Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison

Author:J.T. Ellison
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery
Publisher: MIRA
Published: 2019-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

45

THE BETRAYAL

I am loath to give up the shirt. It feels like if I do, I’m severing my new and tenuous ties to Ivy Bound in some way. I hardly have a choice, though, the two police are standing outside my door and the dean is watching me expectantly.

I turn my back to hide the rash I know is blooming on my body. I strip off the shirt, scramble into another, and hand it over. What else am I going to do? If I fight this, it will look bad. I just need them to go away and leave me alone.

The dean gives me a watery smile, holding the T-shirt like it’s a dead ferret. “It will all be okay, Ash. I promise. I’ll send Becca to escort you upstairs. Try to get some sleep. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

She pauses, as if she wants to say something more, then shakes her head and leaves.

Jesus, Camille. What the hell did you do? And what the hell have you done to me?

I move to the window, look out onto the darkened quad. It’s almost three in the morning. Where is Camille now? In the back of an ambulance? In a drawer at the morgue? Still lying, broken and bloodied, on the concrete?

Stupid girl. Stupid, stupid girl.

“That’s no way to talk to your Mistress.”

Becca darkens my doorstep, and I bite back a scream of surprise. I didn’t realize I said it aloud, and I am so damn tired of everyone sneaking up on me.

Becca’s reflection in the window: the popped hip, the pouty smile, the ruffled, messy bun make her look so innocent. She is heartbreakingly beautiful and devastatingly cruel, and I am torn between loving her and hating her. I can’t help but feel that somehow, because I came to Becca’s notice, that Becca saw me and was compelled to tease me that first day, I have led us all to this precipice. A twisted kind of fate.

“I meant Camille.”

“I know. Come with me, Swallow.”

I’m reluctant to leave the sanctity of my room, but again, what choice do I have? Rush after the dean and the cops trying to explain myself? I want as much distance between me and the authority figures as humanly possible.

Becca marches to the stairwell without a backward glance. I’m both touched and angry that I’m expected to follow without question. I suppose this is what being a Swallow means. Obey your Mistress no matter what.

A little voice in the back of my mind says, Even if you end up in jail?

Stop. I’ve done nothing wrong.

Haven’t you?

Dr. Grassley’s pouty-lipped face floats in front of my eyes.

Not my fault, not my fault.

I shut the door on Muriel’s death and go back to Camille. I doubt most taps end in a student’s death. But Camille wasn’t with us.

Who was she with?

It takes me a moment to realize Becca has led me upstairs and I’m walking freely down the seniors’ hall.

The attics. The coveted attics. And not shunted off into some strange, creepy room, this is the real deal.

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