This Is How It Ends

Clothes were in heaps on the floor, a lot of them visibly dirty. Dresser drawers hung open; the bed was unmade, with sheets that looked badly in need of washing. I didn’t want to think about that.

Some of the mess in the room might have been from the police—their little notes and numbers and fingerprint dust were everywhere—but I guessed most of it was probably just the way Nat’s dad had lived.

I sifted through some stuff on the nightstand, then opened the drawer. There was a picture of Natalie in there. I picked it up, realizing my mistake as soon as I saw the clothes. Not Natalie, just someone who looked nearly identical. Her mom. It had to be. She was standing beside a muscle car, had her hand on the hood, was laughing into the camera. She was little like Nat, petite but not fragile-looking. She looked sweet. Not like someone who’d abandon her daughter. Don’t judge a book by its cover, I guess.

I slipped it into my backpack and opened the closet. More clothes on the floor, empty food cartons. There was a cardboard box toward the back. The police had dusted and opened it, I saw. I lifted the flaps and realized what the cops must have—this hadn’t been touched in at least ten years. It had nothing to do with the crime but held just the things Natalie would probably want to keep. Letters from her dad to her mom. Pictures of their wedding.

I checked the rest of the room but figured Nat wouldn’t want any of the trash or filth or the random pair of women’s underwear I found. I tossed the photo of her mom into the box, along with another of the three of them at Christmas that Nat had asked for. I didn’t see the crystal vase she wanted anywhere, and I could feel my lunch threatening again, so I hauled everything out and joined the girls on the front lawn, waiting for Trip and Sarah to finish.

CHAPTER 17

WE LOADED THE BOX AND two trash bags full of Natalie’s stuff into the trunk of Trip’s car and drove to Lu’s town house at the mountain.

Trip carried the box and I grabbed the bags when we got there, following the girls in. There weren’t a lot of people in town who could afford to live in the complex right at the base. Mostly weekenders owned the homes there, using them only when the snow fell, but Lu’s family had some kind of fishing company back in Sweden they’d run for generations. She was a shareholder or partner or something, which gave her more than enough money to buy pretty much whatever she wanted in Buford. She was also one of the hardest-working and nicest people in town. It hadn’t surprised anyone when she’d insisted on taking Nat in, not because Nat was the team’s star skier but because Lu had known Nat since she was six, and it was just the kind of thing she’d do. Lu had driven to the police station as soon as she’d heard about Mr. Cleary, and hadn’t left until they’d turned Natalie over to her.

Inside, it was bright and warm, all the lights in the living room on and Lu tucked into a corner of the sofa with a book. She stood when she saw us.

“Hey, hot stuff,” Trip said. He could get away with that, having skied for Lu until he was twelve.

“Hey, yourself,” Lu answered, walking immediately to Natalie. “You okay?”

Nat nodded and then burst into tears.

“Shhh,” Lu soothed, enveloping Nat in a hug. She stroked Nat’s back, raising her eyebrows questioningly at us.

Trip shook his head solemnly. Lu nodded and led Natalie to the sofa, folded her into the corner.

“Stay here, hon,” she said. “Trip and . . .” She looked at me.

“Riley,” I supplied.

She nodded. “Let me show you where to put Natalie’s things. If one of you girls wants to make her some tea, it’s in the cupboard over the stove,” she told Tannis and Sarah.

We followed Lu up a flight of soft carpeted stairs while Tannis headed for the small kitchen and Sarah took a spot beside Natalie.

“What happened?” Lu asked once we were in the room where Natalie was staying. It was just as clean as her room at the trailer, but soft and new and inviting. I was glad Natalie had somewhere like this. It felt safe and about a million miles removed from where we’d just been.

“The police hadn’t cleaned up anything,” Trip said.

Lu’s eyes went wide. “No.”

Trip nodded.

“That doesn’t sound like Bob Willets,” she said. “He’s got more sense than that.”

“I’d have thought so too,” I agreed. “I don’t know who Nat actually talked to.”

“Bureaucratic oversight?” Lu asked.

“Maybe.”

“Well, it’s a pretty damn huge one.” Lu set her mouth in a grim line. “Okay. Let’s get her mind off it.”

We played Yahtzee and Scrabble for hours. Lu kicked everyone’s butts. Tannis came in last because she was stuck with a tray full of Es, at least according to her. Lu made us all hot chocolate, and by then Natalie looked a lot more relaxed.

So of course Tannis had to ask, “Did being there—back home—jog your memory at all, Nat?”

Nat blanched, and I saw her hand tremble. Lu frowned at Tannis, but she was oblivious.

“I don’t know,” Nat said softly. “I keep trying to remember stuff . . . but there’s just . . .” She shook her head. “Nothing. Obviously someone was there. But I don’t know who.”

“It’s probably good you don’t,” Sarah said.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if you had come out . . .”

“Oh!” Nat clapped a hand to her mouth. “You mean I might have . . .”

Sarah nodded. “Been a victim.”

“God,” Natalie said. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“Do you think she’s in any danger?” Tannis asked.

“What kind of danger?” Lu said.

“Well, everyone knows now that she was there. What if the killer thinks she knows something . . .”

“I think you’ve been watching too much TV, Tannis,” I said.

Trip cocked his head. “I don’t know. I mean, I think if someone were after her, she’d already know it, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Lu said firmly. “I think that’s true. Natalie’s perfectly safe. And will continue to be.”

We all nodded, and I couldn’t help feeling that, regardless of a killer lurking in Buford, Lu was right. Nat Cleary was probably safer now than she’d ever been before.

CHAPTER 18

I WAITED UNTIL THE END of physics on Wednesday to talk to Mr. Ruskovich. The closet was still firmly locked, though Mr. Ruskovich had said he was considering reopening it, if we felt up to it. Everyone had nodded and Matty added an enthusiastic, “Definitely!” Our physics lessons over the past week had been uncharacteristically boring. Matty and Chuck practically ran out of the room each day when the bell rang. I hadn’t asked Matty about Tannis again, and he hadn’t asked me about the SATs—an unspoken truce. I almost wished he would ask so I could tell him I’d finally registered, though I still felt guilty enough about it that I hadn’t even confessed to my mom. I was hoping she wouldn’t notice.