“I know what you mean,” Monica said dryly, then smiled to soften her words. “And I think this is a great idea. It gives me a reason to get moving with fixing up the lodge and a reason to tell my sons about my plans. Thank you, Stella.”
“Thank you. And don’t worry; I’ll gather lots of willing hands to help.”
“When should we get started? The swimming season’s just about over,” Monica pointed out. “Besides, the Founder’s Prize will be handed out soon.”
Stella laughed to hide her chagrin. “Am I that transparent? I really do want to help the teens in town, but I have to admit my uncle has been pestering me to do something to try to win the prize.”
Monica waved her off. “I understand, and I’m all for it. Why don’t we get together tomorrow night to flesh out a plan—unless you have a hot date.”
“No hot date,” Stella said. “Besides, I’d rather work on this. Remember to think what you’ll charge us for the venue. No, don’t wave me away. It’s important, and you can use the funds to get ready to reopen. Fixing up all your cottages and treehouses won’t be cheap.”
“That’ll be my sons’ problem,” Monica said.
“Great. The creeper’s back,” Lily said loudly when Steel ambled into the pit again midafternoon. He’d hoped to see Troy, but something told him the man would be elusive for a while. He’d taken a risk talking to Steel at all, and Steel wondered if he was a spokesman for the other dealers. Maybe all of them were feeling the heat because of the overdose deaths.
“You’re kind of creepy yourself always hanging around here,” Steel shot back. He needed to find a way to talk to these girls if he was going to protect them. Maybe he’d been too reserved before. Maybe he should lighten up. Try to be more like them. Now that Troy had confirmed that other people were asking questions about why girls were dying, he felt like he’d been vindicated in that, at least. He wasn’t the only one who thought there was a killer.
An inside job.
“Whatever.” Lily turned to her friends, and once again, Steel got the feeling the trio of them were watching for someone. Someone who wasn’t turning up, if their irritation was anything to go by. As Steel took a seat on a chunk of concrete from the old colliery foundation, carefully keeping his face turned away, as if he had nothing better to do than watch a spider weave a web between nearby weeds, he heard them talking about the time and whether to leave or stay.
“He’ll come,” Sue said loudly.
“Not if he’s still here,” Lily hissed.
Were they talking about him? Steel tried another gambit. “A girl like you turned up dead a few days back. Is she one of your friends? Rena Klein.”
Sue groaned but didn’t look up from the phone she held in her hand. “Rena Klein, Rena Klein—that’s all anyone talks about these days.”
“Maybe because she was fooling around with things she shouldn’t have and overdosed. Maybe people don’t want it happening to someone else—like you three. You should find somewhere else to hang out.”
Lily turned on him. “Are you really going to hand out life advice, creeper? You’re a fucking dealer, right?”
Steel just shrugged. Don’t admit anything, that was his motto.
“Besides, life’s cheap. You gotta die sometime.”
Spoken like a hard case, but Lily wasn’t some street kid. Those shoes she was scuffing in the rubble of the pit had cost a pretty penny.
Sue was still looking at her phone. Had she even heard the conversation? Lily was watching the street. Lara was watching Lily.
“Do you know where Rena got her drugs?” Steel asked. It was a gamble, but he’d been getting nowhere with them, and his conversations with Stella and Troy had lit a fire under him.
Lily’s mouth formed an O of surprise, but then her expression hardened into that fake tough veneer she liked to sport. Lara blinked but kept watching Lily, obviously waiting to take her cue from her friend.
“Why do you care about a dumb addict like her, anyway?” Lily asked.
“You never hung out with her?”
Lily shrugged, surprising him. He’d only wanted to verify that Rena hadn’t been one of their friends, but that shrug seemed to suggest something else.
“You had a falling out with her recently?”
“I didn’t drug her to death, if that’s what you mean.” Lily stood up. “We should go,” she said to Lara and Sue. Sue waved her away, typing rapidly on her phone.
“Who’s texting you?” Lara asked her, leaning over the screen. Sue yanked it away.
“None of your business!” She stood, too. “I’ve gotta go. Mom’s coming to pick me up.”
“Your mom—here?” Lily asked, surprised enough she dropped the tough act and looked like the teenager she was.
“Couple blocks from here. See you.” Sue rushed away, leaving her friends staring after her.
“That was weird,” Lara said. “We’d better go. My mom was pissed last time.”
“That was weird,” Lily echoed, but she didn’t move. She frowned when she noticed Steel was still there. “Get out of here, creeper.”
“So you used to be friends with Rena,” he pressed. “I heard she was a good kid. Nice girl.” He shrugged as if to say, How did she end up here?
Lily barked out a bitter laugh. “You don’t know anything about her. Or us.”
“What should I know?”
For one split second he thought she might tell him something real. Then she looked after the diminishing figure of her friend striding away and shook her head.
“Nothing. Come on, Lara.”
Steel watched them go, thinking that even if Lily hadn’t spilled her guts, she’d let some information slip. She, Lara and Sue knew Rena, which made sense since Chance Creek was such a small place. Once upon a time, they’d been friends, but at some point, Lily had begun to see Rena as an adversary. Or maybe a rival? Weren’t girls always jockeying for position among their groups of
