Two Truths and a Lie by April Henry

Author:April Henry [Henry, April]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2022-05-24T00:00:00+00:00

21

SUICIDE NEVER MAKES SENSE

Saturday, 10:20 AM

AMID GASPS AND SQUEALS, EDGAR MARCHES OVER TO ADAM. “Let me see that.” He snatches the paper from his hand.

Adam doesn’t resist. “Do you speak Latin?”

“No,” he says, staring at the lines of scrawled letters. “I just know there’s no way a bunch of kids playing around with a piece of plastic started getting messages from the dead. In Latin, no less.” He barks a laugh. “I’ve heard stories about those two losers, the ones that were killed here. Both of them white trash. They certainly didn’t speak Latin. They probably weren’t that literate in English. It was always going to end badly for them. Car accident, drug overdose, shot by somebody who got jealous, beaten to death for telling the wrong person no. At least they got to die together.”

“It doesn’t matter what you believe,” Valeria says. “All that matters is what happened. The spirits told us someone else was going to die, and now Maeve’s dead. That’s a fact you can’t wish away.”

“Look.” Stuart raises his hands to get everyone’s attention. His tone is edged with irritation. “Those murders were over two decades ago. Yes, someone killed two people here, and that ended up killing this motel. But whoever did it is long gone.”

Mrs. McElroy sighs heavily. “Let’s get back on track. The important thing is not what happened all those years ago. What’s important is that right now there’s a dead student in the conference room. It’s not up to us to say who killed her. That’s for the police.”

“And how long is that going to take?” Edgar says. “Even in the best of times, when seconds count, the police are minutes away.” Transferring the slip to his left hand, he reaches his other hand underneath the back of his loose sweater. “Right now, the only people we can count on are ourselves.” As he says that, he pulls out a handgun and points it toward the ceiling.

At the sight of the gun, sleek and serious, there’s a chorus of shrieks and exclamations. My heart is a trapped bird beating against the cage of my ribs.

“Put that damn thing away!” Linus raps out. He takes a step toward Edgar, who is both taller and heavier. “You’re scaring the kids!”

“Scaring the kids.” Edgar gives the words a sarcastic spin. “First of all, they’re nearly adults. And second of all, I think real life is doing that all by itself.”

“Everybody just needs to calm down,” Brian says in a shaky voice.

“They’re right, Edgar,” Stuart says. “Put the gun away. You don’t need to have it in your hand to be ready to use it.”

There’s a long moment where we all wait to see what Edgar will do. Linus is slightly crouched, his hands up, like he’s ready to take matters, or at least the gun, into his own hands.

And just when it feels like the tension will snap, will end with another body lying dead on the floor, Edgar slides the gun into the back of his pants and pulls his sweater over it.

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