Out of Tune by Norah McClintock

Author:Norah McClintock
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459814677
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2017-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

Desiree’s face turned chalk white.

“Where’s Tina?” she asked.

“She left a few minutes ago,” Ashleigh said. “With Brendan Mitchell.”

“I have to find her.” Desiree looked around wildly. “I have to tell her.” She hurried away. Ashleigh was ready to go too.

“I talked to the parents. I signed the book. I sat through the speeches. My work here is done,” she declared.

“What about Charlie?” I asked.

“He was just here.”

I looked around but didn’t see him anywhere. I texted him. He was already at home. I called my aunt next. When I told her I was ready to go home, she said she was tied up at work and asked if I could stay overnight with Ashleigh.

“I probably won’t be able to get away for hours,” she said.

I guessed it had something to do with the arrest.

Ashleigh and I decided to walk to her house.

“So,” Ashleigh said, “it looks like Carrie did it after all.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” I filled her in on everything Desiree had told me.

“What are you saying?” Ashleigh said. “Do you think Tina did it?”

“Tina had a motive,” I said. “She was insanely jealous of Alicia, especially when Brendan Mitchell got interested in her.”

“You scratch just about any female in school, and you’ll find someone who was insanely jealous of Alicia but won’t admit it,” Ashleigh said. “Who isn’t jealous of perfection?”

“As far as we know, you and Tina were the only people who saw the shoving match between Alicia and Carrie. The police knew about it, and since you didn’t tell them, Tina must have. Then there’s the note. Carrie wrote the note to Tina. Tina was the last person to have it in her hand, yet it conveniently ended up in some sheet music where someone was bound to find it.”

“The sheet music is in the music room. It’s in big stacks, and everyone takes one when they get to class,” Ashleigh said. Unlike me, she took music.

“Tina must have planted that note. She wanted someone to find it.”

“You’re saying she framed Carrie?”

I was definitely leaning in that direction. “I’m saying that she’s as likely a suspect as Carrie is. She was jealous of Alicia. She egged Carrie on. She poisoned Carrie against Alicia.”

“I don’t suppose she has an alibi for the day Alicia disappeared, does she?”

“Not according to Desiree. And you saw the way she acted while we were out searching for Alicia that morning. She was chattering about fashion! She wasn’t paying much attention to what she was supposed to be doing. And from what Desiree told me, she made nasty comments about Alicia all the time. She wanted Carrie to get all worked up just like she was. She wanted an ally against Alicia. And, Ashleigh, both Desiree and Tina know I’m in contact with Carrie, but Desiree is the only one who’s asked me how Carrie is doing and who wanted to send a message to her. Tina hasn’t approached me at all.”

“That sounds like motive to me,” Ashleigh said.

“Sounds like? It is motive.

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