Page 78 of The Debutantes
Even though I had already suspected it, it’s like the floor drops out from under me. Dad was only trying to protect Wyatt, like he has been this whole time. And maybe he was trying to protect me, too, by keeping it a secret. But I can’t fight the creeping worry that maybe he just didn’t think I could handle it.
“Do you know, then?” April asks hoarsely. “Who killed her?”
“No,” Wyatt says. “Until the last few days, I didn’t even put together that it wasn’t just an overdose.”
“Then why the hell are you in the Jester costume?” Vivian demands.
“Because it was Lily’s idea.”
That’s enough to make us all go quiet.
“What?” I ask after a stunned moment.
“The stunt at the ball,” he says. “It was her idea.”
My brain is a jumble of thoughts, all of them sharpening into one: Mom was right. She told me she thought Lily knew whothrew the blood at her, and when I confronted Wyatt about it, he acted like I was being ridiculous. Still, some part of me doesn’t want to believe it.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I snap. “Why would she want you to do that?”
“Because, I—” Wyatt hangs his head. “I told her about the Pierrot. Ever since that New Year’s, I knew she hadn’t really forgiven me, but I still didn’t say anything until last month. Things had been getting worse with us, and I just—I thought if I told her about the Pierrot, she’d understand. She was mad, at first, but then she started begging me to take her. She wanted to see it for herself, and… I don’t know. I can’t ever say no to her. I thought it might fix things. So we went. It was a bad idea.”
Obviously,I think, but I grit my teeth to keep from saying it out loud. Of course he gave her what she wanted. Even I’ve been foolish enough to make that mistake.
“After we went… I don’t know why I thought Lily would just let it go. She couldn’t. She wanted to do something about it. She said it wasn’t fair, what they were doing to me. So she came up with this plan. She thought if we pulled the stunt at the ball, we could expose the Pierrot without anyone knowing it was us. They’d never suspect it. I thought she wanted to help me. I didn’t think… I mean, I had no idea the Margot stuff was part of the plan. When those projections started, I was just as confused as y’all. I tried to ask Lily what was going on after the ball, but then she wouldn’t talk to me, and then…”
“And then you left her there,” Vivian finishes, bitter.
“She dumped me,” Wyatt argues. “She said she was going to leave town. I thought she just needed to sleep on it, that we could talk it out when she calmed down. But then, the next morning…” His face crumples. “I’d barely even had two seconds to process that she was gone before I got this text. It was from a number I didn’t recognize, telling me I had to get to the Beaumont darkroom ASAP and take this phone out of one of the ceiling tiles. They told me if I didn’t, and y’all got to it first, then our deal was off. They signed it with the Pierrot motto, too, so… I knew what that meant. And that’s how it started. The texts kept coming, telling me what I had to do.”
“That phone.” Vivian frowns. “The burner. Why’d you give it to me?”
“What?”
“On my car, in the parking lot. It was sitting there in an envelope.”
“I didn’t,” Wyatt says, confused. “I dropped it off where they told me. I don’t know how it got there.”
Vivian scoffs. “Right. Just following orders, then.”
“I had to,” he argues. “They—”
“Did you even stop to think for one second that these people might be the reason Lily is missing?”
It’s the first time I’ve ever heard Vivian really lose her cool, and it clearly shocks Wyatt, too.
“Someone at the Pierrot killed Margot, Wyatt,” she continues. “And Lily knew about it. You can’t seriously still think she just ran away.”
“I know. I know that now. I just didn’t think she actually…” Wyatt covers his face. “Fuck.”
“But you can help us find her,” I try, desperate to regain control of the situation. “You have to. You have an in with these guys. If you can convince them you’re still on their side, then maybe—”
“Do you honestly think these guys would help me after what they did to Dad?”
His words cut deep, even worse because it’s true.
“And maybe Lily really did run,” he adds. “Maybe she saw what was going on and just got the fuck out, left us all behind. It’s what she always wanted, anyway.”
Wyatt’s voice is sharp, but in a way I recognize. Because I guess this is one twin thing we share: using anger to cover up the wound, to hide how hurt we feel. I want to do something—slap him, snap him out of it, or maybe just try to comfort him, help ease the hurt—but before I can decide, my phone starts to ring.
