Page 60 of Wicked Promises
Riley grins. “You’ve ruled me out, then? Because I’m totally inner circle.”
“Unless you have a secret phone I don’t know about…” I quirk my lips.
Her smile drops. “I didn’t even think of that. It could be literallyanyonewho picked up a disposable phone at the store. Paid minutes in cash…”
“Yep.”
“So you haven’t seen your mom since…?”
“She’d stop by to check on me in foster care, but it was more about money than anything else. Quick visits on the sidewalk. That finally stopped when I was fourteen.”
Riley frowns.
“Please don’t pity me,” I beg. “She’s a terrible mom, asking her teenage daughter for money. She gave me a present once, when I was… twelve, maybe? A little stuffed bunny for Easter.”
“That was nice,” she says.
“Yeah, nice. One of the other foster kids at the time stole it before I’d had a chance…” I sigh. “I just wanted something to hold on to that let me know she was thinking of me, but even that got taken away.”
“Maybe that’s why she’s back.”
“To hug me?” I scoff. “Doubtful. Did you see the anger in her eyes? She always held a grudge for the secret I let slip.”
I fill Riley in about catching my mom and Caleb’s dad together. How Caleb told me he knew, begged me not to tell, and then we got caught leaving our hiding place. Mom said it was nothing, but…
That’s not quite accurate.
“So you went home and told your dad,” she finishes.
I lift one shoulder. “I think so.”
“You don’t remember that part?”
“Not yet. It’s coming back in pieces.”
She pulls back out onto the road, heading home. “You haven’t got any new texts, right?”
“Nope.” My phone buzzes, and I groan. “I jinxed it.”
Unknown
Secrets are coming out…
Chapter 18
Caleb
It only took fifty bucks to bribe the junkyard attendant. He showed us to the cars involved in recent accidents, then ambled away with his hands in his pockets. I honestly didn’t think it would be that easy, but then we see how many cars there are.
I guess Hillshire County drivers suck?
Or it’s been a tough week.
Eli kicks at the ground. We’ve been staring at the wrecked vehicles for the last hour, trying to figure out which one collided with Robert’s.
I go closer to Robert’s car. What’s left of it anyway. My friends trail me.
All the glass is broken. The windshield is still there, severely cracked and only attached in one corner. There’s glass everywhere. All the windows are gone, and the roof is crumpled.