"Murderers often show up to their victims funerals, you know. That's what they say on Criminal Minds, anyway."
The only words of importance Lilly had been able to offer after Gemma and Alice told Lilly and Clara what they'd seen, her remark met with an icy reception. They'd pulled the other two out and after observing Cleo's coffin being lowered into the grave from the carpark, had made a hasty exit without apprising Eleanor or Dylan. It had to look bad but frankly, at that moment not one of them had given a shit.
"I'll send Mrs. King a message later." Alice had told them all on the drive back to St. Edmunds.
"The Supplier showing up to her funeral? That's bloody risky. Her whole family was there." Gemma muttered, her eyes undeviating from the road in front of her and her hands wrapped firmly around the steering wheel.
"Do you think they heard? My speech." Said Clara weakly, her skin etiolated as she wiped her mouth with a pallid hand.
"No, Clara." Alice reassured her, turning round to address Clara who was sat in the back with Lilly. "Don't worry about it. They didn't show up until the end of mine." But despite the advisory words, the tone of Alice's voice was indicative of great unease.
"I can't deal with this shit. I've got work and then I've got to finish the essay-" Gemma was saying under her breath when Lilly interrupted.
"And I've got a final dress fitting for my dad's wedding." She lamented, pouting like a sullen child.
"Your bump...won't Jasmine see?" Gemma asked.
"No. It's got to be like, the smallest bump you've ever seen for third trimester. Honestly, I can pass it off as a food baby. But it's the best thing, you guys," She lowered her voice as if revealing some kind of arcane secret. "What I lack in bump, I make up for in boobs. I've gone from a C to a double D for free. It's brill." She said giddily.
"Instead, all you'll have to do is give birth to and then raise a child. I mean, why pay thousands for a surgeon to do it when you can just do it for free by making bad life decisions, right?" Alice had said, ostensibly irritated. "Anyway, it doesn't last. Once you've had the baby, give it a few months and-"
"Seriously Alice, do not rain on my carnival. And we're, like, the queens of bad life decisions so none of us get to talk about that."
"Parade. Don't rain on my parade." Alice snapped.
"Eurgh, whatever. My point is that I have other priorities."
"And you think they care about that? You think they care whether we have essays or dress fittings or jobs to go to? You think they cared about what Cleo had to do when they wrapped two hands round her neck and squeezed the fucking life out of her?" Clara chipped in, visibly teeming with frustration, her skin regaining what little colour she possessed. Lilly reclined in her seat and held a hand up to her forehead, rolling her eyes. "I'm sorry." Clara said croakily. "But this is what they want. They want us to be at each others throats about it. They want to break us so that we end up going to the police. So the more we argue, the less they have to do, okay? And I don't know about the rest of you but I don't want to give them the satisfaction." After that, Gemma had turned on Smells Like Teen Spirit as loud it would possibly go in a final tribute to Cleo and they'd said little to each other. The following few days had gone by in a haze of work, essays, wedding preparations and seminars; Lilly's dad and Jasmine's wedding was in less than a week. The plans stood that, in order not to miss any lectures and potential birthday outings for Alice's 21st, which was the day before, Lilly would drive down the morning of the wedding which was due to start at 12PM. Her mind had been so congested with frivolous matters, lipstick shades and types of bras to wear with open-backed dresses, that she had thought little about the Supplier; the person in the Ghostface mask that had murdered Cleo, that wanted her to give up Luca, that had that fucking ridiculous letter she'd once thought it was a good idea to write. That's why it had been so easy for her to dismiss the text:
YOU ARE READING
Trust No Bitch: Part 2
Mystery / ThrillerYou think you know the story: 4 women, a dead friend, and an anonymous texter. But think again. It's about to get a whole lot messier, as 4 British university students are about to find out. Full of sex, drugs, and deceit, you've come to the wrong...
