Her face turns a milky green.
“You really don’t want to be on my bad side—”
“YourdadandSpidergotinafight.” She slams her hand over her mouth as if she wishes to shove the words back into her face.
Too late. They’re out and I heard every single mashed up syllable. “How bad?”
She swallows hard and her eyes turn glossy. “Your dad has a broken—”
“Not him. Theodore. Is he okay?”
She steps closer to me, but I hold up my hand to keep her back.
An unstable vibration buzzes at the base of my spine and the urge to maim and destroy rides me hard.
“He’s okay.”
“I’m leaving.” I head for my purse and keys only to have Rowan chase after me to gather her own.
“I’m driving.”
My gaze snaps to hers. “No, you’re not coming with—”
Her brows lift high. “I’m driving. Now hurry. If we leave now we’ll be there before the sun comes up.”
The next few minutes are a blur as I grab my things and we lock up the café.
“Come on, we’ll take my car.”
I glare at my dad’s truck, thinking I’d love to send it over the Los Angeles Bridge on our way out of town, but my worry for Theodore wins out and I don’t have a minute to waste. She cranks the engine and her wheels squeal as we pull out of the parking garage and head for the freeway.
Inside her small, ancient car it’s mostly dark except for the few dashboard lights that work, and even though it’s quiet the unspoken tension that expands between us is deafening.
Once we hit the I-10 East the silence becomes too much and I ask, “Do you know what happened?”
“No. Carey only said they got in a fight at the hotel. I guess it was pretty bad, and it took four guys to separate them.”
I look at Rowan in the dark. “You’re the only person I know, so I have to ask you this.”
She smiles sweetly.
“I might need you to help me bury a body in the desert.”
The car swerves a little, and I turn to look at the large expanse of empty, dry land, the perfect place to hide a body in the dead of night.
“You can’t kill your dad—”
“I can.”
“—without a solid plan.”
I look at her and the weirdest thing happens to my face. Made even weirder by the circumstances, I smile. A genuine smile.
She shrugs. “What? I watch Unsolved Mysteries, I know how it works.”
“I’m listening.”
“First off, Spider can’t know about it. After their fight, he’ll be the number one suspect and he needs to pass a polygraph so he can’t be involved on any level. Second, we’ll need to make it look like an accident. You’ll need an alibi and can you cry on command? Because that’ll be a must.”
As Rowan goes on about the plan to murder my dad, the urge to commit homicide slowly fades and is replaced by something new. Unfamiliar yet comfortable.
I think what I’m feeling is…friendship.
Chapter Twenty-One
Emery
Rowan was right. We pulled up to the Tempe Hilton before sunrise. The lobby is mostly empty save for the employees and a handful of early risers at the coffee cart.
I head straight for the elevator doors but Rowan snags my arm and redirects me to the front desk. “We don’t know which room they’re in and we should try to get a key.”
“They aren’t going to just give us a key.”
“Trust me.” Her light brown eyes are firm on mine.
“Okay.” What other options do we have except bang on every door in the hotel or sit around and wait for Carey or Theodore to wake up and answer their phones?
“Good morning.” The guy behind the check-in counter is our age, clean cut, plastic smile, and his nametag says Thad. I’d guess he’s a student at the University, he looks like the hotel management degree type. “How can I help you?”
“Ugh,” Rowan says dramatically. “I feel so dumb. I left my room super early this morning to pick my friend here up at the airport.” She motions to me.
I smile and try to make it look authentic. The guy cringes a little, his own smile falls, and I realize I’m baring my teeth. I tone it down, give my head a tilt and bat my eyelashes until his grin returns.
“Anyway…I just realized I can’t find my room key. I must’ve left it in the room.”
“No problem,” he says. “If I could just get your ID, I’ll get you a new key card.”
She sucks in air through her teeth. “Yeah, so that’s the other problem. My purse is in the room too.”
“Oh.” He frowns. “What’s your room number—”
“I’m so stupid!” She drops her forehead to the granite countertop with a thud that sounds like it hurt. “Stupid, stupid, stupid!”
The guy shifts uncomfortably as she calls the attention of the rest of lobby. “You’re not stupid, it happens—”
“Now we’re locked out.” She lifts and drops her forehead again, and again. “And my medication is in there!” She hits her head again on the counter.
I cringe at the reverberating thump that rattles the countertop with each drop of her head all while thinking that I way underestimated Rowan. The girl is savage.
“What time is it?” she says in a voice filled with panic.
“It’s five thirty in the morning.” The man looks like he doesn’t know whether to help her or run for safety.
“Five thirty?” I say, raising my voice. “Did you say five-thirty?” I widen my eyes, and cautiously bring my palm to Rowan’s back. “If she doesn’t take her medication by six we are going to have a serious medical emergency, Thad.” I hear Rowan snort-giggle then clear her throat and moan dramatically. “We need to get into our room immediately. Do you have 911 on speed dial?”
Thad’s face pales and he types furiously on his computer. “What is the name on your room?”
“Carey Slade,” Rowan says from under a curtain of red hair as she continues to roll
