Page 70 of The Debutantes
“They did this,” Piper says. “The Jester, or whoever really killed Margot. They got my dad arrested to punish me. They framed him.”
I grip my camera strap, trying to ground myself in the swirl of thoughts. But what Piper’s saying makes sense. The Pierrot is no stranger to covering up crime, and it would be easy enough to make Piper’s dad their fall guy. Still, he wrote that report. He’s not innocent. I’m trying to decide if I should say so when Vivian reaches for her backpack.
“There’s something else I found,” she says, digging into a pocket and pulling out a flip phone. “It was sitting on my car in an envelope after school today.”
“From the Jester?” Piper asks.
“I don’t know.” Vivian hands her the phone. “Read the messages. I don’t think he’d want us to have this.”
I scoot closer to Piper to read over her shoulder, my chest constricting as I start to understand what it is we’re seeing.
“This is him,” I say. “The man who killed her. The Rougarou.”
“You think it’s the guy from the balcony?” Vivian asks.
“I know it is.” Breathlessly, I tell them about going to see Renee, what she told me: Margot and the man who brought her to the Pierrot, how they weretogether.
Vivian’s eyes widen. “Then this is evidence, right? We could bring it to the police and prove to them it wasn’t Piper’s dad, or—”
“We can’t.” Piper stands, like she’s too full of energy to sit still. “That’s the thing. Wecan’tprove who this belongs to. That’s probably why the Jester did this. Like he’s taunting us, or something.”
“And we can’t go to the police,” I add. “As far as we know, the Pierrot has them in their pocket. Why else would they suddenly arrest Piper’s dad when just a week ago they weren’t even calling Margot’s death a murder?”
Piper nods. “The Pierrot is pulling the strings. Protecting the real killer.”
“But why would your dad have been helping them?” Vivian asks. “I mean, if he faked that report, then he was doing it to protect the guy who really killed her, right?”
“Right,” Piper says. “So we have to find out who he is.”
“I thought you wanted to play it safe.” It comes out colderthan I mean it to—maybe because I’m still bruised by everything she said on the levee. “You know, accept that Margot died and Lily ran away and everything is fine.”
For the first time, Piper looks almost… sorry.
“I shouldn’t have said all that,” she says. “Or I should have said it in a better way. I was scared, I guess. Of what could happen.” She grips the Jester’s message, cinching the thick paper. “But whoever killed Margot, he’s the reason my dad is in jail right now. He’s still walking free, and I sure as hell bet he knows where Lily is, too.”
Vivian nods. “We have to find her.”
They both have a fire in their eyes now, and I feel an ember of it flickering toward my own, catching.
“And make sure Margot’s killer rots in prison for the rest of his sorry little life,” I add.
Vivian smiles. “So what’s the plan?”
Piper claps with such force that I yelp a little.
“Sorry,” she says. “Force of habit again. But the invitation Aiden found…” She grabs her own backpack and digs it out, unfolding it for us to read. “This is happening tonight. A ‘Royal Feast.’ I think they’re initiating people.”
“You think we should go?” Vivian asks.
“We have to,” Piper says. “The Jester, or Margot’s killer, whoever he really is—he’ll probably be there.”
“And what if they catch us?” Vivian asks.
“Maybe we should let them.”
They both turn to stare at me as if I just suggested we leap into oncoming traffic.
“I mean, maybe that’s how we get him,” I explain, the idea taking shape. “We know how to get in and out now. Renee canhelp us. If we can lure the Jester somehow, then we can trap him. Figure out who he is and what he knows.”
