Little White Lies

Chapter 12

"You've got to trust us on this," Eva's voice sounded somewhere vaguely above her, but Candice was too busy hyperventilating. This felt wrong. She shouldn't be doing this.

"I can't," she replied, her voice as shaky and uncertain as she sounded. She yelped as something cold was slapped onto her head. "What was that?"

"Sorry, my hand slipped," Eva apologized and scooped the hair dye up. Candice had to really get a grip of herself to not bolt out of the bathroom. They were ruining her hair. It would take years to get them back to their natural blonde shininess...

"It'd look great on you!" Eva chirped. Candice had to do another one of those mental focus exercises to stay still. They had decided to dye her hair to a safe chestnut brown to keep it looking natural yet different. Coloured contacts were also suggested but it was too much hassle.

Candice tried to bury the conversation she overheard down, but it had been hard to talk to Eric since. She didn't think the Goodman brother had noticed, which made her even sadder. Her supposed cousin had been working almost day in and day out, and what little time he had he usually ended up with Eva. It was clear that he was falling for the girl, though Candice wasn't sure if he realized it himself.

"Why can't I just wear a wig?" Candice asked for the hundredth time. They were finally going to go on the road, hoping to uncover the few leads that Eva had dug up, and also to escape the police surveillance. It seemed that they didn't buy David's story.

"Because it would be too easy for something to go wrong," Eva said good-naturedly. It was really hard to find a reason to be mad at this girl. Candice sighed. They worked out a plan to smuggle out at the back of the gardener's truck undetected. David would have to stay behind for a while so not to raise suspicion. It was hard.

Candice had no idea why Detective Wallace was still on them. She had called to make sure her college and sorority knew that she was taking care of some family business. By then everyone knew about the shooting, so her request was met with a chorus of understanding.

Despite her misgivings, Candice actually didn't hate the dye job. While she looked less glamorous than before, being a brunette gave her a sense of mystery. Dressed in target clothes, even her closest sorority sister won't recognize her.

"Hurry, they are almost done with the garden," Eric said, poking his head in the bathroom. Eva nodded and dumped all the hair dye product into the bin, but Candice found herself meeting Eric's glance with a slight challenge. She didn't want to admit it, but she enjoyed the way his eyes look over her appreciatively.

Getting in the van was easy since it had parked in the garage. Evan had managed to bribe the Gardeners with the lamest excuse of all: that they were David's friends who had come over to leave some surprise party supplies but couldn't get out. With money talking, they didn't ask any questions. Though Candice didn't see how it would be any different from David bribing them in the first place.

The problem, it turned out, was how to stay safe in a van full of gardening equipment once it started moving.

The lawn-mower shifted as the van took a turn, almost crashing into Candice. Then the giant scissors they used to trim the hedges started swinging as well, one nearly hitting Eric's head. In the end, the three of them had to huddle next to the lawn-mower and fixed it in place by pinning it down. It was more insane than any workout Candice had ever done, and she sure as hell never wanted to repeat the experience.

After a few more turns, it became clear that something was wrong.

"Hey, let us out!" Eric slammed his fist on the wall that separated the front of the van to the van, but no answers came. The gardeners were supposed to drop them off at the nearest Starbucks, and it would not have taken them this long to reach. They were taking them somewhere else.