The Devil Inside

22: The Best Laid Plans

"You want me to what?"

"Flirt with her." Calla appraised her reflection in the bathroom mirror. The curls Cooper had grown so accustomed to were gone, replaced with a curtain of sleek red hair that was utterly unfamiliar. How she'd managed to tame it, he couldn't guess.

"Flirt with her," Cooper repeated, fidgeting with his shirtsleeves. "You literally just said Steph could be involved in my girlfriend's murder."

"Yes."

He stared at her. "And you want me to flirt with her?"

Calla waved a hand, dismissive to the last. "I told you. Stephanie has a hand in this. And if she's blackmailing Blake..." She scowled at her reflection. "I need to figure out how much she knows. Or if she knows anything at all."

"Of course she knows something," Cooper muttered unhappily. "She always does."

"Yes," Calla said, impatient. She turned away from the mirror to pin him with a look. "But does she know anything of importance? If she somehow got her hands on Tom's missing memory card, she could have evidence against me."

"Or not," Cooper pointed out. "For all we know, Tom caught Cory heading upstairs that night. Not you."

She shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. After learning about Blake's predicament, I'm not willing to take that chance."

Cooper sat on the edge of her bed and stared down at his hands, glum. "And you think Blake's going to help you with this...why?"

He was still trying to wrap his head around the finer details of Calla's latest scheme. The way she saw it, Rachel and Venus had fallen victim to an accomplice of sorts—someone who'd worked closely with Cory...up until Calla had tossed him from the third floor like a sack of flour. And Stephanie, given her crush on the sociopath and her affinity for gossip, seemed a likely candidate.

Why they would trust one of the other suspects to determine the validity of that assumption was another matter entirely.

"Because," Calla explained patiently, breezing past him to rifle around in her closet, "Blake has a stake in this game. He needs evidence wiped. So do we. A temporary alliance is necessary."

"And if he's the one who set me up in the first place?" Cooper pushed, giving voice to the bitter thoughts that had been plaguing him since his initial conversation with Calla late last night, when she'd called him to share everything that she'd learned from the witless wonder.

"If that's the case," Calla called over her shoulder, "he was either blackmailed into doing it, or—and this is very unlikely—he's far more clever than either of us thought and this is all an elaborate trap to get me alone so he can kill me and take vengeance for Cory's death."

"And you're willing to take that risk? What if he does try to kill you when you two go off on your own to find...whatever it is you're trying to find at this party?"

Calla emerged from the closet, a green sweater in hand and a wicked smile on her face. "Well. I'd certainly love to see him try."

"Right." Cooper grimaced. "Can we at least keep the maiming to a minimum? I'd really love to set the right tone for the new year, you know."

"What better tone to set than dealing out proper justice for past crimes?" She laid out the sweater on her bed, thoughtful. "You haven't told me what you think of everything. Not really."

No. He hadn't. He'd been too shell-shocked on the phone last night to say much of anything. Calla's decision to confront Tom would surely have its repercussions, necessary though it might have been.