Privilege 5 - Pure Sin (4 page)

"I don't know. The lawyer didn't mention any plans," Ariana replied, trying to keep voice steady.

"Do you want me to call him back for you?" Lexa said. "I understand if it's all too much."

"That's sweet, but don't worry about it," Ariana said, trying to think five steps ahead, trying to come up with a plan to get out of going to Texas. "I'll figure it out."

They exited the elevator and turned the corner into the hallway leading to their rooms.

"It's freezing in here," Ariana said, pulling her wool coat tighter around her body.

Lexa touched Ariana's arm, her eyes wide. "Why's the door to my room open?"

The two of them walked cautiously down the hall together. They found Maria standing just inside her and Lexa's room, wearing flannel pajama bottoms and an Atherton-Pryce sweatshirt, her arms folded as she kept an eye on a janitor, who was crouched to the floor. Wind whipped through the window across from the open door, where jagged broken edges of glass stuck out in all directions.

"What happened?" Ariana asked, taking a step into the room. Lexa hovered in the doorway.

"I wouldn't come any closer, miss," the janitor said over his shoulder. "There're glass shards everywhere."

"Some freshmen decided to play baseball in the dark. Apparently they didn't know their own strength," Maria said wryly.

Suddenly one of the shards fell loose from the pane and crashed to the floor, shattering into a million tiny pieces.

"I think . . . I'm going to--" Lexa gasped.

Ariana turned around. Lexa was as pale as milk. A second later, she fainted dead away.

"Lexa!" Maria cried, rushing over to her friend. Ariana ran to the bathroom and came back with a cool, wet towel. She placed it on Lexa's forehead. A moment later, her friend's green eyes fluttered open.

"Kaitlynn?" Lexa croaked, pointing limply to the window, where the janitor was sweeping up the last shards.

Ariana's heart crashed to her knees. The broken window. The shattered glass. This was how Kaitlynn died. Ariana fought the urge to curse aloud. This was not good. This was very, very not good.

"She must be disoriented," Ariana said to Maria, who had a panicked look on her face. "Lexa, are you okay?"

"Lex, what happened?" Maria asked, grabbing her friend's hand.

Ariana forced herself to breathe. Lexa could not lose it now. She simply couldn't. Not when everything was finally going Ariana's way.

"Do you have low blood sugar? Y didn't eat very much at dinner," Ariana said before Lexa could answer. She stared at Lexa, silently begging

ou her friend to keep her mouth shut.

"I think we should take you to the infirmary," Maria said worriedly. The janitor finished taping up the window and left the three girls alone in the room.

Slowly the room began to warm up, and color returned to Lexa's face. "No, I'm sure Ana's right." Lexa struggled to sit up. "Besides, I'm fine now. I swear," Lexa said, as Maria opened her mouth to protest.

Ariana forced a smile for Maria's benefit. The two girls helped Lexa into her bed and pulled the covers up tight around her chin.

"Are you sure you're okay? I can get you some food or call the nurse," Maria said, laying her hand across Lexa's forehead.

"Seriously, guys, I'm fine," Lexa said, waving Maria and Ariana away from her. "Thanks, but I just need some sleep."

"Do you want me to stay?" Ariana said uncertainly, her hand on the doorknob. "Or you could sleep in my room if you're worried about . . . the window."

Lexa shook her head. "I'm fine. Now shoo!" She closed her eyes and snuggled down on her pillow.

Ariana hesitated for a long moment and glanced at Maria. Maria shrugged, so Ariana exited, shutting the door quietly behind her. Once in the hallway, she sank to the floor and clutched her arms, drawing blood where her fingernails dug into her skin.

Sure, Lexa said she was fine. But people who were fine didn't faint at the sight of broken glass. And if Lexa wasn't fine, she could take everything Ariana had fought so hard for away with one ill-timed breakdown. The next morning, Ariana watched from her window as the weak November sun lit the facades of Atherton-Pryce Hall's redbrick buildings. Down below, Maria headed out in gray sweats and a pink fleece jacket, her toe shoes slung over her shoulder, walking briskly toward her early-morning workout in the dance studio. Once Maria turned the corner around the dining hall, Ariana went to the mirror on the back of her dorm room door. She mussed her hair a bit, trying to make it look as if she'd just woken up, then cinched her white silk robe and headed for the room Lexa and Maria shared at the end of the hall.

Everything's going to be just fine, she told herself as she padded silently along the thick carpeting. She just needs a good talking-to.

She paused in front of the closed dorm room door, took a deep breath, and knocked lightly.

"Come in!" Lexa said, her voice surprisingly bright.

Ariana opened the door and poked her head inside tentatively. Lexa was already showered and dressed, her red sweater wrinkle free over boyfriend jeans and brown boots.

"You're up early," she said to Ariana with a smile.

"Not as early as you," Ariana replied.

"I have to do some last-minute cramming for my French test," Lexa said. "I'm gonna hit the library before breakfast. You wanna come?"

Ariana eyed her quizzically. Was this chipper thing for real? "Actually, I have to go into the city today. To meet with that lawyer," she said.

Lexa closed her eyes and brought her hand to her forehead. "That's right. I'm so sorry! Is there anything I can do?"

"No, thanks. I'll be fine," Ariana replied. "I just wanted to see how you were doing this morning. Are you feeling better?"

Lexa tilted her head as she fluffed her pillow two, five, then ten times. "Y eah. I am." She laughed in an embarrassed way, then lifted her folded blanket from her desk chair and spread it across her bed. "I was just overtired," she said, turning her back toward Ariana as she moved around the bottom of the bed, smoothing out the wrinkles. "Y may not remember this about me, but when I get overtired, my whole system freaks out. And

ou lately? I really haven't been sleeping a lot."

Ariana wondered if the real Briana Leigh would have remembered this tidbit about Lexa from their time together at equestrian camp as kids. Her guess was probably not. Briana Leigh was a tad too self-involved to recall details about other people.

"Oh," Ariana said, feeling slightly better as she click, click, clicked the stapler. "Well, how did you sleep last night?"

"Okay, I guess," Lexa said with a shrug. "At least, I definitely slept at some point, because I remember having a dream." She narrowed her eyes. "Something about my parents parachuting through the roof of my house. Isn't that weird?" Lexa laughed and then shook her head. "Anyway, any sleep at all is an improvement."

She stopped primping the bed, and turned to Ariana. "Honestly, don't worry about me. I'm totally fine. I just feel bad that I made you worry."

Ariana breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was okay. All Lexa had needed was a good night's sleep, and she was herself again.

"Oh, that's all right," she said.

Lexa unexpectedly wrapped Ariana in a hug. "Do you want me to come with you today? I'm sure I could make up the test."

"No, thanks. I'm sure it'll be fine. I just want to get it over with," Ariana replied, edging toward the door. "I'm going to go take a shower. I mean, as long as you're all right. . . ."

"Of course I'm all right," Lexa said, turning back toward her bed and smoothing out a wrinkle that wasn't there. "Why shouldn't I be all right? I mean, just because I aided and abetted a murder, and just because the dead body of my former friend who tried to kill me is buried in my backyard, and just because if anyone ever finds it we're both going to jail and my entire family will be ruined, I mean, why would any of that make me not all right?"

Ariana stopped with her hand on the doorknob. "Lexa?"

Suddenly Lexa sat down on her perfectly made bed, buried her face in her hands, and burst into tears.

Oh, I am so very, very screwed, Ariana thought.

Watching her friend blubber uncontrollably, Ariana's heart started to pound real terror through her veins. She breathed in and out, in and out, but it didn't help. The telltale gray dots started to prickle over her vision. She gripped her forearm in one hand and squeezed as hard as she could, trying to keep herself present. Trying to keep herself in the now.

Trying to keep herself from snapping.

Breathe, Ariana. Just breathe.

In, one . . . two . . . three . . .

Out, one . . . two . . . three . . .

In, one . . . two . . . three . . .

Out, one . . . two . . . three . . .

Her vision began to clear, and she took a step forward. "Lexa, listen, I know this is difficult, but it's all going to be okay."

"How?" Lexa blurted, lifting her face. "I can't stop thinking about it. I can't stop . . . seeing her face. Y killed her, Ana. And I helped you hide it.

ou That makes me an accessory."

Ariana gritted her teeth. It was never a good sign when people started talking in legal terms. It meant they were thinking in legal terms. Which meant they were considering bringing the law into it. Ariana could not have this.

"Lex, it was self-defense," Ariana said, sitting next to Lexa on the bed and taking her hand. "She was trying to kill you. Did you want me to let her do that?"

"No!" Lexa replied. "But if it was self-defense, then it should be fine. If we tell the police, they'll--"

"It's too late for that," Ariana said, squeezing her friend's hand. "We hid her body. We cleaned up your house. It's been two weeks. If we tell them now, it doesn't matter how we say it happened, we're going to look guilty."

"But--"

"There's no reason to cry over her, Lexa," Ariana said calmly. "The girl knew you were hiring a PI to look into her past. Clearly there was something she didn't want you to find. She came there to kill you. Do you understand that? The girl was psychotic."

Lexa's eyes were wide with terror, as if she expected Kaitlynn to burst through the door at any moment and try to take her life all over again.

"Y and I are the only ones who know what happened that night," Ariana said, looking Lexa directly in the eye. "As long as we keep the secret

ou between us, we'll be fine. Y ou'll remain president of Stone and Grave, your dad will keep his job, and we'll both graduate and go on to wonderful things. But if we tell . . ."

She let the implication hang in the air. Lexa looked across the room at the photograph of her and her parents posing with the president, everyone wearing huge smiles. Ariana could practically see the gears working in her friend's mind as she realized anew what could happen. Her life, her father's political career, her future--all of it could be taken from her.

"You're right," Lexa said finally, sniffling as she looked down at her lap. "I don't know what I was thinking."

Ariana wrapped her arm around Lexa. "It's okay. So . . . no police?"

"No police," Lexa said.

"And no more freak-outs?" Ariana asked, holding her breath.

"No more freak-outs," Lexa promised. Then she turned and hugged Ariana with both arms. "Thank you so much, Ana. For saving my life."

"Of course," Ariana replied, closing her eyes as she hugged Lexa back. She had cleared this hurdle. Now all she could do was hope that Lexa kept her promises. "I would do it again in a heartbeat, Lexa," she added. "You're my best friend." When Ariana walked into the sunlit conference room at Jessup, Martin, and Falk, Leon Jessup was kicked back in one of the leather chairs around the glass-topped conference table, reading the local paper. He was a large man, broad and tall, his shoulders spilling over the sides of the wide chairback. In his mouth was a breath mint, which he rolled around on his tongue and occasionally bit down on. Behind him was a wall of rounded windows overlooking the Smithsonian Institution Building, where yellow school buses were lined up like limousines waiting outside the Academy Awards. The attorney didn't notice Ariana until she cleared her throat.

"Miss Covington!" he announced in a congenial tone. He folded the paper and tucked it into the side compartment on his leather briefcase before standing and offering his hand. "I apologize. It's so rare that I get a moment to relax and read the paper; I believe I was quite in another world."

"It's not a problem. I can only imagine how busy you are," Ariana said with a smile, shaking his hand. Then, suddenly, she remembered why she was here and how Briana Leigh would be expected to act. She rearranged her features into a pensive frown.

"Have a seat," Jessup said, gesturing at the chair next to his.

The puffed-up leather let out a quiet, comforting sigh as Ariana sat. Several legal documents were laid out across the table, each with bright pink tabs sticking out of their sides with the helpful words SIGN HERE in bold black letters.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Jessup said, sitting next to her and rolling his chair closer to the table. He stopped messing with the mint, as if the occasion was too somber for such behavior.

"Thank you," Ariana said. Surreptitiously she eyed the paperwork, trying to discern any dollar amounts in all the legal gibberish. "Did you know my grandmother well?"

"Samantha Covington was a great lady. Not to mention one of our most important clients."

"She must be, if one of the firm's partners is flying out just to meet me," Ariana said, lifting one eyebrow.

Jessup cracked a smile. "We have four offices--Houston, St. Louis, Atlanta, and DC. There are about thirty other places I'm supposed to be right now, but I promised your grandmother I'd take care of her estate myself when the time came. I'm honored to be able to fulfill that promise."

"Thank you," Ariana said.

"This should be simple," Jessup said. "All you need to do is sign where indicated, and then I'll be able to give you all the account numbers and keys."

He lifted an open box off the chair on his other side and placed it on the table. Inside were several sets of keys, each with a white tag hanging off of it, and a series of worn-looking bankbooks.