B00B9FX0F2 EBOK Page 19

  “I’m calling 911. Now. Someone find me Max’s address.” It was as if he’d been given superpowers; everyone listened to him. Luke stopped arguing, and Rakesh planted himself in front of the computer.

  When the operator answered, he cleared his throat. “I’d like to report a murder,” he said. If he hadn’t been so focused on protecting Jenna, he would have savored the dramatic effect. As it was, Rakesh snorted.

  “Sir, are you in any immediate danger?”

  “Yeah. No. I mean, my friend is.”

  “What is your location?”

  “My location? No, I’m fine. It’s my friend. She’s in danger.”

  “Sir, can you give me the address?”

  He squinted over Rakesh’s shoulder and recited Max’s address.

  There was a long pause. “You think this is real funny, huh?”

  “What? What are you talking about? My friend is in danger!”

  “Young man, do you know it’s a crime to call in false reports?”

  “No! This isn’t a false report.” He was growing more high-pitched and childlike with everything he said. He cupped a hand over the mouthpiece and asked Rakesh if he was sure it was the right address.

  “Yeah, that’s definitely his house,” Troy answered. “I dropped Lacey off there a bunch of times.”

  “Have you ever heard of the boy who cried wolf?” the operator was asking sternly.

  “I’m not crying wolf! Why don’t you believe me?”

  “But you were the first seven times you called in a threat to that address? Mr. Anderson has informed us he will be pressing charges if the harassment continues.”

  Max. He’d gotten to them first. Jason lowered the phone and ended the call. The group stood there staring at him quizzically. They were waiting for an explanation, for guidance. What was he going to tell them? That he’d been outplayed? That Max was smarter — and crazier — than any of them had realized?

  “Well,” he said, as authoritatively as he could muster, “I guess we’re going with Plan B.”

  Plan B involved arguing about who was going to drive (they settled on Luke because his car was the biggest), and then, briefly, about who was riding shotgun (Jason forced Rakesh to let Troy have it even though he conceded that, by the rules of shotgun, Rakesh had won the seat).

  Jason was loath to admit it, but one thing Plan B did not involve was an actual plan, or rather, it was lacking a unified plan. They were agreed on the first step: Go to Max’s. It was after this that their ideas diverged. Jason was planning to rescue Jenna. Luke was planning to rip Max’s head off when they got there. Troy was planning to stop Luke from committing a felony. Rakesh was planning to not miss any action. Sully was planning to record whatever went down and post the video to YouTube, but Troy stared him down when he tried to squeeze his stocky frame into the Jeep, and they left him behind on the curb.

  Jason attempted to concentrate on Jenna’s voice mails as Luke whipped around the curves of Brighton’s narrow streets.

  “I never meant to lie to you. We didn’t know what to do. I’ll explain everything, but you have to talk to me. Please call me back.”

  “Ugh, turn on your phone! Call me back!”

  “Okay, last message, but you should see how people look at Max at school. We needed someone else if anyone was going to believe what Troy did to Lacey. I loved her, but I didn’t know how much I would like or care about you, and I never wanted you to get hurt.”

  “Sorry, I lied about not leaving any more messages. Look, I’m going over to Max’s. He got a new lead on Troy and he thinks we have enough to go to the police. I really want you on our side for this, so please, please, please call me back.”

  And then, the final hushed warning: “There’s something wrong with Max.”

  Jenna had left that one just half an hour before. Through pursed lips, he asked how far away they were. “Halfway there,” Troy answered. She had to be okay.

  He dialed her number, but it rang through to voice mail. He tried again, and this time someone picked up on the third ring.

  “Hello, Jason.” It was Max, the soothing beats of the XX playing in the background.

  “Max, uh, hi. Is Jenna with you?”

  “Oh, she’s right here, but she can’t come to the phone right now, on account of I don’t think it’s a very good idea for you two to be talking. You never know what crazy theories you might come up with.” The flat, emotionless delivery gave the words a sharp edge, and Jason tried to keep panic from setting in.

  “Max, is Jenna alright?”

  “I’m gonna take good care of Jenna. You don’t need to worry about a thing.”

  And then there was a click as the line went dead.

  “Any way we could drive a little faster?” Jason asked Luke through clenched teeth. The speedometer read fifty-two mph. Rakesh, rarely one for physical contact with other guys, gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze.

  Max’s house was dark when they pulled up outside. Luke jumped out first, followed closely by Troy, who restrained him by the back of his shirt.

  “Dude, what are you gonna do?”

  “I’m going to kill that guy.”

  “Buddy, I know you don’t want to hear this, but that gets us nowhere good. Jason, what’s our angle?”

  He swallowed. “I heard music when we talked. Max said he uses his garage as a studio. That’s probably where he has Jenna. If we can get in there, we can try to reason with him.” He didn’t add that the studio was probably soundproof, and so if Jenna was screaming no one would be able to hear, or that the cold-hearted, calculating person he’d just spoken to on the phone didn’t seem much inclined to reason with anyone. They had to start somewhere.

  Be okay, be okay, please be okay, Jason soundlessly repeated the mantra to himself as they filed up the driveway. How could he have let this happen? Why hadn’t he seen the truth? They could see the tiniest sliver of light below the closed entrance to the garage, but it was otherwise unyielding. Troy led them along the side, into the narrow space between the freestanding wall and a hedge. Still without speaking, Rakesh gestured to the window set above all of their heads. The next thing Jason knew, Troy was hoisting his entire body up to look through it.

  When he saw Jenna, he wanted to cheer. She was alive! But it only took a minute to realize alive and safe were not the same thing. Her wrists were bound and she was crying. He followed her line of vision to where Max was standing, leaning toward her. Jason surveyed the rest of the room. On the table next to him was a chain saw — he wouldn’t even have to move to pick it up. He gestured down to Troy, who lowered him to the ground.

  “Okay,” he whispered. “Jenna’s in there. I don’t think he’s hurt her yet, but he’s got her tied up. And he’s got a chain saw, so there’s that.”

  “How do we get in?” Luke asked.

  “There’s a door against the back wall, just around that corner. But we can’t let him lay a hand on Jenna.”

  Before any of them could stop him, Luke had rushed around the corner. They heard him yank the door open. Troy followed in his path, but Jason and Rakesh pulled him backward before he could reach the entrance.

  “Did you not hear me? It’s like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in there, and we know what he’s capable of.”

  “I ride with Luke.”

  “Then he’ll kill both of you. If you want to help him, we can’t be stupid.”

  Rakesh silenced them both with a finger to his lips. Luke had entered the garage, leaving the door slightly ajar, and now they could faintly hear what was going on inside.

  “Hello, Luke.” That deadly calm again. Jason held his breath, sweating.

  Luke’s roar was animal and raw, but midway through it was interrupted by a buzzing crackle, transforming from anger to pain, and mixing with the sounds of Jenna shrieking. Troy bolted for the door too quickly for them to stop him, but to Jason’s relief he stopped at the corner, merely peeking through the cracked door. Jason rubbed his hands together nervousl
y, desperate to know what was happening inside.

  “Feeling limber?” he asked Rakesh, raising an eyebrow toward the window.

  Rakesh grunted as he lifted Jason up. “One of these days I’m going to stop carrying you on my shoulders. Then where will you be?”

  Jason’s retort was left unspoken when he saw Luke curled on the ground, groaning. A few steps away, Max was duct taping Jenna’s mouth shut. She was whimpering, and her eyes were trained on something Jason didn’t recognize in Max’s left hand.

  He looked over at Troy. “Is that a …”

  “Yeah, Taser.”

  Rakesh, whose arms had begun to shake, lowered Jason down to the ground. “Why am I not surprised that guy has a Taser?”

  “They only hold a couple charges.” Troy had come back to huddle with them.

  “And why am I not surprised this guy knows all about them?”

  Jason ignored him, addressed himself directly to Troy. “What are you saying?”

  Weakly, Rakesh joked, “Yo, I am not getting tased, bro.”

  None of them cracked a smile.

  “Look, I don’t think any of us have to get tased, but if two or more of us go in there at once, we can overpower him.”

  “Except for the chain saw.”

  “So we have to make sure one of us gets to the chain saw first.”

  From inside, they could hear Max’s hollow, maniacal laugh. “What’s the matter, Gray? Not so tough now, are we?” It was followed by the rip of duct tape being torn. Luke was going to be of no use to them if they got inside. “I guess you’ve figured it out by now? How your boy was dating your sister right under your nose? It was so obvious! But I guess that’s where I came in. Lacey thought I’d be so happy to cover for her. Like pretending to hang out with her was the best thing that could ever happen to me. Your sister was kind of a brat, did you know that?” Luke grunted, and they heard the thud of Max kicking him.

  Jason kept one ear on what Max was saying as he tried to focus on Troy’s plot to get into the garage. “Jason, you’ll go first. You have to distract him.”

  He nodded, but Rakesh must have seen his doubt, because he cut in. “I’ll go first.”

  “No, Rock, you don’t have to.”

  “You got the crap beaten out of you yesterday….”

  “So did you!”

  “Well, for one thing, I’m tougher, and for another, Luke didn’t repeatedly punch me in the face. If the psychopath in there tries to tase you, you’re screwed. I, however, am quick like a cat, or a fox, or a panther….”

  Jason felt a rush of gratitude for his friend, but Troy was less amused. “We get it. Fine, you’ll go first. Get him to turn his back to the door, and then, Jason, you grab the chain saw; I’ll tackle Max.”

  “And then Jason can rescue Jenna,” Rakesh said suggestively.

  Jason felt himself blush in the darkness, and he was glad Troy ignored him. “We’ll go on my count. Okay?”

  Inside, Max had turned his attention to Jenna. “You couldn’t just leave it alone. You think your BFF cared about you?” His calm was beginning to fray around the edges, and now he was practically spitting the words. “I knew more about her than you did. I knew more about her than anyone. You’re just like her, you know that?”

  Through her taped mouth, Jason couldn’t hear a response, but he knew they couldn’t wait much longer. He felt a resigned sense of dread, like Hamlet at the beginning of the fifth act. The instant the play popped into his head, Jason saw the parallels. Everyone undone by mistrust and treachery, minor conflicts blossoming into full-blown blood feuds, a pile of bodies on the floor. Was that how this was going to end? It occurred to him that that was what Max wanted, and he felt a surge of anger. He had killed Lacey, torn a huge gaping hole in everyone’s world, just because he was unhappy. Jason wasn’t going to give him the chance to do the same to Luke and Jenna.

  “Yeah,” Jason said finally. “Rakesh, don’t get tased, okay? Troy, tackle him before he gets near Rock. Ready?”

  As stealthily as they could, they crept to the corner of the garage, ducking back behind the wall when they were bathed in light from the open door. Rakesh stood at the front, and Troy held up his hand, silently mouthing, “One … two … three.” As soon as the third finger went up, Rakesh shot off, piercing the night with a battle cry so loud and surprising it startled even Jason. But a moment later he was following at his friend’s heels and crouching at the door so Troy could see in over his head. The garage was smaller than Jason had realized from the window — there wasn’t really anywhere for Rakesh to go. But Max was caught off guard all the same, spinning away from Jenna to see where the noise was coming from. Rakesh was a flurry of motion, jumping over the recovering Luke and from corner to corner. Confusion washed over Max when he realized who the second intruder was. “What the —” he muttered, and then looked down at the Taser in his hand and grinned, as if realizing for the first time that he had a weapon.

  “What you gonna do, freak?” Rakesh taunted as he bounced into the corner farthest from the door. “Trust me, you could play me your latest acoustic song, and it would hurt me worse than that toy in your hand.”

  Jason darted in once Max’s back was fully turned, heading directly for the chain saw. Maybe his feet fell as heavily as they felt, or maybe something in Rakesh’s behavior gave him away, but Max whipped around again and charged right for him. Jason was at the chain saw first, tugging inexpertly at the starter cord. He was expecting the motor to roar, but there was nothing. He pulled again, harder this time, and Max threw back his head and laughed. He was three steps away, Taser arm outstretched. There was nowhere for Jason to go. He wanted to shut his eyes. Instead he forced himself to look at Jenna. He’d seen how scared she was before. She had to know he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her. But Jenna was gone from her chair. Just before the Taser made contact, Max crumpled to the ground, and the garage filled with an awful, mechanical wail. Jenna stood before Jason, where Max had been a second before. In her duct-taped hands was the electric guitar she had used to crack Max over the head.

  Max came to as they waited for the police to arrive. Rakesh had called them while Jason untied Jenna and Troy helped Luke to his feet. Max was conscious but groggy, and Troy quickly taped his hands behind his back and hovered over him in case he got any ideas. Rakesh wasn’t taking no for an answer from the police this time.

  “Maybe you didn’t hear me, this is John Sullivan the third,” he said very clearly. Jason would have gone with fourth, but Rakesh was selling it. “Perhaps you know my father, John Sullivan? Yeah, he’s the guy who plays golf with your boss on Saturdays, and if you don’t send a squad car over here right now, I will make sure the mayor himself knows you were the one responsible for ignoring my calls about an actual murderer.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jenna said as soon as Jason had ripped the tape from her lips. “I should never have lied to you. I shouldn’t have trusted Max. I’m sorry I got you involved in this whole mess.”

  “You’re the one who just saved my life, I should be thanking you.”

  She kept talking as if he hadn’t said anything. “Messaging you, pretending to be Lacey, it was Max’s idea. He showed me that video of Troy, and I didn’t know … I thought … He said Troy had killed Lacey, but he couldn’t prove it. It made sense. I mean, she never lied to me, but here was this huge secret. I was the one who went into her Facebook. When I found your message, Jason, I just lost it. It was like you were everyone who was never going to get a chance to get to know Lacey. But then Max thought maybe you could help us, and that’s why I wrote you.”

  She started to cry, great, heaving sobs she couldn’t speak through. Jason put his arms around her, letting her weep onto his shoulder. He still had so many questions.

  Though he looked a little worse for the wear, Luke was standing now. He stumbled toward Max, and Troy steadied him. “He’s not worth it,” he said. From the look in his eyes, Jason wasn’t sure he meant it.

 
; They heard sirens in the distance, and Jason knew it was his only chance to find out the thing he couldn’t find out for himself. He poked Max’s shoulder until he cast his dark eyes up to him.

  “Why me?”

  “You messaged her first.”

  “No. I don’t buy that. You had everything you needed to frame Troy. Why get me involved? Besides, I can’t be the only person who messaged her.”

  Max smiled. It sent a chill down Jason’s spine. “You were so easy,” he said at last. “The music you like, the photos of your boring suburban life, the way no one notices you. You’re just like me. I knew exactly how you were going to react, exactly what you were going to do. It was like finding a puppet.”

  Jenna had drawn away and was wiping her eyes with a tissue. Jason stepped forward so he was right above Max. “Did you know I was going to do this?” he asked sweetly. He pulled back his foot and kicked him as hard as he could in the side. Then he walked out of the garage.

  The rest of the night passed in a blur. The postmidnight excursions and sleepless nights caught up with Jason all at once, and a fog descended on him. He watched as the police led Max away in handcuffs. At some point paramedics arrived and even though Jenna and Luke both waved them off, they were loaded into an ambulance and driven away. Jason didn’t know how much time passed before he found himself at the station house, sitting in a windowless interrogation room, a grizzled detective who’d introduced himself as Officer O’Leary opposite him. Jason answered every question posed to him, allowing all the secrets and lies to fall away for the first time in what felt like forever. When he finished the story, his head felt like a ton of bricks.

  O’Leary whistled quietly. “Sheesh,” he said. “My day, you get a girl’s number, you ask her out. Maybe she says she’s gotta wash her hair and you see her at the dance with another guy, you get your heart a little broken. But I tell ya, I don’t envy you kids with your Facebook, your YouTube. It’s hard enough to meet someone you can be yourself around without all these identities getting in the way.”