Gone Too Far (Devlin & Falco #2) - Debra Webb Page 0,91

dance posters and fun throw pillows. Her cousin had a flair about her. Her closet was full of trendy clothes. Amelia had been the kind of person who could take thrift store finds and turn them into the hottest fashion.

Tori dropped onto her bed and stared at the framed photo of Amelia and her brothers on the bedside table. “I miss you.”

If Amelia were here, she would tell Tori to suck it up and stop feeling sorry for herself. Amelia had been strong and brave. Far stronger and braver than Tori.

Dragging her cell from her hip pocket, she held her breath and took the plunge. She was not going to be afraid to look at her own social media pages. Whatever ugly things people were saying, it was all lies.

First in her news feed was a post by Alice.

The truth is out. Sarah did it. She killed poor Brendal. But it was Tori who told her to do it. #Brighton #deadgirl #meangirls #murder #killerteens #wtf

The bottom fell from Tori’s stomach as if she’d just gone around the Ferris wheel after having way too much cotton candy.

Why would Alice say something like that?

Post after post from classmates echoed the same news. The killer teens hashtag was trending.

Tori clapped a hand over her mouth. How was this possible? None of it was true. Tori had never told Sarah to hurt Brendal. Sarah would never have pushed anyone, not even someone as mean as Brendal.

Sick, Tori tossed her phone on the bed. What about Alice? She was the one who had told Tori that Sarah thought she’d pushed Brendal. The day before that, Alice had been huddled and whispering with Sarah. Tori had known Sarah forever. She wouldn’t come up with such a deceitful plan.

It had to be Alice. All that religious or voodoo crap she did was just further proof that she was evil.

Way more evil than Brendal ever was.

Tori glanced at her phone. But everyone thought she and Sarah were the evil ones.

How would she ever make them see otherwise? Her mom swore she was going to help, but Tori wasn’t sure she could fix this no matter how much she wanted to.

Maybe Sarah had been the smart one when she’d tried to free herself from all this insanity.

Why should Tori hang around? She no longer had any friends. She had gotten completely ugly the past few months. Too skinny. No boobs. Pimple face. She’d failed a big test. Now she couldn’t even go to school.

Her life was over anyway.

The tears rushed from her eyes. The sobs rose and tore out of her.

“Tori? Sweetie, you okay?” Diana appeared at the door.

Tori shook her head. “No. I’m not okay. And I don’t know what to do.”

Diana hurried to the bed and sat down beside her. She pulled Tori into her arms. “You tell me whatever you’re thinking, precious girl. Don’t hold anything back.”

The words spewed out of Tori on violent sobs. She wasn’t sure they would ever stop.

Not until she was empty.

32

1:50 p.m.

Brighton Academy

Seventh Avenue

Birmingham

For such an elite private school, the security was surprisingly lax. The guard had waved Sadie through the maintenance entrance as if they were old friends. It helped that she wore coveralls with the Southern Comfort Heating and Air logo. Drove one of their trucks too. Sadie had all sorts of friends who owed her favors.

She supposed the truck and getup or maybe her big smile kept the guard from checking with the office to see if anyone had called for HVAC maintenance. Complacency. Never a good thing.

She’d gone from floor to floor, room to room, checking thermostats until she’d found Alice Cortez in an art room. Sadie took her time removing the thermostat from the wall and pretending to examine the device.

As closely as possible she watched Alice interact with the other students. Observed her mannerisms and listened to her speech in hopes of noting something familiar. Her voice sounded vaguely recognizable, but it had been more than four years since she’d been in the same room with the child of Eduardo Osorio.

Her dark eyes . . . the shape of her nose and chin were Eddie. No question. But he wasn’t the only Hispanic man with big brown eyes and full lips to pass along to his offspring. If this Alice was Isabella, she was still as beautiful as she had been as a much smaller child.

Just then Alice whirled around and said something to the girl behind her. That move, the little ballerina-like twirl was