Chapter 35

Thursday

"Let me speak to her alone first," I said.

Everyone was talking at the same time, trying to figure out how best to question Sadie Davis. No one even noticed that I had spoken. I quietly slipped away from them.

Sadie was tied up to some pipes on top of a building nearby V's place. That was one thing we had all agreed on. It was too dangerous to bring her to V's lair. We couldn't risk Don figuring out where it was. Seeing Sadie slumped forward with her wrists bound behind her reminded me of Eli being tied up several days ago. He had been proven innocent. Would she? Had we misjudged her too?

I looked over my shoulder. No one had followed me. No one had even noticed I was gone. I tried to push aside the eerie feeling that I was already slipping away as I walked toward Sadie. It didn't look like she was quite as out of it anymore. I sat down on the concrete a few feet away from her.

"Sadie?" I whispered, but she didn't respond. Maybe because that wasn't really her name. I studied the worry-line in the middle of her forehead and the crow's feet by her eyes. I tried to focus on what made her different from my mother. "Jane?" I said.

She blinked her eyes and slowly looked up at me. Her taunting smile was gone. She looked utterly terrified. I wasn't sure if it was because she was tied up or because she saw a little bit of herself in me too. She looked away from me and more panic rose to her face when she realized just how high up we were. No one would hear her scream. Just like no one had heard my screams when I lived with Don.

"You look just like my mom," I said. I had never been this close to her before. I had the undeniable urge to hug her. A stranger. A monster. Stop.

She shook her head. "No. Your mother looked like me. I was the older one." She pulled against the restraints. "Untie me."

I ignored her icy words. "What happened in the woods, Jane?"

"How do you even know I'm related to your mom? It's not like they kept a picture of me on the mantle."

"You're right. They didn't. But we ran a strand of your hair for DNA. It fell on the copy of Heart of Darkness you gave me."

"Well, it doesn't matter now." Her eyes frantically darted around, taking in our surroundings. "You have to untie me before it's too late."

"Tell me what happened and I will."

"Your mother ruined my life, that's what happened!"

"How?" I feared I knew how. Don had been following her. Jane had stepped in to protect her. That's what the reports made it seem like. That Jane had died saving my mom. But really she had been taken by the devil himself.

"Your mother always got everything she wanted because everyone loved her. And she loved being the center of attention. She couldn't get enough of it. She smiled too much. Her skirts were too short and her shirts too low. She was a naive, dumb girl."

"She was only 13."

"Of course you'd say that. You were only eight when she died. You never saw how self centered and egotistical she was!"

Her words made tears pool in my eyes. "People change, Jane. She was a wonderful mother. She was selfless, she always put me first."

Jane laughed. "She and my mom gave up on me. They thought I died and they just moved away and disappeared. I needed them and they ran away. That's not selfless."

No, it wasn't. But I understood the desire to run. Part of me wanted to run right now. I didn't want to know these things about my mom. I liked the memory of her I kept in a bubble. That bubble was about to pop. I took a deep breath. I needed to butter her up so she'd tell me what I wanted to know. "So you tried to save my mom in the woods? That was very selfless of you." And it was. It's possible that I never would have been born without Jane's sacrifice. I owed her my life. I owed her for the extra years my mom got to live.

"Saved your mom?" Jane laughed. "No."

"What do you mean? You fought him off. You..."

"I told him the truth. That your mother was a tease. That she would never give him what he wanted. That she wasn't woman enough for him. That she was just a dumb girl with a pretty face. She ran away because I made her cry. By telling her the truth that no one else would. That no one would ever see more to her than her beauty."

"That's not what the reports said."

"Of course not. Why would your mother tell them the truth that she didn't even want to hear?"

"I don't understand," I said. "They said there was blood. They found one of your shoes on the rocks."

"I hated being second. No one ever saw me. And that man in the woods was so handsome. When I saw him promising the world to her if they ran away together, it made my blood boil. She didn't have anything to run away from. I was the one that needed a fresh start. From her."

"What do you mean saw? Weren't you and my mom on a walk together?"

Jane laughed. "We never did anything together. I hated her. I always hated her. And when I saw that handsome guy that was too old for her, I intervened. I told him the truth. I told him everything he needed to know about my so called perfect sister. And even after everything I said, he ran after her. He was so blinded by infatuation that he couldn't even see it. That there was nothing behind her pretty face but a sad, pathetic girl."

There were a lot of things I could have focused on in that confession. But there was one piece of information in the forefront that made my heart stop. "My mom knew him?"

"Knew him? She was dating his best friend. And honestly I wouldn't have been surprised if she had been screwing around with him behind her boyfriend's back. It's not like she was a good person."

What? That didn't make any sense. "It was Don in the woods, right? Don Roberts?"

"Yes. And he was so perfect. And so handsome."

Her words made me want to vomit.

"And when he came walking back through the woods, I knew she had told him no. He was wiping tears off his perfectly structured cheekbones. She broke his heart. Just like she did with everyone."

Don Roberts never cried. Don Roberts had no emotion but rage.

"So I promised him the world if he'd take me out of that dump of a town. I promised him everything he'd ever want if he took me with him."

"You chose to go with him?"

"I begged him to take me." A tear rolled down her cheek. "We staged a scene to make it look like I'd died. So that no one would look for me. So that I'd be free. I thought he was my knight in shining armor. But your mom tricked me. She ruined my life!"

"My mom didn't ruin your life, Jane. You ruined your own."

"I was only 16. I made a mistake. By taking her place, I saved your mother."

"No, you made a choice. You can't blame her for that."

"She ruined my life!" she repeated. "But you know that right? You know what kind of man he is? How he gets off on others' pain? How he wants you even more when you scream?"

I winced. "You knew he had me? You knew what he was capable of and you didn't do anything?"

"Do anything?" She smiled. "I thought it was fitting. It was justice for what your mom did to me."

"Justice? Are you joking?" Every word out of her mouth made my blood boil.

"It should have been her. And when I finally escaped, he kidnapped you to replace me. He wanted someone who looked just like me, and we do have a striking resemblance, don't you think? Maybe striking is a bad choice of words. But we look very similar."

I swallowed hard. "I don't think that's true."

"Well, it is."

"No," I said. "I don't think he wanted me because I looked like you. I think he wanted me because I looked like my mother."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Isn't that the only reason he agreed to take you with him? Because you looked like her?"

"Your mother looked like me. Not the other way around. I was born first! Why does everyone always overlook that very important fact?"

"But he was in love with her. Not you."

"You need to untie me. You don't know what you're doing."

"Who was my mother dating?"

"It doesn't matter. It's too late."

"Who was Don's best friend?"

She smiled. "You two have met. But he lied to you. He wasn't who he said he was. That's the thing about men. You can't trust them. None of them. And they only care about looks. Just take your father for instance. He never even knew your mother's real name. He never suspected a damn thing. He never even knew she was still in love with someone else. He was too stupid to..."

My hands were around her throat. I wasn't even sure how it happened. But there they were. I knew what it was like to be on the other side of this. And I was almost positive she had been in this position before. But I tightened my fingers anyway.

"Sadie, let go of her!" V yelled from behind me.

I tightened my fingers. This woman wasn't my relative. She hated my mother. She hated my father. She hated me.

"Summer, stop." Eli's voice echoed around me.

Hearing my real name made me immediately let go. I clasped my hands together. I wasn't a monster. I wasn't him. What was I doing?

Jane heaved and coughed.

I stared at her and I felt no sympathy. I am a monster. I'm becoming him. "My mother loved my father," I said. It was one of the only truths I knew. I needed to hold on to that. I was digging my fingernails into my palms so hard I thought I might have pierced the skin. "That was true love."

"True love? What are you, five? Stupid girl, just like your mom. She was still in love with her boyfriend from all those years ago. William Crawford."

Mr. Crawford? "No." My voice sounded small. "You should have seen the way she looked at my dad." It was one of the only things I could remember. The two of them dancing. Her laughing and smiling at him. I could never seem to remember her smiling at me. But I could picture that so clearly. They loved each other.

"She probably looked at him without any guilt because she was a terrible person. Haven't you been listening to anything I've said? God, I wouldn't even be surprised if William was your actual father. That's probably why he's helping you."

It felt like all the air left my lungs. "My father is David Brooks," I said as firmly as I could. But my mind was on Mr. Crawford. He was probably in his mid-forties, somewhere around the age my parents would have been. And he definitely wasn't who he said he was. But I had a father. I had the best father in the whole world. "My father is David Brooks," I said more firmly.

"Wrong tense, Summer. Your father was David Brooks. And your mother was a slut!"

It happened so fast it took me a moment to register the fact that V's fist slammed into Jane's jaw. I swore I heard a cracking noise.

She spit out some blood and stared at him.

"Don is going to kill your niece," V snarled. "Are you going to help us or not?"

"She's her mother's daughter and I want nothing to do with her," Jane said.

"You're her family."

"I have no family," she said.

"You have to help us." V's voice sounded desperate, like he was holding on to one last hope.

"It's too late. It's already written in her blood. You can't do anything about it. Her life is going to end tomorrow."

"In her blood? She's talking in riddles. We should probably tase her again," Liza said from behind us.

Jane laughed. "And it's not just her. You're all going to die. Don's going to take over this city and destroy it. Like he destroyed me. Like he destroyed you," she said and looked at me. "Like he destroyed your mom."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked. "Did Don kill my mom?"

She laughed. "What do you think?"

I suddenly realized I had a million questions to ask.

"Is Julie Harris still alive?"

She laughed. "What do you think?" she said again.

"Just tell me!"

"Finally," she said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Time's up."

I looked down at my chest. A red light was shining right in the center of it. With a quick glance I verified that each of my team members had a matching red dot on their chests as well.

"No one move," Eli said calmly.

"Now untie me," Jane said. "I've done my part. I'm finally free."

None of us moved.

"You," she said and nodded at Eli. "Untie me. Now. Or they'll shoot."

Eli slowly approached and reached behind her back.

"So that's it?" I said. "This is how we all die?"

"Oh no." Sadie Davis laughed. "No, not at all. That's going to end with quite the boom. And like I said before, it's not until tomorrow. Perfectly fitting. It is the anniversary of your parents' car accident, right?" She stood up as soon as Eli finished untying her. "Now if you'll all excuse me, I could really use a vacation." She walked past us toward the exit door on the roof. "Don't move an inch and you'll be allowed to live for one more day. If not, the game's over now."

"He's going to kill me!" I called after her. "You can stay and help us. You can get revenge for everything he's ever done to you."

"I want him to kill you. Don't you see, Summer? We made a deal. It's the only way I'll ever be free." She opened up the door and disappeared through it.

"No one move," Eli said calmly.

"This is why I wanted to stay in the shadows," Liza said. "If this doesn't kill us, I'm going to kill all of you!"

"Are you okay?" V said.

I hadn't realized how close he was to me. I didn't risk moving my head. "No."

"She faked her own death when she was 16. She's a liar, Sadie," V said. "You can't believe anything she said to you."

"It didn't seem like she was lying." And it didn't. Yes, she was clearly jealous of my mother. And a little insane. But she thought Mr. Crawford was my father. She thought my mom never loved my dad. She thought Julie was dead. She thought Don had killed my parents.

"I've pinpointed the four snipers," Eli said. "They're in four different buildings. 12 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 7 o'clock, and 8 o'clock. When they drop their targets, we each need to run to a building and find them."

"Like hell," Liza said. "My taser does not put up a fight against a sniper rifle. I'm going back to V's and I'm not leaving until the boom is over tomorrow or whatever that crazy person just said."

"One of them might have more answers."

"More answers? What other answers do we need than that?" Liza asked. "I'm not trying to die."

"Liza's right," I said. "It's over. That was our last chance..."

My words were drowned out by a loud booming noise. I glanced around, terrified that one of my friends had been shot. But we were all okay. The red lights on our chests all disappeared. We were in the clear. So what the hell was that noise?

"Over there," Liza said and pointed behind me.

I turned and saw smoke billowing over the edge of the building. I ran to the railing and looked down at the fiery explosion on the street. It looked like a car bomb had been set off or something. There were flames everywhere.

"Get back!" Eli yelled. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me down just as another explosion went off. He kept his arms wrapped around me. "It was just a matter of time before the gas tank exploded too. Are you okay?"

My heart was beating out of my chest. "Was that Jane? Is she dead?"

"I don't know. We need to get you back to V's where it's safe."

I didn't protest as we all went back to V's. I didn't protest when they said Liza and I could stay there while they went out to see if they could locate the snipers or figure out if Jane was in the accident. I just stood there. Could Don really have killed my parents? Could Mr. Crawford be my biological father? Was Julie really dead? And I kept hearing a clock ticking down in my head. Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

"So you didn't think it was a good idea to mention that this whole countdown was leading up to the anniversary of your parents' deaths?" Liza said.

I didn't bother turning around to face her. "I didn't remember the day," I whispered.

"How could you not remember? You go around acting like it was the end of your life. If it was really that big of a deal how could you just forget?"

"I didn't forget." I'd never forget that night.

"Obviously you did or we would have known all along that tomorrow was your last day and..."

"I blocked it out, okay!?" I whipped around. "Don't you have something to do besides berate me?"

"What? Go follow a lead? We have nothing, Summer."

"Jane said that William Crawford was best friends with Don Roberts. Can't we use that to figure out who he actually is and find him? Maybe he is on our side. Maybe he can help us."

"Right, let me just pull up my best friend database," she said and rolled her eyes. "That information is useless. They were friends twenty years ago. It means nothing. What we need is a DNA sample to help us." She looked at me.

"You think he's my father?"

"I don't know. We could run it for a partial match. Jane said something about it being too late and that it was written in your blood. Maybe she's talking about the fact that you're related to Mr. Crawford."

It was crazy how much information you could get from a small sample of DNA. I lightly touched my wrist. My foundation had just been rocked. Not that I truly believed everything Jane had said. My mother was good. She was kind. But Jane's words stung. What if my mother wasn't who I thought she was? What if my father wasn't my father at all? "Can you really get that information from my blood?"

"It's not as good as a fingerprint for what I want to do, but it's something," Liza said.

"Oh my God." A light seemed to just go off in my head. "Holy shit." I started to walk past her. I felt so stupid. After getting the DNA sample from Heart of Darkness I should have put it together days ago.

"What?" she said as she watched me. "What's going on?"

I went into my bedroom and opened up my duffel bag. The copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was sitting there. I walked back out and held it up. "Mr. Crawford put this book in my suitcase. He had to have touched it."

"Okay. And you're touching it now..."

"Sorry." I dropped it on the table in front of her. "But there's also a sticky note." I grabbed a pen and lifted the cover page, turning to the front page where my father had inscribed it. Mr. Crawford's post-it note was stuck on top of the inscription. I tried not to think about the fact that he had covered up my father's words with his own. "You can run it for prints."

"Have you touched that too?"

"Yeah, but so did he. And he touched the book too. Surely you can get a print."

"I'll definitely try. But, Summer, that's not going to tell us if you're related to Mr. Crawford."

I nodded. "I don't want to know." If I was going to die tomorrow, I'd die knowing who my parents were. My memory was all I had left. I didn't want to tarnish that.

"We might still need a blood sample if this doesn't work."

"Okay. Work on the print first. I'll be back soon."

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Do you really care?" My words sounded harsh, but it was true. Liza and I were working toward a common goal, but we weren't friends. I was pretty sure she hated me.

She shrugged her shoulders. "V will want to know when he gets back."

Right. And you don't want to let him down. My next words weren't going to help with that, though. "I'm going to go talk to Miles."

"You can't do that. We all agreed..."

"It's my last night," I said firmly. "I'm not going to tell him anything. I just need to see him." I thought about the letter sitting in my backpack. I didn't know exactly what I was going to do yet, but I did need to see him. One last time. "It's not like I'm going to die tonight," I said and laughed awkwardly.

"Well, we won't know for sure until I run this." She turned back to the book. "Jane could have been lying about everything."

Maybe. But the lump in my throat really made it seem like Jane was telling the truth.