Bright and Deadly Things by Lexie Elliott

Author:Lexie Elliott [Elliott, Lexie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2023-02-14T00:00:00+00:00

15

James?” asks Robert, blinking in surprise. Then he turns to Mike. “I’m sure this is all some sort of misunderstanding.”

“You really can’t grab me like this, you know,” James complains loudly. His face is still red with indignant fury. “I could report you,” he tosses over his shoulder to Mike. Then he turns back to the rest of us. “I could report all of you for passive bystanding.”

I stamp down the urge to laugh. Passive bystanding—really? When a girl is dead?

“Relax. I’m not touching you, passively or otherwise,” Mike says mildly. It’s true—at least, it is now. Less so when Mike was dragging him down the stairs.

“James,” Robert repeats, refusing to be derailed, “were you in Emily’s room?”

James makes a show of straightening his collar before he looks around the room. Then he throws up his hands as if to say, Oh, all right, if I must . . . “Yes,” he says, a touch petulantly. “Yes, I was.”

“Why?” I ask, bewildered.

He looks at me. I’m certain the malevolence of earlier is there, coiled within him, but I see only calculation in his pale blue eyes. He scans the room again. He’s looking for allies, I realize. He’s strategizing. “For Sofi,” he says quietly, respectfully. Ah—so this is the part he’s going to play. “For my friend. She’s . . . she’s dead, and”—he grimaces as if reluctant to go on—“Emily has Sofi’s diary—she stole it.”

“I didn’t—,” I say mildly, but James barrels on.

“Doesn’t that strike anyone as a tad incriminating? I thought we should get it back.”

“James, I gave Emily the diary,” Julie says wearily from her spot on the other sofa next to Olive. “Caleb and I both did.” Caleb murmurs assent. “We thought someone ought to look at it, in case it had any bearing on . . .” She stops, wrapping her arms across her stomach, her gaze slipping to the floor.

“What? You gave . . .” James trails off, eyes narrowed as he absorbs that. Then he rounds on Julie. “How stupid can you be? You gave it to the very person who has something to hide.”

“James!” says Olive, shocked, but Robert’s voice cuts across her. “That’s enough,” he says sharply. “James, we understand you’re grieving—we all are—but you will speak with respect to members of this party, or there will be repercussions—repercussions above and beyond the fact that you’ve been found going through a university fellow’s private property.”

Mike passes across my familiar gray rucksack. “Is anything missing?”

“I’m not a thief,” protests James, but I notice he’s more careful with his tone; he needs Robert on his side. Mike raises an eyebrow in the mildest telegraphing of disbelief. James can’t resist a dig: “Believe me, she has nothing I would want.”

I start to rummage through the rucksack, trying to remember what ought to be there. My phone and wallet are the most obvious items to check for; they’re both there, and as far as I can remember, the contents of the wallet appear to be intact.

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