Dirty Little Liars (17 page)

Juliette knew her godfather would wait until he heard her bedroom door close before greeting the uninvited visitor. He was over-protective that way. Juliette closed her door loud enough that Jean could hear and ran to the bedroom window. She carefully peeked out from behind the curtain. Only she couldn’t see anything close to the house because of the angle of her bedroom window and the slope of the roof.

She moved back to the door and pressed her ear to the wood desperate to hear anything. But she was still just as impatient as she was when she was six. She cracked the door open and tiptoed to the top of the stairs.

“I’m sorry you’ve come all this way. Juliette isn’t here,” her godfather said. “We haven’t seen her in months.”

“But that’s her rental car,” an all too familiar voice said. Juliette raced down the stairs and was at the door before Mimi or Jean could stop her.

“What are you doing here?”

Ty was dressed in dark jeans and a black leather jacket that hung loose over his broad chest. When he looked up at her, she lost her breath. His blue eyes were so incredibly sad. As sad and miserable as she had felt.

“Look, I know you said you don’t feel the same way about me, and I’m sorry to show up here unannounced—”

“Apology not accepted,” her godfather interrupted. “How did you even find this place? Juliette, did you give him the address?”

“I got it from Winston. He got the info from your phone.” Ty’s eyes never left hers. “He told me everything,” he said. “Even the stuff you didn’t want me to know.”

“Who is this Winston?”

“Père!” She waved a dismissive hand at him. “Can you just give us a minute?”

“Absolutely not. I am not leaving you alone with Dean Covington’s son.”

Both of them stared up at Jean.

“You know who this is?”

“Yes. And I know Dean Covington is a shady son of a bitch and I suspect the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

Juliette stepped past her godfather, grabbed Ty’s hand, and pulled him inside. Jean began to protest but Mimi intervened, dragging Jean off into the family room and the abandoned Scrabble game. Juliette could still hear him grumbling in the distance, but she tuned him out.

“What did Winston tell you?”

Suddenly Ty seemed nervous. He shot a quick glance around the kitchen as if scanning for bugs and then shifted back toward the door. “Look, maybe we can go somewhere private, where we can talk.”

“My godfather’s half deaf; he can’t hear you unless he’s right in front of you.”

“That’s not true,” Jean called from the living room, though from the sound of it, he was closer than she would have liked.

Juliette stepped to the closet and grabbed her jacket. Then she opened the door and stepped out onto the front porch. Ty followed. They walked past the front garden toward the edge of the ravine in silence. After five minutes, Juliette spoke. “Are you going to tell me why you followed me out here?”

He hesitated. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what? That I was working for your father? That I was most likely sent in to sabotage your campaign?”

“Were you? I mean, did you know?”

“All I knew was that I needed to work for Dean Covington and after I met you he offered me a job. I was supposed to become friends with Courtney.”

“Why did you need to work with my father? No one works for him voluntarily.”

Juliette held her breath. This was it. She could tell him the truth, or she could stick to the lie. How much did it really matter? If Dean Covington was in jail she wasn’t going to get any information from him about her parents’ death. But maybe, if Tyler knew the truth, he’d be able to help her find the truth.

“I think your father murdered my parents.”

“Your parents were…”

“My real name is Juliette Morgan. My parents were Glorianna and Archer Morgan and they were killed on a job for your father.”

“And you have proof that he was behind it?”

“Not yet.”

“And you thought by getting close to me I’d help you get that proof.”

“No. I didn’t even know you were his son! I thought I’d get on Covington’s good side, that he’d trust me enough to keep me close, and I might find something useful.”

“Well I could have told you that was a horrible plan. My father is a mastermind of burying secrets.”

“But isn’t that what you’re doing, trying to find out if he killed Senator Reis?”

Tyler kicked the grass with his foot. “I hate that man.” He cast her a sad smile. “I hate what he did to you. Using you like that.”

“Yeah, but he couldn’t possibly know that you’d fall for me. Even I’m not that full of myself.”

“I think he’s the one who leaked the surveillance video of the two of us together. I think he saw us the moment we hooked up at that bar. Why else would he deny you a job and hire you the next day?”

It sucked but she knew deep down it was likely true.

He reached out to her and she pulled away. “This doesn’t change anything,” she said. “Get back in your car and go home.”

“I love you. I want to be with you. How many more times do I have to say it?”

“None! Because we can’t be together. I can’t be with the son of the man who killed my parents. I don’t trust you,
Terrence
. I likely never will.”

Chapter 37: Intersections

Juliette downed half a pint of Cherry Garcia ice cream and moved on to picking at a day-old batch of chocolate chip cookies. Neither of the sweets successfully chased away the guilt.

Ty came to apologize and she threw his confession back in his face. Again.

She stared down at her purse and debated whether or not to pull out her phone and call him, but Jean intervened. He scooped an arm around her shoulders and practically dragged her into the family room to watch Fight Club.

“Come on, you love Brad Pitt and Edward Norton.”

She did.

An hour later Juliette made a beeline for the bathroom, scooping her purse up as she went. Once the door was closed she pulled out the cell phone and began to text Ty. She was too scared to call him; she really didn’t know what to say. Plus she knew Jean and Mimi were watching her like hawks. They would hear her talking on the phone and she didn’t want the extra ears.

She texted three words:

Juliette: Sorry about earlier.

She set the phone down on the counter and waited. She hoped he’d have his phone on him, that he would respond immediately and not miss her message altogether.

Thirty seconds later the phone vibrated against the bathroom vanity.

She picked it up.

Tyler: Come outside.

She read the message again. It didn’t make any sense. Was he still outside in the woods where she had left him? She was pretty certain his car wasn’t in the driveway.

Juliette: What? Why?

Her phone buzzed again.

Tyler: No more questions. Just come outside, now.

Juliette: I can’t get out, without being spotted.

Tyler:
Jules…

Juliette: O.K!!! Coming.

She slipped the phone into her back pocket and noisily exited the bathroom. “I’m a little tired from everything that happened today,” she called down to Jean and Mimi. “I think I’m going to call it a night. Maybe read for a few minutes and go to bed early.”

Her godfather frowned at her but Mimi blew her a kiss. “Sleep tight, dear.”

Juliette turned and headed for the stairs. Once she was inside her bedroom she shut and locked the door. Then she ran through the Jack and Jill bathroom, shutting and locking the door to the second bedroom. The guest room was directly over the kitchen and the window overlooked the roof of the breakfast nook. She used to sneak out at night to look at the stars. And as she got older, she snuck out to flirt with older boys. Still it had been years since she had done this, and she had been quite a bit smaller at sixteen.

What kind of con man didn’t have a good escape route planned out? She was one story up, for Pete’s sake. She should be able to do this in her sleep.

Juliette slipped open the window and glanced out at the roof. She grabbed onto the top ledge of the window and pulled herself up. Once seated on the sill she kicked both legs onto the roof then she slipped outside into the night sky. There was no moon, and the night was dark even with the soft glow coming from the downstairs lights. She felt her way along the rooftop, crawling slowly on her hands and knees, wishing the shingles didn’t scratch at the palms of her hands like raw sandpaper.

When she reached the edge she rolled onto her stomach and grabbed onto the gutter.
Light as a feather,
she thought before she lowered her legs into the open air. Inch by inch she drifted lower, until she was fully extended over the edge and hanging from both hands. Her arms were burning. She should definitely make a trip to the gym if she wanted to pull this move again.

She let go.

Her stomach dropped as she fell to the ground. She attempted to brace her fall with some fancy twist or roll, but barely managed in an awkward crouch. Her legs tingled at the pressure but after a moment it faded and she pulled herself up.

Now she was outside. What the hell was she supposed to do?

Her butt vibrated. She nearly squealed.

Tyler: Follow the driveway out to the main road.

Juliette put the phone down and started her trek. She shivered in the wind and debated how much longer she’d be wandering around in the dark.
Why didn’t you think to swipe an old sweater from the bedroom closet?

A pair of headlights flashed on and off in the distance. She recognized the black SUV from the campaign and ran toward it. Ty rolled down the window. “Get in.”

The locks clicked open and Juliette ran to the passenger side to climb in. Once she did, Ty pulled off into the darkness ahead.

“Where are we going?” she asked him.

“Somewhere we can talk.”

“We already talked.”

“No. You talked. Or rather you yelled. I never got my turn.”

“What? I did not—” He cut her off with a hand.

“It’s my turn,” he said again. His voice had a touch of anger in it that left her a bit unsettled. She sank back into her seat and waited.

But when they turned onto the main road she couldn’t help herself.

“Can you at least give me a hint?”

“A hint about what? Where we are going? Or what I have to say?”

“Both.”

“Well, we are going to a place you have been before, and I am showing you something you’ve seen before, but not before I say something you have yet to hear.”

“Okay.” She sat back in the seat and pondered his clue. It was more like a riddle that she needed to decode. She spent summers in Virginia for years. Nothing about it was unfamiliar, so of course she had been there. That didn’t narrow down the list of where they were going at all. The second part of his clue, show her something, well that covered a lot of ground too. If she had already seen it, what was the point of showing her again?

Just when she thought Tyler was going to turn and pull onto the freeway he turned onto a private dirt road. She was less familiar with this area. As they continued along she spotted a glimpse of the river between the trees and the long wooden marina that housed a small silver and navy double-decker boat. It wasn’t one of those mammoth yachts that needed a small crew to operate. It was small and unassuming. Ty parked the SUV and ordered her to follow. She scrambled out behind him, still drinking in her surroundings.

“I’ve never been here before,” she said.

“Sure you have. I remember meeting you.”

Juliette froze. “What?”

“It was Fourth of July weekend. My father brought me and my brother here to escape the city. He promised we were going to have some quality time together. It turned out he had just run a job, was trying to lie low. I suspect he needed a few thousand dollars worth of jewels fenced.”

“And he came to Mimi and Jean,” she finished.

“Yep. He was so pleased at their work that he invited the whole family over for drinks.”

“Yes, I remember now. Your mother was still alive then.”

He nodded.

How could she have forgotten this? She had been obsessing over Dean for years; how could she not have remembered that he had sons? Or that she had met them?

“I remember you got sea sick. Your godparents left early when you threw up on the main deck.”

“That’s right. And you took the blame for me. I thought your father was going to kill you.”

“I’m pretty certain the thought crossed his mind.”

“How could I not have remembered this?”

“It was a long time ago. You were very young. Maybe five or six.”

“Still.”

“Your parents were still alive then.” He took her hand. “They are the ones who got him the jewelry. Including this piece.” Tyler pulled out his phone and opened a photo album.

Juliette stared at the large diamond brooch. It was the same brooch that had been on the dress she wore to the black and white charity ball.

Tyler clutched her hand.

“I think my father had something to do with your parents’ death.”

“Because he sent me a diamond brooch that my parents stole and my godparents fenced?”

“Because he went through the trouble of finding that brooch, buying it back and then secretly sending it to you. That’s an awful lot of trouble to go through without an ulterior motive.”

“He’s mocking me.”

“Yes, Juliette. But listen to me. I promise I will do everything I can to help you find the truth. My father has a lot of dirty secrets. One of them is bound to unravel sooner or later. If not the truth about your parents, then Senator Reis.”

“Or your brother?” she said without thinking.

He let go of her hand, pulling the cell phone away from her.

“He didn’t have anything to do with my brother’s death.”

Juliette nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I just…” She shut up.

Tyler clearly didn’t want to talk about his older brother and Juliette wasn’t in the mood to push him on the subject. There had already been too many secret revelations to last her a lifetime.