They Just Don't Know You

Chapter 29

Perrie's POV

Sunday, October 6

It's one of those dreams that's really a memory.

Kamille and I are both on her couch, our eyes glued to her TV as we watch coverage of Caitlin's funeral from the day before. We'd been there, of course, but we couldn't tear ourselves away from reliving it onscreen.

Leoni, an Echo Ridge High grad who'd been toiling in obscurity at a local news station until someone got the brilliant idea to put her in front of the camera for this story, stands on the church steps clutching a microphone. "Yesterday, this shattered New England town came together at Caitlin Robinson's funeral, mourning the loss of such a promising young woman. But amidst the sorrow, questions continue to whirl around those who knew the teen victim the best."

The camera cuts to a video of Jonnie leaving the church in a badly fitting suit, tight-lipped and scowling. If he's trying to look the part of "Disreputable Ex with a Chip on His Shoulder," he's doing a great job.

Kamille clears her throat and leans forward, clutching a pillow. "Do you think whoever did it was at the funeral yesterday?" She catches sight of my face and hastily adds, "I don't mean any of her friends. Obviously. I just mean...I wonder if it's somebody we know. Right there with us in the middle of the crowd."

"They wouldn't show up," I say, with more certainty than I feel.

"You don't think?" Kamille chews her bottom lip, eyes flicking over the screen. "They should give everybody there the killer test."

"The what?"

"I heard about it as school," she says. "It's a riddle about a girl. She's at her Mother's funeral, and she sees some guy she doesn't know. She falls in love with him and decides he's her dream guy. A few days later, she kills her sister. Why'd she do it?"

"Nobody would do that," I scoff. 

"It's a riddle. You have to answer. They say the murderers always give the same answer."

"Because she..." I pause, trying to think of the most twisted answer possible. I feel comfortable about doing that with Kamille, in a way I wouldn't with anyone else right now. She's one of the only people in Echo Ridge who's not staring accusingly at Jonnie, and at me, like I must be a bad seed by association. "Because the sister was the man's girlfriend and she wanted him for herself?"

"No. Because she thought the man might go to her sister's funeral, too."

I snort. "That doesn't even make sense."

"Do you have a better way to tell who's a cold-blooded killer?"

I scan the crowd onscreen, looking for an obvious sign that somebody's not right. Something twisted lurking among all the sad faced. "They're the most messed-up person in the room."

Kamille curls deeper into her corner of the couch, pressing the pillow tight against her chest. "That's the problem though, isn't it? They all are, but you can't tell."

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I startle awake so violently that I almost fall out of bed. My pulse is racing and my mouth is cottony dry. I haven't thought about that day in years, Kamille and I sneak-watching news coverage of Caitlin's funeral while I hid at her house because mine was already bubbling over with angry tension. I don't know why I'd dream about it now, except...

Leigh would either have to be so desperate that she lost all sense of right or wrong, or be a cold-blooded criminal. Even after catching Leigh doing nothing worse than looking for a quiet place to puke, I can't get Jade's words out of my head.