Three months ago, four kids were run off the road by a drunk driver and pronounced dead at the scene, leaving their families to grieve and wonder why accidents had to happen.
The four left behind families, and namely, five specific siblings: all sen...
Roland wasn't sure exactly what he had expected Lindsey to say upon running into the dining room—in all honesty, he had thought that she was their stalker coming to finish them off—but it was definitely not that.
"Sit down, Lindsey." Mary ordered immediately while everyone else stared on with looks of confusion on their faces. "Now talk to us like you're a normal person instead of stomping in here with wild accusations against people we should be able to trust."
Lindsey obeyed immediately, taking the empty seat on Roland's right before taking a few deep breaths. Everyone else waited impatiently while the soccer star found her thoughts, continuing to very consciously breathe in and out. Lindsey looked like an absolute mess—her hair was flying in every direction, there were sweat stains on her t-shirt, and her jacket was very clearly on backwards. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes darted every which way, as if she were waiting for someone to pop up out of the floorboards with a loaded gun.
Everybody else looked as if they weren't sure how to approach what was going on. Roland certainly didn't want to push Lindsey to talk, but at the same time, they desperately needed to know every detail of what had happened to make her accuse her father of killing his own daughter and three other kids.
Finally, after what felt like hours of waiting for her to speak, Lindsey did.
"So I kind of let on to my dad that I knew about his affair."
"Well, that was a stupid thing to do." Jordan immediately said, rolling her eyes as Mary glared at her for interrupting.
"Yeah, well it was necessary." Lindsey replied, "He didn't like that I was going to come over here, even though I told him it was for a school project, and so I wasn't sure what to do and I got angry. So I kind of just...blurted it out. And his face, you guys...I had never seen him look like that before. He looked evil."
"A look doesn't mean he's a murderer." Jordan interrupted again.
"I know. But then he started yelling. He wanted to know how I knew, and I lied and said that Victoria had told me. Clearly, he knew that Victoria was already aware, because he said he had bribed her. He had bribed my sister not to tell anyone, and I guess that's why my parents are still together. He said that the reason your parents got divorced was because your dad found out, Roland."
Roland nodded silently. He had figured as much; nothing really got past his father, and his mother was not the stealthiest of people.
"He said he wasn't going to bribe me, and that if I told anyone I would be kicked out of my house."
"That still doesn't sound like something worth murdering someone over."
"The reason I'm scared is because he said something else about Victoria. He said 'I told that little brat what would happen if she ever told anybody.' Doesn't that sound ominous to you guys?"
Roland exchanged glances with Michael before nodding slowly.
"It seems a little off. But not quite enough to put him as our prime suspect." He shrugged, "Is your parents' marriage really something he would kill your sister over?"
Lindsey shrugged.
"I don't know anymore. I just think that he had something to do with it, or that he knows something that he isn't telling us."
"He's not the only Marcum doing that." Jordan spoke again, eyeing Lindsey.
"What do you mean?" Lindsey asked, "I told you guys everything he said."
"But you're not telling us something else." Jordan shook her head, reaching for her phone and reading a text message out loud to the group. "I left a gift for Lindsey in the forest tonight. A gift that she didn't think to share with the group. I didn't know that you all were in the business of keeping secrets. Goodnight Jordan."
The whole group turned to stare at Lindsey, whose face had gone bloodred as she heard Jordan's words.
"Who sent you that?"
"The unknown number that keeps texting us." Jordan replied, putting her phone back in her purse. "This was the same night that you almost broke your ankle and that Michael almost got a concussion, and you're keeping things from the group? I don't think that sounds like the smartest move, Marcum."
Lindsey shook her head.
"I'm sorry, I—I have to go."
She got up and ran out of the room, the slam of the front door echoing through the house a few minutes later.
"Well that was great, Jord." Mary snapped, "You scared her by saying that in front of everyone and now we won't know what she knows." She rolled her eyes, tapping her perfectly manicured fingernails on the table. "This is why I expect you to run things by me before doing them."
Jordan opened her mouth to respond before Michael spoke first.
"Well, I'm done."
Everyone looked at him in confusion.
"You're done?"
"Yeah. I'm done with this. I'm done with this little 'investigation' we've been performing. No one's willing to help us, we get in trouble for doing everything, I almost got a concussion and I have football games to lead. This is stupid. I'm done."
"Me too." Mary nodded. "This is over. I don't want to be the next one to get hurt."
Roland felt himself starting to panic, his heart racing. He couldn't go back to acting like he thought his sister's death had been an accident, not when he knew that she had been murdered.
Not when her murderer was still out there.
"Guys, I don't think that's a good idea—"
"I agree with them." Jordan nodded. "This has just made me scared and doubtful and I'm not up for that. I miss my old life."
"What, of parading around as Mary Hadden's dumb friend?" Roland asked, immediately regretting his words when he saw Jordan's expression. "I mean—"
"We know what you meant, Roland." Jordan rolled her eyes and stood up. "See you at school."
The Hadden twins followed Jordan's example, standing and walking out while glaring at Roland with different levels of annoyance. The Green boy shook his head, watching them leave helplessly.
What was he supposed to do now?
A/N: Hey guys! I'm back from vacation so updates are regular again! I'm trying to be better about getting updates in and on time, but I didn't take my laptop with me on vacation so I couldn't write while I was there. But now I'm back and writing again! Let me know what you think will happen now that they've stopped looking.
-Katherine
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
