. I look down at her sweatshirt-and-skirt combo, which doesn’t look all that complicated. “And that will unlock the building because…why?” I ask.

“It won’t,” Ivy says, flushing a little. “Sorry, different topic. I was thinking about getting ready for my mom’s award ceremony. But if we make it to school by five, I can be home before five-thirty, which is plenty of time.” She squares her shoulders. “The night can still be perfect, especially if we find something that takes the focus off me and puts it onto Ms. Jamison.”

Cal and I exchange glances, and I can read my own thoughts reflected in his face: Let her have this. We stay silent as Ivy digs into her bag and pulls out a ring of keys, separating the biggest one from the others. “This will unlock the building,” she says. “It’s a master key. I needed it for the charity auction last week, and I never got around to giving it back.”

“You’re not worried about running into people?” Autumn asks. For the first time since we got into the murder van, a ghost of a smile flits across her face. “I mean, seeing as you’re a fugitive and all, Ivy.”

Ivy had pushed her hood off while we were talking, but now she pulls it back over her head. “I’m prepared,” she says. “Besides, almost everyone should be cleared out by now.”

“Okay, well…listen, you guys.” Autumn twists her hands in her lap, her tone turning serious. “I know you must think I’m a piece of shit.”

“No—” Ivy starts, but Autumn waves her words away.

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