Unexpected Rendezvous

Chapter 35

Jade's POV

Claud tries to fight back, but there's no point. Because I'm very angry.

I duck all of his badly aimed punches and throw him flat on his back, straddling him and pinning his hands until all he can do is struggle helplessly like a trapped bug. "How did you know?" he wheezes.

I didn't for sure until I heard Claud's signature greeting coming from the number that texted the security code to Nelson. But right before then, when I focused in on Claud's picture among Zoe's collage, I remembered what Aaron had said in Perrie's living room: You probably got on their bad side, if they switched your name out with your cousin's. Don't antagonise the Weasel, babe! There's only one person who hates me that much, and I guess cares about Zoe that much, while also being someone who's at every party, and somehow had the money to buy himself a show-off muscle car despite not having a job. And that's the lad pinned beneath me.

"You named me," I snarl. "You fucking prick."

"I had to!" Claud chokes out. "I had to give...They knew there were three people, and I needed...I couldn't give her name."

"Yeah, well, someone went looking for her anyway. They called her boss, and if I hadn't found her first-"

"That was me," Claud says, still flailing. "Trying to make sure she was okay. I wanted to...I wanted to get her out of town after what happened to Nelson."

The idea that Claud and I were working towards the same goal startles me enough that I almost loosen my grip on him. But not quite. "Real noble of you, Claud. You're boyfriend of the year. But you hung Nelson out to dry, huh?" I stare daggers at him, briefly fantasising about letting loose the kind of punch that will break his face. "You sent her to that building. Did you kill her, too?"

"No! God, no! I don't fucking kill people!" Claud twists back and forth, trying to break free. "I didn't know that was going to happen. I'm not...look, I'm not an enforcer, okay? I find stuff out, and sometimes I set up meetings. That's all I do."

"That's all, huh? Who do you do it for?" I ask. When he doesn't answer, I lift him briefly off the ground and then slam him back down, hard enough that I could swear I hear his teeth rattle. "Who do you do it for?"

Claud lets out a groan. "I can't tell you. They'll kill me."

"I'll kill you if you don't," I threaten. I'm furious enough that I almost mean it, but Claud's eyes glint in a way that's far too smug for someone who can barely move.

"No you won't," he says. 

We stare at each other for a couple of seconds. He's right obviously, but he doesn't have to know that. I grab hold of the front of his shirt and spring off him, hauling him to his feet so that I can start dragging him towards the pond.

"What are you doing?" he screams, spittle flying into my face as he bends and twists, trying to escape my grasp. "Help! Somebody help me!"

Good luck with that; Marcus' party is way too loud for anyone to hear, even if they cared about two people fighting. Claud keeps flailing though, landing a couple of glancing blows that I don't feel. When we reach the water's edge, I half throw him in, then follow right behind him. Cold water seeps into my shoes and soaks my jeans, and Claud sputters when some of it goes up his nose. He tries to stand up, and I shove him back down.

"I don't want you going near Zoe ever again," I say through gritted teeth. "So I'm going to make sure you can't."

"You're bluffing," Claud says, but any trace of smugness is gone from his eyes. He looks terrified, and that's almost enough to stop me. Almost.

I push his head underwater and hold it there. When Ma made Zoe and me take a lifeguarding class two years ago, one of the first things we learned is that most people can hold their breath for two minutes, but in a drowning situation, they'll often start to panic less than ten seconds in. I count to twenty, an agonisingly long time with Claud thrashing for his life beneath me, before I let him up.

He gasps huge lungfuls of air, coughing and spluttering all the while. I let him breathe for a few seconds, and then I shove his head back towards the water until it covers one ear. "Last chance, Claud," I say as his wheezing turns panicked. "Next time I won't let you up. Who do you give information to?"

He pants for a few seconds without saying a word. I'm about to admit defeat and let him up, because I can't make myself do that again, when he moans, "Okay. Okay." He takes a deep breath and lets it out in a strangled half sob before finishing, "It's Coach Purcell. I give information to Coach Purcell."