Murdered at 17 Read online

  Dedication

  To Pierre, for championing and challenging me since the day I started answering the phones at Image. You’ve made me a better writer, and this series would never have happened without you. And to Tom, for giving storytellers the megaphones they need to reach all corners of the globe. Oh, et merci pour toutes les bonnes bouteilles de vin!

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  One: Bad Omens

  Two: Summer Nights and Nasty Fights

  Three: Rising Waters, Untamed Brooke

  Four: From the Ashes, a Phoenix

  Five: Safe Sax

  Six: Great Dates and Awkward Encounters

  Seven: Bad News in Nine Words

  Eight: Reality Always Wins

  Nine: Slowly Spiders Weave Their Webs

  Ten: Making Amends

  Eleven: Over the Moon

  Twelve: A Little Too Perfect

  Thirteen: Words of Warning

  Fourteen: Friday

  Fifteen: The Killer Within

  Sixteen: Sordid Details

  Seventeen: Before the Ax Falls

  Eighteen: More Questions Than Answers

  Nineteen: Surprises at the Dead Girl’s House

  Twenty: The Truth Comes Out

  Twenty-One: Unwelcome Proposals

  Twenty-Two: Ossa Joins the Team

  Twenty-Three: Police Involvement

  Twenty-Four: Remembering the Dead

  Twenty-Five: Jake Reaches Out

  Twenty-Six: Switching Teams

  Twenty-Seven: The Scarlet Letters

  Twenty-Eight: Deceiving the Deceiver

  Twenty-Nine: Brooke Decides to Kill Herself

  Thirty: Plan B in Motion

  Thirty-One: The Coup De Grâce

  Thirty-Two: Dust to Dust

  About the Author

  Books by Christine Conradt

  Back Ad

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  One

  Bad Omens

  Stay home tonight.

  Those were the words printed in faded pink letters, slightly askew, on the glossy strip of paper that fell out of Brooke’s fortune cookie.

  “That’s a real buzzkill,” Brooke said, ripping it in half and dropping the pieces before popping another bite of sweet and sour chicken into her mouth.

  “Let me see,” Maddie said, reaching across the table to reunite the halves. As she snatched them up, her long, dark blond hair splashed right into her half-eaten bowl of hot and sour soup.

  “Oh my god, I can’t take you anywhere,” Brooke said in mock frustration, handing her a napkin. That was one of the things Brooke loved about her best friend of ten years. If there was a way to spill something or make a mess, Maddie would find it. Brooke always grabbed an extra handful of napkins when they went out together, knowing they’d eventually need them.

  Maddie dunked the soupy end of her locks into her water glass.

  “Gross!” Brooke laughed and then looked around to see if anyone was staring at them. An elderly couple was. She could only imagine what they were thinking—two obnoxiously loud girls in cheerleading uniforms pigging out on egg rolls and rinsing their hair in ice water. Don’t worry, old people, she wanted to tell them. The future’s in good hands with us!

  Maddie gave a casual shrug. “What? I’m done drinking out of it. Guess you’re not going to karaoke with us tonight,” she teased, reading the fortune and wadding the tiny fragments into a ball. “Too bad. Riley said he’s bringing overproof rum.”

  Brooke hadn’t a clue what overproof rum was but she was certainly going to find out. There was no way she would let an ominous fortune cookie ruin her night. Not after all she’d been through the past few days. It was only Tuesday and already she’d gotten 80 percent on her Spanish test, into a fender bender on her way home from school on Monday, and then there was the huge fight with her mother last Sunday that resulted in Brooke destroying the chair in her bedroom.

  “I don’t know what it is but he said his parents picked it up on some island someplace.”

  Brooke pulled out her phone and googled “overproof rum.” If Riley was bringing it, it had to be good. His parents traveled to all kinds of exotic places and always brought back incredible stuff no one had ever heard of.

  “Holy crap,” Brooke said, tucking her shoulder-length black hair behind her ear. “Says here it has an alcohol content of more than seventy-five percent. And it can actually damage your vocal cords if you don’t mix it with something.”

  “Let me see that,” Maddie said, grabbing for Brooke’s phone and almost knocking over her water glass in the process.

  “Easy, slugger,” Brooke replied and watched as Maddie’s blue eyes darted back and forth, reading.

  Her expression suddenly turning dark, Maddie handed back Brooke her phone. “Maybe we should stay home tonight.”

  Is she serious? Helllllll no. They were going to sing their lungs out and sneak shots of overproof rum and Brooke was going to forget the last three crappy days ever happened. Brooke raised an eyebrow and gave Maddie a look like she’d just started speaking in Latin.

  “I’m not joking. You know what today is, right?”

  “Of course I know what day it is,” Brooke replied, lowering her voice. “I guess that stupid fortune cookie’s a year late.”

  Maddie blew out a sympathetic sigh, and gave Brooke the look she always gave her when the subject of Brooke’s accident came up. At first, Brooke appreciated Maddie’s sympathy. She had been an amazing friend who’d never wavered even once during Brooke’s long recovery after the accident that had taken place exactly a year ago. But seeing that sad, regretful look on Maddie’s face had begun to get old. Brooke just wanted to forget about what had happened. She wanted to be normal again, and every time Maddie, or anyone else, felt sorry for her, it made her feel anything but.

  “Maybe if I hit my head again, everything will go back to the way it was,” Brooke said, lolling her head from side to side, mocking herself. She could see Maddie’s gaze drop to the table.

  “Don’t do that,” Brooke admonished. “It wasn’t your fault. You always get that look whenever I talk about my IED. It’s okay to make fun of it.” IED, or Intermittent Explosive Disorder, was the official diagnosis the doctors gave her after her symptoms began to show up. It was basically a catch-all term to explain the erratic, uncontrollable rages that seemed to come out of nowhere.

  Maddie ignored Brooke’s comment and said, “I just think there’s a weird energy that surrounds this day. What if you get into a car accident tonight and die or something?”

  “If that happens, then I’ll come back from the dead just so you can say ‘I told you so.’” She smiled, hoping Maddie would lighten up a little, but she didn’t.

  “That was a joke, by the way. You used to think I was funny,” Brooke said and crushed the hollow fortune cookie between her thumb and forefinger.

  “You’ve never been funny,” Maddie responded, suppressing a smile.

  “Oh, that’s right,” Brooke retorted, scooping the fortune cookie crumbs onto her plate. “You’re the funny one and I’m the good-looking, smart, ambitious one.” Maddie laughed but the happiness quickly faded, replaced by a wistful expression.

  “No, wait,” Brooke said, leaning in. “You’re the sad one that won’t allow herself to be cheered up no matter what I do.”

  Maddie shrugged it off. “I’m sorry. I can’t help it. I miss him.” Brooke knew exactly who Mads was talking about. Her ex, Tryg. Brooke had been doing everything she could for the past three days to help Maddie keep her mind off him.

  “Which part do you miss most? Him flirting with other girls in front of you or finding
a reason to break up with you every other week?” Reminding Maddie what a jerk her ex-boyfriend was usually seemed to do the trick.

  “I miss the good parts. The cute little texts and stuff.”

  “Being single is way better than fighting all the time. And that’s pretty much what you guys did. Just look at me. I’m single and see how happy I am?” Brooke forced a smile to try to sell that last part, but the truth was she didn’t want to be single either. She’d lost a lot of her confidence with guys since the accident, though.

  “You’re so much better off without him,” Brooke continued, trying to keep her tone light, even though the way Tryg treated Maddie, by leading her on and cheating on her every chance he had, made Brooke livid. Sure, he was sexy with his ice-blue eyes and full lips, but Mads deserved better. “What was that lame joke he told in chemistry? When Ebbs asked what absolute zero was and he said something like the girl that doesn’t get a date to the prom?”

  “Yeah, he’s an idiot,” Maddie said, running her French manicure over the last greasy egg roll.

  “Tonight, we’re celebrating. You’ve finally come to your senses and scraped him off your shoe like the nasty POS he is.”

  Maddie reluctantly gave her a smile and Brooke knew she’d done her part in reminding Maddie that her recent breakup with Tryg was a good thing.

  “We’d better get back or we’ll be late for fourth period,” Maddie said and stood up. Brooke stretched her long legs as she climbed out of the booth and waited for Maddie to gather her things.

  That’s right, Brooke thought, slipping on her hoodie. With a little help from Riley’s parents’ rum, tonight they’d forget about the anchors that had been weighing them down and have a blast. To hell with cheating boyfriends, to hell with head injuries, and definitely to hell with pessimistic fortune cookies. Brooke was going out, no matter what.

  Two

  Summer Nights and Nasty Fights

  “You can be Sandy and I’ll be Danny,” Brooke said as Maddie flipped impatiently through the ketchup-stained pages of the songbook. Ever since freshman year, when they were both in their high school’s production of Grease, “Summer Nights” had been their duet song. They sang it every time they did karaoke.

  “Three, three, zero, one,” Brooke said, pushing the songbook away and punching the number into the keypad herself. She was surprised Maddie didn’t have the number memorized by now.

  “Can I have that next?” Riley asked, pointing to the songbook. Riley was also a cheerleader at Bellamy High, but unlike Brooke and Maddie, he was a senior. A very good-looking, broad-chested, and currently single senior. Brooke had thought about what it would be like to date him, but as cute as he was, she just couldn’t see herself hitting it off with a guy who was two inches shorter than she was. Besides, she was pretty sure her friend Keisha had a thing for Riley, even though he didn’t seem like the kind of guy a good girl like her would want to date. Brooke passed the book over to him.

  “Excuse me, that’s me! That’s me!” Keisha yelled, jumping up as the next song began to play. Hopping up in the booth, she climbed over Maddie and Brooke to get to the front of the room. Brooke laughed and ducked out of her way.

  As Keisha adjusted the mic and waited for the lyrics to pop up on the screen, Brooke felt something tap her leg under the table. She looked down and saw Riley pushing a silver flask at her. That’s what I’m talking about, Brooke thought and took the flask. Riley always comes through.

  Brooke nudged Maddie and subtly showed her the flask.

  “Oh, hell yeah,” Maddie whispered and slid her glass of soda over so Brooke could spike it.

  “Don’t burn out your vocal cords,” Brooke joked as she poured some into her own glass. Maddie giggled and vigorously swished her straw around, making sure it was stirred up.

  “Cheers,” Maddie said, ready to get the party going.

  Brooke took a cautious sip and immediately felt the bite of the rum. Squeezing her eyes closed, she swallowed it as fast as she could. God, it was awful. But something that strong would definitely do the trick.

  “Are you sure you should be drinking?” Keisha said after her song had finished and she’d handed the mic off to Riley. She must’ve caught a glimpse of them lowering their drinks under the table while she was on stage.

  “Oh, hey, Mom, I didn’t know you were joining us,” Brooke chided lightly.

  “I just worry about you. The last time you got drunk and took your meds, you couldn’t even remember we’d gone out to the lake.”

  Keisha didn’t mean to be annoying, but sometimes, she was. Please don’t ruin an otherwise fun night by treating me like I’m different because of my injury. In fact, the last thing Brooke wanted to be reminded of was the side effects of her IED medication. She hated taking those pills. The psychiatrist assured her that once the dosage was right, she’d feel completely normal again and not have any more episodes, but most of the time, it didn’t seem like the pills were working at all. Even now, she could feel a tiny spark of rage beginning to build in the pit of her stomach. Keep it down, she commanded herself. Stay calm. Keisha isn’t trying to piss you off. She cares what happens to you. Everyone’s having a good time. Don’t ruin it. She’d already lost so many friends because of her condition; she was really just down to Maddie, Keisha, and Riley. Everyone else had opted to keep their distance after Brooke had flown off the handle so many times. She needed to be extra careful not to piss off the friends she still had.

  “That’s still better than what happens when I don’t take ’em, right?” Brooke said sarcastically, tracing the rim of her glass with her finger.

  “I’m not trying to tell you what to do,” Keisha said, even though she was.

  “Thanks for caring,” Brooke said, genuinely meaning it but also hoping Keisha would give it a rest.

  “You’re a good friend,” she continued, eager to change the subject. “And it’s going to suck when you graduate.”

  “You can always come visit me over spring break,” Keisha responded. Brooke nodded but had no real intention of going. For the past two years, Brooke and Maddie had promised each other they’d figure out a way to get to Lake Havasu during their week off in April. This year, she was sure her mother wouldn’t let her go anywhere because of her condition, but next year, once everything was normal again, she was determined to do it. It would be her last spring break together with Maddie anyway before they both headed off to college.

  “Hey, that’s us!” Maddie grabbed Brooke’s arm when she saw their song come up on the monitor, and they both rushed up to the front of the cozy little room to grab their mics.

  The countdown started and the whole group yelled “Three, two, one” in unison before the familiar melody of “Summer Nights” emanated from the speakers. Brooke looked over at Maddie, who knew the song so well, she didn’t need to read the lyrics.

  “Summer lovin’ had me a blast,” Brooke sang in as deep of a voice as she could and then motioned to Maddie to continue.

  Maddie chimed in with the next line, batting her eyelashes dramatically.

  “Summer days driftin’ away to uh, oh, those summer nights!” They sang in unison, practically yelling but perfectly harmonized. See? Brooke thought. There was absolutely no reason to stay home tonight.

  By the time they got to the chorus, they had everyone else singing along. Brooke could feel herself getting lost in the moment, swept up by the cheery melody. For those few minutes that she was singing and dancing and entertaining her friends, she didn’t have to think about the tension constantly balling up inside her. It never went away. Except for when she was singing or drunk. All the other times, she just carried it around and tried to pretend it wasn’t there.

  The song ended to a smattering of applause. Brooke and Maddie stepped into a choreographed curtsy and handed their mics off to Riley. As they squeezed back into the booth, Brooke slid her phone to the side, grabbed one of Riley’s french fries, and dunked it in ranch dressing.

  Maddie tur
ned to her abruptly, fists clenched.

  “How many guys do you think live in Philadelphia?” Maddie said. Brooke could hear tension in her voice and she looked like she was blinking back tears.

  “What’s wrong?” Brooke asked, worried. Something had just happened but she wasn’t sure what.

  “How. Many. Guys. Live. In. Philadelphia?” A tear sprung loose and rolled down her face.

  Brooke leaned in. “I don’t know. Like a million. Why? Tell me what’s wrong.”

  Maddie said, “A million guys to choose from and you feel the need to screw my ex?” Maddie snatched up Brooke’s phone, which had been lying faceup on the table and thrust it at her. Brooke hadn’t even taken time to look at it yet, but apparently Maddie had. There was a single text on the display.

  Tryg: Hey gorgeous. What are you up to tonight?

  Brooke could feel her mouth gape open in shock. Why the hell was Tryg texting her? He’d never done that before. All Brooke could do was reach for the phone and stare at the words. Was this some kind of joke? The last conversation she’d had with Tryg was her telling him off for hurting her best friend. What in the world would make him think she’d even respond to a text?

  “How could you?” Maddie spat.

  Oh my god, she thinks I’m really doing that asshole behind her back! Brooke knew she needed to say something, but no words came. She stared in bewilderment as Maddie shot up, grabbed her purse, and stalked out of the karaoke room in tears. Instinctively, Brooke went after her.

  “What just happened?” she heard Riley say into his mic as the door swung shut behind her.

  “Maddie!” Brooke yelled and ran to catch up. “Seriously! I have no idea why he’s even texting me!” A bolt of rage surged through Brooke. How could her best friend think she could do something like that?! Didn’t she trust her at all?

  Brooke grabbed Maddie’s wrist to stop her but the smaller girl yanked her arm back, shaking her off.

  “I can’t believe you of all people would do this to me!”

  “I didn’t do anything! Look!” Brooke held out her phone. “I’m gonna text him back right now and tell him to go fuck himself.” Brooke’s fingers had barely touched the keypad before Maddie stormed off down the corridor.