Page 100 of The Executioners Three
“Definitely not,” Cat chimed. She planted her hands on her hips. “We don’t need your help, Freddie, and we don’t want it.”
“Are you serious right now? Isacrificedmyself to the sheriff earlier so you and Kyle could get away, and this is how you treat me?”
Cat cringed, but before she could answer, Kyle declared, “That was before we caught you hooking up with the enemy.” His lips curled back and Freddie wondered how she had ever found him cute. “Now we’ve seen your true colors.”
“Fortin Prep colors,” Luis added.
To which Freddie could do nothing but gape—becausehowcould this be happening right now? “Laina is missing,” she sputtered at them, “and you guys are worried about some stupid rivalry?”
“Stupid?” Cat repeated. “You’re part of it, remember? You were the Prank Wizard!”
“Of course I remember!” Freddie opened her arms. “But none of that matters right now. Divya, tell them that I can help you find Laina.” She whirled toward her best friend.
But as soon as she caught sight of Divya, she knew her best friend couldn’t help her. It was clear from the slant of Divya’s brow that shewantedto… but she was also thrust into a terrible choice. Freddie had the knowledge; Kyle had the transportation; and right now, speed mattered most.
Freddie understood this. “Fortin Prep,” she said softly. “Start there, Divya. At the crypt. It’s easier to search, and Laina said she’s gone there before. After that, check the gravestones from earlier. But be careful. I mean, really careful. Those woods are not safe.”
Divya gave her a sad smile. “Thanks.” She turned to go.
“Wait.”
Divya glanced back. “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.” Divya shook her head. “And I’m sorry you were too afraid to tell me about Theo.”
“Call me if Laina’s not at Fortin Prep, okay?”
“Yeah.” Divya wet her lips. “I’ll call you when we find her.”
Freddie didn’t watch the Jeep leave. She didn’t watch her best friend walk away or her ex-squad vanish into the snow. For one, she was freezing and just wanted to get inside. Even slipping back into Theo’s blazer hadn’t been enough to fight the cold.
For two, there was justso muchshe had to do now. Film to be developed, theories to be spun, and evidence to be catalogued. Plus, if Laina wasn’t at the mausoleum or at the gravestones in the county park, then Freddie needed to figure out where else to send the Prank Squad.
She pushed into the Frame & Foto, briefly reveling in the heat that blasted against her. After grabbing Xena and the film roll, she headed for the darkroom. Never had she been so grateful for the silence of the store as she was right now—nor for the pungent odor of the darkroom’s chemicals, its familiar canisters and sinks and clothespins. She was safe here; she was alone; she had work to do.
Because for all that she had briefly related to what Mulder had said about science providing no place to start, it was Scully’s response that Freddie always relied on:Nothing happens in contradiction to nature, only in contradiction to what we know of it. And that’s a place to start.
Nothing might make sense right now, but Freddie had heaps more information to work with than she’d had a few hours ago. And that was absolutely a place to start.
Freddie yanked a piece of paper from the laser printer in the corner. Then she plopped onto a stool beside the nearest stretch of counter and plucked up a pencil.
“You want people who keep journals,” Bowman had told Freddie the summer before. “They’re always the best for accuracy because they’re used to writing down the memories of their day. They’re used to taking notice and turning it into words. So, if there’s ever something that you want to remember, Gellar, write it down.”
Freddie did exactly that, starting as early in the day as she could. With Sheriff Bowman showing up at the school. Then the woods. Then Laina and the candle and the words she’d been saying (Freddie hadnoidea how to spell French, so she just wrote it down phonetically).Juh sweez eessee.Next, she wrote down everything that Laina had said in Divya’s bedroom, about sleepwalking. About seeing a counselor from out of town.
Then came Mrs. Ferris. Then came her attic and all the weird stuff in the secret room.EverythingFreddie could remember, she scrawled down. Sometimes, she’d jump back up to an earlier moment and write in an extra detail—the direction of the wind, the depth of the gravestones in the earth. Sometimes she’d shoot ahead, afraid to lose a memory if she didn’t scrawl it down right away.
Once all of today was recorded, she moved backward in time: every single moment from the past week she scribbled onto printer paper, from newspaper articles toThe Curse of Allard Fortinto even that dead smell that had filled up the archives. When she’d finished recording all her memories, she grabbed scissors and cut everything into individual sections.
Here was the information on the Executioners. Here was what had happened in the attic and what she’d found. Here was what she and Divya had seen on the tombstones. On and on, until she had several stacks and a lot of clues to work with.
Finally, Freddie grabbed tape and set to building herself a murder board on a stretch of blank wall. She lost all track of time. She was in the zone. She was doing the thing she’d been born to do—the thing that her dad had apparently been born to do too. He might have been a bad father, a bad boss, and a bad husband, but he’d been agreatdetective. And right now, what Berm needed was a detective.
Tamp down thoughts. Tamp down feelings. Focus on the task at hand.
When all the papers had been fastened to the wall, she stepped back and admired her handiwork. It was absolutely worthy of Fox Mulder’s messy office—and it was much easier to study and find connections this way.
