RIOT HOUSE (Crooked Sinners #1) - Callie Hart Page 0,111
with Wren are so complicated, I don’t even know what the fuck is going on there. But the mystery surrounding the previous occupant of my room seems sketchy. It feels as though it would be dangerous not knowing what happened to the girl, and who was involved with her disappearance. And, I’ll admit it, Carina’s over the top level of panic right now is freaking me out. It’s making her look incredibly guilty—of what, I don’t know—and I have no idea what I’m supposed to do right now.
“Please, Elodie. No good can come from reading that journal, I promise you. We should just hand it over to the cops and let them deal with it.” Carina sets her jaw. She locks up, her shoulders tensing, her back so ramrod straight, she looks like she’s about to salute a four-star general. “It’s been close to a year. Mara’s parents have been worried sick about their daughter this entire time. The police will know what to do with new evidence. Handing it over to them is the right thing to do.”
“Do you know where she went, Carina? Is that why you don’t want me to read this?”
She blinks, her eyelids fluttering rapidly. “No! If I knew where she was, believe me, I’d be telling anyone who’d listen. I’m just trying to keep you out of a situation that’s really fucked up and could put you in danger. You can’t be mad at me for that.”
“Danger? Why would I be in danger?”
Her pupils almost double in size. I can see them dilate from four fucking feet away. “Urgh, Elle. Just give me the journal. I swear to God, you’ll be happier for not knowing what’s inside it.”
What the fuck? Am I supposed to just hand it over? Hold it over my head and play keep away with it? Carina’s a foot and a half taller than me, so that shit ain’t gonna work. It’ll cause so much contention between us if I don’t give her what she wants. I’ll lose my only real friend at Wolf Hall. And for what? Because I’m suspicious as fuck that something untoward happened here? Yes. That’s a good reason to make a stand, but if the police are already dealing with the matter…
Reluctantly, I hold out the journal to her. I don’t want to lose Carina. And this Mara girl might be a ghost, wandering these halls and lurking in the shadows of my bedroom at night, but maybe Carina’s right. Maybe that situation has nothing to do with me, and I should leave it well alone.
Carina sags with relief when her hand closes around the journal and I let go. Guilt hides in her eyes, though. She feels bad that she’s strong-armed me into doing this now that she’s got her way. “Thank you, Elle. Really. I mean it. I’m grateful that you’re trusting me. I know…I know how it must look…”
“You do?” I’m sharper than the point of a blade. “Really?”
She sighs, hugging the journal tightly to her chest, like I might make a grab for it and run out of the room. “Mara was really troubled, Elodie. She was so much fun, and it was hard not to love her, but she was allergic to the truth a lot of the time. Just didn’t want to hear it. Occasionally, reality and the way she wanted things to be sometimes got a little blurred around the edges. I’m sure this journal’s full of things she half-fantasized about. Daydreams that could do a lot of damage if the wrong person read them.” She huffs, exasperation on her face. “Can we just forget about it and move on with the day please? I just want things to be normal again.”
Her last statement seems so loaded now. I suspect that she’s not just talking about the chilled out, relaxing afternoon we had planned for ourselves; I think she’s talking about life at Wolf Hall in general, and the fact that nothing will ever be normal again here if people keep on bringing up Mara’s mysterious vanishing act. I suck in a deep breath through my nose, trying to release the tension that’s built up inside of me. “Okay. Fine. I won’t bring it up again. But you need to answer one question first.”
She chews on her lip, anxious, but nods. “What do you want to know?”
“Did Wren or any of the other Riot House boys have something to do with Mara’s disappearance?”