She shrugged. “Well, have at it, then. Maybe those two girls won’t put out, and you’ll have the road paved for you.”
She moved on, stopping to pick up empty glasses and bottles along the way. I drifted away, pausing in as many unobtrusive places as I could find. I could feel eyes on me. I hated being in crowds for this very reason. The constant assessing, the feeling of being on show. The pool rippled green and bumpy, what I thought of as “pickle green”—the color I saw when I felt self-conscious.
Finally, the guys got up and pulled off their shirts, wandered over to the pool, and jumped in. The girls egged them on while holding up their drinks, toast-style.
If there was a time, it was now.
I briskly headed toward them.
“Does your parole officer know you’re partying?” I asked, coming around the corner, fast, at Luna. I whipped out my phone, ready to dial the police; I wanted Luna to see me doing it.
She jumped. “What the hell?”
Only it wasn’t Luna sitting next to Shelby Gray. It was a different blond girl. The third in Luna’s trio: Eve Keller.
Shelby flopped back against the lounge and rolled her eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Nikki Kill. For the Will Never Go Away files.”
I realized I hadn’t moved. I was still holding up my phone threateningly. My shoulders sagged. “Are you serious? Eve.”
“What the hell?” Eve repeated, this time looking over at Shelby helplessly.
“I told you about her,” Shelby said, resigned. “She is obsessed with me for some reason. Won’t leave me alone. I heard you were stalking VF at the café the other day, Nikki. Pretty pathetic, don’t you think?”
“I wasn’t stalking,” I said. “I was on a shoot with my dad and when I saw Vee, I went over to say hi and ask a couple questions. I’m trying to—”
“Let me guess,” she said, interrupting me. “Find Luna. You’re trying to find Luna.” She turned to Eve again. “She’s like a broken record about it. Completely obsessed. It’s totally unhealthy. I’ve told you before, Nikki, and you seem to be too dense to get it. So I’ll say it slowly. I . . . don’t . . . know . . . where . . . Luna . . . is.”
“You thought I was Luna?” Eve asked, and I could tell by the look on her face that she was secretly thrilled about the mistake. She touched her hair lightly.
“Do you know where Luna is, Eve?” Shelby asked. Eve shook her head. “No. So you can move on now. Luna is not here, and we don’t know where she is.”
“Has she contacted you at all?” I asked, finally getting my bearings. “I mean, since taking off?”
“If you took off,” Shelby said, “would you go calling people to see if they noticed? No. You would hide. I’m guessing that’s what Luna’s doing. Hiding. Far, far away from here.”
“No doubt,” Eve said. “Luna’s not dumb.”
Unlike you two, I wanted to snap, but held myself back. You never knew when you might need someone’s cooperation in the future, and Eve seemed to be the one semi-not-horrible friend in the trio. And insulting Shelby just didn’t really seem worth my time.
The two boys had gotten out of the pool and were loping toward us, their feet making wet smacks against the concrete, their chests and bellies streaked with mini chlorinated rivers.
“Would you please go now?” Shelby asked, waving me off. “We’re sort of in the middle of something, and you’re in the way.”
“Fine,” I said. “But if you hear from her—”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll call you. I know the drill by now. But I can assure you I’m not going to hear from her. Can we both move on now? And by move on, I mean literally.” She waved me off again, a little grander this time.
“Whatever,” I mumbled, turning away.
“Have you tried her dad’s house?” Eve asked, before I could get out of her sight.
“No.”
“You should try there. Last I talked to Luna, she was living with him. I mean, if she’s missing, how come there’s not some big, like, police search or Amber Alert or something going on? Someone must know where she is.”
She had a point. One I hadn’t thought of before.
Why hadn’t I thought of that before?
“Would you please go now?” Shelby asked impatiently.
The guys had arrived and were busy scrubbing their hair with towels. I could feel their eyes on my dress, could almost feel their eyes under my dress. The waitress had been so right about them.
“God, go already. I swear you are like a fly. Annoying, and impossible to get rid of. I don’t like you, Nikki Kill. I don’t want you around. Don’t make me swat you.” She and Eve shared a chuckle as the two guys went daaaamn in the background.
“Always good to see you, Shelby,” I said in a droll voice.
“I wish I could say the same,” she said. And then to my back, “Oh, wait. No I don’t. It’s always good to see you leaving.” She giggled loudly.
Past Nikki wanted to rush her, put her in a headlock, make her cry. But Current Nikki didn’t have time for that. Current Nikki had an errand to plan.
Eve was right: it was time to pay Peter Fairchild a visit.
24
I HAD A hard time sleeping. I was too busy planning what I would say to Luna’s dad. Would he be hostile, like his daughter? Or would he welcome the help finding her? Maybe he wanted her to go back to juvie, too, so she could get the help she needed. He was Vanessa’s ex, so obviously he had seen the light at some point. It was possible that he was totally normal, if he couldn’t handle being with that nasty mess. In fact, it was better than possible. Given that Luna had run away from him, it was probable. Luna did not do normal. It wasn’t in her DNA.
I spent most of the night staring at the ceiling, wondering what kind of relationship Luna had with her dad. How could it be tight, when she’d left him to follow Hollis fame and fortune? Although he had at some point apparently found Vanessa attractive, so maybe he got it.
I found myself wishing I could call Chris and ask him to go with me. And then I was pissed that I somehow felt like I needed to have a man come save me in case things went bad. I didn’t need any man. I could protect myself. I’d done it before; I could do it again. Not like Chris wanted to help me. He’d made that perfectly clear.
I felt like I had barely closed my eyes when my alarm went off in the morning. Still, I bolted upright, ready to go. I took a quick shower, dressed, and grabbed an apple on my way out the door. Dad was either not up yet or had gotten up and gone already. Either way, I didn’t care. I couldn’t care. Not until I had answers.
Answers were at the Fairchild house; I could feel it.
Thanks to the internet, it wasn’t hard at all to find where Luna’s dad lived. I’d looked it up before, back when I was first researching the Hollises while Peyton clung to life in the hospital. The address stuck in my head: pink, white, melon, copper. 257 Noble.
The weather was beautiful, and I drove with my windows open, sunglasses on, the smell of beach faint in the air. I turned up the radio and sang along, feeling halfway normal for a change. It was the kind of weather that made you want to do fun things—go to a festival or see a movie or hang out at the dojang with the doors open and the fans on.
Or capture the girl who’s been trying to kill you, and who might be the last link to avenging your mother.
I turned down the radio as I got closer to Luna’s house, for some reason feeling like announcing myself with noise was not such a great idea. But when I pulled up to the curb, I realized my fear was for nothing.
I checked the address, and even double-checked on my phone to make sure I wasn’t remembering it wrong. Yep, 257 Noble. That was Luna’s address. The house she grew up in. Plain and small and boring.
And currently for sale.
Not to mention deserted. There weren’t even curtains left on the windows.