The Body Finder

throughout the meal, and she jumped up to follow Violet out of the cafeteria.

They walked for almost a full sixty seconds before Chelsea actually said anything, even though Violet knew, without a doubt, that it was coming.

“I like new-Jay,” Chelsea finally announced, as though she was making a simple observation rather than trying to pry information out of her friend.

“Shut up.” Violet groaned, unable to completely hide her smile at Chelsea’s absurd comment. Still, she didn’t feel inclined to share her problems with Chelsea.

“Don’t get me wrong, Vi. I still like old-Jay better; I’m just saying that new-Jay’s not so bad. Plus, at least he had the balls to ask you to the dance. That’s something that old-Jay couldn’t seem to manage.”

“He’s not new-Jay,” Violet insisted, stopping at her locker to grab her notebook. “Jay’s just pissed off at me right now. He’ll get over it. Besides, I already told you that we’re just friends.”

“Which one? New-Jay or old-Jay?”

Violet rolled her eyes as she slammed the metal door shut. “Both.” She turned on her heel and left Chelsea standing alone by the row of lockers. And then she called back over her shoulder. “Besides…there is no new-Jay.”

It took Violet only a moment to register the fact that Jay was standing right there in the hallway, just a few feet away from her and within earshot of her entire conversation with Chelsea, although she couldn’t be sure how long he’d been standing there. Still, she was mortified that he’d caught her talking about him at all.

She ignored the blazing look he flashed in her direction as she hurried past him, escaping to her next class…and trying to ignore the fact that he would be sitting right next to her.

The next two days went by with Jay giving her the silent treatment and Grady paying her extra attention. It was like some bizarre alternate universe, where up meant down and yes meant no.

Violet didn’t mind Jay avoiding her, because, for the time being, it gave her time to work on the new plan she’d come up with, one that she knew he would never help her with. But the extra attention from Grady was another story altogether. He was starting to get on her nerves, following her around like some hyperactive puppy that was always underfoot. And it always seemed that he was one step ahead of her… reaching her classrooms before she could slip past him and disappear into the crowded hallways, waiting for her at her usual table in the cafeteria, and even meeting her at her car after school so he could have just a few more minutes with her.

It was starting to become obvious that Grady wasn’t completely interested in being just another one of Violet’s friends. She was sure now that he wanted more, and she blamed Jay’s absence for Grady’s increased bravado in searching her out during school hours. She was afraid that if Jay didn’t start talking to her again soon, Grady might decide that the school day wasn’t enough and start making after-school visits to her house. As it was, he’d started calling her all the time. She wasn’t sure how many messages her voice mail could hold.

Recently, the very thought of going to the dance with Grady made Violet’s skin itch, as if she might be breaking out in hives-or more likely a bad case of second thoughts.

In an effort to ignore Grady’s enthusiastic interest, Violet turned her own attention to the details of her new plan. The idea had first occurred to her during the unusually quiet ride home from the mall with Jay. She knew for certain that just wandering through public places in search of echoes was a mistake. There were too many variables involved, too many people who had killed without malice, either by occupation or by sport. She realized then that she was going to have to narrow her search somehow.

She already knew she would recognize the imprint left behind by the girl at the lake. She had seen it for herself, and she knew that whoever he was, he would be carrying that radiantly oil-like film around him, the same way the girl in the water had. But that was a visual echo, which meant it would be useful only if Violet found herself face-to-face with the killer. It would be nearly impossible to track from any distance.

She needed more information. And there was only one way to get it.

She was going to have to figure out just what echo the other girl, Brooke Johnson, had left behind. And, in turn, had left on the killer.

For someone like Violet, someone who could sense the energy remnants of murder, a graveyard was a difficult place to go. So far, at least as far as she knew anyway, burying a body seemed to bring a sense of peace, releasing its echo into something less…intense. But her experience was limited, experimental at best, and she’d always been afraid that maybe her theories were wrong.

So Violet generally tried to avoid places where the chances of encountering echoes would be the greatest-graveyards, hospitals with morgues, funeral homes-on the off chance that she might sense something there that was more than she could bear. Her parents had shielded her from that possibility, even going so far as to leave her at home when they went to her grandmother’s burial. And that had been just three years ago.

But now, with Hailey McDonald still out there somewhere, Violet felt a sense of responsibility that far outweighed any fear-real or imagined-of her own potential sensory discomforts. She might just be the only person who could find this guy, and she wasn’t about to ignore that possibility.

If she was going to find out what Brooke’s echo was, she would have to go to the cemetery where Brooke was buried.

The concept was simple enough, but actually pulling it off was another thing altogether. Her parents practically had her on maximum-security lockdown. She felt like she was doing hard time. And with the absence of Jay as her guardian and protector, they didn’t seem to be inclined to let Violet out of their sight for more than five minutes at a time.

Jay would have been the perfect accomplice, except for the annoying fact that he refused to speak to her. That, and after her little stunt at the mall, there was no way she was going to convince him to help her again. She was more afraid that if he knew what she was still planning to do, he would try to stop her…even if it meant ratting her out to her parents.

Violet had gone around and around with ideas of how she could sneak away for an afternoon, discarding each one in turn as she realized that if she got caught in a lie-even one of omission-she would probably never see the light of day again.

Okay, maybe a little dramatic, but not completely implausible.

When the answer finally came to her, she felt a little dense for not thinking of it sooner. It was the perfect excuse, and no one, not even her parents, would know the truth. Even her companion would be oblivious to his role in her deceit. It was foolproof.

She dialed Grady from her brand-new cell phone, the first useful purpose it had served since she’d gotten it.

He answered his phone on the first ring, his voice enthusiastic. Violet cringed a little. After they exchanged some small talk, she plunged right into her plan.

She laid out her words carefully, following the script she’d prepared in her head before placing the call.

“Anyway, I was calling because with everything that’s been going on, I haven’t even had a chance to visit Brooke’s grave yet, and I feel terrible about it,” Violet explained as sincerely as she could.

“Man, I didn’t even know you guys were friends.”

“Yeah. We played softball and soccer together when we were younger, and even though we didn’t see each other much, I was still devastated when I heard…you know…” She tried to sound broken up, like she couldn’t finish her sentence. She wished she were one of those girls who could cry on