Inner Demons

29. I Might Have Seen Something Important

The woman introduced herself as Madelyn Carr. Brooke and the others seemed to already know her. She said she was a friend of the sheriff's, and I took that to mean she was a member of the Order.

"The police told us to stay here for questioning," I said.

"Not you guys," she said. "I've been instructed to take you to Mr. Ashworth's house right away. Your limousine is waiting for us out front."

I looked at all the students who had to stay behind. They might be there all night, waiting to have questions barked at them. Most of them looked scared. Many of them were crying. It didn't seem fair that they all had to wait while we got whisked away in a limo. Besides, I had seen the murderer. I felt certain of it.

"I think I should talk to the police," I said. "I might have seen something important."

"This isn't up for debate, Miss Madison," Madelyn said. "We leave now. There's no time to waste."

I sat back down on the bleachers. "I'm not going anywhere."

Drake gripped my arm. "Harper, now is not the time to be fooling around."

"Ow," I said. I yanked my arm away from him. "Don't ever touch me like that again."

"Whoa, why are you so angry? She's giving us a free ride here, and you're treating everyone like garbage."

Madelyn Carr signaled to a couple of officers, and I watched with dread as the two men walked toward us. "Officers, I need you to escort these teenagers to the limousine outside. If you have to, you are authorized to use force in order to get Miss Madison to the car."

I opened my mouth in protest, but my voice caught in my throat as the two policemen climbed up the three rows of bleachers toward me.I stood and held my hand out in front of me. "I'll go," I said. My voice was barely a whisper.

Once inside the car, I sat alone. Drake and Foster took seats at the very front. Lark, Allison and Brooke were huddled together on one side of the limo. Brooke's eyes stayed trained on me the entire time, but I avoided her gaze. She was one of them now. She couldn't be trusted.

The two guys who had come to the dance with Lark and Allison looked terrified. It was obvious they had no idea what was going on or why we had been chosen to leave when everyone else had to stay. They were smart enough to keep their mouths closed, though.

"Boys, please give the driver your addresses," Madelyn told them. "We're going to drop you off at your houses first."

The guys recited their addresses and the driver took them home immediately. Then, he turned onto the street where Drake lived. Even though we'd been going out for a while, I'd never actually been inside his house. Drake had driven me by here once just to show me where he lived, but he never invited me inside or anything.

The Ashworths lived in luxury, just like everyone else in this limousine. Excluding me, of course. Their home was a blue, three-story house built before the Civil War. Pretty white shutters adorned all of the many windows in the front of the house. The limousine pulled into the white, dome-shaped carport attached to the left side of the house and everyone got out. Several women, including Mrs. Ashworth, were waiting to usher us into the house.

Mrs. Ashworth looked around, squinting into the darkness. Was she looking for the hooded figure? It definitely seemed like the Order was trying to protect us from something, but if they thought Jackson was the murderer, why would they bother? They already had him in custody.

The fear on Mrs. Ashworth's face told me that the Order knew Jackson Hunt wasn't responsible for Morgyn's death. Now, they were surrounding me with witches who could keep me safe if the assassin came for me.