Katharine McGee - The Towering Sky

How like Avery to provide refreshments at a time like this. Yet Watt couldn’t help thinking that it was oddly comforting, as if Avery’s unobtrusive hospitality was helping diffuse the tension.

He’d almost forgotten that when he first met Avery, he’d thought he was infatuated with her. But after dating Leda—after realizing what it really felt like to fall for someone—Watt knew that all he’d felt for Avery was a crush. He and Avery were much better off this way, as occasional friends.

He heard footsteps again, and before he could figure out what his first words to her would be (Something witty, Nadia, help!) Leda stepped into the living room, knocking all the air from the immediate vicinity.

She was even thinner than before, draped in a black turtleneck sweater, and her hair was cut short. It drew attention to the stark architecture of her face.

Leda’s eyes automatically rose to meet his. For a moment there was no one in the room but the two of them. Watt swallowed against the maddening flood of old tendernesses and love and frustrations that rose up in him.

She was really here. For the first time in months, she was here , and Watt couldn’t believe it; he felt as if he’d taken an adrenaline boost, slapped a million caffeine patches over every last inch of his skin. It was as if he’d been in a trance these long months without Leda, and seeing her again had struck him violently back to life.

“I would apologize for being late, except I think you’re all early,” she said smoothly, taking a step forward. Watt had forgotten the way she moved, as if every motion began in her warm, dark eyes, and flowed unbroken all the way to her ballet flats. She sat down next to Avery and crossed one leg over the other, only the slight jangling of her foot betraying her anxiety.

“We’re early because your message was so terrifying and vague!” Rylin cut in. “What’s going on?”

“The police are investigating Mariel’s death.”

There was a beat of collective silence at Leda’s announcement. Avery twisted her hands in her lap. Rylin’s eyes were wide with horror.

Nadia , Watt thought fiercely, what do the police know so far? And why weren’t we keeping tabs on this?

I’m sorry. But you know I can’t hack the police department. They back up those files using location-specific hardware protections.

Leda explained that police detectives had called her in for questioning because they were reopening the investigation into Mariel’s death—this time as a homicide case. The cops had clearly found a connection between Leda and Mariel, but they didn’t seem to understand it yet.

Avery clutched a chenille pillow to her chest. “Did you tell them about Dubai?”

“You mean, did I tell them that Mariel tried to kill me? I don’t think it would make me look very good in a murder investigation. All I said was that I have no idea what happened to her.”

“None of us know anything!” Rylin burst out. “So we’re fine, right? That’s the end of it?”

“Except that Mariel knew our secrets,” Watt said, speaking up for the first time.

All three girls whirled around to face him. Avery’s and Rylin’s eyes were wide and startled and thick-lashed; but Leda just met his gaze evenly. She’d clearly already been down this line of thought.

“She knew our secrets,” he repeated. “There’s a clear connection between Mariel and us. Now that the police are digging into her death, it’s only a matter of time before they figure it out. After all, they already found Leda.”

Leda gave a terse nod of agreement, her dangle earrings brushing forward over the collar of her sweater.

“Are you saying that we’re suspects ?” Rylin demanded.

Watt knew what she meant. If Mariel had been gathering files on all of them, it could look like they’d killed her to cover up what she knew. It was proof of motive, if nothing else.

“There’s no way,” Avery insisted. “We didn’t even know Mariel. Why would we be suspects?”

“Because the police seem to be questioning motive rather than means,” Watt explained. “They obviously don’t know who killed her, so they’re trying to figure out who might have wanted to kill her and working backward from there. And if they make the connection between Leda and Eris’s death—”

He didn’t need to finish the sentence. If the police learned the truth about Eris’s death, the fact that Leda had blackmailed them all to keep it hidden, then they would clearly try to find out what that blackmail had entailed. Which would lead them straight to everyone’s secrets.

Avery gasped. The sun cast the shadow of her eyelashes on her cheekbones. “You’re saying that if the cops keep investigating, they might discover what Mariel had on all of us,” she summarized.

Silence hung in the air. Watt imagined he could see it, as if all their unspoken fears had been made tangible, swirling like snowflakes.

“Now you see why I wanted to meet up. I had to warn you guys,” Leda said miserably.

“I still don’t get it. If they have no clue who might have killed Mariel—if their only option is to guess at motive and work backward—then why did they reopen the case at all?” Avery asked.

“They must have some new evidence,” Rylin posited. “Something that made them think it was murder without suggesting who did it.”

Leda bit her lip. “The police told me how she died,” she said softly, and they all looked up, because that information definitely hadn’t been in the obit. “Mariel drowned in the East River.”

“She drowned?” Avery repeated. “That sounds like an accident to me. What new evidence could they possibly have found to prompt a reopening of the investigation?”

The room erupted into a storm of theories.

“Maybe they found new security footage of someone pushing her, but can’t see who it is?”

“Or maybe they found a weapon, and realized that someone used it to attack her.”

“But how would they know that weapon was used on Mariel? DNA?”

“Why can’t they just use location data to see who was there that day?”

“Location data isn’t stored for more than forty-eight hours, you know that. It was a landmark Supreme Court case—”

“Maybe they found a record of a security breach somewhere along the river but can’t tell who it was?”

“Enough!”

Leda had begun pacing back and forth like a caged lioness. When she reached one end of the carpet, she would turn automatically and start back in the other direction. Watt had forgotten that about her: the way she was always doubling and twisting on herself, as if it were impossible for her to ever fall still.

“I didn’t call you guys here to instigate a blind panic, okay? Especially since you might not even be involved! Mariel was obsessed with me . This is my problem. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s all of yours. I only wanted to warn you, just in case,” she added a little less vehemently.

“It’s my problem too, Leda. If they find out about—” Avery faltered. “It wouldn’t be good, if anyone learned what Mariel knew about me.”

Rylin nodded. “Same.”

Nadia, did we ever find out what Leda had on Rylin?

She stole drugs , Nadia informed him.

Watt didn’t have to ask Avery’s secret, because he already knew what it was. Her relationship with Atlas.

He glanced over at Leda. Her secret—the fact that she had killed Eris, no matter that it was an accident, and had then tried to cover it up—was as dangerous as his. Maybe even the worst of all.

“We’re all in this together,” he said, which was true. The three other people in this room had once been strangers, but now their lives were inextricably bound with his.