Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 100294 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100294 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
“No,” both Luke and I say at the same time. I’m guessing for different reasons.
“I don’t want the cops sniffing around Madeline,” Luke says.
“You really think they’d believe she killed her because she snuck into her office one time?” Georgia asks. I’m sure Georgia is on team “tell the police,” but we’re past that point, aren’t we? If that were the case, then wouldn’t we have done it last night? They will grill us as to why we didn’t. That’s drama I don’t need because it might affect my sister.
I’m already entangled in a murder, even though I’ve only been at school for a few days. I’m also an outsider. They would pin that shit on me for sure. I can’t get one of those fancy lawyers either.
“I don’t want to,” I tell Georgia, and she gives a small nod, letting me know she’s okay with what I choose.
“But you also can’t leave it alone, can you?” Luke drops down into an oversized chair by the window, though it’s not so oversized for him. He pulls out and clicks away on his phone, reading disinterestedly now.
“You don’t have to help,” I blurt out way too defensively. I don’t want him to help me. I also don’t need him to. Liar.
“You think I’m going to let you two run around playing detective?” Luke nods between Georgia and me. “It’s not happening.”
“You want to bet?”
“Buttercup, this isn’t one you want to challenge me on.” He drops his phone into his lap, leaning forward and putting his elbow on his knees. His eyes lock on to mine, that laid-back, I-don’t-give-a-shit attitude I can’t stand slipping away. Is it an act? Why do I kind of want it to be? I’m losing it. I want him to back down, and when he does, I’m annoyed.
I lick my suddenly dry lips at his intensity. Does he want to do this or not?
“You don’t even care.”
“It doesn’t matter.” He tosses my own words right back at me. Why does it burn, and why do I care? Stay focused, Madeline, I remind myself. I can’t let a boy distract me or get in my head. There are bigger issues at hand here. Someone is dead.
“It doesn’t matter, but you want to help.” I don’t get it, but then again, when it comes to Luke, I don’t understand many things, and that’s not all on him, if I’m honest with myself. Which I really don’t want to be.
“Use whatever phrasing you need to come to terms with it.” I open and then close my mouth. I’m normally quick with my retorts, but this one caught me off guard, as Luke always does. Right when I think I’m getting my footing with him or the upper hand, he manages to shift in a direction I wouldn’t have predicted. It’s annoying and intriguing.
“Fine.” I shrug my shoulders. “You can help.”
He smirks, letting me know he already knew that.
“Wait, so you guys want to try and figure out what is going on?” Georgia’s expression is skeptical. “Like who did it? I just want to be clear here because that’s kind of crazy.”
“We could do nothing,” Grant offers.
“That’s not going to work for me.” I can’t not tell the cops and pretend I didn’t see a dead woman. That’s not who I am even if I wanted to be. It will drive me crazy while simultaneously eating at me.
“I know,” Georgia says in understanding. The world is a terrible place because of the people that choose to look away, and I won’t be one of those people. It already bothers me that I might have looked away far more than I should have when it came to my father’s depression and drinking.
“Then what’s your plan, Kate Warne?” Luke asks me.
“I like that more than Buttercup.” Georgia smiles. Guess these two are all chummy now. That should make me happy. I told Luke not to be a dick to her, but damn.
“Kate Warne?” Grant asks what I myself was wondering too.
“She was the first female detective. She actually saved Abraham Lincoln’s life,” Georgia tells us.
“He was assassinated.” I state the obvious because that much I know.
“He was, but she saved him the first time. Four years prior to his death.”
“By Booth in the theater with a gun?”
“You got it,” Georgia laughs. I find it very intriguing that Luke knows all about Kate Warne. I’m starting to think there is a whole lot more to Luke. Great, he’s smart too.
“So?” Luke asks again.
“Be careful putting me in charge.”
“Thought you already were.”
“And you’ll go along?” I ask him, knowing I do want his help.
“If I don’t go, you don’t go,” he states in a tone I haven’t heard from him before.
“Excuse me?” What the hell does that mean?
“Time is ticking. Aren’t the first forty-eight hours the most important during an investigation?”