Heartless》Good Girls

Eleven

I drove up to Beth's house. I turned off the car before I slowly started banging my head on the steering wheel. My eyes were dried up from all the crying. But if I was going to die then that means Finn would still be stuck in that dreadful place. I couldn't be able to bail him out and I'll never see him again. I took a shaky breath as I got out of the car.

"How much is there?" I heard Annie ask as I entered the house.

"Same as yesterday," Ruby said.

"Costa Rica?"

"Bugs."

"We cannot run. We have families," Beth argued. Then she saw me and her mouth flew open. "Perrie, what happened?"

I shook my head. "Nothing," I said as I plopped my ass on the couch.

Ruby gave me a look. "Really? Because the only time we see you cry is if something is really bothering you."

"It might be the fact that we're about to die," Annie suggested before continuing typing on the laptop. "How about China?"

"Earthquakes."

Annie gave Ruby a look. "That's your big issue with China?"

"You have a better problem with China?"

Beth got up and sat next to me. "What happened, Perrie?" she asked as Ruby and Annie continued with their bickering.

"I talked to Finn, for what's probably going to be the last time," I admitted. Shit, this isn't supposed to happen. We were supposed to go on with our everyday lives. I was gonna raise the money at that crappy job so Finn could get out.

"You told him not to come down here, did you?" Beth asked worryingly. "He doesn't need to be part of any of this."

"You don't have to worry about Finn coming down here..." I sighed again as I placed my elbows on my knees and held my hands together. "Finn's in...Finn's in jail."

"What?!" the girls exclaimed.

"Baby Finn, the one who would run around in a Superman cape with his underwear on his head, is in jail?" Ruby asked in disbelief. "What did he do? Did he return some lady her bag and the cops thought he was robbing her?"

See, this is what I mean. The girls know the kind of person Finn is and what they cops think he did... it was just sick. All that trouble they caused him. All the trama.

"No," I began.

"Then what is he in for?" Annie wondered as we heard a few pings coming from the laptop.

"First-degree murder."

"What?!" the girls yelled.

"That's impossible," Beth protested. "Finn isn't able to hurt anybody. Let alone kill someone."

"I know, I know," I agreed. "That's because Finn didn't do it."

"Who did he kill?" Annie wondered. Ruby, Beth, and I gave her a look. "What? I didn't say he actually did the deed but if there was an off chance he did -"

"He didn't."

"Right, because we didn't rob a convenient store that had money stow away from some gangbanger," she retorted sarcastically. "What if Finn actually did it?"

"He didn't kill anybody!" I sneered. "Finn isn't capable of killing anyone. He didn't murder Leslie -"

Ruby held her hand up. "Hold on. Leslie? As in his girlfriend, Leslie?" I nodded. "The one he wanted to marry one day?" I nodded again. "The same girl who makes better cookies than Beth?"

"Hey!" Beth complained.

I motioned my hands out to Ruby. "Yes! Exactly! Finn's being framed."

"How do you know?" Annie asked.

"Because he was with me the night it happened!" I placed my hands on my head. I guess I wasn't all tear out because I felt myself crying again. My breathing coming out irregularly. "That night, Finn and I went to the movies. I asked Finn if he's staying over at Leslie's. He nodded and wanted to surprise her with flowers because that was when he was going to ask her to move in with him. You know how Finn is old fashioned. He loves a girl and dates her. Then he asks her to move in. He thought the moment was right because they were dating for six months.

"We were at the flower shop when his phone rang. I don't know what that phone call said...but I never see Finn look so worried. He dragged me towards Leslie's house and we burst through the room." I shut my eyes as I saw all that blood. That corpse staring right at us. "We found Leslie's body on the floor. Her neck was slit right open and there was a knife lodge right in her chest."

"What the hell?" Ruby breathed.

I sniffled. "The cops came like twenty seconds later. I don't know how they knew we were there. They arrested me and Finn. They didn't have any evidence against me but they had Finn's fingerprints on the murder weapon."

"Did you tell them he was with you?" Beth asked.

"I did. That was the first thing I did. They didn't listen to me. They thought I was trying to cover up for him. But they said they had a recording of Finn calling someone saying he was going to kill that bitch. The only time Finn talks like that is if he's playing Call of Duty and he's losing. Whoever did it made it seem like Finn called them."

"How long ago was that?"

"Three years ago."

"Three years?!" Ruby shouted. "Finn's been locked up for three years. Why didn't you tell us? We could have testified."

"I didn't want to bring anyone of you guys into this. I know how much you guys love my little brother and I didn't want any of you to think of him differently."

Beth reached over and rubbed my shoulder. "Hey. It's going to be fine." She continued rubbing my shoulder. "Who else knows?"

I wiped my eyes again. "That's another problem."

"Does Steve know?" Annie asked. I shook my head. "What about -"

I nodded. "Yeah. He kind of threatened to tell you guys about him."

"That son of a bitch."

"Well, there's no point now, is there? He's coming to kill all of us!"

"Maybe he won't if you..."

"I'm not sleeping with him!" I shouted at the same time Beth yelled, "She's not sleeping with him!" Then there was another ping coming from the laptop.

"Who keeps IMing you?" Beth asked in annoyance.

"Oh, I put Hans up on eBay," Annie said as she continued typing on her computer.

"Who's Hans?" Ruby asked.

"It better be that stupid character from Frozen," I mumbled. How dare he use Anna like that?

Annie held up a small antique figuring. "The little drummer boy I stole from Boomer's granny." She looked at me. "Doesn't it still shock you that Boomer's Steve's cousin. Talk about a weird family tree."

"Annie, that is an heirloom," Beth scolded.

Ruby scoffed. "Who's she gonna pass it down to? Alba? Or her only one-quarter Mexican grandchildren?" I let out a soft chuckle.

"Holy Mother," Annie breathed.

"What?" I asked.

"Hans is up to eight G's!"

"What?" I bolted out of the couch and stood behind me. My eyes widen as I saw the price going up. "Holy fucking shit."

"Did you take anything else?" Beth asked.

Maybe our asses could finally be safe.