Tell Me (Inland Empire) by Anne Frasier

Author:Anne Frasier [Frasier, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2021-07-26T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

Reni held her phone in landscape mode while watching a livestream.

“Hello out there! Yes, I’m back, girlfriends, boyfriends, and bitches! I’m coming to you from beautiful San Bernardino Medical Center. You’ve probably already heard about how I was rescued by this awesome woman named Eliza. I swear I was almost dead when she found me along the highway!”

From the driver’s seat of his SUV, Daniel glanced over Reni’s shoulder. The live video was of JoJo McGrath, sitting up in bed, makeup perfect, twirling strands of dark hair. Her eyeliner precisely applied. Were those false lashes? It looked like it. The freckles were obviously fake, but Reni wasn’t sure if they’d been applied by hand or if they were tattoos. The girl was wearing a hospital gown, and when she stroked her hair, Reni could see the oxygen monitor on her finger and the IV line attached to the back of her hand.

She’d cleaned up quickly. It had been only a short time since Daniel had been notified that she’d been found. She seemed uninjured except for dehydration and exposure, and had been taken to the same hospital as Portia.

Two girls alive.

“A million views already,” Daniel said.

And the live comments were flying.

We’re so glad you’re okay!

I thought you were dead! I cried for hours!

I knew you weren’t dead!

Prank!

Scam!

She almost died!

Stunt!

JoJo was reading comments aloud as they came in. “Some of you people are so mean!” she said. “I would never fake anything like this!” Pouty face.

Daniel pulled into the hospital parking lot and cut the engine. They got out of the vehicle and strode toward the building, Reni still watching her phone.

“I have another surprise!” JoJo said. “Look who’s here with me!”

Someone leaned into the screen.

It was Portia, dressed in a hospital gown, and also tethered to an IV rack. She didn’t look as if she should be out of bed. Pale, with circles under her eyes, but much better than when Reni had found her.

She waved and smiled.

Comments scrolled on the right of the screen too fast for Reni to read them all.

Tell us what happened!

Who did this to you?

Did you kill Janet Ravenscroft?

Who killed her?

Did you see it happen?

“We’ve got to put a stop to this,” Daniel said. “Before she ends up sharing vital information that shouldn’t be made public.”

“And before she and Portia corroborate stories,” Reni added.

It was never a good thing for people involved in a crime, victims or otherwise, to be interviewed together or talk to each other before getting their statements taken separately. Stories had a way of merging when they shouldn’t. Ideas, details, had to be protected from cross-contamination, even when there was no intent to mislead anyone. The brain was a weird thing. They hadn’t expected JoJo to be up and lucid so quickly, but teens could seem superhuman at times. And it was amazing what a little fluid and electrolytes could do.

At the hospital doors, Reni tucked her phone in a pocket. Inside, Daniel flashed his badge at the reception desk, and a woman there gave them the room number.

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