Knife in my Heart (Purple Devil Series book #1) #Wattys2016

Chapter 29

     "So you cheated? That's what Purple Devil is holding against you? No offense of anything, but that's a little weak for her don't you think?" Eli says shrugging his shoulders. Me, Eli, Liv and Kenz are outside after school discussing what went down earlier. 

"I've gotten straight A's Eli, now the seem to think that I've been doing it since the third grade but I haven't I swear, just that once. I've felt guilty about it ever since." She shudders. I don't know why though, it's the end of May. Only three more weeks until school's out then we are officially seniors. SCARY. 

"Yeah you've got a point." He says. "When did you do it, that way we can get a time line." 

"Um, it was the night that I went to Starbucks with the girls that one night. Remember Carla?" She looks at me. Willing me to remember. I do remember, but not because of that. 

"Yeah I remember. That's when all this started." I scan our circle that we've formed. Over the past coupe weeks, us four have gotten pretty tight. I love each and every one of them for different reasons. 

"So that must have been what started everything. She saw each of us had secrets and decided to make a game out of it." Mackenzie chimes in. 

I look around, I have that eerie feeling that someone is watching us. "Hey guys, let's do this at the house, I have this feeling. I think we should go." I say quietly for only them to hear. They all nod and we go to our own cars. 

***************

I pull into the garage and turn the engine off. I walk into the kitchen and the gang's all here. I smile, yeah, we're a gang. A family. 

"What do we got?" I ask setting my stuff on the floor next to my shoes. Liv and Kenz are huddled over Liv's laptop and Eli is grabbing sodas out of the fridge. 

"We are making a time line. I'm printing stuff by the way." Liv winks at me. 

After everything is printed out we roll out some parchment paper and start working on the time line. 

"OK, so the first note that I ever got from Purple Devil was right after your accident. So that was what, a month and a half ago?" I ask scanning the pictures. Then I find it, the note. Thank God I saved every single note that I've ever gotten. If it wasn't on paper, they're on my phone and we can print them off. Oh yeah, forgot about the ones written on the walls. 

"Ok, which was first, the accident or the cheating?" Eli asks. 

"The accident." Liv says surprised. "That was the first major blow from Purple Devil was the accident." She points at the paper. 

"So this whole thing started because of me?" Eli asks taken back. "Why? So is the Devil going after Carla, or me?" He looks with his eyebrows pulled in and his eyes narrowed like he does when he's thinking hard. 

"No. This isn't just about one person, it's about us. As a unit." 

"So Kenz, at camp was when you overheard Jon and Em right?" I ask taping more pictures to the paper. 

"Yeah. Purple Devil must have been planning for months but just now decided to act." 

Liv sits up like a light bulb turned on inside of her. "What about Mallory? Where does she fit into all of this?" 

"She's a mystery." Kenz mutters to her self. 

"What about Mr. Keegan? Who is he anyway? A person at the school?" Eli asks looking around. To be honest, I think we all forgot about him. 

"Yes! I got a Devil text right after his body was found. Purple Devil said that Mr. Keegan didn't listen to her and that's why he died." Liv walks to her laptop and frantically starts typing. 

"Bingo! Mr. Keegan is a guy who used to work at that warehouse that we found you in." Liv says proudly. 

"What is so special about that darn warehouse? Seems like everything is slowly connecting to there. It was my dad's wasn't it?" I ask. 

"Yup. That's how I knew where you were." 

"Alright, so we've got my brother, one of your best friends, a former employee, and Mallory all connected to the Purple Devil somehow. Guess it's time to play connect the dots now right? Put our research brains to work and dig until we find some answers." Eli says taking a sip of his soda. 

All of a sudden, it hits me. "Wait a minute." I say holding my hands up. "We found doctors receipts in Jon's stuff remember but we just disregarded them, what if that's how they recruited Mallory?" 

Everyone nods their heads like they seem to see where I'm coming from. "I can see that happening. Purple Devil holding something against Mallory so she tells Jon to get Mallory on their side before they release whatever dirt they have on her. She says yes, bam! They have a pair of eyes at the hospital." Mackenzie claps her hands. 

Eli stares down at Jon's picture which is taped on the parchment paper. He's a number two suspect so he has to be on there. "So what is Jon to her? Purple Devil's muscle-man? The intimidator to everyone?" 

Liv interrupts, "What about Tommy? What's his role? Another pair of eyes but on the police side? Getting inside info on everything?" 

"Well Purple Devil wants us to bad to believe that he is on it because of the badge in the foyer with the 'I'm everywhere' message, he's in my um, video, and he was here like as soon as my mom called the cops about the person that was in the house that one night." 

"Didn't you tell me that you thought that they knew each other soon after that happened?" Eli asks. 

"Yeah I think later that  night." 

"I think they did, wait one sec." I say as I walk over to my bag and pick up my phone. I dial my mom's phone number and it rings. Then, the strangest thing happens. I hear it ringing. 

"Surprise! I'm home!" 

"Mom, what are you doing here?" I ask. "And why did you not call first?" I say through my teeth. As I hug her. I look at Eli who is standing in front of me laughing. 

"Oh you know me honey, I always like a surprise." She says happily. Her teeth are nice and white. And the smell of her perfume takes over me when she hugs me again. "So, what are we all doing?" She asks looking at the table which is covered in pictures and time stamps. 

Liv raises her hand, "It's for a Home Economics project that they are helping me with. It's a history of your friends thing. Pretty cool, getting to play CSI for a while." Liv smiles graciously. We all let out a sigh of relief. She really helped us on that one. 

"So mom, do you know Officer Tommy Stilks?" I ask. 

"Yes I do." She says. We all straighten our backs when she says yes. "He was the responding officer when I called about the shady person in the house remember." Her freshly glossed lips are pursed and her eyes studying my face like she's worried about something. 

"What about a Mallory McKinley?" 

"Nope. Never heard of her." She shakes her head. "One thing about it, if you are working on an investigative project, you need to work on your interrogation skills sweetie." She scrunches her nose and kisses me on the forehead. 

"Fine." I say crossing my arms. "You do know Tommy because whatever is between you two, is pretty deep. You know something about him that could ruin him? And that you would tell him what to write in the report? What was that about?" She stares at me blankly. 

"She was protecting me." We all turn around and look to who owns the voice. Our mouth drops open and none of us can move. There she stands in the purple hoodie, with a gun. 

"Oh my God." Liv says.