Read Online When by Victoria Laurie - Free Book Online Page A

murdered, only that he would die, and this information she attempted to share with his mother when she came to see my niece for a professional reading.”
    Wallace squinted at Donny. I could tell he didn’t believe him any more than he had me. “Yeah,” he said, drawing out the word. “She’s psychic.”
    I opened my mouth but looked at Donny first. He was glaring at Wallace, so I took a chance and said, “I told you before, I’m not psychic. I see dates. That’s all. I don’t
have visions, and I can’t predict the future, and I don’t see dead people. All I see is a date, and that’s what I tell people. I tell them the day they’re going to
die.”
    Wallace shook his head a little. He clearly didn’t buy it. “Really?” he asked. “What day am I going to die?”
    He said it so flippantly that I opened my mouth to tell him if only to shock him, but Donny put his hand on my arm and gave it a firm squeeze. “We’re not playing that game, Agent
Wallace,” he said.
    “Is this a game?” Faraday asked.
    “Only to you guys,” Donny replied. I totally agreed. Clearly, these two were playing their own game of mean cop/meaner cop.
    Faraday snorted and looked back at the file. “I’m curious about the alibi Madelyn has given us for the day Tevon went missing.”
    “She was with her best friend, Arnold Schroder, studying for a chemistry test,” Donny said, his hand still on my arm. “Both she and her best friend have told you that
already.”
    “About Arnold,” Faraday said, turning a page in his file. “What’s the deal, Madelyn? Are you two an item?”
    I didn’t know what he was getting at so I looked at Donny, and after a moment he nodded at me to answer. “No,” I said. “We’re just friends.”
    “Best friends,” Faraday corrected. “Right?”
    My palms were sweating. I was so afraid of giving them an answer that might make them suspect me more that I didn’t want to confirm or deny anything. But Donny was nodding at me again, so
I said, “Yes. We’re best friends.”
    “Would Arnold lie for you if you asked him to?” Faraday asked next.
    I knew exactly what he was getting at, and Donny did, too. “He’s not lying about her alibi, Agent Faraday. Move on.”
    “What’d you get on the chemistry test?” Faraday asked almost too casually.
    I breathed a tiny bit easier. “A ninety-eight,” I said. They could check that if they wanted, and I had no doubt they would.
    Donny sat back with a smug grin. He liked my answer, too. “Hardly the score of a young lady who’s gone and murdered a thirteen year-old the day before,” he said, his tone as
mocking as Wallace’s had been.
    “Did you text or call anyone during that time?” Wallace asked me. He was still fishing.
    “No, sir. I was too busy studying for my chem test.”
    Wallace and Faraday exchanged another look. I saw that they knew they weren’t going to poke any more holes in my alibi, which was good. For a minute I had hopes that they’d lay off,
but then Wallace leaned over toward the file on Faraday’s desk and pulled something out from the back. He slapped it down in front of me. I stared at it, and it took my brain a few seconds to
catch up to what my eyes were seeing, and by the time I understood that I was staring at a picture of Tevon Tibbolt, lying dead and bloody in pile of leaves and mud, it was too late to shut my eyes
against it. Donny reacted by leaping to his feet and snatching the photo off the desk. I could feel my eyes water, the shock of what I’d seen had caught me totally off guard.
“What
the hell?”
Donny roared, throwing the photo back at Agent Wallace.
    I bit my lip and dropped my gaze to the ground. I’d heard the news reporter say that Tevon had many wounds and that he’d been tortured. But
seeing
it in the photograph was so,
so much worse than anything I could’ve imagined. The kid’s face, torso, and arms were a mass of cuts, burns, and open wounds, and his throat had been