This Is How It Ends by Jen Nadol

Author:Jen Nadol
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse

CHAPTER 17

WE LOADED THE BOX AND two trash bags full of Natalie’s stuff into the trunk of Trip’s car and drove to Lu’s town house at the mountain.

Trip carried the box and I grabbed the bags when we got there, following the girls in. There weren’t a lot of people in town who could afford to live in the complex right at the base. Mostly weekenders owned the homes there, using them only when the snow fell, but Lu’s family had some kind of fishing company back in Sweden they’d run for generations. She was a shareholder or partner or something, which gave her more than enough money to buy pretty much whatever she wanted in Buford. She was also one of the hardest-working and nicest people in town. It hadn’t surprised anyone when she’d insisted on taking Nat in, not because Nat was the team’s star skier but because Lu had known Nat since she was six, and it was just the kind of thing she’d do. Lu had driven to the police station as soon as she’d heard about Mr. Cleary, and hadn’t left until they’d turned Natalie over to her.

Inside, it was bright and warm, all the lights in the living room on and Lu tucked into a corner of the sofa with a book. She stood when she saw us.

“Hey, hot stuff,” Trip said. He could get away with that, having skied for Lu until he was twelve.

“Hey, yourself,” Lu answered, walking immediately to Natalie. “You okay?”

Nat nodded and then burst into tears.

“Shhh,” Lu soothed, enveloping Nat in a hug. She stroked Nat’s back, raising her eyebrows questioningly at us.

Trip shook his head solemnly. Lu nodded and led Natalie to the sofa, folded her into the corner.

“Stay here, hon,” she said. “Trip and . . .” She looked at me.

“Riley,” I supplied.

She nodded. “Let me show you where to put Natalie’s things. If one of you girls wants to make her some tea, it’s in the cupboard over the stove,” she told Tannis and Sarah.

We followed Lu up a flight of soft carpeted stairs while Tannis headed for the small kitchen and Sarah took a spot beside Natalie.

“What happened?” Lu asked once we were in the room where Natalie was staying. It was just as clean as her room at the trailer, but soft and new and inviting. I was glad Natalie had somewhere like this. It felt safe and about a million miles removed from where we’d just been.

“The police hadn’t cleaned up anything,” Trip said.

Lu’s eyes went wide. “No.”

Trip nodded.

“That doesn’t sound like Bob Willets,” she said. “He’s got more sense than that.”

“I’d have thought so too,” I agreed. “I don’t know who Nat actually talked to.”

“Bureaucratic oversight?” Lu asked.

“Maybe.”

“Well, it’s a pretty damn huge one.” Lu set her mouth in a grim line. “Okay. Let’s get her mind off it.”

We played Yahtzee and Scrabble for hours. Lu kicked everyone’s butts. Tannis came in last because she was stuck with a tray full of Es, at least according to her.

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