Kevin Died

27. Text Message

27. Text Message

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"You're lying."

"I'm not," Luke said. "And you know I'm not."

He'd finished telling me the story. The story about how he and Jory has found Danielle crying in her room.

About what Kevin had allegedly done to her.

Luke was in the house now, but I did not let him take a seat or get comfortable. We were still near the front door as he had told me the story.

"You're telling me that my brother actually drugged Danielle so he could have his way with her," I said.

"Whatever Kevin told you that night in the woods is a lie. Or at least not the full truth," Luke said. "Danielle did not lie on him. I know she didn't. Trust me, I'm not so blind that if I thought even for a second she was being dishonest I'd defend her."

I shook my head. I had my doubts about Kevin's story, but I couldn't even begin to believe he did something so wrong. It just didn't make sense. He had never shown such disgusting behavior for as long as I'd known him. It was out of character.

Way out of character.

"So yeah, I knocked him out and took him to the shack against his will in Jory's car," Luke said. "Tied him up. Beat him. Threatened him. But I did it because I was sticking up for a person I loved."

"Then you left him there."

"Sure did," Luke said without falter.

"And the note?"

"Note?"

"Kevin said you left him a note, telling him to leave town," I said.

"I never left a note," Luke said. "That's just another one of his lies. When they supposedly found him—his remains—last year, Jory Danielle and I were terrified. By that point his body was so decomposed, his exact cause of death was hard to determine, though blunt force trauma was the general consensus. We all thought he'd died from the injuries I gave him. But obviously that's not the case."

"So what did you all think before his remains were found?" I asked.

Luke shrugged. "We didn't really know what to think at first. We eventually began to think he'd run off somewhere. But there was never any note left telling him to leave town."

"I just think back to that year," I said. "That whole year Kevin was just a missing persons case and not officially declared dead. My family and I were going through so much, and had no idea what had happened and here you are, recalling all the details that led up to the night he disappeared."

"Ricky—"

"That whole time, you knew what happened to him, at least partly. You knew what happened to him."

"What was I supposed to do?!" Luke said, defensively. "Tell my best friend that I may have had something to do with his brothers' disappearance?!"

"And you know what else is fucked?" I continued. "This past year, after his remains were thought to be found; you all felt responsible. You felt like you killed my brother and you guys just... carried on being my friend. Going to his wake. Speaking on memories. Pretending like you didn't think he was scum."