Kill Call by Jeff Wooten

Author:Jeff Wooten [Wooten, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CamCat Publishing

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

I suppress a groan as we roll up into the Banjo parking lot. It’s packed.

For someone who hates crowds, I seem to be seeking them out a lot lately. Kristi sits in the passenger seat. Her mom took at least seventy-five pictures before we could leave. She’s applying something to her lips in the visor mirror. Coop is in the back seat. Coop and Kristi chatted the entire drive, but I can’t bring myself to make small talk. No one seems to mind.

By tomorrow, there will be a year’s worth of pictures on the internet of me and Kristi, and I imagine Molly scrolling through them all. Will she be able to see how miserable I am? I look over at Kristi. The sooner I can clear her and her mom, the better. “You know Hanna Smith?” I ask.

Coop makes a noise between a groan and a sigh as Kristi whips her eyes over at me.

“Sure. I know her. Why?” Her words are sharp and clipped.

It’s the first real thing I’ve said all night, and I get a little thrill from Kristi’s reaction.

Coop clears his throat awkwardly. “We . . . She’s, like, the worst?” Coop’s words sound like a question.

Kristi frowns, but I’m not sure it’s genuine. “That’s a horrible thing to say, Coop. Poor thing. You can’t blame her. It’s no wonder she is the way she is.”

“The way she is?” I ask.

“I don’t gossip, Jude Erickson.” She waits, and when it’s obvious no one’s going to respond, she continues. “Fine. Everybody knows, anyway. Her parents hate each other.”

“Okay,” I say. “That’s not too uncommon.”

“No, Jude. I mean, they hate each other. They fight. In public,” Kristi says, scandalized. “It’s all that money.”

“What money?” Coop asks.

“I thought you knew her,” Kristi says, enjoying this a little too much. “Hanna’s dad is a big-time lawyer and—”

“Wait,” I say. “I thought he was an accountant.”

Kristi is annoyed at my interruption. “Lawyer, accountant, whatever. He made all his money in real estate and has, like, an ironclad prenup. If Hanna’s mom leaves, she gets nothing. So, she won’t leave because she likes all her nice things, and he’s, like, Mr. Toxic Masculinity and won’t let her leave anyway.

“Hanna can’t stand either one of them. Do you know what she calls her own father?” Kristi doesn’t wait for a response. “Stan. She calls him Stan.” She flips her short dark hair. “Poor, poor thing. I feel sorry for her,” she says, with a little too much sympathy in her voice. “Anyhoo, can we stop talking about Hanna Smith? We came here to have fun, so let’s have some fun.” She bounces in her seat and leans over and punches me, not too lightly, in the arm. “Come on! It’s happy fun-time.” She gets out of the Beast and shuts the door behind her.

Coop doesn’t move. “She’s a high-energy type of girl, huh?”

“High-energy is one way to describe her.”

“She’s not that bad,” Coop says.

I turn in my seat and lower my voice. “Seriously?”

Coop glances at an oblivious Kristi outside the passenger window.

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