See No Evil

something stupid again. Everything he said that humiliated me, the things he made me do, the way he made me feel, it was all to get me to be stupid so he could get control of my money. I realized then how truly evil he was, about how I’d love for him to be dead. I wrote that e-mail out of anger, and I think Victor was surprised that I didn’t act out. It empowered me and I realized it wasn’t that long before I would get my trust fund and could leave. I’ll be eighteen the day before I graduate from high school. Thirteen months. And the day I graduate I’m flying to Europe with all my money and never setting foot in that house again.”

She crossed her arms, cheeks flushed, eyes bright with determination, her inner fortitude revealing itself. She looked more like Julia now than before.

Connor asked, “Did you ever reveal your identity to the Wishlist group?”

She vigorously shook her head. “Never.”

“Sometimes,” Connor continued, “you reveal yourself in small ways. Not your name or address or school, but maybe some of your history. For example, vandalizing the courthouse. If you mentioned that in the group, someone might have figured out who you were.”

“Are you saying that someone in my group killed Victor?”

“We don’t know,” he quickly said, “and you shouldn’t talk about it. We’re looking into everything right now.”

“Are you a cop again?”

“No. Your aunt hired me.”

“Jules?” Her eyes widened. “She must be worried.”

“She’s tough,” Connor said. “She wants to make sure you’re protected.”

“She thinks I’m guilty,” Emily said softly.

“No, she doesn’t.”

“Then why hire a lawyer for me?”

“To protect your rights.”

Emily looked at Dillon. “Isn’t that why you’re here?”

“Yes,” Dillon said, “but I’m not an attorney. Julia hired Ms. Jones because she wants to make sure no one can hurt you. Trust me on this. She doesn’t think you had anything to do with Victor’s murder.”

“How can she not? I had everything to do with it. I’m the one who wrote the e-mail in the first place. I set things in motion.” She looked from Dillon to Connor and said defiantly, “But I’m not upset he’s dead.”

“Emily, this is important. Has anyone from Wishlist tried to meet with you in person? Either at your house or a public place?”

“No, never.”

“You said Dr. Bowen put you in contact with this group. How?”

“He gave me an e-mail address and a code word.”

“Do you remember the code word?”

“A Bible verse. Isaiah 35:4. I remember because he said I had to put in the colon for it to work. I wasn’t going to because I really didn’t want him knowing things about me, but he promised it was completely anonymous and he’d never bring it up in our sessions, that he didn’t know who most of the people on the loop were and he wasn’t the only shrink who referred people to the group.”

Connor touched Emily’s cheek. “You’re strong, kid. We’re going to get through this, okay?”

“What’s going to happen to me? Am I going to be arrested?”

“We’re doing everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Dillon and Connor left Emily’s room and Connor said, “I’ll bet they have a Bible somewhere in the hospital. The verse might mean something.”

Dillon shook his head. “Twelve years of Catholic school and you don’t know the verse?”

“In one ear.” Connor shrugged.

Dillon quoted, “Say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.’”

Faye didn’t mind playing hooky from school because she was always bored in class. Though she and Skip went to the same school-Robbie attended a different private school in downtown San Diego-they drove separately to the La Jolla beach. Cami was already there, but they had to wait for Robbie.

“He’d better be clean,” Cami warned.

“He is,” Skip said. “He has a twenty-minute drive. Give him a break.”

Robbie was late but sober, and Cami went through the plan meticulously. Her excitement surprised Faye. She hadn’t been nearly as excited about the previous murders. But Faye wasn’t as sure about this one.

The victim was too close to home.

“Skip, you have the gun, right?”

“Check.”

“Loaded?”

He looked at Cami, his mouth tight with anger. “I’m not stupid, Cami. Don’t treat me like an idiot.”

“That’s not what I-”

“Right.” Skip rolled his eyes.

Faye interjected. “We can’t start arguing. This is serious.”

“Exactly,” Cami said, crossing her arms over her ample chest. “This is the pinnacle of the plan. Once we execute it, we’ll be truly free of him. It’s perfect.”

“No plan is perfect,” Robbie said, speaking up for the first time.

“You’re not using again, are you?” Cami asked, an undercurrent of anger in her tone.

“Not now.”

“You have to stay clean. At least through tomorrow night. I can’t have you screw this up.”

“I won’t.” He glared at Cami. “I have it under control.”

“You’d better.” She turned away, but Faye didn’t miss the anger in Skip’s eyes. All directed at Cami. She feared he knew what she and Cami had discussed yesterday. At least Cami’s part of the conversation.

She took Robbie’s hand. She didn’t want to kill him. She really didn’t want to kill him. “It’s okay,” she said softly. “I’ll handle Cami.”

He softened a bit. “She’s a bitch,” he muttered under his breath.

Robbie didn’t understand Cami like Faye did, but that was okay. Faye knew how to control her friend, that was all that mattered.

“There’ll be a lot of security, so we ditch the gun.”

“Why?”

“You don’t want to be caught with it,” Cami said as if Robbie was an idiot. “It’s part of the plan.”

“I still don’t think it’s a good idea to connect the judge’s death with this,” Skip said.

“It’s a perfect idea. The police will never know what’s happening. It’s our swan song, as they say. And if anything goes wrong, you know the escape plan.”

“It’s risky.”

“That’s the thrill!” Cami stood and paced, kicking sand up with her bare feet. “If I can’t trust you guys, I’ll do it myself!”

Faye got up and touched Cami on the arm. “Cam, they’re just getting out the fear. Remember what we talked about? If we go into it scared, we’ll make a mistake. Talking purges the fear.”

Cami nodded, frowning. “Maybe we should do it alone. Just you and me. Alone.” She glared at the two boys sitting in the sand a distance away.

Faye shook her head. “We need all four of us for the plan to work. You know that.”

Cami sighed. “I’m just excited and nervous.”

“It’s going to work. But not if we start turning on each other.” She frowned at Skip and Robbie. “That goes for you two as well.”

If they looked at her with a sense of awe or wonder that she seemed to be taking over Cami’s role as leader, Faye barely noticed. She was emboldened after being with her secret lover last night, especially since Cami didn’t know about the relationship, or their history. After all, Faye had been his first recruit, not Cami. He had only sent Cami to “recruit” Faye in order to give Cami a sense of control and power.