The Follower Kate Doughty (general ebook reader .txt) 📖

across the lot before Perry and Yang reemerge, holding Steve between them.

Cecily exchanges a look with her siblings, and in unison they dart through the parking lot, stopping across from a crowd of funeral guests that had quickly formed in the doorway. The officers walk Steve to their car and bend him over the hood.

“You are under arrest for the murder of Bella Nicole DiNatori,” Sheriff Yang says, snapping cuffs on his wrist.

Steve begins to protest—his eyes are still red from crying; his voice is hoarse as he shouts, “What? I didn’t—”

The funeral guests are crammed in the doorway now, watching in stunned silence as the police begin to read him his Miranda rights. They shove Steve in the car, but not before Cecily locks eyes with Steve. Distraught, guilty eyes. But is he distraught because he did it, or distraught because he didn’t? She can’t tell; she doesn’t know. The world is spinning.

Did Steve kill Bella?

Cecily turns to her siblings, only to see her own panic mirrored in their faces.

Cecily tries to picture Steve in the driver’s seat of his beater car, yanking the wheel to run Bella off the road, the impact of her body on metal. Realizing that the pink-haired girl wasn’t her sister. Then opening his phone to type out the message: Looks like I hit the wrong rose-gold girl. Steve, standing over Bella’s body, and wishing more than anything that it were her sister.

CHAPTER 28

Rudy

Rudy paces his room, trying to figure out where Steve fits in with his theories about Alex Grable. His guitar is lying by his bed, the relic of many brainstorming jam sessions. Cecily and Amber sit next to it. Rudy fingers the cassette as he walks, as if he could read its secrets by touch. He and Cecily have listened to it over and over. He has it memorized by now.

“Do you really think it was Steve?” Cecily asks.

He shakes his head. He wants to believe that it’s Steve, wants so badly to feel safe now that he’s in custody. But somehow . . . he can’t. “It . . . it could be. Those high school kids were always talking about ways to sneak into the house, and Steve has been . . . weird to you . . .”

“Bella said he wasn’t that bad,” Cecily points out. Her voice quivers at Bella’s name. “I mean, there’s a big difference between hitting on someone and murder.”

“But the carpet thing,” Amber says from her spot on his bed.

“I don’t know,” Rudy mutters. It just doesn’t feel right.

“You’re just mad because it doesn’t fit into your Frank-Glenarm’s-daughter theory,” Amber argues.

“Yeah,” Cecily says. “You can’t say that Steve . . . doesn’t make sense.”

Rudy frowns. “I just wish I knew how he was related to Frank—”

“Not everything has to be related to Frank—”

“Kids!” There’s a call from downstairs. “Come down. We have some news.”

Rudy exchanges a look with his sisters, and then they all fly out of the room.

“Is it Steve? Was he charged?” Cecily asks, breathless.

Mrs. Cole shakes her head. “No. It’s . . . about the house. We got a call from a potential buyer.”

Rudy can hardly believe it.

“That’s amazing!” Amber says, darting forward to give their mom a quick hug. Could it really be true? Could they really be done with this house? If they can leave, they can be free . . .

Rudy realizes that he’s still holding the tape and recorder. He sets them on the kitchen island. He hadn’t been planning on telling his parents about the tapes unless he could find concrete evidence about the follower’s identity—and even if he had, there’s no way he can do it now. Not when they’re so close to a sale. Especially when Steve has just been arrested.

Rudy notices that his mom doesn’t look as happy as he’d expected her to.

“Is something wrong?” he asks. “You don’t look that excited.”

“They’re land developers,” his mom responds. “They want to . . . tear the house down. Make condos. It’ll be a financial loss, and a waste of the renovation . . .” She swallows. “And I know that there are some people in town that really won’t like this. But it’s better than nothing. They want to meet with us on Wednesday. They’ll try to lowball us, so both your father and I need to go. We don’t want to leave you here, but if we can sell this house with minimal financial loss . . .”

Rudy doesn’t understand what the big deal is with his parents leaving for a few hours until his dad explains that they are going to have to travel into New York City for the meeting.

“We would be gone from late morning until about midnight or so,” his dad says. “We don’t love the idea of leaving you in light of everything that’s happened, but now that the police have someone in custody . . .” He trails off. “I spoke with Officer Perry already. She told me that she can have two squad cars stationed at the end of the driveway, just in case. But of course, we don’t want to leave if you’re not comfortable.” His voice rises as he says the last sentence, as if he’s asking them a question.

He is. Rudy exchanges looks with his sisters. Amber is the one who speaks first. “It’ll be all right, Dad,” she says. “You should go. Get us out of here.”

Mr. Cole nods. Rudy can see the relief on his face.

“Officer Perry also mentioned that they want to talk to you again, about Steve this time,” their dad continues. “We’ll take you in first thing tomorrow morning, then head out after driving you back from the station.”

Rudy nods. Next to him, Cecily is trembling. Rudy doesn’t really want to be home alone, and he knows that his sisters don’t, either. But if being home alone is the risk they have to take to escape Tremont, and if Steve really is the follower . . .

The next morning, Rudy’s parents drop him and his sisters off at the station and head out to do