Page 114 of Web of Lies
“What about Zoe?” Seger asks, sitting forward, elbows on his knees.
“What about her?” Zepp retorts, making all our eyes fall on Seger.
“You think she’d have something to say about it all. I mean—she is fucking him after all.”
“You think she’s a part of it?” I ask, raising a brow.
My mind drifts back to the events of our B and E. The moaning, groaning, and slapping of skin. The way she followed him back to his office, standing outside of his door in hopes of what? In hopes, he would open and take her again?
“Could be,” Zepp says, shifting beneath me. “But we can’t just outright ask her. What if she tips him off, and he is the serial killer?”
Seger sighs, nodding his head. “Then we’d make it ten times worse on Kaycee. But what the fuck are we supposed to do? That’s our biggest lead, a fucking murder list, and now? Now we don’t have anyone to interrogate.”
“He’s right. It’s not like we can go to the cops with this either….”
“Yeah, dirty crooked bastards are in on it, probably. So….”
“We’re stuck,” I say with finality.
“Yeah,” Zepp agrees. “We’re stuck, but we’ll figure something out. I swear.”
“We could always start looking into their lives, see what maybe these people wanted with them? Maybe there is a link, besides how they died. Did they have any of the same friends?” Chase adds as we continue to spitball on what to do.
“We’ll look through each of their FlashGrams and see if there’s a link at all,” Zepp says, hugging his arms tight around me.
“And we’ll get Zoe’s phone, too. Maybe she has some evidence on there?” Chase suggests, and I nod again in agreement.
“Sounds better than kidnapping,” I say with a weak smile.
For the next few hours, we look through the victims’ lives. SpaceFace, FlashGram, and any other form of social media we can get our hands-on. Some victims still have their profiles up, but some families sadly closed them out, and I have no way to hack into closed profiles.
“Look at you.” Chase beams from beside me on the couch in my living room, pointing to an old photo of Eli and me smiling together. Before our first school dance, we celebrated our freshman year together. And oh boy—did we look young.
I lean my head against Chase’s shoulder, tracing over Eli’s boyish face. He still had some baby fat on his cheeks, puffing them out like a squirrel storing dinner. And me? Oh no. I wore a pink dress that night; it was a little too big for my tiny frame, but I loved it. I clutched onto Eli like a lifeline that night. Enormous crowds weren’t my thing then and even now. He made the rounds with me silently at his side, conversing with other people. Like we usually did, he did the talking, and I smiled along. It worked for us—two oddballs coming together as one.
It’s weird looking at our smiling faces. The happiness we felt together. Young and dumb, but not in love. He and I were great together. His personality was in stark contrast to mine, and he loved socializing, dragging me to parties and football games. I showed him my love for movies and video games, and we were a perfect balance between the two of us. I suppose his presence in my past proved helpful. He thrust me into situations that made me uncomfortable, and I grew as a person because of it. Anxiety ruled my younger self, and with him, he nurtured me, helped me grow. We may not have ended on good terms or had a future together, but we brought something to each other. Something important.
“Homecoming.” I try to hide the emotions inching up my throat, but my voice cracks, giving me away.
“I’m sorry,” Chase whispers, putting an arm around my shoulders. “You guys must have been close.” His body squeezes against mine.
“Yeah,” I sigh, “we were, we were best friends, but—I know he wanted more.”
“And you didn’t?” Zepp asks, putting a hand on my thigh.
I shrug. “I considered it, but his parents moved away. I told him I couldn’t do long distances; it would be too hard. We fought, and he left without a goodbye. And now….” Chase kisses the top of my head, breathing in the scent of my hair.
“I get it,” Zepp says, squeezing my thigh. “No closure.” I nod, staring down at the many pictures Eli had posted over the years since we had parted.
His smiling face grew leaner, more manly, and his body muscled. He made new friends and had many girlfriends at his new high school. Party pictures take up most of his page. Kids were hanging off the balconies of mansions and taking drunken swims. People always surrounded him, but that was him.
The boys grip me in support as I make my way through the many party pictures. I zoom in on a few, trying to take in the surrounding faces, looking for anyone familiar at all. Once I make it to the top row, my heart sinks. What if all these murdered souls were random after all? What if they had nothing in common, and we are on some wild goose chase with no end in sight? I sigh, taking the pictures one by one, zooming in and out of every background I can. We’ve been through so many of their profiles already.
“Hold on,” Zepp leans over my shoulder, pointing to a picture. “Zoom in on that one again.” There’s an urgency in his voice this time. I hand him the phone, leaning over so I can see whatever he sees.
“There,” he mutters, “do you have a picture enhancer on your computer?” I nod, take the phone back, and plug it in. Within two minutes, we are all huddled around the computer screen with our jaws on the floor.
“Fucking Piper,” Seger growls, pacing the room. “Of course, that psycho is in the picture with him, looking all weird.” I snort. Weird doesn’t even cover the long black wig and dark makeup she’s wearing. The only give away it’s her is the snarl warping her pretty face. She stands so close to Eli, a hand on his shoulder like they were best friends. He smiles too, sucked into whatever she had said to him.
