Wicked (Somerset University #2) - Ruby Vincent Page 0,69

it to the stage. I looked on top, around, and behind it. I spoke to the guys packing up the stage. All of them shook their heads when I asked if they saw her.

Chandler ran up to me as I stepped off the stairs. “Is she here? Did you call security?”

“No and yes. They’re searching the grounds now.”

He blew out a breath. “I called Mark from London Panic. They’re at the bar and Serena’s not with them.”

“We can’t check this entire place,” I said. “It’s clearing out but there’s still too many people. Let’s head back to the bus. She might be there with a dead phone wondering where everyone went.”

“Good idea.”

We trekked back the way we came, passing two stages for the parking lot at the back.

“Did you try Brant?” I asked.

“He said he was taking your lead. Grabbing a hotel for the night, calling his family, and getting some real sleep. I figured he cut out first thing.”

“Call him just in case. He was still hanging around when—” When Serena pretended she needed to talk about something important and instead slung her shot. “When I last saw Serena,” I finished. “He might have seen which direction she went off.”

“Okay.” He fumbled fishing out his phone.

“Hey,” I said, grabbing his shoulder. “We’ll find her. Safe and sound.”

Lampposts flickered overhead, casting long shadows through the lot. I grabbed my borrowed phone and called Valentina again. She might as well go to dinner without me. We’d have our romantic evening afterward.

I passed the final bus for ours and pressed call, holding the cell to my ear.

“What’s that noise?” Chandler asked.

Slowing down, I cocked my head to listen. Wait. Isn’t that...?

“Valentina?”

I kept going, passing the door, and walking around the front to the other side of our bus.

Valentina stood there. Cell chiming in her pocket. White sneakers brown from the mud. And red from the blood. Serena’s body lay at her feet. Still and peaceful as if in sleep.

The phone slipped from my hand, ending the call and abruptly silencing the ringtone.

Val’s head shot up, eyes huge. “Jaxson, I—”

“What the fuck did you do?!” Chandler shoved me out of the way racing to Serena. “Serena? Serena!?” The singer didn’t stir at his shouts or shaking. “Hurry! Get help! Call the police!”

I had no chance to do either.

Security barreled onto the scene. I didn’t understand how they’d gotten there so fast, but I blinked through my haze and we were surrounded.

“It was her!” Chandler cried, shaky finger leveled on my Valentina. “She did it!”

Her terrified, pale face disappeared behind a wall of bodies.

“I DIDN’T DO IT,” VAL repeated.

The two of us were stuffed in the booth. I held her tight to my chest as though I was protecting her from the cops sitting across from us. And I was. I lost it when security tried to haul her away, simultaneously threatening to kick their heads in, fire, and sue them. It worked that they let her go and allowed me to get Val onto the tour bus where they stood vigilantly waiting for the police.

“Why don’t you explain what happened, Miss Moon?” Officer Kinkirk asked.

She nodded. Val looked wretched. There was a bruise at the corner of her lip and my Undisturbed t-shirt was torn at the collar. Then there were her shoes. Sitting in an evidence bag on the table between us.

“I came to the festival to see Jaxson.”

“Why?”

“I got this text.” She woke up her phone and slid it across the table. “Supposedly from Jaxson, but I knew it couldn’t be.”

Kinkirk’s partner, Nielson, was a heavyset man with bulging broken veins along his nose. He picked up the phone and squinted to read. “Baby, this isn’t easy for me to tell you...”

My eyes bugged as Nielson repeated the entire thing word for word. “I-I never sent that!” I spun on Val. “I swear, I didn’t write that. I lost my phone. I would never—”

“I know.” She smiled, gently cupping my cheek. “I know you didn’t, Jaxson. But that’s why I came back,” Val addressed the cops. “Someone clearly stole his phone and sent me that load of bullshit. I had to find out who and what was going on.”

“And you suspected Miss Blackwood,” Kinkirk filled in.

“I didn’t... until I saw her kiss my boyfriend.”

I tensed. The reaction that had on the police was visible too. They sat up straight in their seats, exchanging a look.

“What did you do then?” Kinkirk asked.

“Jaxson was gone. I went to confront her and we got