The Zero Night

32

Their clothes were dirty and grass-stained. Mud streaked their faces. Dried blood made a ribbon down Cat’s arm, and Delaney had a deep purplish bruise on one of her cheekbones and a gash on her forehead just below the line of her dark hair. Their eyes looked numb with fear.

“Oh my God, what happened?” Serena cried.

She took Cat by the hand and dragged her inside the cottage and then did the same with Delaney. She turned on the lights and ran to the bathroom and came back with damp towels, Bactine, and bandages. Cat nodded at her to help Delaney first, and Serena examined the girl carefully and began to clean and disinfect the wounds on her face. As she did, Delaney winced at the sting.

“What happened?” Serena asked again.

“Someone tried to run Delaney down,” Cat said.

“What?”

Cat explained about the car on the street near UMD. Serena didn’t ask any more questions immediately. Instead, she broke away from Delaney long enough to wrap Cat up in a fierce hug. Her embrace was long and tight enough that Cat complained that Serena was squeezing her to death. She finally let go.

“Thank God you’re okay,” Serena said, taking Cat’s face with both hands and leaning her forehead against hers.

“I’m fine.”

When Serena turned back to help Delaney, she saw the girl watching the two of them closely. Serena understood her emotions. She was lonely. And a little jealous. She was looking at a mother and daughter together, and she was missing things that were gone and things that had never been.

“Delaney, how are you?” Serena asked softly.

“I’m okay.”

“Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“No. I just bumped my head a little when I landed on the ground. Cat saved me. I never even saw the car.”

“You’re a mess from all the mud, and you must be cold. Do you want to clean up? I’ve got clothes you can wear.”

Delaney nodded. “Thanks. That would be great.”

Serena went to her dresser in the other bedroom to gather up clothes. They might be a little big for Delaney, but she thought they would fit her fine. She made a folded pile that she took into the cottage’s one bathroom, and then she returned to the living room.

“You’re all set. Take your time. If you want to take a shower, too, go for it.”

Delaney gave her a weak smile. “Thank you, Mrs. Stride.”

“It’s Serena. Please.”

Delaney went into the bathroom and closed the door. When Serena was alone with Cat, she tended to the girl’s scraped arm and did her best to clean up the dirt from her face and skin with the damp towel. Then she gave Cat another hug.

“You could have been killed.”

“I was on autopilot. I didn’t think about it.”

“Give me more details. Tell me about the car.”

The girl shook her head. “I wish I could, but it all happened too fast. It was dark; it was raining. All I saw were headlights. I don’t have any idea what the car looked like. I mean, it wasn’t an SUV or a truck. It was a car. But beyond that, I can’t tell you color, make, anything like that.”

“And the driver?”

“No clue.”

“Are you absolutely sure that this person was targeting Delaney? Could it have been an accident? Maybe they didn’t see her in the street.”

“No way,” Cat insisted. “The car was going after her. The driver must have been watching us and waiting until she crossed. It started up as soon as she was in the middle of the street, and it went over the curb and followed us onto the grass. The thing barely missed us.”

“Did you see where it went afterward?”

“No. By that point, we were both too freaked.”

“Did Delaney say anything?” Serena asked.

“No. She was in shock. She wanted to go inside her apartment and forget about it. No doctors, no police, no nothing. I persuaded her that we should at least come here and tell you about it.”

“I’m glad you did.”

“What the hell’s going on?” Cat asked. “Why would someone would want to kill her?”

“I don’t know, but I want to hear what she has to say.”

When Delaney got out of the shower a few minutes later, dressed in Serena’s clothes, Serena talked with her while Cat went into the bathroom to take her own shower. She knew not to push too hard with the girl. She didn’t mention Nikki, or the man in the car, or Zach, or Zach’s father. Instead, she asked about calculus and college and being a freshman and living on her own. Slowly, Delaney relaxed around her. She began to talk quickly, as if a lot of words had been bottled up inside her and she was letting them out all at once. Her smile came back. It was a pretty smile.

When Cat was out of the shower, they ordered pizza. Delaney told them she had never eaten at Sammy’s before, a fact that brought stricken looks of horror to Serena’s and Cat’s faces. They called in an order for delivery, opened cans of Diet Coke, and continued to chat about school, books, movies, and clothes. Two hours later, when the pizza was gone, Serena shot Cat a look that the girl understood. Cat made an excuse and went inside her old bedroom and closed the door, leaving Serena and Delaney alone.

Serena could see the girl’s anxiety rise, but Delaney didn’t shut down this time or get angry or defensive. She sat on the sofa across from Serena and steeled herself, as if she knew she needed to open the closet door and go toe-to-toe with the monster inside.

“I need to ask you some questions,” Serena said. “Do you have any idea who the person in the car could be?”

Delaney brushed her long hair back. Her voice was steady. “I don’t. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to hurt me.”

“Has anything unusual happened recently?”

The girl’s sharp eyes homed in on Serena. “Well, you. You happened.”

“I started asking about your mom again.”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s fair. I may have opened Pandora’s box, but that tells me there was something in the box to begin with.”

Delaney was silent.

“You want another pop?” Serena asked.

The girl shook her head.

“Well, I need one.” Serena went into the kitchen and opened a new can of Diet Coke and returned to the living room. This time, she sat on the sofa next to Delaney.

“I told you some things about my own life the other day,” Serena went on. “My struggle with drinking. My mother. I don’t share those things with a lot of people, but I thought you deserved to know why this case is important to me. And honestly, why I blew it the first time around. Because I did. I wrote off your mom’s death, and now I think there was much more to it than I realized at the time. The thing is, the two of you — you and Nikki — pushed too many buttons for me. I wasn’t ready to deal with the emotions you brought up for me. Does that make any sense?”

Delaney didn’t say anything, but Serena saw her head bob slightly.

“See, I think you’re holding on to secrets that would explain a lot of what’s going on,” Serena said. “I know how hard it is to open up about tough stuff. I really do. But I’d like you to trust me and tell me what you’re hiding.”

“I can’t.” Delaney swung her head this time and met Serena’s eyes. “I’d like to. Believe me. I’d like to tell someone. And Cat — she said you’ve always protected her. But I can’t say anything.”

“Why not?”

The girl’s voice dropped to barely more than a whisper. “I’d lose everything. I’d be kicked out of school. I’d go to prison.”

“Prison?”

Delaney nodded fiercely.

“Have you talked to a lawyer about this?” Serena asked.

“No.”

“Then whatever this secret is, you’re probably in a lot less jeopardy than you think. Did this happen two years ago? You were what, fifteen years old back then? It takes a lot for someone that young to go to prison. I can’t see you doing the kinds of things that would put you there.”

Delaney hesitated. “Could we talk off the record or something? Could you promise not to tell anyone and not do anything about it?”

“I won’t lie to you, Delaney. No. That’s not possible. If you tell me something involving a crime, I have to pursue it. But I can promise to move heaven and earth to keep you safe.”

She saw a dark misery overtake the girl’s face. Whatever the secret was, it was destroying her. It had been festering inside her for two years, taking over her life like a cancer.

And still she didn’t talk.

“Delaney, I met with Zach’s parents today,” Serena said.

Those words landed on the girl like a burning arrow. Her eyes flew open with terror. She inhaled sharply, and her hands squeezed into fists.

“I also talked to someone at the garage about Zach’s father. It sounds like he and your mother had a serious argument shortly before her death. Do you know what that argument was about?”

The girl sat frozen in silence, but cracks had begun to form in the ice.

“Was it about you?” Serena asked.

She heard Delaney’s quick, frightened breaths.

“Did Mr. Larsen do something to you?” Serena went on. “I know he took you home after the camping trip that Sunday. It was just you and him in the car. I know that the very next day, everything began to fall apart between you and Zach. Delaney, if he assaulted you in some way, he should be punished for it. It’s not your fault. What’s more, if your mother knew about it and confronted him, then it’s possible that he was involved in your mother’s death.”

Delaney squeezed her eyes shut. She shook her head. “You’re wrong.”

“Am I?”

The girl was silent.

“Did something happen between you and Mr. Larsen?”

Delaney opened her eyes again and took Serena’s wrist. “Please, can’t you drop it? Can’t you let it go?”

“No, I can’t. If an adult assaulted an underage child, I’m not going to let that go. I’m going to follow it until I know what really happened. If he’s guilty, I’m going to see that he’s punished. And the fact that someone tried to kill you tonight tells me that whatever is going on is not over. Look, Delaney, I understand the shame you feel. I understand how you can blame yourself. I’ve been there. It happened to me. I carried the burden for years. I still carry it. But if I could tell my teenage self one thing, it would be to fight back, rather than run away.”

The girl stared into space. Her breaths came quickly.

“It wasn’t his fault,” she murmured. “Mr. Larsen. It wasn’t his fault. It was mine. It was me.”

“You were fifteen years old. Nothing was your fault.”

“No. It was my idea. I tricked him. I knew he had a thing for me, and so I gave him what he wanted. I needed his help, and I needed him not to tell anyone about it.”

Serena shook her head in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

The floodgates opened. Delaney sobbed. Her whole body convulsed, and she threw her arms around Serena’s neck. When she spoke, her voice was so clouded by tears that Serena struggled to understand her.

“There was an accident.”